Tag Archives: action figures

September 24, 2025

Super7 The Misfits Vintage Style Action Figures

By Joe
We got ourselves a trio of misfits.

A few months ago, we took a look at a pair of Glenn Danzig action figures made by Super7. The figures depicted Glenn in his Samhain era and his early Danzig era. The figures were in the style of old Masters of the Universe action figures with only the smallest of revisions. Now, we’re back with The Misfits era of the same because you can’t have a Samhain and a Danzig Glenn without a Misfits version. And since Super7 has a longstanding working agreement in place with Jerry Only and his brand, we have a Jerry figure and also a bit of a Super7 original in the form of the band’s mascot The Fiend (aka The Crimson Ghost).

If you have the Danzig figures or read my review, then you know what to expect with these ones. The figures come on a blister card designed to mimic the MOTU cards they’re inspired by. The dimensions are even the same as the current MOTU Origins packaging. The cardback depicts an explosion of skulls on a neon green which is very Skeletor-like while the card bubble is in the shape of the Fiend’s visage. The rear features some artwork from the Die, Die My Darling single and a cross-sell that only includes these Misfits figures. It does not include the Danzig ones and I guess that’s because we’re dealing with two copyrights. The Danzig figures were licensed through Glenn’s evilive imprint while these are through the new entity, Misfits AD, referring to The Original Misfits which is shared by Jerry and Glenn. I thought maybe Jerry’s would just be through him, but I guess not. Both of their websites are referenced on the box. There was some weird hang-up with the Danzig figures from Super7 and I don’t know if it had anything to do with the legal stuff or if it was an approval thing. This Danzig, as well as the other two, were cancelled at one point while Jerry and the Fiend were not. Whatever the issue, it was resolved and they’re all here now.

“Let’s all laugh at his lack of accessories!”

We’ll start with the Glenn figure first which features the frontman in his skeleton shirt and sporting his devilock hairstyle. The torso is basically a blank body with the skeleton image printed on the front only with the back left bare. The head is the same head that came on the Samhain figure only now it lacks blood and the eyes are painted. The crotch piece is basically a blank with some slight creases sculpted in and it’s shared with Jerry and the Fiend. The legs are reused from the Samhain figure with the only difference being the boot buckles are painted silver on this one where as they were blank on the Samhain version. Glenn has no accessories, which is pretty weird and also pretty cheap. The other two each came with a microphone, and while it is kind of boring, this figure should have at least come with the same. They already tooled it, how much extra cost could that possibly add to the package? A quarter?

Eat your heart out, Skeletor!
They apparently scrapped the painted bones.

The Fiend is an interesting inclusion, but not unwelcomed. He features a unique, hooded, head and his skull face is painted white. It’s quite clean and I like the black and white approach to the figure. The torso is a blank done on black plastic while the legs are the same as Glenn’s only his buckles are left bare like the Samhain figure. Distinguishing him from the others is this wrap-around skeletal armor with the Fiend Club logo stamped on the front. It carries onto the back which is nice and it’s glued in so you can’t remove it without some hassle. Interestingly, all of the promo shots of the figure featured the skeletal-printed arms that Glenn has plus paint on the legs, but the final edition is bare. For accessories, The Fiend has some catcher’s equipment on his right forearm which is something Glenn used to wear as part of his stage getup. It is removable so if you want to swap it with Glenn you can. He also has his own take on Skeletor’s Havok staff only this one is topped with a jack-o-lantern that’s based on the Halloween single artwork. It’s black and white as well as it’s done on white with black, painted, features. The paint isn’t as clean, but in terms of accessories it feels appropriate.

Jerry is the most involved of the group from a sculpt and paint angle. He’s depicted in his current stage outfit which features a black, spiked, vest trimmed with red and The Fiend behind the collar. The paint is just okay on the vest as there’s some red on the back of the collar and some other slop in places. The profile looks pretty good and they got the little hit of red under the eyes mixed in with the black. Super7 was pretty kind to Jerry’s receding hairline and the devilock comes down over the nose and mouth. The arms and legs are both unique to Jerry as he has his big gauntlets and his unique boots which also have a relief of The Fiend sculpted on. Jerry does come with his bass which looks pretty good. The paint on the strings isn’t very clean, but the cyclops skull at the head of the neck looks okay. The strap is covered with spikes which are legitimately pointy. The outside is black while the inside is painted red. Jerry’s left hand is positioned so he can hold the neck while the right hand is flat like he’s slapping his bass. I don’t think he plays like that, but it’s fine. It’s a little tricky getting his hands over the strings so it’s probably easier to pose him with his right hand up like he’s getting ready to smack the hell out of that thing.

Removable armor.
Works with Glenn too.
They apparently had a higher budget.

There’s not much to say about articulation here. It’s very basic as we have a swivel at the head, shoulders, and waist. The hips are a ball-hinge, but since the legs are preposed they’re not particularly useful. As a trio, it’s a fun mix on the shelf, but sticklers for era may be annoyed. This is basically 80s Glenn and modern day Jerry which might bother some. It might have made more sense to base the figures off of a specific show in the 80s, maybe set during the Walk Among Us era, and then do another set based on the current version of The Misfits. It’s also a little disappointing that Doyle didn’t join in on the fun. He is his own, separate, license and I’m guessing Super7 tried, but he either wasn’t interested or they couldn’t come to an agreement. Maybe he still has regrets over those dolls they used to sell at Hot Topic? And it’s unfortunate that The Misfits never really had a permanent, iconic, drummer. I guess Robo is the most famous? It might have been fun to make The Fiend the drummer, but since we don’t have a guitarist I guess it doesn’t feel like a missing piece. Super7 likely doesn’t want to tool any drums anyway.

Left to right: $26, $30, $35
What you’re getting.

If you like these figures based on The Misfits then you should have no trouble finding them in various places. They’re basic, but there aren’t many sets of Misfits figures that include both Jerry and Glenn. The real drawback here is that these will set you back $30. That’s a ridiculous price for what you’re getting, these should be less than $20, but that’s also Super7 for you. There are a lot of Misfits collectors out there who will scoop these up and probably multiples to keep some carded, but even so, I can’t imagine they’ll sell out at $30. You’re probably better off waiting to see if anyone has to discount them. The Glenn one is a particularly bad value since he doesn’t even come with a single accessory. These are for the diehards only and that particular niche of Misfits fans who also like vintage toys. The rest need not apply.

The Misfits and Danzig are no stranger to toys:

Misfits Holiday Fiend Figure from NECA

2020 will be remembered for a lot of things, many of them not good. One non-negative aspect of 2020 that will be memorable for me was that it was the year I really got back into toy collecting. Most of that was courtesy of NECA toys and their various Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines. Those…

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by Joe

NECA Misfits Ultimate Fiend Action Figure

When Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only reached a settlement over who owned the rights to The Misfits in the mid 90s (resolution: they both did), it set off a wave of new merchandise plus a new version of the band. What had once been a logo found mostly at punk and metal shows, the visage…

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by Joe

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September 23, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Groundchuck

By Joe
Good luck stopping this guy.

Last week we had ourselves a look at Dirtbag from JoyToy’s line of 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. As most probably expected, we’re back this week with a look at his buddy Groundchuck, the mutant bull that could have very easily been named Bull’s Eye, but maybe Playmates felt that was too on the nose. Groundchuck debuted alongside Dirtbag in the vintage toy line back in the early 90s, but wasn’t originally conceived as an affiliated mutant. Dirtbag was going to be a foil for Splinter while Groundchuck was just your standard TMNT enemy. The cartoon made them a pair and it feels like that’s how they’re remembered now. Both also showed up in the video Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III for the Nintendo Entertainment System as boss characters of their own stage and as a proper duo in the more recent Shredder’s Revenge.

He’s pretty big.
Even his NECA counterpart doesn’t seem much bigger.

Groundchuck is another stout release from JoyToy standing at approximately 5″ to the top of his head and slightly taller to the highest point of his horns. The only characters in the line who can claim to be taller are Rahzar and Krang while his pal Dirtbag is more full of figure. Groundchuck, being a bull, is appropriately beefy with a barrel chest and meaty biceps and thighs. Like Dirtbag, he’s basically a recreation of the Playmates look which was also featured in the cartoon. He’s colored bright red and I’ve always loved the juxtaposition it creates with the tattered blue shirt and the cybernetic parts featured on his person. A portion of his head appears to be mechanical, including his right eye, as well as the entirety of his right leg and a chunk of his left thigh. The cattle motif is seen in the horned skull belt buckle and a similar one featured on his right pauldron while the bull’s eye appears over his right eye, upon his chest, and as a knee pad on his left leg (plus a brand on his left bicep).

No idea what these dog tags reference
There’s some storage, but not enough.
“Ahh, gives me wings!”

Like Dirtbag, there’s a paint wash applied to the fur which imparts a grimy feeling to the character. A lot of the add-ons like the belts and pauldrons have a distressed element to them via the sculpt and their own respective paint effects. I like the gold bits reflected in the many bull’s eye pieces as well as the more ornate left shoulder pauldron. The painted elements are done very clean including the face where his eyes and nose loop really pop. The only element about the presentation I’m left a little underwhelmed by are those cybernetic parts, namely the right leg. For those, JoyToy went with a pale gray plastic with a black wash over them. There are some bolts sculpted into places and those are hit with a metallic silver. I wish the entirety of the leg was done in that color with those bolts and the anklet done in a gun metal. I think the figure stands out on a shelf as-is, but would really demand attention with a shinier approach to the metal. Even so, Groundchuck has always been one of my favorite designs from the vintage toy line and JoyToy did the design justice here by basically not changing a thing and just upping the sculpt and paint.

Just so much stuff.

We talked about Dirtbag as being especially plentiful when it came to accessories, but Groundchuck may have him beat. The beast comes with four sets of hands: fists, gripping, trigger, and open. He has the same white marble chunk of a base and a City Sewer stand as Dirtbag. From there, we get a whole bunch of weapons and other assorted goodies. In the area of odd, there’s a crushed, red, can. I assume this is a Red Bull pun? It otherwise isn’t of great note, but if you want him to join the likes of Slash, Tokka, and Rahzar in a food-centric display it works. It’s probably the accessory of least interest, but not without purpose. On his belt is also a grenade which is easy to overlook. It’s green and gray and it will happily remain on the belt if you wish, or Groundchuck can hold it. For more ambiance, I suppose, there’s also a loop of rope with a gold grappling hook on the end. It’s molded plastic so it doesn’t do anything, but Groundchuck has a hook on the left side of his belt it can dangle from, just set it when you’re done posing him or else it will drive you nuts with how often it falls off.

NES flashbacks!
Per Playmates, this is a cattle prod gun.
“C’mere boy!”

Those are the basic items added in by JoyToy while most of the rest are reserved for fire power! Groundchuck comes with a reimagined version of his cattle prod gun the old Playmates toy came with. It’s colored in earthy tones of steel and brown with the twisting prod extending from the end. I’ve seen some shots of the figure with the prod removed leaving behind something that resembles a small bazooka or something, but it doesn’t seem to want to pop out of mine. Groundchuck also has his cross bow from the old figure and this time around it mounts onto a gun that resembles an assault rifle. The rifle works with or without the crossbow affixed to the top, but why not utilize it for double the firepower? Hailing from the cartoon is Groundchuck’s stylish pistol with bull horns at the end of the muzzle. It looks like it should be thought of as a taser rather than an actual pistol, but it’s good to see a nod to the cartoon version of the character. And if you know him primarily from the NES video game, Groundchuck also has a big hunk of pipe which his character wields as a weapon in that game. There’s a C-hook on the back of his belt that seems to be made for this item as well, though the fit is pretty loose. It will stay in place if left alone, but might fall out if you pick the figure up. There’s also what appears to be a matador’s cape or flag. It’s on a gold post and the flag itself is red, naturally. Mine has some black gunk on it that I’ll have to try and wash off. There’s a little hook by the C-hook on his back that the post of the flag can snap into. It’s not the most secure thing, but works to a point.

That’s neat.

Those are just the weapons, but to really make Groundchuck feel special JoyToy threw in a bunch of effect parts. It’s a bit of a surprise as we don’t have many, if any, effect parts included with the other figures and here’s Groundchuck with four of them. They’re all pretty interchangeable, but as best I can tell the gold, lightning, effect is intended for the bull horn taser. The color is a little dingy, I can’t tell if that’s on purpose or not, but it looks okay. Acrylic might have been better though. For the rifle, a simple red blast effect is included that clips into the front. There’s also a second one with a multi-part effect at the base implying muzzle flash that looks a little better, in my opinion. It’s possible that’s the one intended for the assault rifle, and the more simple one is intended for the opening on the heel of his cybernetic foot. I assume that’s intended to be a rocket propulsion system and either effect can slot into it. We also get a small missile effect with a long plume of smoke extended out the back. It’s a mix of red and gray and I think this is intended for his horn. Yes, the cybernetic horn contains missiles. I think this is from the video games, but to take advantage of that there’s an optional right horn that has the tip bent back to reveal a hole for the missile to fly from. You just pop off the standard horn and replace it with this one. As is the case with all of these weapons, the missile can go with any weapon so if you want Groundchuck to blast missiles from his rifle and lightning from his horn – go for it. It’s your figure to do as you please.

“Whoa, dude! Chill out!”

Articulation for Groundchuck is standard for the line and very much the same as Dirtbag. You get head, jaw, shoulder, elbow, wrist, diaphragm, waist, hip, thigh, knee, and ankle articulation. There’s not a ton of room for the jaw to open, but it works to add a little personality. The elbows are single hinges and will swivel as well as bend close to 90 degrees. The wrists use a double ball peg setup like Dirtbag’s, and while the optional hands can be a bitch to get on, they’ll go. Range at the hips remains mediocre and forcing the figure into something close to a split will cause the abdomen to pop off the ball joint there. The double-jointed knees are pretty much only good for a 90 degree bend and do get gappy at the bottom of the joint. For the feet, JoyToy cheated a bit with the hooves and basically added a heel to the sculpt of the right foot which makes the figure easy to stand. The hoof for the left leg is also generously sized even without a heel. He also has a tail which has a swivel joint. I think I see a hinge in there too, but it’s pretty limited as the tail goes through the soft plastic loincloth.

They’re kind of like the upgrade to Bebop and Rocksteady.

Groundchuck is going to move about as well as Dirtbag, Bebop, and Rocksteady. He does have a lot of stuff added to his sculpt that can get in the way as everything is an overlay including the shirt. All of it is removable if you find it too obstructive. It would require some effort to get all of it off and would likely require the removal of the arms. I like all of it so I won’t be trying to do that. The appeal of Groundchuck for me has always been the colors and the design where he’s just fully kitted-out with equipment. I think he was envisioned as something of a merc for hire, a marksman, or bounty hunter type and the look certainly fits that characterization. It’s that over-the-top look to the character that gets me and characters like Groundchuck are the first that come to mind for me when I reflect back on what Playmates did back in the 80s and 90s.

This one is just a ton of fun.

If that’s not an obvious endorsement for what JoyToy has done then let me say it in plainer terms: Groundchuck is the best release so far in this line. He’s honestly fantastic. The look, the stuff, he’s just perfectly realized for this line. There’s a nice balance of that realism JoyToy aims for with some of its sculpts as well as the toony origins of the character. There are a few shortcomings here and there and I wish the metallic parts were all shiny and chromed out, but I’m also just really happy with this one. Admittedly, I’ve always been a fan of this character so your mileage may vary, but if you’re collecting this JoyToy line and were considering passing on Groundchuck I would strongly advise you reconsider. I got my figure, as well as Rahzar and Dirtbag, from LT Cave. The price and shipping was all very reasonable and I paid around $40 for each figure. Obviously, the situation seems to always be evolving when it comes to tariffs and imports so I don’t know how things are going to be when this goes live, but I do vouch for that e-tailer. There are others that will ship to the US as well so you do have options if you’re based in North America and want to collect this line. It’s definitely in contention for best line of 2025.

In case you’ve been sleeping on one of 2025’s best toy lines, here’s some reviews to get you caught up:

JoyToy TMNT Dirtbag

Today for Turtle Tuesday we continue our look at Wave 6 (I think?) of JoyToy’s 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures with a character who should be familiar to long-time fans of the franchise: Dirtbag. Dirtbag first showed up as part of the Playmates toyline in 1991 before making the leap…

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by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

JoyToy is back with their latest wave of 1/18 scale action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with a character I think we all assumed was on the way. You don’t do a figure of Tokka, the mutated snapping turtle, and not also do a figure of his best buddy, Rahzar. The two…

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by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

I have a couple of turtles to look at for #TurtleTuesday and these guys come courtesy of JoyToy. Slash and Tokka don’t usually associate with each other, but JoyToy doesn’t think that should be the case and I tend to agree.

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by Joe

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September 17, 2025

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine vs Silver Samurai

By Joe
It’s the latest from Hasbro’s Marvel vs Capcom Gamerverse line!

Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of Marvel Legends for quite awhile now, but it has mostly centered on the Spider-Man games released for the PlayStation. This year, Hasbro decided it wanted a piece of the Marvel vs Capcom pie without actually saying that outright. Gamerverse has now pivoted to that beloved franchise, though strictly the Marvel side. Despite having a previous relationship with Capcom via its Power Rangers x Street Fighter line a few years ago, Hasbro has shown no interest in actually engaging the licensor for these figures instead releasing a series of two-packs and one-offs of Marvel characters from that line of games. Most of them have not been of much interest to me, but there was one I could not ignore: Wolverine vs Silver Samurai.

One of these figures is more desirable than the other.

I have enjoyed the Capcom fighters going back to X-Men: Children of the Atom in arcades. The hyper fast fighting games were a sight to behold and it felt awesome to finally be able to take control of the X-Men in a setting that felt worthy of them. The games only became more popular when they were eventually paired with Street Fighter, then eventually it expanded to include all of Marvel and all of Capcom. The designs from those games always came across as rather unique for the Marvel characters and many years ago Toy Biz made a half-hearted attempt at characters in that style with a series of two-packs sold at KB Toy Stores. They weren’t great and I never actually bought any, but I’ve always wanted figures that match the art style presented in those games.

“Let’s go, bub!”

For Hasbro’s collection, we get the usual mixed bag from the company. Some of the figures in the line do a really good job of matching the games, while others very much do not. And considering most of the releases are two-packs, it probably comes as little surprise that one figure in each set appears to get more love than the other. That is certainly the case with this two-pack featuring Wolverine and Silver Samurai. Wolverine practically looks like he was yanked off the side of the arcade cabinet with his bulky frame and elongated claws and mask fins. Silver Samurai…just looks like the previous Legends release, but in a muted color. I’ll say upfront I do not care about Silver Samurai at all. He’s always been a D tier Wolverine adversary for me and his figure doesn’t offer much. I got this for Wolverine, and considering the set comes at the inflated sticker price of $60, there’s a good chance I way overpaid for a Wolverine figure. Now, I’m going to help you decide if you should do the same.

The presence of dark gray lines on the chest appear to be entirely random.

We might as well get the Silver Samurai out of the way. As best as I can tell, this figure is mostly a straight re-release of the prior Legends figure, but with a new torso and expression. The previous figure had a riveted look to the armor where as this one is pretty smooth. Both the arms and legs feature pinned joints owing to their age so if that’s something that bothers you then you may be disappointed here. The color this time around is a very bland gray. The only paint on this guy is reserved for the exposed part of his face, the white of his eyes, and the red on his crest and sun pattern on his chest. The rest of the figure is that lame attempt at metallic plastic Hasbro likes to use. All it does is create random lines or swirls in the plastic while adding zero luster. The chest on my figure almost looks cracked, but it’s just streaks in the plastic. The character in the game was damn near white by default with gray-blue shading. Hasbro didn’t bother to try and match that sprite or the art from the booklet and instead gave us this ugly lump of plastic.

He looks like a kid posing for a Little League picture.
It’s fine.
Looks cool, but it’s a little heavy for the blade.

For articulation, the Samurai is also not up to snuff. He’s very basic with a ball-hinged head, hinged-ball shoulders, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, ball-jointed diaphragm, waist cut, ball-socket hips, thigh cuts, double-jointed knees, boot swivel, ankle hinge and rocker. His wrist hinges are at least the proper vertical hinge for sword wielding, but his lack of a butterfly joint means he can’t hold his sword with two hands in a convincing fashion. You can get two hands onto it, but it looks kind of dumb. The shoulder pads are pegged into his traps and are annoying to deal with and tend to pop off a lot. For accessories, he has his katana which is done in a translucent blue plastic. It looks fine, but mine has some black paint on the blade. It’s also very flimsy which stinks because he also has an effect part for the sword that looks pretty cool. It’s bubbly and done with blue translucent plastic with hits of a dark blue or purple. The swords slots through it, but the weight of the part will cause it to droop. He also has his energy shuriken made out of translucent orange plastic and a flimsy plastic stand to peg into it. The weight can be a bit tricky to get it balanced because the stand is so poor, but it can be done. However, Jada this is not.

Bring it on!

Which brings us to the real reason I wanted this set: Wolverine. What attracted me to this figure wasn’t just the stylization on display, but also some engineering choices Hasbro made. They have not, to my knowledge, made an action figure like this Wolverine and some of the choices they made are ones that I’ve been wanting from them for years. We’ll get to that with the articulation portion, but first the elephant in the room must be addressed: this is a big Wolverine.

He’s a pretty big Wolverine.

Wolverine stands at just a touch under 6″. Wolverine runs taller in those games, probably because his sprite is always crouched, but if you wanted to slide him into your comic collection this may pose too big a hurdle to climb. The X-Men animated Wolverine by comparison comes in at 5.75″. Is slightly less than a quarter of an inch a big deal? Kind of, considering that older Wolverine is probably a little on the tall side as well (mostly owing to the really long neck of that sculpt). What really stands out as different though is just how much bigger all around this new Wolverine is. Line up any part of the body and compare it to the prior one and it’s a stark contrast. His biceps, thighs, fists, are all quite a big larger. It’s almost as if this Wolverine is in a different scale from its predecessors. Marvel Legends is thought of as a 1:12 scale line while this Wolverine almost feels like it’s in between 1:12 and 1:10 scale (I guess that would be 1:11). He’s a little big for 1:12, but not quite 1:10.

Even though he has a single hinge at the elbow, the range is pretty much the same as the prior double-jointed version.

As for the sculpt, this thing is entirely brand new. We have the new head with the exaggerated fins, or ears, or whatever those things are on his mask. He has just the one expression which features a gritted teeth look like the cabinet art. The body is also entirely new with the much beefier proportions. The shoulder pads are separate and looped onto the peg going into the torso as opposed to pegged into the shoulder itself. The black on the torso is painted and not sculpted in while the fins are black plastic. The face also appears to be painted onto black plastic and the opacity is not as thick as it needed to be. The left side of my figure’s face has some black showing through, which is a shame. The overall proportions and sculpt are all very nice, but other paint issues include a yellow speck on the left side of my figure’s abdomen and some blue smudging on the left thigh. The middle claw on the left hand (geez, everything is on the left side) has some excess plastic around the tip which I’ll need to trim. Silver Samurai’s left pauldron has a similar issue as well which I failed to note earlier. The knees also suffer from miscolored plastic, a frequent issue with Legends in the pin-less era, as they’re noticeably darker than the yellow used for the thigh and shin. It may also bother some to know that the back of his ankles feature a black rectangle since the figure is using black, plastic, for the ankle hinges. Unlike other Wolverine designs, the black trim on the boots doesn’t continue onto and down the center of the back of the boot so it does create an eyesore, but better it be there than on the front.

The effect part is whatever, but the torso articulation is aces. This twisting crouch wasn’t possible on older figures.

From a quality control standpoint, this Wolverine certainly doesn’t have a premium feel, but even with the minor paint imperfections I still think it looks pretty good overall. I love the sculpt, I really love the elongated claws, and I’m really happy with what we’re about to talk about next: the articulation. Hasbro did some good stuff here while also making some trade-offs. How the overall package is received will be somewhat subjective, but what is present works pretty well. They did keep the hinged-neck joint. Wolverine being a croucher needs a lot of range to look up and down and Hasbro has yet to find a better way to pull that off so it’s hear once again. We lose the nuance of a double ball, but the joint at least does what it set out to do. The joint some will likely miss is the butterfly joint. Instead, Hasbro has gone with a ball peg shoulder which is the sort of joint McFarlane is known for utilizing. Import companies use the same, but they’ll affix it to a hinged apparatus inside the torso to get that butterfly joint, but here we just get the up and down, in and out, that the ball peg affords which isn’t a ton. They either didn’t have room in the chest for the joint, or didn’t want to cut up the sculpt. Considering it means we don’t have those silly low shoulders many Legends figures suffer from, I’ll consider it a worthy trade-off. Wolverine can still cross his claws in front of his face and has some room to rear back with his arm. Would I have made the trade to cut out a little more on the back so he could really reach back? Yeah, probably, but I am otherwise okay with the range.

It’s too bad stands weren’t included with this set.

The arms also contain another surprise: single-hinged joints at the elbow. Ordinarily, this is something to be frowned upon, but given that it’s Wolverine it’s honestly a nonissue. The arms are always so bulky that even the old, double-jointed, Wolverine can barely bend his elbow past 90 degrees. This one can’t either, but the single joint is cut in such a way that it’s far more pleasing to look at so I consider it an improvement. There’s also a bicep swivel which is more like an import figure in that the piece is floating independent of the elbow. It’s basically just a cover over a straight peg. The elbow also swivels since it pegs into whatever is under the bicep and the wrists feature the standard swivel and hinge.

I wouldn’t come in high, if I were you, Samurai.

The torso is where I was most eager to get my hands on this guy. Most of the old Wolverine figures go with an ab crunch, a big old hinge right in the middle of the figure and a standard waist cut below it. Some of the newer ones use a ball-joint in the diaphragm and retain the ab crunch below it, but at the expense of waist articulation. The thinking from Hasbro is you get rotation in the diaphragm and bend at the waist, but why settle for that if you don’t have to? For this Wolverine, Hasbro went with the ball-jointed diaphragm and paired it with a ball-jointed waist. You know, like all of those import companies making figures that articulate better than the rest. The result is you get forward and back tilt at both spots plus rotation. He crunches forward very well, arches back a decent amount, and can twist and turn with the best of them. And somewhat to my surprise, there’s very little gapping on display at both the waist and diaphragm. They did a really good job with this torso and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t become the default approach going forward. And since it’s a big large and doesn’t feature any sculpted costume details, I suspect we’ll see it reused for other characters in the future.

Tag!

The rest of the articulation below the waist is your standard ball-socket hips, thigh cut, double-jointed knees, and ankles with hinges and rockers. There’s no boot swivel which is a bit of a surprise. It looks like the boot is a separate piece so I can’t fathom why it doesn’t just peg-on. Like the gloves, it’s possible the boot is just a sleeve glued into place. It’s not a huge omission, but if it could be there with no impact to the budget then why not go for it? For accessories, Wolverine comes with a set of fists and two slash effects. The slash is done on transparent plastic with some blue shading in the center. One can peg onto an included stand, the same, cheap, style one as Silver Samurai’s, and the other slash can then slot over that one to form an X. Wolverine has multiple attacks that make such a pattern with his claws in the game, plus his super move which just makes a big X on the screen that he jumps in front of. It’s a decent accessory, but I wish we got more for the price. Wolverine could really use a stand of his own to sell that effect part and I would have loved a second portrait. A yelling head would have been great or an unmasked one.

Wolverine (and Ken) most definitely wins.

This is a hard set to rate. Subjectively, I love this Wolverine. I love the proportions, I love the new articulation, and I just love messing around with him. He’s not one of those overly gummy Hasbro releases and I like that they went for it in making this sculpt really evoke the game. On the other hand, I can’t ignore the minor problems with the paint and I’ve heard of others having similar issues. Those knees are also an eyesore and the accessories are just okay. If we’re to split the price of the set between the two figures, he’s a little iffy at $30. I’d still recommend him at that price, but I wouldn’t feel like I’m getting a real steal or anthing.

Unfortunately, Wolverine is not a $30 figure. He’s sold in a $60 set with a thoroughly mediocre Silver Samurai. By Legends standards, there is nothing special about this Silver Samurai. Nothing interesting about the presentation, the articulation, and the accessories do not overcome that. I like the sword effect part, but I don’t know if I can use it since it’s so heavy. The shuriken is fine and at least it’s from the game. He has no extra parts and I find he looks dumb with two gripping hands at all times. Couldn’t we get one extra set of hands? His articulation isn’t good enough for a sword wielder and he doesn’t look like the character art or sprite. He’s a total dud for me.

One thing is for sure, Marvel vs Capcom fans are eating good!

Is this set worth $60? Absolutely not. This Wolverine is good, ignoring the scale issues it’s easily Hasbro’s best Wolverine. Considering I don’t really care for the proportions on the MAFEX Wolverine it might even be my favorite Wolverine of all time. It’s still not worth $60 or even $40. And if he’s not worth that then what’s Silver Samurai worth? I honestly wouldn’t pay $20 for him, or even $10. I just plain don’t like the figure so it’s worthless. Despite that, I think this set will sell well because Wolverine is, in case you haven’t heard, very popular and toy collectors get pretty geeked up about new articulation schemes. Even though nothing this Wolverine does is truly new, just new for Hasbro and Marvel Legends. And I’m having fun with it, so while I think it’s stupid to pay $60 for this Wolverine, I don’t hate myself for doing exactly that.

If you liked this review then maybe you’ll like these as well:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

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

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by Joe

Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

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

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Jada Toys Mega Man

We just had 11 consecutive weeks of action figure reviews on Super7’s line of figures based on The Simpsons. Things were getting pretty negative in that sphere as that line went out with a whimper. I don’t like reviewing bad figures and it’s mostly because everything I review here I buy for my own collection.…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, toys, Video Games

September 16, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Dirtbag

By Joe
Time to do some spelunking!

Today for Turtle Tuesday we continue our look at Wave 6 (I think?) of JoyToy’s 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of action figures with a character who should be familiar to long-time fans of the franchise: Dirtbag. Dirtbag first showed up as part of the Playmates toyline in 1991 before making the leap to cartoon and video games like many before him. The mutant mole was billed as an adversary of Splinter on the cardback, but as far as I know that character trait never manifested outside of that blurb. He would instead be featured in the Planet of the Turtleloids story arc as yet another minion of the Shredder, albeit a reluctant one. He was paired up with Groundchuck, the mutant bull who also had an action figure released around the same time, and the two have felt interconnected ever since despite being largely confined to that ’87 edition of the franchise.

I don’t have the vintage figure for a comparison, but I do have the NECA one!

Even though his appearances have been kept to a relative minimum, Dirtbag is still pretty well remembered because probably millions of kids were exposed to him at the height of Turtle-mania. The fact that he’s being featured in JoyToy’s line comes as no surprise and his status as a miner means there’s a lot of accessories one can pull from such a background. JoyToy loves nothing more than cramming their packages full of bits and bobs to make their characters feel complete and Dirtbag really ups the ante here in unexpected ways.

Standing at pretty much exactly 5″, Dirtbag has got some size to him.

Dirtbag’s appearance is kept pretty faithful to his original design. He’s a gray-ish colored mole with a stocky build. To achieve the color, JoyToy molded the figure in white plastic and applied some gray dry-brushing over his exposed fur. The fur is a great deal more defined than it was on the old toy or in the cartoon and the dry-brush approach does give him a more grimy appearance befitting a miner. His outfit is more or less the same with a green shirt and dark, gray, shorts to go along with a fetching red hard hat. He keeps the asymmetrical feet which Playmates loved to utilize as one is bare and the one is booted, but his toes are poking through given his pretty sharp looking claws. He has picked up some chromed-out kneepads and spiked shoulder pauldrons and he still retains his useful backpack and elegant, red, ascot. I like that JoyToy retained his beady, little, yellow, eyes and the way his ears poke out from under his helmet is, dare I say, adorable. There’s a grittiness to the character design brought on by the paint and numerous spiked surfaces, but he is almost cute in appearance so you would be forgiven if you assumed he were an ally as opposed to an enemy of the turtles.

He is the king of removable stuff.

As is the case with many JoyToy products, a lot of the embellishments on the figure are removable. The pauldrons, backpack, ascot, belt, and knife holster could all be removed if you so desired. The figure comes apart relatively easily at the waist (some would argue too easily, which we’ll get to) making removal of the belt a synch. The other parts take a bit more effort if you want to go that route, but since the limbs attach via either a ball socket or a peg it probably isn’t as hard as you might think. The backpack is, sadly, not functional, but it does have two straps on the bottom that can hold some of his items in place. He also has a tail which needs to be inserted out of the box, but it goes onto the ball peg with minimal effort. The figure looks quite nice with clean paint applications. If there’s one thing about the aesthetics some might not enjoy it’s the very mechanical appearance of the knees, but only when viewed from the back. The actual joint is basically silver and dark gray, a pretty unnatural color combination for the back of one’s knees even if that one is a mutated mole.

So many choices…

Dirtbag’s accessories start before you take a single item out of the box. The backpack is already in place and on it is a red monkey wrench in a slot on the side. It can come out and become a weapon with ease, or remain on the pack. On his left thigh is a knife sheath with a white-handled knife inside. There’s a nice, metallic, finish to the blade and the white handle almost gives off the impression of bone which is pretty cool. On his belt is some dynamite, but these sticks are non-removable. To make up for that, Dirtbag does come with a bundle of dynamite as well.

Rail guns and dynamite – what more could you want?

For hands, Dirtbag has sets of gripping, relaxed, wide gripping, and trigger finger hands. The wide gripping hands work well with the bundle of dynamite while the trigger finger hands are intended for his rail gun. This thing has some nice detail and paint work and my only critique is I wish it had an optional hose to run to his backpack so we could assume an air compressor was in there. Technically speaking, I don’t think this weapon could actually fire as presented. If that bothers you then you can just hand Dirtbag some of the melee weapons which could also double as just tools if you don’t think he’s such a bad guy. There’s an axe, pick axe, and a shovel and all of them have a nice, distressed, look to the sculpt like they’ve been used over and over. The axe looks especially nice as it has some big gouges in the metal portion and tape wrapped around the handle.

“Hey dude, we don’t really have to fight, do we?”
“Far out!”

By far the craziest accessory though is Dirtbag’s wheel barrow. I don’t recall any past versions of the mole featuring one, but this gave me a chuckle. As far as toy, 1:18 scale wheel barrows go this thing looks pretty great. It has two handles and a nice, deep, “barrow” with a working wheel. It’s such a large and specific accessory to include with a figure that I am left to conclude that the designers over at JoyToy are a bunch of maniacs. It’s great though and it’s another way to store all of Dirtbag’s stuff. In addition to the tools, Dirtbag also comes with another piece of the white base and a disc stand featuring the City Sewer design. I’m a little surprised he didn’t come with a Foot logo stand, but it’s also not something he needs.

Dirtbag being easy to separate at the waist means he can use this digging effect part from the NECA release if you so choose.

Dirtbag, being a chunky and cumbersome design, likely won’t wow anyone with his articulation. For a JoyToy release, he’s pretty much par for the course. We have a double-ball at the head, hinged jaw, ball-hinged shoulders, single hinged elbows, double ball wrists, diaphragm ball joint, waist ball joint, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, hinge and rocker ankles. The tail is also on a double-ball peg and has a bendy wire in it as well, though the bend is fairly limited. Range at his joints is acceptable. The single-hinged elbows also swivel so that is essentially your bicep swivel. The diaphragm joint is pretty nice when it comes to tilt and swivel, but it and the waist offer little in the way of crunch. He’ll also pop apart at the waist easily like Bebop and Rocksteady when kicking the legs out to the side. There just isn’t much room in the crotch area and what happens is the thighs literally force the abdomen off of the ball joint there. It’s not a hard piece to put back together or anything, but it can get annoying. I wish they would lengthen the peg that the ball is molded onto so that it would prevent that from happening as easily in the future. The knees are also gappy, which is a trend with JoyToy and their double-knees. The gap is usually at the very bottom of the joint and there aren’t many poses where this will be visible, but it’s still avoidable with a little more thoughtful engineering.

I don’t think he looks like such a bad guy.

Those critiques are fairly minor as this miner is going to pose probably as well as most would ask of him. He can handle all of his weapons just fine and also the wheel barrow. Dirtbag was the figure in this bundle of three that makes up Wave 6 I was least excited for, but now that he’s in-hand I’ve really come to appreciate him. He has so much stuff, but it all feels useful and purposeful. Well, maybe not the wheel barrow, but it’s so damn wild that they gave him one that I can’t help but love it. Will I actually display it is the real question as that’s quite a bit of shelf real estate, but I think I’m going to have to bring it into the display from time-to-time. In an age where we as tool collectors often obsess over things like mold reuse, it’s awesome seeing a company say “screw that,” and deliver some very specific parts. Dirtbag is a pretty cool release. If you have fond memories of the old toy or the character from the show or video games then you’ll probably enjoy what JoyToy has done with him. He along with his buddy Groundchuck have almost muscled their way into essential territory for me when it comes to TMNT collections to the point where I’m surprised they really haven’t shown up more often. And speaking of, you can probably guess who will be featured here next week so be sure to come back if you want to hear about the cybernetic bull with lethal accuracy!

The JoyToy TMNT collection continues to grow:

JoyToy TMNT Krang

The surprise line of the past year has unleashed perhaps its very best with Krang. Krang dates back to the 1987 cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because that show became such a household name, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of just how insane a character design Krang is. Krang was created by David…

by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

I have a couple of turtles to look at for #TurtleTuesday and these guys come courtesy of JoyToy. Slash and Tokka don’t usually associate with each other, but JoyToy doesn’t think that should be the case and I tend to agree.

by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

JoyToy is back with their latest wave of 1/18 scale action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with a character I think we all assumed was on the way. You don’t do a figure of Tokka, the mutated snapping turtle, and not also do a figure of his best buddy, Rahzar. The two…

by Joe

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September 12, 2025

Dragon Ball Daima S.H.Figuarts Vegeta

By Joe
Not so mini Vegeta.

Dragon Ball Daima has come and gone, but we’re still getting action figures based on the limited series. When it comes to the Bandai/Tamashii Nations action figure line, that’s usually par for the course. It’s not like the classic movie tie-in toy line where product shows up in stores weeks before the movie hits theaters. That’s probably for the best as that’s how you end up with massive spoilers like the infamous Phantasm action figure released ahead of the Batman movie Mask of the Phantasm. For the Premium Bandai figure line, the spoilery figures were at least held off until the episode premiered (the Japanese dub, anyway) while a fairly generic figure of someone like Vegeta went up for preorder last year. And likely owing to the ever changing tariff situation in the U.S., it’s actually taken a little longer than initially expected for the figures to arrive in the U.S.

If you like your Vegeta short then this may be the figure for you.

Vegeta – Daima is just that, Vegeta from Dragon Ball Daima. He is still Vegeta, still in his blue and white Saiyan armor, only now he’s styled to reflect the artwork from the show. Dragon Ball Daima has its own distinct look. It’s not far removed from what we have seen out of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, but it might be just enough to give some collectors pause if they’re not interested in Daima figures specifically. Bandai has yet to give us a base Vegeta from the Cell Saga or from Dragon Ball Super so this Vegeta might catch the attention of some. It’s also an entirely new sculpt with some new approaches to engineering and it comes at the more budget friendly price of $35. That alone might get enough collectors to take the figure for a spin.

Narrow face, fewer lines, softened features, and a paler complexion kind of sums it up for the Daima style.

Vegeta from Daima is essentially a stream-lined take on the character. Compared to the 2.0 Vegeta sculpt we’ve been receiving variations on for the past 6-7 years it’s more slender and the proportions are overall just a little smaller this time around. Compare one body part on the new figure to one on the old and they’re almost all a little smaller save for maybe the feet. This Vegeta has got some big feet and ears. The face is a little softer compared to the more recent Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta, but perhaps more defined than the original Super Saiyan Vegeta on the 2.0 body. He’s also a touch shorter at approximately 4.875″ to the top of his widow’s peek compared with 5″ on the Super Saiyan Blue version, which as the most recent edition on that body is the one I’ve decided to compare directly to.

The new engineering lets him kick quite high. You can even push it higher than this.

The engineering is almost all together different with this Vegeta. Like we’ve seen with other more recent figures in the line, Bandai is experimenting with soft, plastic, overlays instead of just sculpting everything in hard plastic. The upper part of the armor is made of the more rubbery material, though it doesn’t really impact anything as it’s glued down to a plastic chest. Doing it this way basically just allows Bandai to skip out on painting the blue portion of the chest. The crotch piece is also rubbery which should allow for better posing. This does mean there is less paint overall with this figure as it’s limited to the yellow parts of the armor and boots as well as the face and neck. The paint on the neck isn’t perfect, nor is it on the boots, but it’s not so bad that I’d consider either sloppy. The overall look of the figure is solid and there are no mismatched colors at least. Some may not like how the crotch looks with the new articulation, but I can’t honestly say it’s worse than before. The one eyesore is at least reserved for the rear of the figure where Vegeta has been gifted a long, flat, ass. Watching the show, it’s fairly accurate. Old Vegeta has never been blessed with buns, but the figure draws attention to it with a sculpted butt crack where as the show usually omits that detail. The figure probably should have just done the same.

These two are always up for some sparring.

The accessory load-out for this Vegeta is pretty damn good for a $35 action figure. We get a pretty typical spread of hand options including sets of fists, open, clenching, flat palm (i.e. Big Bang Attack), and his two-finger martial arts posed hands. He also has a crossed-arms piece, as many Vegeta figures have featured, which connects at the bicep. It doesn’t separate in the middle like some of the new versions of this piece, but it has some flex and isn’t as annoying to apply as past versions. For expressions, Vegeta has stoic, smirk, yelling, and an angry expression with his eyes looking down and to his right. There’s also a second hair piece. The first is a neutral pose and the second one has some bend to it like it’s being blown by the wind. The faces this time around also do not have any bangs attached to them, they just plug into the hair, and they all look pretty good. The only thing this figure is missing is a stand and an effect part. Bandai usually doesn’t provide either of those even in its more expensive offerings so it’s not a surprise, but Storm and Jada are out here making everyone look bad these days.

Vegeta is having a long ass day.
There’s more range this time around, but it gets gappy.

Whenever we do get a new sculpt from Bandai articulation is the prime driver of curiosity. With Vegeta, Bandai did a lot of what we’re used to while also doing some different things as well. The head is a double ball and the neck is on a ball as well so that all works as expected. He still doesn’t look up well, and for that you’ll need to engage the diaphragm joint. In there, he has some sort of ball hinge setup, but not like the old hinge that allowed the chest to literally rise. This one lets Vegeta bend back a solid amount, but it exposes a pretty large gap in the chest. Going forward is almost nil. There’s another ball joint set into a hinged joint at the waist and it does provide for solid range going forward and back, but like the diaphragm it leads to significant gaps when bent all the way. Rotation and tilt at both is good, but it’s a shame they didn’t extend some of these pieces to fill those gaps.

He’s got the expressions you would expect.

The shoulders are your typical ball-hinge set into a ball peg inside the chest. This allows the shoulder to move up and down and out for a butterfly joint. The butterfly isn’t significant, but it’s enough for Vegeta’s signature maneuvers. The rest of the arm is standard stuff: bicep swivel, double-jointed elbow, ball hinge wrists. The hips are likely standard ball sockets and can go out to the sides for full splits, something past Vegeta figures could not do. He does have those weird fillers Bandai inserts onto the inside of the thigh and I don’t get why they do that. It looks weird. Going forward and back is not a problem either as Vegeta can do those splits as well and even kick past 90 degrees. The crotch flexes plenty and gets out of the way. There are thigh swivels and they look fine, double-jointed knees, and hinged ankles. The ankles do rock side-to-side and there are toe hinges which aren’t great, but you can ignore them if you don’t like them.

“Step aside, worm, I’ll take it from here.”

The articulation is good and bad. That torso falls into the bad and it’s a shame Bandai didn’t do something better with it. On the other hand, comparing this Vegeta to the prior ones I would say the range in the shoulders is better, the hips are way better, and the ankles are superior as well. The head and neck area is basically the same as well as the elbows and knees. I’ll even give the waist to the new figure even if it gets gappy.

Classic Vegeta.

Removing aesthetics from the argument, I would say this Vegeta is an upgrade over the prior one, it just could have been even more of one with a little more tinkering. And if you want to get into aesthetics, I’d say that’s entirely subjective and based on what you think of the Daima art style. I personally like it. I don’t prefer this look to Z or Super Vegeta, but it’s fine. I no longer feel like I need a base Vegeta on the 2.0 body, this will fill that hole well enough. In fact, I would prefer to never buy another Vegeta on that old body. It’s a figure that looks nice, but the articulation shortcomings in the hips and ankles are something I don’t need. And I’ve bought that figure enough already. I suspect we’ll see more from Vegeta and Daima and I’m curious what Bandai will do for the body. I don’t think it would make sense to reuse this body on a powered-up Vegeta, we’ll have to wait and see. I’m also a little surprised we haven’t seen another adult Vegeta solicited yet, but maybe they want to deliver on some of the Premium Bandai offerings first. At $35, this is a good figure and I think most SHF collectors will be happy. It’s really fun to just mess around with and pose and I hope we continue to see more improvements with future figures in the line. I’m left feeling excited for that upcoming Cell Saga Goku due later this year which can’t get here soon enough!

If you like Vegeta and Dragon Ball Daima then we have plenty more for you here:

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Daima Goku (Mini)

When Akira Toriyama sadly passed away in 2024 it shocked the world of manga and anime. While his passing was sudden to those confined to the fandom, he at least had one more adventure to deliver in the world of Dragon Ball that would be unveiled later in the year: Dragon Ball Daima. I’ll talk…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Z Vegeta – Older Style Battle Clothes

Vegeta is a character who has had a few looks throughout his time in Dragon Ball Z. Almost all of those looks are some variation on his Saiyan armor from his debut with minor tweaks and modifications. Since Vegeta has become one of the most popular characters from the long-running manga/anime, most of those looks…

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by Joe

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

September 9, 2025

JoyToy TMNT Rahzar

By Joe
Rahzar is back and this time he’s packing heat!

JoyToy is back with their latest wave of 1/18 scale action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and with a character I think we all assumed was on the way. You don’t do a figure of Tokka, the mutated snapping turtle, and not also do a figure of his best buddy, Rahzar. The two debuted in the franchise’s second film, The Secret of the Ooze, and made the jump to the cartoon series later on. Because a lot of kids saw that movie and had the old Playmates toys the duo have had pretty strong staying power even if the kids of 1991 were disappointed to not see the familiar Bebop and Rocksteady in the film. JoyToy’s take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has largely been a mix of the cartoon and vintage toy line with a sprinkling of 2003 and even 2012. With Tokka, we got what was actually more of a unique take on the character as he had a pirate theme going on. It left me curious what JoyToy would do when it got to Rahzar, but now we have our answer.

He’s not the biggest boy, but he is a pretty big boy.

JoyToy’s Rahzar is actually quite similar to his appearance in the film. He’s a big ugly wolf decked out in refuse salvaged at a scrap yard. A lot of what’s featured on his person is pretty much a 1:1 match with that film with only minimal differences. One such difference is the grill that he wears on his chest has been given a skeletal appearance instead of gold chrome. The forearm and thigh armor has a silver color palette to it as well. And that’s kind of it. The coloring of Rahzar is a very pale brown for his flesh with a darker brown for his patches of fur. There’s a redness to it, almost like rust, which plays off of the junkyard aesthetic pretty well. I think I would have preferred a little more fur to his look, but the costume in the movie wasn’t completely covered in fur either.

I purposefully waited for Rahzar to be in hand before doing comparisons to past Tokka and Rahzar offerings.

The main difference between this version of Rahzar and the movie is the portrait. There’s a touch more cartoon to the character here as he looks like a conventional toon wolf. It’s the only bit of the cartoon version of the character that I see in this sculpt. The film version is quite unique with a wide snout and lots of teeth poking out. He still has visible teeth, but it’s a much cleaner presentation. The one thing about the face I’m not sold on are his eyes. They’re white with slits for the pupils that start off really thick and thin out as they go down. The angle is a little weird as they don’t follow the curve of the eye. He reminds me of the Disney take on the Big Bad Wolf. It’s a minor critique as overall I do like the look of Rahzar. The paint is clean and the sculpt has a lot of detail. He also has some size at a tick over 5″ making him a little bigger than Bebop and Rocksteady, but obviously not as big as Krang (and probably the Triceratons, who I didn’t get).

As so often is the case, JoyToy packed a ton into this box.

Rahzar comes with a plethora of accessories, most of which aren’t really based on anything from his past appearances. For hands, he has a set of open hands, gripping hands, as well as a right trigger hand and a left fist. I wish we got a set of fist and trigger hands, but it is what it is. Calling back to his appearance in the film, Rahzar comes with a beat-up truck door that he can wield as a shield. It has an old fashioned look to it with a lever door handle and a dented, rusty, paint job. It’s not a very realistic paint job, but it’s probably good enough. The reverse side is surprisingly fully sculpted with a strap to slide over his forearm and a handle he can grab onto. It’s probably easier to pop the hand off first to get it in place. I like that he can duck behind it, but also look through the window, which works well in conjunction with his included firearms.

“Pardon me, but do you have any Grey Poupon?”

Rahzar isn’t really thought of as a gun-wielding character, but JoyToy apparently doesn’t care. Rahzar comes with a pump-action, police style, shotgun. The pump doesn’t actually function, but he can hold the weapon one-handed or two-handed without issue. It looks pretty nice and has some decent paint. My only critique here is that it doesn’t have enough of an opening at the end of the barrel to accept an effect part, not that he comes with any. If the shotgun seems too small in his hands, Rahzar also has a bazooka. He can hold it with ease over his shoulder or he can carry it by the handle if he wishes. There’s a sight on it that can line-up with his line of sight pretty well too. And it comes with a missile to plug into the front of it. And that missile is…Rahzar’s head with his tongue hanging out? It’s pretty weird, definitely very cartoony. I’m not sure if Wile E. Coyote would even go for something like this. If you think it’s too goofy you obviously don’t have to use it, but it’s certainly a memorable item.

This missile is ludicrous.

Rahzar also has some handheld items to turn to if guns aren’t your thing. Similar to Slash and Tokka, he has some bladed weapons he can grip. They have a curved blade on one side and more of a spearhead on the front. On the other side is a small tooth-like point. He also has a massive, spiked, staff that reminds me of the big, padded, weapons you would see during an episode of American Gladiators. It’s got some nice silver paint and it can snap into the back hook on Rahzar’s harness. Lastly, we have two items that are more of a callback to his animated appearance. There’s a big old hunk of bone in meat with a massive bite removed as well as a kebob. The kebob is on a giant skewer and the food can actually be removed if you want. There’s also a pretty massive, chocolate-frosted, pre-fight donut. I guess this one would be called a Texas donut. If you prefer your Rahzar to be more of a food monster than a violent enemy, you have your options. There’s also a chunk of the white stone base included and a circular disc stand with the city sewer pattern printed on.

They go well together.
Food monster.
The ancient traditions must be respected.

Rahzar is about as well articulated as most of the figures we’ve seen in the line up to now. And like most, he’s also rather bulky because of all of the optional pieces tacked onto him in the form of thigh guards, shoulder pads, and his loincloth. The head is a double ball peg with a hinged jaw. It looks down, but not really up. From there we have hinged-ball shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, double ball wrists, ball jointed diaphragm, ball waist, steel double ball hips (like Krang), thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, ball-jointed ankles. He gets plus range at the knees, elbows, and hips with those steel joints doing a really nice job. The thigh swivel is built into the hip joint so it’s not a cut meaning it won’t have the same range, but it looks nicer. The torso is really limited though owing to the grill on the front. The left shoulder on mine also has this annoying tendency to pop out of the socket, while the right seems fine. The shoulder pauldrons are attached via a loop that goes over the shoulder peg so it’s not particularly restricting. The way the upper body is sculpted is what forces the arm to an angle and I think that’s what makes the arm want to pop out on me. It goes back in without any fuss.

“Mama!”

Rahzar will have enough articulation for most. I wish his head had a little more range and that JoyToy did something to make the diaphragm work better. Putting the grill on a swivel or hinge might have accomplished that. He certainly looks cool though and he can wield his various weapons and accessories convincingly. Rahzar will fit in with Tokka and maybe they’ll even invite Slash to join him since those two have been hanging out together while I waited for Rahzar’s arrival. I don’t think Rahzar is my favorite design in the line so far, but he does handle nicely and feels good. I wish all of the figures could have this hip setup, but I’m guessing it’s a lot more expensive than an all plastic approach. It has one seemingly major advantage though which will be discussed in the reviews to come as Rahzar is the only figure in this wave with the steel hips. If you’re in on this line, get Rahzar. You won’t be disappointed.

The JoyToy line is really filling out:

JoyToy TMNT Slash and Tokka

I have a couple of turtles to look at for #TurtleTuesday and these guys come courtesy of JoyToy. Slash and Tokka don’t usually associate with each other, but JoyToy doesn’t think that should be the case and I tend to agree.

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by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Krang

The surprise line of the past year has unleashed perhaps its very best with Krang. Krang dates back to the 1987 cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because that show became such a household name, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of just how insane a character design Krang is. Krang was created by David…

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by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Rocksteady and Beebop

No, that is not a typo you see in the title of this entry. This is a review of the JoyToy versions of classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles henchmen Beebop and Rocksteady. I don’t know why it says Beebop on the box, but this is a Chinese company and English is probably not the primary…

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by Joe

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September 4, 2025

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons Waves 3, a bit of 4, and most of 5

By Joe
The Springfield on your shelf has made some additions these past few weeks.

One thing I wasn’t expecting for 2025 was that the hardest line to collect would be The Simpsons by Jakks Pacific. It’s a mass retail release so, if anything, I thought it would be pretty easy. My assumption has been proven wrong and I think it’s because this is a line that is trying to serve too many audiences. It’s Jakks and they specialize in lower cost toys sold at Walmart and Target for brands like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. With The Simpsons, Jakks has basically taken that same approach with a property that probably doesn’t have much appeal to kids. It’s adults that are likely buying these and it’s adult collectors who want every character. Jakks keeps sending plenty of Homers and Barts to the stores while collectors struggle to find the Lennys and Carls. Jakks also doesn’t prioritize selling these things to more collector friendly outlets making it quite difficult to just preorder what you want.

Despite that frustration, I will say the line is pretty solid for what it is: a low cost, articulated, line of characters as seen on The Simpsons. It’s a better take on the old Playmates Toys World of Springfield line, though it has so far lacked the dioramas of that line which seemed to be reserved for the 2.5″ scale line. I’m definitely only interested in the 5″ scale line with only few exceptions and I’m mostly happy with it. I do wish they were more selective with their expressions on the figures, but that seems to be something that’s getting better which we’re going to talk about today.

It was a little while ago that I found Wave 3 in my travels. I wanted to do a combined Wave 3 and Wave 4 post, but I’ve been unable to get all of the figures from Wave 4 that I’m out looking for. Since then, I’ve received Wave 5 so we’re just going to skip over the missing figures which for me are Carl Carlson and Bumblebee Man. The fourth figure in the line is blue shirt Bart which I don’t need. I also didn’t want hockey Bart from Wave 5, but he does look fine if you’re into that variant. Let’s blast through these though as there isn’t a ton to talk about for each.

Marge and her big baby have arrived to complete the family.

The headliner for Wave 3 was Marge Simpson. We got Homer, Bart, and Lisa in the first two waves leaving her as the family member most needed. She is easily the tallest figure so far standing at 5.75″ to the top of her hair. She also might be the most on-model of the family as she has a slight smile which works well as a default portrait and her hair bends ever so slightly back. Everything is where it should be with her red pearl necklace, green dress, and a butt that won’t quit. The only thing I don’t care for about the presentation is the very visible seem line in her hair about 2/3rds of the way up. Apparently, they couldn’t cast it as one piece? It’s a bit odd. She also can’t articulate for crap because the dress kills basically everything from the waist down. You’ll only be posing her arms.

The scale will never stop bothering me with this line.

And if you’re saying to yourself, “Hey! What about Maggie?” – don’t worry, for she is Marge’s lone accessory. Yeah, it kind of stinks that Marge doesn’t come with something fun like a potato or toxic drinking water, but it’s definitely great that we got Maggie. She’s in her blue onesie with her trusty pacifier in place. Jakks gave her articulation at the head, shoulders, and waist which is basically a ball joint that lets her rotate and pivot. The only issue with Maggie is the same as the rest of the kids: she’s way out of scale with the adults. Her head is the same size as Marge’s and she looks ridiculous in Marge’s arms, if you can get her to stand while holding Maggie. Since she basically is an accessory she doesn’t actually come with any. It might have been a better release model if Jakks gave Marge some accessories and sold Maggie with the Simpson pets as a three pack, but hey, at least we have the whole family.

He can’t properly grip the bat or scratch himself in sensitive areas, but I’m such a mark for the episode that I have to like this Homer.

The Homer variant of Wave 3 is Home Run Homer from the iconic episode “Homer at the Bat.” That’s the one where Homer joins the Nuclear Power softball league with his trusty Wonder Bat. Homer is basically the same head as the first wave Homer with a body clad in his softball uniform. The body is mostly new since the uniform requires red piping which Jakks did with plastic instead of paint. I think the only paint might be his name on the chest, the white belt loops, black belt buckle, and gray spikes on the bottoms of his cleats. For accessories, Homer has a removable hat and good old Wonder Bat. He looks really nice, though the hat is quite large on his head making me question the decision to make it removable and not just part of the sculpt. The real downer though is Homer’s inability to hold his bat with two hands. Solicitation images implied this was possible, but they lied. He also lacks a vertical hinge for his wrists so he can’t call his shot. I would have preferred better articulation and a new expression as well. Still, as a representative from one of my personal favorite episodes, I can’t not like this one.

The mug is nice and round so Lenny doesn’t have to worry about it injuring his eye. The bag on the other hand…

Another member of that famous softball team, Lenny Leonard, also finds himself in Wave 3. Unlike Homer though, this is standard Lenny as one would find him at work at Springfield’s Nuclear Power Plant. Jakks did a good job with getting the color of Lenny’s olive shirt right and I like that he has half-closed eyes as his expression. Lenny is a bit trickier to render in three dimensions so he doesn’t look as on-model as Marge and Homer, but that’s mostly just from the front. If you view him as he would normally be presented in the show from the side or at a three quarters angle he looks solid. His hair is also just a little off as Jakks took an almost semi-realistic view to the shape. In that, it reminds me of their Sonic figures and how his hair (quils) is tough to translate into 3D. For accessories, Lenny has a mug of coffee and a bag lunch. Perfectly suitable for him, and at least he doesn’t have to worry about getting any pudding in his eye.

His mom says he’s cool while his music teacher insists that no one likes him. Who are you going to believe?

The last figure of Wave 3 is the little wiener nobody likes: Milhouse. I kid, of course, as I do like this figure which comes with perhaps the most ambitious accessory in the line yet: a bicycle. It would have been a lot cheaper to just give him an issue of Biclops, though it also would have been funnier to actually give him Lisa’s bike. Milhouse looks great though, but suffers from the child scaling like Bart and Lisa. His articulation is essentially the same as Bart and he can sit on the bike fairly convincingly. The bike has a stand, though it can still be tricky to get Milhouse properly balanced on it. The one difference with Bart that’s a bit odd is Jakks sculpted his knee articulation into his shorts rather than have it begin just past them. I suppose his shorts are traditionally longer than Bart’s, but it does look a bit weird. It’s also extra noticeable since he needs to bend his knees to ride his bike. That aside, he does look good and I think he turned out better than Bart and Lisa.

Carl’s absence feels especially painful now. And that’s the Super7 Faming Moe, if you’re curious.

As I mentioned before, Wave 4 is the one I’m struggling with and the only figure I’ve managed to land is Barney Gumble. If that’s the only I can find at least it might be the best. Barney rivals Marge for title of most on-model which is impressive considering he has a design that should also be hard to translate. He scales well with Homer, Moe, and Lenny and has that perfect dead-ass drunk expression. If I have one critique, it’s that his shirt is too orange when it should be closer to a salmon. He actually articulates pretty damn well and comes with two accessories: a lunchbox and a big hoagie. Yeah, they don’t really make much sense for Barney, but Jakks wasn’t going to pack alcohol related accessories in with him. I’m struggling to think of anything from the show that would work. I guess they could have given him a soda can, but that would be equally lame. Maybe that plant he never watered? A cup of quarters? No, that might be too close to a gambling reference. Maybe this should just have been the first alternate portrait in the line of Barney mid belch?

“The problem with kids these days…”

Wave 5 is where we’re getting some more side characters, though I would say it’s headlined by the inclusion of Abe “Grandpa” Simpson. This is where Jakks seems to be taking the portrait criticism to heart as Abe appears to be clearly modeled after the “Old man yells at cloud,” meme. I just find it ironic that they took this approach with a character who would have looked good with a dead-eyed stare. Still, I do like it though Abe’s head looks a little fat to me. The forehead area doesn’t have as dramatic a slope to it so he’s a bit off-model. It’s almost like a more Saturday morning approach to the character. The sculpt of his shirt looks nice though and his bolo tie is painted. His glasses are also clear plastic unlike Milhouse who has his eyes painted onto the lenses. The eyeglasses are too thick, a frequent issue for toy manufacturers, as well. His lone accessory is a cane and that suits him. If I am allowed to be pedantic, and Simpsons fans are known for such, Jakks did screw up by making his left hand the fisted hand and the right the gripping hand if they wanted to properly match the Old man yells at cloud image. I’ll let it slide though.

I don’t really care for any of Mrs. K’s accessories so I think I’ll just give her Lenny’s coffee.

Bart’s teach, Mrs. Krabappel, finds herself among the characters of Wave 5. Like Lenny, she’s a bit off-model as she has a head that’s tough to render in three dimensions. Her eyes are off and it throws off the look of her as they’re too narrow and elongated. A half-lidded approach might have served her well and some bag lines under the eyes. She’s a little too happy and glowing for the downtrodden teacher. She also suffers from the same issue as Marge where her plastic skirt hinders any articulation she may have at the waist and below. Her accessories are a ruler and an eraser, which I guess is fine. I honestly would have been okay with a repeat of Lenny’s coffee mug or her picture of Woodrow. There’s no paint on either accessory so they don’t look great and you can barely tell the ruler is sculpted. She can hold them though so I guess that works.

Out of the box, he could hold his breath spray, but I left him holding his glass of OJ for too long and now he can’t.

The last figure we’re going to take a look at is everyone’s favorite aquatic lifeform enthusiast, Troy McClure. You may remember him from such toy lines as The World of Springfield and Super7 ReAction! He’s depicted in his traditional look of pink sweater, red tie, and white pants. He has a nice, toothy, grin and I like that Jakks did include some bags under the eyes for old Troy, though some crow’s feet would have helped too. The head is maybe a tad undersized as it looks a bit off-model to me. I’m also surprised they went with an open mouth instead of just his smile, but I don’t mind as it makes him look like he’s in mid sentence. They also didn’t give him a microphone which surprised me and instead he has his breath spray from the episode “A Fish Called Selma.” I had to look at the package to figure out what it was as it looks more like a bottle with a screw top. His other accessory is pretty great though: The Juice Loosener. As seen in the episode “Marge in Chains,” the Juice Loosener is a juicer with horrible efficiency as illustrated by the included glass with an orange, circular, sticker on the bottom to show how much juice one can expect to get from an entire bag of oranges. It’s pretty great, and since Troy has a thumb’s up gesture for his left hand, he can hold the glass in his right (FYI: not an easy fit) and enthusiastically gesture with his left!

Sure would be nice to have a bully to chase these two. Or a principal.

That’s going to do it for this look at some Jakks Pacific Simpsons figures. I would say, in short, Marge, Barney, Milhouse, and Home Run Homer turned out pretty great by the standards of the line. The rest are pretty good, including Maggie, though suffer from being a bit off-model. I find Mrs. Krabappel to be the least interesting of them because it doesn’t capture the right spirit of the character for me. She’s sarcastic while this figure makes her look more like the ideal teacher eager to spread some knowledge. It’s hard to argue though that this isn’t a solid selection of characters. I assume we’ll be seeing the likes of Skinner, Ralph, and maybe even Super Intendent Chalmers pretty soon. Jasper would pair well with Abe, and we still don’t have a 5″ scale Flanders or Sideshow Bob. If the next wave has been announced I missed it, but I’ll also remain on the hunt for Bumblebee Man and especially Carl. My Lenny needs his Carl as do the other denizens of Moe’s Tavern.

We’ve got more Simpsons goodness from Jakks and others:

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons Homer and Bart

I think it was early this year that we found out Super7’s line of ReAction and Ultimates! action figures based on The Simpsons was ending after just a couple of years. That meant Super7 was done after four waves of Ultimates! and four waves of ReAction figures. We had seen figures for a possible fifth…

by Joe

Jakks Pacific The Simpsons – The Rest of Wave 1 and Wave 2

Back in October, we took a look at the very first wave of action figures from Jakks Pacific based on The Simpsons. At the time, I only had two figures from that inaugural wave: Homer and Bart. It was a series of great interest to myself and other Simpsons fans since it’s existence basically meant…

by Joe

Lego 10352 – The Simpsons – Krusty Burger

It has been just over 10 years since I last posted about a Lego set featuring The Simpsons. That last set, the Kwik-E-Mart, came out in 2015 and was preceded by the home of the Simpson family the year prior. Those sets along with two waves of mini figures seemed to sell pretty well, but…

by Joe

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September 2, 2025

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Triceraton

By Joe
Dinosaurs from space – what’s not to like?

My summer of discounts continues today with yet another Super7 Ultimates! release. Back when wave 7 of Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was unveiled I quickly locked in a preorder for three figures: Punker Don, Robotic Bebop, and Triceraton. By the time the line released way, way, late, I only ended up with two of those three figures. That’s because as product was coming out and impressions and images were being shared online, there was one figure in that set I wasn’t willing to drop $55 on: Triceraton. Triceraton was one of my favorites in the vintage Playmates line. I got him along with Slash and for me the two were a pair of intergalactic do-badders. The figure was on my short list of wants from Super7 so I didn’t cancel that preorder hastily, but I did. Now that I’ve been able to get the figure for considerably less, the hope here is that I’ll be way more happy now than I would have been had I spent $55 on it.

For a big boy, he sure comes with a lot of stuff.

Super7 used to have a pretty good thing going. It got to take action figures that were 30 years old, upscale them, cut in some more articulation, and call it a day. It was a simple business model that seemed to please TMNT collectors. Who it didn’t please was Playmates. And as much as it annoys me that Super7 has seemingly been forced to cancel its vintage-inspired line of TMNT figures, I also get it. Triceraton is a perfect example of the basic approach the company was taking in that this is barely any different from the figure released back in the day. He’s just bigger. There’s a bit more paint, there’s some more joints, and the accessories are all painted now. There are some new accessories as well, but this thing is not much of a departure from the Playmates original. Considering how much I like that old figure, I’m happy with the approach here. Some figures I’ve wanted Super7 to make more alterations to, but this isn’t one of them.

I like how this guy scales.
With some NECA dinos.

Triceraton comes in the old style of Ultimates! box complete with a purple, personalized, slip-cover. The figure is a beast at just about 8″ to the top of whatever that ridge is on the back of the head of a triceratops. He’s not just tall, but chunky, and there’s some weight to this boy. Shockingly, he might be the third biggest figure in the wave he was a part of thanks to Robotic Bebop and the massive Guerilla Gorilla. Like I said, the design does not stray from what Playmates did before. The skin is orange, there’s still the blue around the eyes, the right horn is wrapped in green, and he’s got that weird, blue, abdomen. The base color for most of the figure is orange, but Super7 elected to apply a wash to the skin which really adds some depth. It’s fully textured too and the finish is really strong. The armor on the torso is a lustrous silver and they nailed the shade of blue Playmates used for its own figure. The belt is now fully painted with brown and silver and the rats dangling from the belt are also fully painted. The silver and purple on the forearms is painted cleanly as is the fingerless glove on the right hand. The only painted part that looks off is the exposed flesh on the legs which is orange painted over green and it’s pretty obvious. That’s kind of it though as this is a strong looking action figure and it’s easily the figure’s best selling point.

Snack time!

The figure also comes pretty loaded with accessories. We don’t get a second head, but we get three sets of hands: gripping, fists, and a clenching/style posed hand. He also has updated versions of his old guns. There’s the one that looks like a machine gun and one that looks like some laser or something. They’re both done on silver plastic, but hit with a spray of light, metallic, blue paint that looks really cool. That’s the old stuff, for new stuff we get a pair of canister grenades. They’re the same style that’s molded on the belt of the current and vintage version so it’s cool to get some as actual accessories. They’re also painted silver and they fit well in the clenching hands. We also get two wrist accessories. The first one appears to fit on the right forearm and has a communicator or something on it. It flips open and it’s all silver. It would have been neat if the screen was painted a different color, but it’s cool, though a little tough to get the clasps in place. For the left forearm, there’s a strap-on energy sword. It’s basically all silver with the blade done in translucent green. It’s very fitting for the line and looks pretty bad ass though it too is a bit of a pain to get strapped into place. Triceraton also has a respirator since Earth’s oxygen levels are poisonous to him. It’s done with a gummy plastic that’s very pliable. The mask and hose are transparent with the straps brown. It’s connected to a monitor that’s silver and clips onto his belt. It’s very easy to get onto the figure and I think it looks great, though like the wrist communicator, I wish the monitor had more detailed paint work. Lastly, there’s a third rat for him to snack on or you can just add it to Rat King, but he might not appreciate that it’s dead.

“What’s wrong? Can’t look up?”

The figure looks great and comes with a lot of stuff. The old accessories are here and the new ones are actually pretty awesome, so why didn’t I want to pay full price? It all comes down to articulation. And not just how much the figure moves, but what some of the articulation choices did to the look of the figure. This guy is has more points of articulation than the original, but functionally there isn’t much of an upgrade here. For joints, we get head, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrist, waist, hips, knees, ankles, and tail. Of those, the ones that function only as a swivel joint include the head, waist, and tail. If the head is on a ball joint, it’s not getting any benefit from it. The elbows and knees swivel, but the hinge joint is useless in both places. For elbow, the range of motion is maybe 30 degrees. It’s almost nothing. The bicep swivel basically doesn’t work. The wrists rotate and hinge fine, but the hinge for the gripping hands is the wrong hinge. The hips and ankles are pretty much the only joints that work well.

That’s as far as it goes.
What is this shit?!

And there’s the knees. The hinge joint has decent range. It’s less than 90 degrees, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from this line. The aesthetics though are trash. This is a character with holes in his pants over his knees and Super7 did not consider that when cutting in the articulation. It can bend only a minimal amount before exposing the big, green, hinge right in the middle of that patch of orange “flesh.” It looks so hideous that I honestly can’t imagine ever posing this guy with his knees bent which sucks. Why they didn’t just confine the openings in the pants to be above the joint is beyond me. That would have been the simplest solution. Or they could have done an overlay for the pants. I get why they didn’t just use an orange hinge as then there would be an ugly orange block of plastic on the back of the knee and it too would look stupid. You could argue it would be better to have the eyesore on the back of the figure as opposed to the front, but Super7 seems to always prioritize a neutral pose and that’s their right. It’s just another example of Super7 encountering a problem during the engineering process of an action figure and having no answer. And rather than try to come up with one, they just say “screw it.”

At least these guys look pretty good together.

This figure is a glorified 5 POA figure. You will get rotation at the head, shoulders, wrists, and waist. The hips articulation is only so useful without knee articulation and that’s a shame. A ball-joint at the waist would have been nice and another joint in the diaphragm too. The design of the figure seems accommodating for such with the chest armor and the divided abdomen thanks to the blue coloring. Super7 opted not to cut it up though which would be defensible if we were getting better articulation out of the joints already present. The head being just a swivel is pretty terrible too. The NECA Triceraton is a very similar sculpt and that guy can look straight up. There’s really no excuse for what’s present.

I think they’re going to need some help taking this guy down.

And that’s why I refused to pay full price for Super7’s Triceraton. There’s a lot I like about this figure and a lot that just drives me crazy. It’s a very good microcosm of the Super7 experience: it’s big, it looks good, it moves like shit, and costs too damn much. For $55, I obviously can’t recommend it which is why I didn’t buy it. For $32, which is what I paid for it, I think it’s acceptable. I have a big, orange, dinosaur that’s going to look cool in my TMNT collection and it only cost 2 dollars more than those silly vintage style figures Super7 does. He’s not going to be fun to play with and pose, but at least he has enough stuff that he can have his look changed up to some degree (though I’m probably going to just keep everything on him). And for $32 I think that’s good enough, but only just barely. I got mine from Big Bad Toy Store where the figure is still priced at $32 so if you want him, go get him.

Check out some more Super7 discount all-stars:

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Wingnut & Screwloose

Late in 2023, Super7 started shipping the ninth wave of its line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! action figures. I bought none. It was a wave with no compelling characters for me as it contained Slam Dunkin’ Donatello, Scumbug, Wingnut & Screwloose, Zak the Neutrino, and a flocked Master Splinter variant. Scumbug had been…

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Foot Soldier (Battle Damaged)

The last Super7 review I did was for the wave of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on the 2003 cartoon and I concluded it by speculating it would be awhile before I found a reason to review another figure from Super7. That turned out to be a lie. With it being revealed that Super7 has…

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Mutagen Ooze Leonardo (now with the rest!)

If you’re into collecting action figures then you’re likely familiar with the concept of a variant. Tooling action figures, the process of cutting steel into molds in which plastic is inserted to create the figure, is the most expensive part of creating an action figure. That’s why it’s in the manufacturer’s best interest to get…

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by Joe

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August 28, 2025

Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

By Joe
Who’s cooler than Ryu? Ken!

One of my most anticipated releases of 2025 came out of no where. I was a kid during the early 90s and into video games so I know a thing or two about Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was everywhere and is pretty much the reason why the one-on-one fighting game became a huge genre for arcades and home consoles. I actually never owned a copy of that game which kind of surprises me to this day, but it’s mostly because I always had access to it via cousins and friends. Plus, not long after the game took off the copycats started showing up and I found myself lured in by the violence on display in Mortal Kombat. That ended up being my fighting game franchise of choice until later in the decade when I found myself the unexpected owner of a Sony PlayStation. A lot of the franchises I had grown up with in gaming just weren’t available on Sony’s machine early on, but Street Fighter was. Street Fighter Alpha ended up being the third game I’d get for my PlayStation (after Doom and Twisted Metal) and thus it became my most played game in the franchise so these character designs stand out for me the most. Still, I didn’t think I’d be all that interested in an action figure line should one surface.

Ken comes with a solid spread of accessories for the price.

The past couple of years, Jada has been making waves with its figures based on Ultra Street Fighter II. I’ve basically admired them from afar, but otherwise haven’t been that tempted to dive-in because I just don’t need that kind of collection in my life. Then along came Storm Collectibles and its Storm Arena line. Storm was known to me for its many video game-based toy lines, but they were always in a weird scale and pretty damn expensive. Still, they looked so good that I’ve considered getting one just to basically try them out, but I’ve never pulled the trigger. The Arena line is a new one for them and it’s more of a true 1:12 scale line. Their own lines were always billed as 1:12, but they were way bigger. For the Arena line, Storm secured the Street Fighter license from Capcom and went with looks based on Street Fighter Alpha 3, which was pretty much the same as the first Alpha game. And the best part of all was the price of $26. I may not have benefitted directly in buying a Jada figure, but I have to believer their line and pricing are huge reasons why this line from Storm is being priced so low.

I suspect Marvel vs Capcom fans will have real interest in this line.

Ken is the first release in the line which works for me as I always preferred him to Ryu. At least stylistically, Ryu’s hyper Hadoken super move was definitely way easier to pull-off than Ken’s Shoryuken based super, but not without its uses. Packaging for the line is very similar to most import offerings like S.H.Figuarts and MAFEX as it’s a window box with some game art. There is a lot of plastic used to protect the figure inside so the window is obscured, but I’ll take it over a figure with smeared paint. Ken stands at about 6.125″ to the top of his head which is a pretty decent height for what is probably the most basic sized character in the line. I’m fairly certain this same body is used for Ryu and it might be in use for the upcoming Dan.

I’ve always gotten the impression that Ken is one cocky S.O.B.

Ken is very true to his appearance in the Alpha series. There is more an anime look to the design and he has his long hair which is tied off with a red ribbon. The gi is pretty much the same as his look in other games as it’s red with a black belt. It’s also sleeveless and he wears some yellow gloves. The basic design for these figures is colored plastic throughout, a soft, rubber, overlay for the torso, a soft rubber overlay for the upper part of the gi, and soft, rubbery, hands and hair. Paint is mostly reserved for the face and gloves, but there’s also some light shading all throughout the red. The gi is also textured and Storm did a nice job of matching the shades of red between the mixed media. The figure absorbs light well despite not having a real painted finish. It doesn’t have a plastic look and does have a more premium look than something like Marvel Legends despite basically being the same price.

If you’re of a Hadoken person you’ll need to get Ryu.

The price of admission may be relatively cheap, but that doesn’t mean Storm is skimping on accessories. Ken comes with two portraits – neutral and a smirk. The neutral expression has almost a hint of a smile and exudes cockiness, which feels appropriate for Ken. The smirk is a nice companion, though mine had a black dot on the chin. I normally leave my set as-is for my reviews, but I was so annoyed by it that I’ve already fixed it (a Magic Eraser sheet did the job). For hands, Ken has a set of fists, Hadoken posed, a right peace gesture, and a left “come here” gesture. There’s also an effect piece for his Shoryuken attack. It’s an acrylic piece that fits over his fist and has a nice yellow to orange to red gradient. If you want the Hadoken you have to get Ryu. I wouldn’t be surprised if alternate colorways crop up with different effect parts. There’s also an included stand, though it’s not a great one. It’s a disc with a post that plugs in and on that post is a sliding piece that’s ratcheted. The sliding piece can accept an acrylic clamp that’s similar to a doll stand. It works off of pressure as the further you slide it into the holster the tighter the clamp. There’s also a black, metal, version included though I’m not sure what advantage that offers over the plastic one. Mine also has a rubber piece over one side of the clamp, but not the other. I’ve hear some people didn’t get the black piece at all. The stand works, but it can be a challenge to balance. I’ve had Ken take a couple of tumbles because the weight wasn’t distributed properly. The base could stand to be heavier or bigger.

The stand can be a little tricky to balance, but it works.

Criticisms of the stand aside, it is still a stand that works and it’s included along with an alternate portrait, two extra sets of hands, and an effect part all for $26. Most Marvel Legends only come with an extra set of hands and maybe another head. This is a nice spread for the price and Storm is giving collectors pretty much all that they need for a Ken display. A Hadoken would have been nice, but that would also mean we would need another stand for that. They did opt to make the hair non-removable from the heads so if there’s one critique it could be that one of the heads could have had a different shape to the hair and if they were interchangeable it would add to the display options.

He’s going to hit all of those “Ken” poses.

The look and accessories are great, but the real selling point of a Storm figure for me is the articulation. Storm has a good reputation in this area and it’s what I was most excited to test out with this figure. The articulation points are even more than what one would expect of a super articulated line: double ball peg head, ball neck, hinged ball shoulders, butterfly, bicep swivel, double-elbows, ball-hinged wrists, diaphragm ball joint, waist ball, ab crunch, ball and socket drop-down hips, thigh swivel, double knees, ankle swivel, ankle hinge, ankle rocker, toe hinge. Range everywhere is pretty damn good. The head can’t look up as well as maybe some would want, but it’s because of the long hair. Storm took advantage of the character to design to get as much articulation into the figure as possible. The ab crunch is an example as it would be pretty ugly on a shirt-less figure, but with Ken it’s a non-issue. They actually were going to use it on the famously shirtless Sagat, but scrapped it because fans thought it was ugly. The gi is removable on Ken which will allow you to really push some of the joints to the extreme, but again, Storm took advantage of the design to make it work as best as it could with the gi on. Taking it off reveals an odd sculpt that tapers in dramatically at the waist to make sure the figure isn’t overly bulky with it on. You can do it, but it will look kind of stupid. I had a tough time with it so I didn’t end up taking any shirtless pics of Ken, but you can certainly find them in other reviews if you wish.

What are you doing? You’re both Capcom, you need to unite against the Marvel!

The articulation is as advertised. Ken can hit all of his signature poses without much of an issue. The classic Hadoken pose does require some fiddling, but it is doable. He can also kick super high and hit the splits. The drop-down hips are on a big hinge and there’s no looseness. I don’t know that it adds much, but it’s not as annoying as other drop-down hips nor does it feel fragile like some other figures in my collection. This guy feels very sturdy and the joints are all smooth. There’s no looseness anywhere and nothing was even remotely stuck on mine. The aesthetics of the joints are all plus with perhaps the only thing close to an eyesore being the feet. There’s a little gap between the ankle and feet which provides for excellent range on the hinge, but might be too much of a gap for some. I’m personally okay with it, but the cut-up look of the bare feet in general might turn some off.

This won’t be my last purchase in this line.

I find it hard to believe though that the feet would be a dealbreaker for anyone. I can’t think of anything with this figure that would be a deal breaker for an action figure collector. If you don’t care about Ken or Street Fighter Alpha then, yeah, you probably won’t feel compelled to buy this. Or maybe you will? I thought I didn’t care enough to take a look, but the allure of this one was too strong. This is a really well-constructed action figure at an incredible price. The price has ticked up since it was originally announced, but not substantially. I think Big Bad Toy Store has it for $28 now because of rising costs associated with tariffs and other such nonsense. Hopefully it doesn’t get worse and hopefully this isn’t some introductory price to lure us in. Sagat is more expensive, but he’s substantially larger and that’s the same sort of thing Jada does with its line too. This figure really is a contender for figure of the year. I don’t think Storm could have done much better, or any other company. I’m not all-in on this line, but I’m definitely getting Ryu and Sagat and I’ll keep my eyes on it. I’d love to see Akuma, Blanka, and some others and I’m sure they’ll be announced at some point. Dan is currently up for preorder and we’ve seen Charlie and Chun-Li as well. If Storm can deliver on this level of quality at this price with the rest I don’t see many other toy lines beating it.

This Ken figure may be from Street Fighter Alpha 3, but I think Marvel vs Capcom fans will be very interested as well:

Jada Toys Mega Man

We just had 11 consecutive weeks of action figure reviews on Super7’s line of figures based on The Simpsons. Things were getting pretty negative in that sphere as that line went out with a whimper. I don’t like reviewing bad figures and it’s mostly because everything I review here I buy for my own collection.…

by Joe

Marvel Legends Retro Iron Man and Plasma Canon

90’s nostalgia has taken me on a ride of late. I could blame X-Men ’97, but it could just be me getting older and having more fondness for the decades that have come and gone. It’s not a bad thing, but it can be bad for the wallet. Lately, I started looking at my somewhat…

by Joe

Arcade 1Up Marvel Super Heroes Counter-Cade

Arcade 1Up has been around for a few years now selling arcade cabinets at a reduced size and also a reduced price. The cabinets are significantly smaller than an actual arcade cabinet, but still plenty large enough to take up a lot of floor space in your home. And while they’re cheaper than the “real…

by Joe

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August 26, 2025

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Elite Foot Assassin

By Joe
There’s a doings a-foot.

NECA has gradually built out the ranks for Shredder’s Foot Clan via its line of action figures based on the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as published by Mirage Studios. The clan got started way back in 2016 with a box set released in conjunction with New York Comic Con. That set featured Shredder, two Foot ninja, and a Foot Elite ninja. The sculpts were based on the original Eastman and Laird intended one-shot that became anything but. As the comic went on, the look of just about every character changed. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird grew as artists and refined some of the looks they had devised initially. Once TMNT became a marketing juggernaut, the pair stepped back allowed other artists such as Jim Lawson to work on the books which further moved the characters away from their initial looks. NECA has marked that with its re-release of the turtles which emulate the work of Lawson and now we’ve moved onto other characters like the Foot Elite Assassin.

He’s far more intimidating than the old Foot Elite.

I’m not sure if the Elite Assassin was ever intended to be different from the old Foot Elite. With Shredder dead, these guys basically assumed leadership of the Foot Clan and they were depicted as bigger and badder than what NECA gave us back in 2016. The design is more or less the same though as a regular Foot ninja with a faceguard like Shredder, a round hat resembling a conical sedge hat, and the remnants of a cape or cloak. Where this guy differs from the old look is in the proportions and overall size. He comes in at just about a full 7″ to the top of his head. His chest is much broader and there’s more meat front to back as well. His arms and legs are equally beefy, though not on the same level as the Foot Enforcer. He’s overall just way more imposing and shares none of his parts with the old figure.

He also has some size on the turtles.

The version of the figure I’m looking at today is the standard colors one. We already have seen two other colorways with the first one being an all red and black edition. I think that one is based on the IDW reissues, but there’s also a black and white one which was released around the same time as this standard one. The standard one follows the basic Foot coloring with a brownish-red tunic, gray pants, and brown wraps on the forearms and shins. There’s a big brown sash across the midsection and from the hat drapes a red hood of sorts that leaves the face visible. For the face, we have the faceguard which is done in silver and the flesh is painted all in shadow with two, beady, white eyes peering through. The hat can be removed and the red hood is attached to it. Doing so reveals a somewhat comically small head, but if the head was made any bigger it would probably look a little too big with the added hood. Plus, it’s not meant to be displayed without the hat since it leaves a big peg hole in the top of the head sort of like a Lego mini figure.

If you don’t like the cape it can easily be removed.

The paint is fairly simple, but clean, and has the usual NECA comic embellishments. There’s a lot of linework the emphasize the muscles and to outline all of the wraps. There it’s remarkably clean though if you get in close you’re likely to find some places where the linework doesn’t precisely match the carved-out groove. The faceguard is a nice, metallic, silver and the forearm armor contains a hit of light blue shading at the edges to create the illusion of a metallic surface. It’s a nice effect and so simple which makes it a shame that other companies don’t do the same with their figures often opting to just use bare, gray, plastic for metal parts. I do very much like the proportions on this guy so a tip of the hat to sculptor Gurjeet Singh. Nicole Falk is also credited, though I see her name most often credited with “fabrication” which makes me think she handled the cloak, which is also well-tailored and looks fabulous. Geoffrey Trapp and Mike Puzzo handled the paint for this guy.

Oops
Time’s up, turtles!

The Elite Assassin comes with a fair amount of weapons and other assorted parts to do some assassinating. The hands available include sets of fists, gripping, chop, and open/style-posed hands. He also has an alternate portrait with no faceguard. According to the box, the face is supposed to be a clean-shaven face and there’s some shading applied to the lips, but some wires were crossed at the factory and the lip shading turned into a mustache. I’ll never use it so I don’t care, but it is kind of funny. For weapons, we have a short sword, a handheld sickle, a longer sword with a ball and chain attached to the hilt, and everyone’s favorite weapon, a pair of gray sticks. These guys may have been drawn with such weapons in a comic somewhere, but I don’t think it’s something we really need. He also has a time bomb which I’m sure is from the comics and it’s well sculpted and painted. The bladed weapons are all silver with some blue applied and it looks nice, though different from how they do metal with the turtles. For some reason the Foot get silver and the turtles get white. Makes sense to me!

“I’m not exactly feeling intimidated here, dude.”

Articulation is where these NECA figures often come up short and the Elite Assassin is no different. He does some things well, and some things not so well. The head is the unusual setup of a ball peg because the head is so small. This is the type of joint a lot of import companies utilize for wrists, too bad NECA doesn’t do the same. As a joint for a head, it’s fine, but the hood is going to limit rotation quite a bit. Shoulders are conventional hinged ball joints and we have bicep swivels, double elbows, and swivel and hinge wrists. The bicep swivels on mine are tight and when they do move they feel like they’re binding more than rotating as the bicep wants to kick back to where it was. Definitely something to be careful with. The hands all have a horizontal hinge, including the gripping hands, which is unfortunate and honestly quite annoying at this point. I’m thinking of just boycotting NECA figures that don’t come with the proper wrist articulation at this point because they’re so, maddeningly, inconsistent with it.

He’s not a total stiff, but some waist articulation would have really helped out.

The only articulation in the torso is a ball-joint in the upper diaphragm. It kicks forward and back a suitable amount and will rotate some as well. It’s not going to provide a true ab crunch though, but it would have with a ball-jointed waist. Given the large sash around the waist I don’t know why NECA didn’t just do this. A ball joint there would give him some nice forward and back and provide for more natural rotation. Hips are the typical ball and socket with a thigh swivel built in. There’s double-jointed knees and ankle hinges and rockers that work fine. Missing is a boot swivel and forearm swivel, even though there are natural places for such to exist. It’s annoying with the forearms since the armor continues onto the back of the hands so rotating the hands breaks that up. Lastly, we have a nice wire going through the cape which does allow for some dynamic posing of that.

I guess if he doesn’t want to get up close, this ball and chain thing will have to do as a ranged attack.

This is a solid figure that’s so close to being a great figure. The missing waist articulation is more of an annoyance for me than the wrists and I don’t know why NECA didn’t put that in. If he had that he’d move pretty damn well. I think much of this figure is utilized for the new Shredder currently available in a two-pack. I don’t know if that one has waist articulation and I don’t plan on finding out until it’s available as a single-packed figure (or it hits deep discount). And for an assassin, I do think this guy should have some kind of a ranged weapon. The sword with the ball and chain is pretty cool, but doesn’t seem very practical for an assassin. He looks cool though and isn’t a total stiff so if this is something you’re interested in based on the look of it you’ll probably be content. I found this guy at Target where it only set me back $35. He’ll probably be available in various other places eventually if he’s not already, though probably at a small markup.

If you feel like your Foot Elite Assassin needs some companions then these might interest you:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Karai as The Shredder

Where do you take your heroic comic book franchise when you kill your main villain in the first issue? Well, you first undo that rash decision by bringing him back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird famously killed The Shredder in the first issue of their comic. They never intended to…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Foot Enforcer

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…

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by Joe

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