Halloween is drawing near, so there's no better time than any to rewatch The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror specials. Last night's episode gave us a segment revolving around Springfield becoming a wasteland of plastic, and certain citizens ended up becoming plastic themselves. It tickled my funny bone a bit knowing how much I love Simpsons figures then and now. On the topic of such, Jakks Pacific has put out a few Treehouse of Horror-related items for their Simpsons license, including a Costco-exclusive advent calendar and the return of the "premium" figures, with King Homer being out just in time for the season.

The packaging is different from the previous premium figures, being black as opposed to white, and the crowd of characters motif is replaced with various characters in THOH-specific outfits. We didn't see this with Dracula Burns, but that was much earlier in the line, and it probably wasn't until here that Jakks got the idea to give Treehouse of Horror figures unique packaging. Everything else about the box is the same, but I wish Jakks would stop with the plastic ties. They're kind of annoying to get out, and everything is secure enough in the tray that they're unnecessary.

Any Simpsons merch collector would know Playmates did a King Homer figure long ago, but 25 years later, Jakks has given him a well-deserved update. The roaring expression is much more expressive than his predecessor, and reminds me a bit of the previously-released Furious Homer. The likeness is almost perfect, but it’s the colors that are off. The shades of black and white match the episode more than Playmates' Homer, but the nose and ears aren't gray like in the episode. The plush King Homer that Jakks also did didn't have that issue, so why'd they cheap out on paint here? The photos of the figure on the box at least had gray ears, making the lack of details all the more noticeable.

King Homer stands a little shorter than the other Homers Jakks has done, just barely reaching the 5" mark. The sculpt overall is accurate to how he looked in the episode, including some good detail for the fur, but he also gets something the Playmates figure didn't have: shackles. The chains are designed to hook up to the base (more on that below), and they all swivel as well to aid in connection. The figure is shiny all over, though the chains and shackles have a slightly metallic look to them. The pupils and tongue are the only painted areas, but they're at least flawless.

As with the other premium figures, King Homer has a base, and it's his constraints from when Mr. Burns was presenting his captured ape to the rest of New York. The base is about 5 1/4" tall, and it matches the episode very well. Most of the stand has some wood-like details, and the parts that would be metal have a shiny finish like Homer himself. In addition to the chains for Honer's chains to clip onto, there's also a clamp that goes around the waist, and a pair of foot pegs to help Homer stand more securely on the base. Homer on the base makes for a fun display, and there's plenty to ways to pose him with it.

As with the last "premium" Homer, there's a push-button action feature for the arms: push the button on his back, and his arms swing forward. This works with the base, as you can make him break free from his restraints, but other than that, it's not great. The arms don't swing out very far, and the range of the joints isn't enough for "chest-pounding action" like the box claims. It also hinders articulation quite a bit, as the arms only hinge as part of the action feature, and he also loses the floating bicep pieces. There's still swivel/hinge elbows, but they are only designed to hinge inwards. The rest of the usual articulation is still there, with a swivel neck, swivel/hinge wrists, ball-jointed hips and ankles, and hinged knees. Still, I would've preferred useful arm movement over a barely-useful action feature.

Aside from the base, Homer has another accessory in the form of a little Marge. Marge is dressed in her outfit from the segment, and stands a measly 1 1/4" tall. That said, the sculpt and details are very impressive for such a small piece. There's a little bit of bleed and slop, but for the most part, the paint is very well done, with even the smallest of details being painted. Homer's right hand is a gripping pose, so the big Kwybijo can carry Marge, but she is somewhat capable of standing on her own, which is surprising for a tiny figure with even smaller feet.

It's nice to have another premium figure in the line, but I will admit King Homer is weaker than the previous ones, no thanks to the lack of proper coloring on the face and lackluster action feature. He is $5 less than the other premiums at GameStop, so it kind of makes up for his shortcomings, and it's the best place to find him. The other premium figure that should be soon, Fly-head Bart, is a Target exclusive, and hopefully they'll stock him well like they did the recent sedan set.

- 10/20/25...[See More]

Favorite Figure: Jakks Wave 1 articulated Sonic the Hedgehog
Favorite Series: Sonic
Collection Size: Pretty big
Currently Collecting: Jakks Pacific Sonic and wrestling figures
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Favorite Figure: Cw hawkgirl
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Favorite Figure: Neca Alien Ripley Figure
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Favorite Series: Marvel Retro: Fantastic Four (Hasbro, 2020– ); DC Retro: Super Powers (McFarlane, 2022–25); DC Retro: Super Friends (McFarlane, 2025– ); Batman: The Animated Series (McFarlane, 2023– ); & The New Batman Adventures (McFarlane, 2024–25)
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Favorite Figure: Mad Hatter
Favorite Series: Monster High
First Figure: Gaara
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Favorite Series: Jada Toys Cereal Mascots and most things Jakks Pacific
First Figure: World of Nintendo Yoshi in a Toys R Us circa 2014
Want List: McFarlane Toys Shrek and a host of others
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Looking to commission a custom action figure....[See More]

Despite being a mostly forgettable film, This Island Earth was responsible for introducing the Metaluna Mutant, one of the most memorable designs in Universal Monsters history. There have been plenty of figures of the character over the years, including a surprisingly well-made figure by Super7. NECA once again decided to prove they could do better and now has its own version of the Mutant.

Rather than an old poster, the box uses new art done by Jason Edmiston, which was previously used for a magazine, and it looks great. The colors don't quite match the figure, but the details and highlighting are good, and you get plenty of photos of the figure itself on the sides and back. You get the movie name and tagline as well, so you know where it came from.

Sculpted by Thomas Gwyn, the work is comparable to Super7, who was the first to do a more accurate Mutant figure. NECA's is a lot more detailed, including the head. There are all sorts of wash covering the portrait, bringing out the brain-like appearance, and the eyes have a shiny look to them. They also made the "mouth" the correct color, being light blue rather than gold. There's an alternate head which isn't too different, save for a big wound on its forehead, with blood drizzling down both it and the back of the head. Some more detail on the wound would've been nice, but the work is still pretty good.

NECA's Mutant stands taller than S7's, at just under 8 1/2", and is a lot more accurate. The skin is more blue than purple, with various different shades, and there's a subtle texture to the shoulder overlay and back that's made more noticeable by the paint. Said overlay is a soft PVC that's less restrictive on the shoulders than Super7's, thanks to there being some space underneath for them to go out to the sides. The lower body is rather wrinkly, making it look like pants, since the lower part of the costume was a pair of modified slacks. The feet look decent, but the soles are just solid blue, with no paint for the claw-like toes. In general, the paint all around looks good, but there are still a few areas of bleed, as with almost every NECA figure.

NECA also has the edge on Super7 when it comes to articulation, with plenty more joints. The Mutant has a barbell head, neck, and chest, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, forearms, knees, and ankles, ball-jointed waist and hips, swivel biceps, thighs, and calves, and hinged pincers. The joints move very well, but the shoulders and biceps are what you'll want to be careful with. The upper arms are pretty thin, which carries the risk of damaging the bicep pegs. I would know, as the right bicep broke on mine due to too much stress on the plastic, but I was able to fix it using the thumbtack method. Wrist joints like the Super7 version would've been nice, as they'd allow for more poses with the claws. The wounded head is the only accessory here (despite the higher than average price), and while an accessory set seems unlikely, one would be nice.


I wasn't expecting NECA to ever do this character, but they surprised me and quite a few others at Toy Fair earlier this year, and they did a great job. Just about everything is done better than Super7, and while it's a little high at $38, it's still less than what they wanted for theirs. Check your local Target, or online retailers if you can't find it there, and add a lesser-known piece of Universal Monsters history to your shelf. Just be careful with the arms.

- 10/14/25...[See More]

Favorite Figure: Wolverine Marvel Famous Covers
First Figure: Ice cream soldier gijoe
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Masters of the Universe has a very large variety of strange and unique characters; it started off in the 80s, where cartoons and toys weren’t afraid to get weird. One of the stranger characters is Mekaneck, the man with a robotic neck, hence the name. He’s also one of the few Masterverse figures I have, and he’ll be the first one from said line I’ll review.

The Masterverse packaging started out uniform, with blue window boxes for everything, but it’s since gotten more unique. Everyone gets unique artwork for their boxes, and Mekaneck’s is very nice. It’s not just him on the box; there’s the Ground Ripper behind him, and Clawful can be seen in the background. There’s a few ties on the inside, but getting them out is no hassle, and most of the accessories are put to the side in a little paper bag. The only other company I’ve seen do that is Hasbro.

The New Eternia figures tend to stay true to the original character designs, and Mekaneck isn’t much different from his original toy. The portrait is very accurate to what came out in the 80s, bearing the same emotionless look and funky helmet with visor. The visor is somewhat metallic when it comes to paint, but the front uses a reflective material, sort of like a funhouse mirror. I think it adds a lot to the look, and the bold, clean paint all over certainly helps. The torso armor doesn’t obscure his face as much as past figures of him did, and you can remove it if you feel like doing so by undoing the straps on the sides.

At about 7 1/2" tall, Mekaneck bears red and silver armor over a mostly navy blue outfit, and the outfit has a few changes from the original, like a bit more paint detail, and being one piece that is undone at the sides rather than being two halves that snap together. There’s some other added colors as well, with the gray boots having silver wraps (kind of the inverse of what the Classics figure had), and the wrist cuffs being a shiny cerulean. The colors are very nice and bold, with plenty of metallic coats, and the clean work when it comes to paint certainly helps. In addition, his loincloth actually looks more like a loincloth than tights, and it’s made of a PVC plastic to keep it from hindering leg movement.

As the successor to the much-loved Classics line, Masterverse allowed Mattel to work in more and improved articulation. The "Heroic Human Periscope" has a ball/ring head, swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, and ankles, hinged ball-joint hips, double-hinged elbows and knees, swivel biceps, waist, thighs, and shins, and a ball-jointed chest. The joints move very well, with little tightness to worry about, and it’s generally an improvement over what was made more than a decade ago. It would’ve been nice if he had pectoral hinges, as to allow for better poses with his accessories. The wrist pegs are hexagonal in shape, allowing them to hold a pose while moving near-smoothly.

Accessories are where Mekaneck’s gimmick comes in, as he has an extending robotic neck. Unlike the original, where the feature was activated by twisting the waist, or the Classics figure, which had two neck pieces of different lengths, the Masterverse figure divides the neck into five pieces, each with a barbell peg on top. They pop in and out of each other and the head/neck with ease, and offer plenty of range. He also has his telescope/club, which is a dirty gold color all over. The front of the telescope pops off, so it can be used with the neck pieces (and even Mekaneck’s body), which is a pretty fun concept. He also has a shield, which can plug into either his left forearm or his back, and gripping and closed pairs of hands. The back of the box shows him with a relaxed left hand, and I wonder why hands like that weren’t included with the final figure.

Mekaneck is a pretty weird character, being a semi-cyborg with a robotic neck and only neck, but that’s what makes him fun. He’s well-made, has plenty of customization options, and the value (around $22-25) is great for a figure like this. I’ll have to try and get some of these New Eternia figures at some point, because sometimes I’m a sucker for weird toys, especially if they’re of high-quality like this guy.

- 10/13/25...[See More]

Favorite Figure: skeletor and any thing universal monsters
Favorite Series: dc comic super powers neca universal monsters
First Figure: darth vader in the 70's
Collection Size: 1,000 figures and counting
Currently Collecting: masterverse super powers super friends universal monsters
Want List: bucky o hare Gentle Gaint LLC super powers
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Current Projects: 1/12 soft goodsspawn
Honorable Mentions: PITT and Savage dragon customs appeared on a Papitoloco video
Favorite Figure: Custom Mcfarlane modern spawn
Favorite Series: Indie spotlight
First Figure: Marvel Legends Hatut zeraze
Collection Size: Moderate sized, about 30 figs
Currently Collecting: Whatever is badass... Or customs
Want List: INDIE SPOTLIGHT MAXX. 12" Medicom Spawn.
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Although Jakks Pacific's Simpsons line has been great, its distribution could be a lot better, especially when it comes to the 2.5" line as of late. I was able to get most of the first four waves at Target easily, but they haven't stocked the latest waves, though them putting previous releases on clearance seems to be a good sign. Most Walmarts I know are still stuck with the earlier releases, and GameStop doesn't carry the mini singles at all. Rather than trying to hunt down wave five at retail, I just got it online through I Am Retro. The wave costs more than twice as much there, but it was easier to get through them, and the 15% off code didn't hurt.

Bart leads the wave with yet another variant, and this look is lifted from "Bart the Daredevil." Like Playmates, they did his imaginary look, which is very similar to Lance Murdock's outfit, rather than what he actually wore (which Jakks did in plush form). The expression reminds me of the 5" hockey Bart, being a determined look, and he's wearing a helmet as well, because even expert stuntmen know to stay safe. To my surprise, the helmet is removable, but it's a snug fit over the hair, and can be a bit tough to take off.

At 2 1/4" without the helmet, Bart dons a mostly white outfit, but with a few red lightning bolts on the arms and chest, a purple collar, and a blue bow tie on the cape. The cape is a separate piece made from a softer material, similar to Dancin' Homer, and it looks good for such a simple piece. As clean as the paint is, he's missing a few applications, like the lining of the cape, belt, and bolts on the pants. I get this is a small, cheap mass-market figure, but they could've cared more about paint. And before you pointed out the unpainted soles on the shoes, they're supposed to look like that. Aside from the helmet, Bart also gets the skateboard the wave one release and mini Bartman had, and he looks great on it, though they could've spread the legs for a more fitting pose.

Next is Mr. Burns, getting his first regular figure in the line (to be followed by a 5" figure very soon!). The likeness on him is great, and it looks a little better than the Burns Super7 did. He has his usual expression, looking somewhat displeased, and unlike past figures, the bottom of the upper lip isn't painted black, and the result looks nicer. His hunched-over posture means his neck turns in an odd way, but he isn't the only figure to have this issue, and the Playmates had it often as well. The paint on the eyes is clean, though the right eye could look a little better.

At about 2 3/4" tall, Mr. Burns is dressed in his usual green suit (I still prefer his blue suit from the earlier seasons; possible variant in the future?), and is quite slender. This is where his main issue comes in, as the big head sticking out in front of the body often causes him to tumble over, and it makes you wonder why Jakks couldn't just include bases with some of these figures. The paint on the suit is good, with very few issues, and the sit-down waist joint is integrated into the sculpt well. The limited articulation makes me wish Jakks didn't give these stiff poses nearly all the time, as Burns could've easily had his hands in an "excellent" position.

While Burns is a mini figure being followed by a 5" figure, Carl is making his jump over from that line with his inclusion in this wave. At 3" tall, there's admittedly not much to talk about here, as his sculpt is copied from the 5" figure. I compared the two and didn't see much difference, save for slightly darker skin and the jacket and shirt being one solid piece. The paint is very clean on him, aside from a tiny bit of blue bleed onto the sweater collar, and he generally looks just as good as his larger counterpart. The waist joint is limited due to the sweater and jacket, but that's to be expected with some of these figures.

Following up Nelson from the previous wave are the rest of the bullies, starting with Kearney. He's an ugly little thug, and the sculpt on him is great. The dimples on his bald head are sculpted in, and they're very subtle in appearance. At 2 3/8" tall, he's close to scale with the adults, but shorter than he should be compared to Bart. His outfit befits a thug like him, with torn edges on the shirt, sleeves, and shorts, as well as studded wrist cuffs. The studs on the cuffs could be cleaner, but I feel this is about as good as you'll get with this scale. The waist joint works better than I thought, being able to sit down just as well as Bart. It would've been nice to have an accessory with him; at least giving him the Squishee Milhouse had would've been nice.

Rounding out the wave is Patty, following her sister Selma from the previous wave. Both of them look about the same, save for different hairstyles and accessories. Patty has an afro-like hairdo, triangular earrings (which are attached to the hair), and a different necklace as well. Both have the same disgruntled expression, and you can hear their murmuring just by looking at them. Since most of the colors are handled by putting together different pieces of plastic, the eyes, exposed collar, and shoes are the only painted areas, but the work is very clean on them.

At a bit over 3 1/4", Patty and Selma's similar appearances meant Jakks could just reuse the latter's body, but this is where her main issue comes in: her dress is missing its sleeves. I get Jakks often reuses molds (just look at their Mario and Sonic lines), but they could've been less lazy than this. They already did a new head, so why didn't they bother sculpting new arms just for her? Complaining aside, I noticed Jakks changed the case pack unit numbers with this wave. Patty is still one per case, but Kearney is two per case, and the rest are three each. I'm glad Jakks did as such, since it ensures less Homer and Bart variants will clog up pegs while making other Springfield citizens easier to find… if any store bothers to stock them, that is.

While I'm not too happy about having to pay twice as much just to get this wave, I am satisfied with the figures themselves. Bart and Kearney are great, and the other figures are pretty nice, save for Patty's lack of sleeves and very limited waist movement. Wave six seems to be just now coming out, and given Jakks' release pattern, it may not be long before we find out who's in wave seven. Hopefully then we get Lenny and Smithers to go with Carl and Burns here, and maybe give us something unexpected, like a much lesser-known or one-shot character.

- 10/9/25...[See More]

Started to repaint my old Kenner Batman figures from the animated series, and just wondering what is the best way to color match them?...[See More]