1991 marked a turning point for Nickelodeon, as they began putting out their own original cartoons known as Nicktoons, some not as recognizable as others. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is one of the lesser-known ones, but I feel it's gotten more attention nowadays thanks to some video games. Mattel did a great line of toys back when it was still new, but Mondo put out a new set of figures as part of their Squads line around the end of last year. Although more than a few months late, the recent SDCC reveals made me decide to discuss these monsters.

The box these figures come in is massive and bears a Krumm and Oblina motif. As usual for Mondo, the front is an opening flap, and behind it are a bunch of cockroaches, as well as the main trio. It's simple, but it fits the license very well, and it's not too hard to get everything out. There's a lot of protective wrap on the contents, however, so it may take some time to get all that off.

The leader of the pack is Ickis, and he, along with everything else, was sculpted by Brandon Gash. Needless to say, the show's art style was captured perfectly by these figures, putting Mattel to shame. Ickis stands about 6" tall to the tips of the ears, and although these Squads aren't really in any scale, these should fit fine with Mondo's usual 1/6 figures. The paint is done by Tomasz Rozejowski, and the matte finish really makes these guys look animated, with painted (and sculpted) etching lines that contribute to Klasky Csupo's style. Ickis comes wearing a slightly eager grin, and the portrait is great, though you can swap it out for a worrisome expression. He only has five points of articulation: head, shoulders, and legs, all swivels. These designs don't lend themselves much to articulation, and these Squads aren't meant to be super articulated anyways.

Next up is the sole female and crossover game representative, Oblina. She's the tallest at 8 1/2" up to the eyelashes, and is distinguishable by her cane-shaped body. Because of this, she can't stand up on her own well, so she has a base to keep her upright. Oblina has another happy expression, but she also gets a more sinister portrait with her tongue sticking out. Both heads look great, though they suffer from some paint bleed. She also gets different arms, with a pair of shrugging arms, a right with her hand on her midsection, and a left holding the Monster Manual. Unfortunately, her shoulders are her only points of articulation, as her head has a non-round peg, and the hips are just glued in (learned the latter the hard way, but super glue and a heat gun fixed it).

Finishing off the trio is my favorite character, Krumm. He's the shortest at about 5 1/4" tall, but he's also the heaviest, as his body is a very solid chunk of plastic. His hips move, but they do very tightly, though they at least let you change up his stance a bit. Since he's all head, he doesn't have an extra portrait like the others, but rather an alternate mouth. You have your choice of grinning or worried mouths, and they swap with ease. Anyways, Krumm's just a hefty little guy with his eyes in his hands, and his armpit hair is made out of three pieces on both sides. The paint is solid all over and even has some wash, but the hair paint doesn't quite line up with the sculpt.

Like always, Mondo put out a limited edition of this set with extra accessories, and it's still available at the time of this writing. The exclusive parts here depict the monsters doing what they do best: scaring! Ickis gets a new head depicting him roaring, with fangs exposed and blood-red eyes, as well as an alternate pair of longer, raised arms. The position of the ears on the scary head weighs him down in the back, so another base is packed in to keep him standing. Oblina gets a head demonstrating her favorite way of scaring humans, by pulling out her insides, and I love the work on the intestines. Like Ickis, she has a pair of raised arms, and they're designed as to make sure they don't get in the way of the head whilst still having good range. As for Krumm, this edition packs in an entire second figure, depicting him with his mouth wide open and eyeballs resting on his tongue. The sculpt is just as good as the basic version, and the hips still move, though I would've liked shoulder joints as well for more distinct poses.

The limited edition also includes two little slug figures. One of them is Zimbo, the Tim Curry-voiced bug-like monster often seen with the Snorch. He stands 3 1/2" tall and has no articulation, but the goofy expression for him looks great, and while he has a base, he won't need it to stand. The other pack-in is a bonsty, the monster equivalent of a toddler (I had to look it up since I haven't seen much of the show). Scaling about 2" tall and 3" long, this larva-like creature looks pretty cute, albeit in an ugly way. The paint is clean all over, and I noticed the black "outlines" have a glossy finish for some reason, which applies a bit to the other characters. For $25 extra, you're getting two more heads, four more arms, and three more figures; not a bad deal.

Never did I think that we would get Aaahh!!! Real Monsters collectibles in the new 20's, but Mondo made it happen, and they did a great job. Although low on playability due to the limited movement, the various extra pieces give you a lot of ways to display them, and the limited edition is the way to go for this set. They're not the only Nicktoons figures Mondo has coming, as they recently announced Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, and Rocko's Modern Life sets. I'd personally love to see Angry Beavers and CatDog get this treatment, and a certain sponge would be good for this format as well…

- 8/5/25...[See More]

eBay User Name: nexim12
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Collection Size: over 2000 figures
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eBay User Name: docbrass
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One of the most commonly seen supporting characters in the TMNT world, Leatherhead is usually known as having just been an ordinary crocodile until the Utroms (or Krang in the 2012 series' case) experimented on him and gave him human intelligence. For some reason, the original toyline and cartoon changed his whole character. His anthropomorphism was caused by mutagen, and he was not at all a good guy, and for some reason was Cajun. After doing three different "ragin' Cajun" versions, NECA's finally doing the true Leatherhead.

Leatherhead didn't actually debut in the Mirage comic proper, but rather its side comic Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The sculpt here resembles his appearance in issue #45 of the main comic more than his debut, and was done by Gurjeet Singh, who previously did another huge, scaly character for the Mirage line. The head sculpt is great, with a fierce appearance and bumpy, scaly skin. He's also wearing a skull eyepatch over his left eye, because eyepatches are cool, right? The secondary head matches his debut appearance more, with no eyepatch (albeit a somewhat squinted eye), less ridges on the face, and more croc-like teeth. While I prefer the default head, it's cool NECA represented both of his OG comic appearances with these portraits. Both also have a hinged jaw, which adds some expressiveness to them.

Leatherhead is pretty darn big, standing around 8" tall, and with a tail that's nearly 7 1/2" long from base to tip. Because of its length, the tail is a separate piece and needs some heat to pop it on the ball. When the figure was first revealed, he had smoother skin, but I think the scalier texture works better for him, as it provides a lot more detail and fits in a bit more with the Mirage style. Going back to the build, this guy is very tall and quite muscular as well, and the wraps on the forearms and shins are nicely sculpted, with softer ends on the arm wraps so they don't get in the way of wrist movement. Parts of the torso are also a softer plastic, allowing for plenty of chest movement. There are a few bits of slop and bleed when it comes to paint, but the work overall is clean, and the wash all over certainly helps.

Leatherhead is very well articulated, and it's a lot better than the Archie version we got prior to this one. He has a barbell head, chest, and hips, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles, swivel biceps and thighs, and a ball-jointed tail with six barbell joints running through it. The joints all moved with no issues, and there's plenty of range to them, though the chest could've used more forward crunch. Making the hips barbell joints rather than single-ball-pegs is a smart move, as they provide more range with how they're placed on the body. He doesn't have much for accessories due to his size taking up most of the box, but he does have three sets of hands - closed, gripping, and clawing - as well as the first appearance head. Again, not much, but the extra head is at least one piece more than the Archie Leatherhead.

I'll admit I haven't gotten much of the recent Mirage figures (hey, money's limited), but Leatherhead is definitely one of my favorites from this line. That said, the price is a little higher than I'd like to pay at $50, and with fewer extras than other figures at this price point, but with the great sculpt and quality, he's well worth it.

- 7/31/25...[See More]

eBay User Name: filmmunkey
Favorite Figure: Optimus Prime (the original)
Favorite Series: Fans Toys Transformers
First Figure: Skeletor
Collection Size: Pretty substantial.
Currently Collecting: Fans Toys, Mega Bloks MOTU, Mondo MOTU
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Favorite Figure: 020 ALICENT HIGHTOWER
Favorite Series: HOUSE OF THE DRAGON
First Figure: MELISANDRE (GAME OF THRONES)
Want List: 1454 LOTTIE MATTHEWS
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As much as I love Super7's Ultimates (well, most of the time), we can all agree they cost way too much. The $55 (now $65) price is mainly due to them being made-to-order figures, but with how the quality and effort ranges from "good" to "utter crap," and the fact that they show up often through online retailers and collectible and comic shops, they should really drop the price by $15. S7 seems to understand the issue with pricing, so last year they introduced their "Deluxe" line, which consists of Ultimate reissues, but with heavily trimmed-down accessories for a somewhat more reasonable $35 price. Out of all of them so far, Thundercats' Lion-O is one of the only new sculpts for the line (the other being the Iron Giant), so he'll be the one I'm looking at.

These Deluxe figures usually come in cardbacks, and the graphics here are very similar to the Ultimates. Same LJN-inspired background, same red and black motif, and same artwork that was present on the first wave. It works just as well for the license as the Ultimates packaging does, and there's only a single twist-tie in the tray for the figure. Not to mention it'll take up less space, since there's nowhere near as much here as their pricier counterparts.

Lion-O's Deluxe figure gets an all-new sculpt, also used for the LED Ultimate, and I presume Four Horsemen is still doing the sculpting, but he's more toon-accurate. The face isn't too much different from the original sculpt, but the hair is more simple in design to match how he looked on-screen. When this figure first hit stores, fans were mixed; some thought he looked fine, others thought it was off. In-hand, he looks just fine, with a softer material used for his flowing hair, and clean paint for the face.

Standing a bit over 7", Lion-O's new body doesn't have as much detail as before, but again, that's because Super7 was going for an animated look rather than making him fit in with MOTU Classics. Considering how the sculpts for the Ultimates line became more toon-like than Classics-like over time, the new Lion-O fits in well with the more recent TC releases as well as other cartoon lines, and the redone outfit looks more accurate. One issue I didn't notice until I was writing this review was that his biceps were on the wrong arms, but it's nothing some heat couldn't fix. The paint is clean for the most part, save for some bleed on the white parts, and the colors match the show well, but his skin is too pale. It should be a little darker in tone, and a bit orange too.

Doing an all-new sculpt meant Super7 was able to improve on Lion-O's articulation, and he moves surprisingly well. The Lord of the Thundercats gets a barbell head, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists (vertical movement), hips, knees, and ankles, swivel biceps and thighs, and ball-jointed chest and waist. Having pinless joints is already an improvement over before, but the ball-chest is certainly welcome. Not as much forward movement as an ab crunch, but it still has plenty of range, and the waist being a ball peg as well gives it more tilt. I would be mindful of tight joints here and there, especially in the knees, so I'd advise using some heat when you first get him out and moving.

As mentioned earlier, the Deluxe figures cut the accessories down to just the necessities, so Lion-O only gets his Sword of Omens and Claw Shield. The sword has less color to it and looks a bit cheaper, so that's a step back, but the Claw Shield looks just fine. It's scaled properly with the figure, and his left hand can be swapped out for it. That said, he feels too light for the $35 price. The earliest 7-inch figures by Super7 (coincidentally also called Deluxe) had the same price, but those were more outfitted, even including extra heads and/or hands on occasion. If Lion-O had an extra set of hands, as well as a Claw Shield that can plug into the belt, then the value would be better. Speaking of which, the lack of a Claw Shield for the belt means the peg on the side of his waist is pointless, and part of me just wants to chop it off for a more seamless look.

Having not gotten the initial Ultimate Lion-O (though a reissue seems to be coming out), being able to pick up this trimmed-down version for a lower price is a good option, especially with the new sculpt featuring more screen-accuracy and better articulation. I've seen Ultimates at mass retailers like Walmart and Best Buy, but I don't think they sold well due to their high prices, so offering something equal in cost to a NECA figure is a good solution, even if the value isn't as good. Hopefully, Super7 continues with these releases, but I also hope they use this new mold for a new standard Ultimate Lion-O. Maybe a Tygra with the elbow pad and full paint while they're at it (I saw the Deluxe, and it seems they can never do him right).

- 7/23/25...[See More]

Favorite Figure: Figuarts 2016 Flash - 2002 Spiderman Super Articulated
Favorite Series: Mafex
Currently Collecting: Mafex, Figuarts
Want List: All Mafex
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I don't do many customs and when I do its more mods than a totally new fig, I was wondering if there was an easier way to get a six inch spawn without making a whole new custom. Thank you!...[See More]

Favorite Series: Gi Joe Classified
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Favorite Figure: Juggernaut Marvel Select
Favorite Series: Marvel Legends
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First Figure: A Jazwares P1 Akuma & Resaurus P2 Cammy bought together from a car bootsale table around 2008
Collection Size: fairly large, i'd have to count (it's taking up a single bedroom atm)
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Street Fighter isn't just about people duking it out all over the world; the fight between good and evil is also a prevalent factor. Most of the characters we've gotten in Jada's SFII line are good or at least neutral, but there are some villains as well. There's the Evil Ryu and Violent Ken exclusives (who didn't appear in the original SFII and its updates), as well as Sagat and more recently Vega. But the true big bad of the game and series is M. Bison (called Vega in Japan, while Vega is called Balrog, and Balrog is called Bison. Not sure why that is).

Bison embraces his role as II's main villain with his design, dressed in a military uniform with a peaked cap bearing a winged skull pin. His face alone is intimidating, with an unamused expression on a head with a prominent chin and cheekbones, as well as blank white eyes, likely a result of him purging all of his goodness to obtain what's known as "Psycho Power." His alternate head matches the sprite art seen on the box, with an angrier expression and small orange pupils. Both heads bear good paint and detail, including some dark wash around the eyes.

Standing about 6 1/2" tall, Master Bison's uniform is mostly red, though with blue around the middle and collar. He's quite muscular, as any Street Fighter would be, and his clothes bear a similar texture to Ryu and Ken's. The lower part of the top from the belt downwards is rubber, so that it doesn't get in the way of leg movement. The parts of his outfit that would be steel, such as the shinguards, are given a metallic silver coat, and the paint work is pretty good, though there's some bleed and other issues on areas like the bracers and belt. The cape is a leather-like material held in place by pins on the shoulder pads, and it's wired as well, so you can pose it however you like.

Bison bears most of the same articulation as the rest of the line, with the usual joints for the head, neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, thighs, knees, and ankles. He lacks the shin swivels these figures usually get due to the shinguards, but the shoulder pads can move, as they're separate pieces sandwiched between the pectoral hinges and shoulder pegs, so their positions can be shifted. My main nit with the design is the back of the knee joints, as the lower parts aren't painted to match the boots, so you have an obvious red disk showing up on gray and black areas. Aside from the extra head, Bison has the option of closed or grasping hands, a Psycho Power effect that can go over the fists, and an alternate pair of shoulder pads without the cape. They're easy to get on and off, with instructions being included on how to do so, but it takes a bit of force getting the right pads to clip on.

Like Dhalsim, Bison is getting an SDCC-exclusive variant, depicting him with a green and red outfit, a bold orange instead of silver colors, and dark maroon boots, belt, and other black areas. He's also far more accessorized, with new smiling and grinning heads (both for this variant and the regular Bison), a pair of thumbs-up hands, a blue Psycho Power effect, a Psycho Crusher effect that goes over the entire figure (and includes a stand), and a burning opponent piece same as Dhalsim's, but blue. Not sure why Jada holds off more of the desirable parts for exclusives, but it gives us more of a reason to get the alternate palettes. Speaking of, there's a BBTS-exclusive Bison with a blue and red outfit that looks pretty cool.

Paint issues aside, M. Bison is pretty cool and fun, and it never hurts to have villains for your other figures to fight. The reason I don't get these more often is because I usually prefer to buy in-store, and Target is the main brick-and-mortar retailer for these, but mine rarely get them. Now that GameStop is carrying this line (Walmart too, but they only have the first wave so far), I'm more likely to get these more often.

- 7/21/25...[See More]

Favorite Figure: my autographed 1995 Boba Fett POTF MOC
Favorite Series: Star Wars from 77-85
First Figure: 1977 Darth Vader
Collection Size: been collecting since 77.
Currently Collecting: star wars all years
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