Ultimate Foot Ninja
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mirage Comics (Neca) - Basic Series
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
The Foot Clan, countless numbers of faceless goons who live to serve the Shredder and do his bidding… and they make darn good toys as well. NECA has done a handful of Foot members across different incarnations of the TMNT franchise, and the latest comes from the Mirage comics that started it all. The packaging is similar to what the Mirage line usually gets, except since this is an "Ultimate" release, there's a front flap attached to it. The flap gets some great artwork by Kevin Eastman, and the reverse side of it gives us plenty of shots of the figure. Other than that, it's all the same, including a couple of annoying plastic ties to cut out. The Foot Ninja recycles the mold used for the first version made back in the late 2000s by Four Horsemen (but not released until 2016), but with...[See More]

Slimestone
Rock Lords (Tonka) - Evil Rock Lords
Rated 4.75 stars by Karl T. Face
It's the mineral to Beast Wars' animal, Rock Lords! No, really. An offshoot of the main Gobot civilization took on naturalistic altmodes too, just with rocks. And here's one of the bad guys now! Slimestone is a silver nugget, but seems to enjoy hot oil baths, which is apparently disgusting to others. He's implied to be pretty low-down and sleazy, using a slime gun to, presumably, make his opponents feel really icky. As it should. The toy is a thing to behold, really. A short little robot with enormous shoulder pads and gigantic, wide-set feet. His vicious little nubbin of a head has crablike eyes above a slack-jawed jack o' lantern mouth. And it's almost entirely chromed. I'm terrified to handle it without a microfiber cloth handy. The aforementioned slime gun looks more like a scanner...[See More]

Burnheart
Super Naturals (Tonka) - Forces of Evil
Rated 4.40 stars by Karl T. Face
Well, that's all three. The final member of the villainous trio has arrived, and he is almost great. Right off the bat, this is the usual 4 POA spread. These are stiff, stoic figures. That said, they generally look good. The leather of his boots and the grey armor on the upper body are picked out cleanly, and a crosshatched texture does a surprisingly good job of suggesting scale mail. The chestplate is picked out beautifully in red, as are the spooky belt buckle and a few gems. This guy is just overloaded with early fantasy tropes. The visor, a slatted number with harsh angles, is hinged rather than being removable, and offers a decent glimpse of the hologram. Taking off the chestplate reveals the full image: a muscular fellow with a maniacal grin and a large bat necklace, turning into a...[See More]

Godzilla (Godzilla vs Biollante)
Godzilla (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.10 stars by RMaster007
We all know him, the undisputed king of the monsters. Godzilla has been around since the 1950's, and has been a global phenomenon ever since. It's no surprise that he's gotten plenty of figures, with some of the latest being Super7's Ultimates. The first wave's been out for a while now, and it's focused on the Heisei-era Godzilla vs. Biollante. The packaging is a lot deeper than usual for Ultimates, due to the size of the character. The slip cover bears Japanese text on the front and English on the back, and the Godzilla-skin-like texture is a nice touch. The box underneath has simple but nice graphics, though I wish the bio on the back was character-specific rather than generic text I'm certain Super7 copied from somewhere. There's a few ties holding in the figure, but you can get those...[See More]

Prowl (Animated)
Transformers - Legacy - Evolution (Hasbro) - Deluxe Class
Rated 4.00 stars by RMaster007
While I haven't consumed a whole lot of Transformers media, I will say the late-2000s "Animated" series by Cartoon Network is my favorite. The unique characterizations, great writing and art style, and noteworthy voice cast hit all the marks for me, and getting a more screen-accurate than usual toyline certainly helped. When news came out that it would become a part of the current Legacy line, I was hyped, and even more by the fact that my favorite character, Prowl, would be the first one. When transitioning from just Legacy to Legacy "Evolution", the packaging colors went from purple to blue. The graphics and illustrations look great, and it's easy to get the figure freed up using some scissors. Yes, it's the plastic-free packaging Hasbro likes doing, but with some of their products...[See More]

Battle Armor S.N.A.K.E.
G.I. Joe (Super7) - Super Cyborg
Rated 3.75 stars by RMaster007
Although ReAction and Ultimates are what Super7's most known for, they've done a few other kinds of toys. There's their "supersize" vinyl figures, their Shogun Warriors tributes, known as Super Shogun, and their Super Cyborg line, dedicated to producing large-scale figures of robots and mechs (and for some reason, the Creature from the Black Lagoon). The latest Cyborg release, as well as my first one, comes from none other than G.I. Joe. Specifically, it's the S.N.A.K.E. Armor, based heavily off the original toy. The box for this thing is massive, which is fitting given the figure is equally large. The graphics are simple, but are based off the old Joe toy card/box art. There's a bio for the armor on the side, and the back provides an X-ray view of the figure. What I don't like about the...[See More]

Broadway
Gargoyles (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
Yes, in the midst of all the Turtle product NECA's putting out, we're still getting plenty of Gargoyles figures. One of the recent releases brings us closer to completing the Manhattan Clan with Broadway. He hasn't been too common to find in brick-and-mortar stores, my preferred method of getting figures, but Walmart was kind to me. As usual, we get some great, original box art for this line, featuring Broadway menacingly swooping over the streets of Manhattan. There's plenty of shots of the figure itself, but I wish they'd give each character a bio on the back rather than the same generic text. There's a few of those plastic ties to remove, but aside from those, you won't have much trouble getting the figure out. Like Brooklyn, Broadway isn't as human-like in his facial features as...[See More]

Grunt and Jersey Red
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Classic Cartoon (Neca) - Multi-Packs
Rated 4.70 stars by RMaster007
Guess this means I can finally say the gang's all here. Grunt was among Bebop and Rocksteady's gang that was only present for the first season of the original cartoon, and his name is Grunt; they didn't have to change it to avoid coming into conflict with Disney like they did with Dopey and Dumbo. Grunt looks almost like someone out of Mad Max or something similar, with nothing but a harness covering his torso, a gray belt, metal wristcuffs and (presumably) kneepads, and a big mohawk. He's also pretty muscular, but not to the degree B&R would become after being mutated. Anyways, the sculpt for Grunt's figure was provided by Eric Barnett, and stands around 6 3/4" tall. He looks accurate to the show, and almost everything with painted "outlines" are sculpted as well, so he's not a flat...[See More]

Stridor
Masters of the Universe - Origins (Mattel) - Accessories
Rated 4.25 stars by Karl T. Face
Well, it's Stridor. Never the most exciting toy, but I really wanted that base, so I jumped on it when it hit deep clearance. Did it surprise me? Read on. Right off the bat, it's got a lot on the old one. Side by side, the legs are slightly chunkier to accommodate the articulation, making it look a lot beefier despite the torso actually being a touch narrower this time around. That's 3 balljoints in the neck,3 hinges for each leg, and a spring-loaded hinge in the jaw to grip the bit. That's unexpected. I take issue with the color, though. It's got a more reddish sort of brown, and the legs, seat, and rear gun have gone from caramel to orange. Less war machine and more parade float, really. Kudos for the old-school stickers, though. Eat it, Classics version! Unlike the rather disappointing...[See More]

King Arthur
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Diamond Select) - Series One
Rated 3.55 stars by RMaster007
I believe almost everyone has heard of and/or been exposed to Monty Python at least once. The British comedy troupe is known for a couple things, but what they're most recognized for is their film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a tour de farce of gags set in the Middle Ages. The film's popularity has led to plenty of merchandise, but surprisingly not a lot of figures. Sideshow did a ton of characters in 1/6 scale in the early 2000s, but Diamond Select also took a shot at it with a few figures in a smaller scale. How few? Only three got released. The packaging is a big cardback with graphics related to the film, along with a cross-sell and text about the film and figures on the back. It's quite simple, really, but it looks nice, and I didn't have too much trouble getting everything out...[See More]