Prior to creating InuYasha, one of my favorite anime and manga series, Rumiko Takahashi created Ranma 1/2, a series much more on the comedic side. We probably all know about it by now, but it revolves around a boy who finds himself in an arranged marriage with a girl just as skilled at martial arts as he is, but there's just one problem: he turns into a girl whenever he's splashed with cold water. As the series goes on, more and more characters are introduced, bearing their own quirks, and it's a mishmash of action, comedy, romance, and good ol' fashioned chaos. I haven't seen much of the manga nor the original anime, but a new anime series by MAPPA is going on now, and it's great all around. Aside from being more accurate to the manga, it's packed with tons of fun visuals and jokes, and one hell of a good English dub. If you're subbed to Netflix, then go ahead and give it a watch; season two is going on now.

There's been a lot of merchandise for the series, especially with the reboot going on, but not much action figure-wise. Yes, Tamashii Nations announced S.H. Figuarts of both Ranmas and Shampoo, and they look amazing, but years before them, they already had a run with the license in the late 2010s. They only put out five of them back then, but they're quite desirable, and pretty expensive on the aftermarket. I got two of them for decent prices, and while I'm waiting for the new ones to come out, I'll be taking a look at Tamashii's first take on boy Ranma.

The design of the packaging is very nice, as there are shots of the figure all over, alongside fitting graphics and character-associated colors. They even included some manga panels on the back, since this line's based off that and not the old anime. A couple of the accessories are obscured by the box, such as the alternate faces and hands, but it still does a good job showing off the figure. Like usual for SHF, it's easy to open, with only some tape and plastic to remove to get everything out.

Again, the figures are modeled after the manga's art style and not Studio Deen's (which works for me since I'm iffy on the latter), and you can see it in the likeness. Ranma is spot-on to Rumiko's style, with mostly clean paint for the face(s), good detail in the hair, and his curvy braid. Ranma has a couple more face options aside from this optimistic look: he has a face looking off to the side, looking quite cheerful, a shouting face for when he's in mid-combat or arguing with Akane, and an unsettled expression. Not sure what's going on with the lip on that last face, as there's a thick stroke right on the upper lip, and I'm certain it's just an error with mine. Nevertheless, the face options all fit him well, and I had no issues swapping them.

Rumiko deserves credit for avoiding the limited wardrobe trope as much as possible with this series, as Ranma has plenty of clothes, but this figure depicts him in his most commonly seen outfit. Standing about 5 1/2" tall, he's dressed in a mandarin collar shirt with rolled-up sleeves, including a belt around the waist, pants with ties near the calves, and small black shoes (without socks? They must smell bad). They did a good job with the colors, being bold but not bright, and the paint's okay, but there are more marks and bleed than I'd expect from an import figure. The lower part of the shirt is a softer plastic, to keep it from interfering with hip movement, and in general, the articulation is worked into the sculpt very well. I appreciate the new SHF Ranma having so much more articulation, but this one does a better job making it look aesthetically pleasing.

Speaking of articulation, Ranma doesn't move quite as well as today's SHF, but it still works pretty well. He has a hinge/dual-swivel head on top of a ball-jointed neck, and he can look down fine, but he can't look upwards too much due to the hair. Speaking of which, the braid is ball-jointed as well, making it quite expressive. The arms have ball/hinge/swivel shoulders plugged into pectoral ball joints, hinged elbows, and swivel/hinge/ball wrists. They work well, but proper bicep joints would've allowed for better posing. There's a ball-jointed chest and waist, and the chest is a little loose, but not so much that it can't hold a pose. The hinged ball hips surprised me, especially with how smoothly they move, and there are thigh swivels, but they can't really move, and I don't want to risk damaging the hips trying to free them up. Other than that, he has hinge/dual-swivel knees and ankles, and hinged toes. The legs work great when it comes to posing, but don't expect much forward tilt for the ankles due to the pant cuffs.

Ranma is well-accessorized, with a variety of interchangeable parts and other items for plenty of display options. Aside from the interchangeable faces, there are five pairs of hands included: closed, relaxed, gripping, flat palm, and warding (a common hand gesture in Rumiko's works). The hands swap with little issue, but I'd recommend some heat just to be safe. There's also his bookbag, and one of the straps pops out so you can get it on him, but the shoulders pop out easily as well, providing an easier way to get it on him. Befitting his curse, he comes with a pail of water, with the water being a separate piece, so you can make it look like it's sloshing around in there. Lastly, he has something Figuarts don't often come with: a stand! It's a clear base with a silhouette and name, and three ports to plug in an arm (plus bits to plug into the unused ports). The arm has three hinges on it and a swiveling clamp to grasp his waist, and it holds up very well. The inclusion of the stand really helps, as it allows for a lot of dynamic poses.

Although he's not *as* good as most S.H. Figuarts nowadays, Ranma is still very enjoyable, thanks to the great sculpt, mostly functional articulation, and plenty of accessories. These older figures go for over a hundred, if not hundreds, of dollars nowadays, but you're certain to find a good deal if you look hard enough, and they'll be worth it. I'm not sure if the upcoming ones will impact the value of these, but those are at least a more affordable (and likely lot better) option.

- 10/28/25...[See More]

Current Projects: Mcfarlane/Mattel Dc Multiverse: None

Star Wars The Black Series:
Custom Jedi for friends
Cal Kestis (based on how I have him in Jedi survivor)

Marvel Legends:
Daisy Johnson AKA Quake (Agents S.H.I.E.L.D TV show version)

Fallout:
None

Pokemon: Shiny Pokémon (ongoing)
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Favorite Figure: Baymax
Favorite Series: Superted
First Figure: Toy story
Collection Size: Big.. Mixture of personal and resale
Currently Collecting: Disney, mirrorverse, toy story,
Want List: Anything weird and wonderful
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Current Projects: Orlin
Want List: Jakks Super Silver and Neo Metal Sonic
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It seems NECA is required to put out a pair of Bebop and Rocksteady figures each year, and I can see why. The duo has had plenty of memorable disguises in the original cartoon, and the latest release of the pair is a much-requested one, being their granny and baby disguises from "Four Turtles and a Baby." Could a rhino in a diaper be the funniest action figure ever made? I'm going to say maybe.

Keeping up the trend of having a different sculptor behind each B&R set, Brodie Perkins did much of the sculpting here, with assistance from Tony Cipriano and Tomasz Rozejowski (who did the vacation variants). Bebop has the old lady look down pat, with a gray wig, glasses, and lipstick. He has eyes underneath the glasses, and they're fully painted despite the glasses not being removable. The head design also matches the show a bit more than previous NECA Bebops, and it's nice that each release of them does a better job with the likenesses. This is probably the best Bebop has looked in the toon line, even though it's not a standard Bebop head. My one issue is that the uvula area of the mouth isn't painted black like past figures.

Standing about 7" tall, Bebop dons a pink and baby blue dress, as well as high heels that make it a little tricky for him to stand. NECA did a great job with the colors here, looking bolder than the source material, and the work is very clean. I'm glad they stopped doing cel shading for this line, as it never really looked right, and without it, it makes the colors pop a lot better. Since Bebop's dress reaches down to his ankles, the lower half of it is cloth. It restricts the leg articulation a little bit, but you can just lift it out of the way. Now why couldn't they have done this for Irma?

Then there's Rocksteady, dressed as an entry in Channel 6's baby contest (actually, it was part of Shredder's plan to kidnap a Neutrino baby). He looks pretty grumpy, probably none too pleased about having to dress up like this, and the likeness is a fair improvement over the Vacation version, mainly when it comes to how the hinged jaw is integrated into the sculpt. I think the eyes are a little too small, especially after watching the episode that originated this get-up to compare, but he looks fine otherwise. Over his head and ears is a canary yellow bonnet, made out of a softer plastic, and it looks okay for the most part, but suffers a bit when it comes to paint. There are various areas of bleed of white onto yellow, alongside a few small pink marks. How those got onto this is anyone's guess.

Standing a little smaller at about 6 3/4", Rocksteady shares a good chunk of tooling with Bebop, including the upper arms and legs, underlying torso (which his actual torso is sculpted over with soft PVC), and hands, which are recycled from the Vacation two-pack (on a side note, did the right fists always have those little holes in them?). Putting the chest joint under the torso is an interesting choice, though not the first time they did so with Rocksteady, and it does result in some visual oddities when posing him. I guess NECA thought it was cheaper than giving him a unique torso piece with exterior joints. The undersized shirt and frilled socks are the same shade of yellow as his bonnet, and the paint on him isn't as good as Bebop, but it's a good thing these are easy to find, so you can pick out the best one on the shelf. One of the calves came unglued on mine, but once I glued it back on, it stayed on.

The articulation isn't much different from the previous Bebops and Rocksteadys, as both here have a barbell head and chest, swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, and ankles, ball-jointed hips, double-hinged elbows and knees, swivel biceps and thighs, and hinged jaws. These are the first Bebop and Rocksteady figures to use the pinless elbows and knees NECA started doing last year, and it's certainly an aesthetic improvement, though it also means they're on the tight side, but working them free isn't too hard. I already mentioned how Bebop's dress kind of hinders leg movement, and Rocksteady's diaper is also somewhat limiting, but being soft plastic means it won't completely restrict the hips. Like always, these two have interchangeable hands, with both having pairs of closed, gripping, and splayed hands, all recycled from the Vacation two-pack.

There aren’t many accessories here due to how briefly these outfits were on-screen, but it's made up for by including one big baby carriage. The carriage scales about 3 7/8" long (not counting the handle), 2 1/2" tall, and 3 1/2" wide, and it's not quite big enough for Rocksteady to properly fit in, but it being too small for him just makes it look funnier. Both the wheels and handle move, and either figure can grip the handle with no issue (you'll need to pry open the gripping hands a bit to get them on there). Other than that, there's a purse for Bebop and a pacifier for Rocksteady. The purse is hollow PVC, and the flap can be lifted up, which makes me wonder why they didn't include the little mirror he had in the episode. I wish they included a pair of blasters for them as well, but what's included here is still pretty good.

NECA has done some pretty good variants for the TMNT line, some they even came up with themselves, but these two are a standout just by how ridiculous they are. Even if a few things could've been done better, they're still plenty of fun, and the need for a diapered Rocksteady figure has finally been met. However, all the recent reveals for this line have been variants, and with plenty of requested characters that still need to be made (like Tempestra and Mr. Ogg, and how about some more Saturday Morning Adventures figures?), I'm worried NECA's plans might spell the end for this line sooner than we think. At least they're doing figures for the 2012 show now.

- 10/22/25...[See More]

eBay User Name: tdg1984
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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: 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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