After a disappointing 2019 for Bucky O’Hare, 2020 has managed to be far more kind. No new figures were released last year, but this year has seen three new releases in the line including two new sculpts. I know 2020 has been a rather lackluster year, to say the least, so we need to take our wins where we can. Closing out the year for the Bucky O’Hare line is Captain Mimi LaFloo. She is just the second figure in the line to not be featured in the vintage Hasbro line of action figures from the early 90s. And unlike First Mate Jenny, she was never even planned for that line making her about as new a thing as any figure can get for this line.

Fans of the cartoon series Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars should be familiar with Mimi. She debuted in the third episode of the series, “Home, Swampy, Home” which was my pick for best episode in the entire run. She returned in the “The Artificers of Aldebaran” as a full-fledged captain of her own ship, The Screaming Mimi, though she still had yet to hire a crew (funds are notoriously tight for the mammal frigates). Even though she originated with the cartoon, she is still depicted here in her Continuity Comics colors in her captain’s uniform. It’s not that drastic a change and really the outfit just features more color and detail when compared with her cartoon counterpart.

When Mimi was announced as the next figure, a lot of chatter I saw online surrounding the announcement was surprise, with a tinge of disappointment. Sure, Mimi isn’t part of the main crew like Blinky and Willy, nor is she one of the heavy hitters on the villain’s side like Toadborg and Al Negator, but she really was one of the best characters to come out of that vintage cartoon. She’s a strong-willed fighter and takes orders from no one, and since she’s basically the only female other than Jenny to receive much air time it’s not that surprising a company like Boss Fight Studio, which strives for diversity with its toys, would be drawn to her. I actually had her fairly high on my wants list when I broached the subject a while back, so while I shared in the surprise that some of my fellow collectors exhibited, I was certainly not dismayed. Plus, I think it’s exciting to see Boss Fight step outside of the Hasbro comfort zone with this property.

Mimi arrives on the standard, resealable, blister card Boss Fight is known for with artwork provided by Continuity Comics to go along with a character bio on the reverse. She stands a tick over the 4″ mark, nearly 4 1/2″ including the ears, and comes bundled with the usual assortment of accessories. She comes out of the package sporting a smile which can be swapped out in favor of one of two extra faceplates: an open mouthed winking expression and a smile with exposed teeth. She has two trigger finger hands to go along with two pistols featuring a sculpt unique to her as well as a set of fists and a set of open hands. The pistols are the same shiny, metallic, silver we’ve seen with the other figures and fit easily in her hands. Her card art seems to depict her with a pistol and a small shotgun-like blaster that is unfortunately not a part of the figure’s loadout. She also has little nubs on her belts to holster the weapons. Lastly, she has a removable hat that’s designed to sit at an angle over one ear. There’s molded plastic inside the hat to fit over an ear as opposed to just hanging or resting on her head. You can even adjust the positioning a bit to sit higher or lower, though you can’t fit the hat in between her ears if you wish her to look a bit more regal.

Where this line earns its keep is with the sculpt, and Mimi fits right in. She’s well-sculpted with lots of detail in the exposed fur on her person. Her uniform is a truly spectacular shade of blue with lots of bright yellow and red trim which is right at home in this line. The boots might be my favorite part of the sculpt as they have a really interesting look to them with straps and stars affixed over the top of the foot. Being a fox, she also sports a big, bushy, tail that not only looks great, but acts like a third leg making it relatively easy to position her on a shelf. The inclusion of the tail, and the fact that she’s a female, lends herself well to direct comparisons with Jenny. Both feature much slimmer arms than say Bucky, but they don’t feel fragile. Mimi has a bit more going on with her accents like the shoulder pads and the hem of her top, which hangs like a skirt.

This line has become known for containing specific accessories like the faceplates. I do like the simple default look, but this figure might be the only one where I’m not sure which face I like best. I found the winking one a touch odd looking in promotional images with its combination of an open mouth and a wink, but in person I find it pretty eye-catching. It captures the character’s playful side well and adds a little “fun” to the display. The toothy smile is intended to be the more fierce or battle expression. It’s kind of odd because the smile on the front of her face looks like any old smile, but look closer and you’ll see gritting teeth on the character’s left side. It’s similar in approach to Dead-Eye’s teeth-gritting expressions, but it just looks odder on a fox to not see teeth the whole way down the side of her muzzle or at least a continuation of the lipstick. I would not be at all surprised though if this is a Continuity mandate and refers to how they draw her. And speaking of Continuity, I also feel I should point out that she does not have the tuft of blonde hair she featured in the cartoon. My guess is that was a show addition and not something reflected in the Continuity art, so I don’t consider it a shortcoming, but felt like I should acknowledge it.

When it comes to articulation, Mimi should feel rather familiar. This line has done a good job of getting as much articulation as it can into what are fairly small figures. Her head is on a ball-joint and can rotate quite freely. She has little restriction in her design and can look up and down as well as tilt her head side-to-side. The shoulders are ball-jointed with hinges that allow her arms to go out, but she does have those shoulder pads that prevent her from reaching straight up. She does not possess a bicep swivel, but does have a swivel at the elbow along with a standard hinge, and a wrist swivel. On her torso, there’s a waist swivel behind her belt and her legs are attached via ball-pegs. The skirt of her uniform does hinder her legs a bit, and Boss Fight did put slits in the side to loosen it somewhat, but functionally the range of motion is pretty good. Her legs can swivel at the top of the knee, and her knees are single-hinged. She does not have a boot cut or a toe hinge, since her feet are rather small, but there is a hinge hidden behind those boot straps. She also gets some rocker-motion at the ankle. Lastly, she has that tail which is on a ball joint and has a hinge for good measure. The only disappointment is that, like Jenny, her ankle hinge is susceptible to paint flaking. And underneath the yellow paint is blue plastic. My figure’s paint flaked off immediately out of the package exposing a blue eyesore. The boot straps can hide it a little, but not all the way. On the plus side, at least she has that tail for balance so I should be able to get her into a pose (if I wish) that does conceal the blemish. Her boot just probably won’t be flush with the shelf.

All in all, Captain Mimi LaFloo is pretty great, as expected. She may not be the character a lot of fans were hoping to come next, but I can’t imagine any of them being upset once they have her in hand. Not only is her sculpt great and the paint app clean, but the engineering is probably the best yet. Her faceplates are super easy to swap as are the hands and her pistols can effortlessly be fit into her trigger hands properly. This is great as I’ve had difficulties with that aspect of pretty much every release in this line to some degree, though I’d say each subsequent figure has been an improvement. She scales well with the line and I am truly thrilled to finally have her in my collection after being introduced to the character nearly 30 years ago.

The elephant in the room though, as they say, is “what’s next?” This is the first time I’ve reviewed a figure in this line and didn’t know what would be following it. On the cross-sell, there are no silhouettes to tease an upcoming figure and Boss Fight Studio has been silent on the matter. They did show unpainted prototypes of some mini figures with tiny vehicles akin to a Kid Robot blind box figure, but that was back in February. In the hobby world, no news is often bad news and I know the fear is that Mimi could be the last in the line. Since the first release, Boss Fight Studio has acquired numerous other licenses and it’s possible they’ve outperformed Bucky. There could be difficulties in renewing the license and my initial fear when I saw those mini figures was that maybe Boss Fight felt it needed a lower-priced option to make Bucky viable.

There’s also the simple possibility that COVID, which has reeked havoc upon all of Boss Fight’s releases this year, has simply forced this property to the sideline for now. It took a long time for Bruiser to come out, and pre-orders for Mimi opened in August of 2019. I’d be understanding of Boss Fight if it didn’t want to unveil another figure that collectors would have to wait over a year for. Still, it’s never a good sign when a company won’t even pay lip service to something so fans are going to continue to fear the worst, but hope for the best. If this is the end, it’s a shame the line went out with a less popular character like Mimi LaFloo because there will be some fans who will blame the character for the line’s end, even though the character would probably share little or no blame. This is my favorite toy line going though, and I really hope it continues into 2021 and beyond because there are still many characters I’d love to have. If this is it though, at least I have a tremendous, modern, Bucky O’Hare display as-is which is something I didn’t think was possible just five years ago. Thank you, Boss Fight Studio!