Rock Moon Alpha
War Planets (Trendmasters) - Moons
Rated 3.00 stars by Karl T. Face
Well, it's a Moon. They're not much use without the accompanying Planet, being army builders with a bonus. That said, the Rock people are a favorite of mine, if only because they can reliably stand up. This one is kind of fun thanks to the crazy design of the obligatory Giant Monster, or in this case, Huge Robot. The giant meat tenderizer is a nice touch. While the poor planning of War Planets is in full force here, what with the severely limited articulation and nearly-pointless giant claw (if you want entire celestial bodies physically ducking it out, it's not the worst), the soldiers are quite solid, and I can't argue with the industrial color scheme. Everything else is pretty standard: a pile of connector rods in various sizes, two platforms, two bendy umbilicals, a ground vehicle...[See More]

Sansker
Spawn (McFarlane) - Series 6
Rated 3.50 stars by Karl T. Face
This exclusive is interesting to me; given the cost of retooling the head and arms, they would have been better served giving it a wider release, perhaps as one of those running changes they were so fond of. Oh well, it's easy enough to find one these days. Anyway, what we have here is Sansker in mid-transformation, so if a straight-up snake with arms didn't grab you, this has an extra sprinkle of weirdness that takes it up a notch in terms of personality. The once-impressive paint job seems a tad ham-fisted by modern standards, particularly in the transition from skin to scales, but it gets the job done, and the sculpt is definitely on the high end for the era. Articulation is light, with swivels at the neck, shoulders, wrists and waist, plus a bendy tail that gets more horizontal...[See More]

Bone Moon Omega
War Planets (Trendmasters) - Moons
Rated 3.50 stars by Karl T. Face
War Planets is a bit of an odd duck. It's sort of the low-rent offspring of Mighty Max and little green army men, featuring decently sculpted and painted figurines and "playsets" that are little more than diorama backdrops. Or in this case, bits of scenery. The Moons are meant to attach to the Planets via bendy tech-umbilicals, but with only one hardpoint per planet, the dual moons most are associated with are left to connect to each other. Via their 6 hardpoints each. What happened there!? The saving grace of the Moons is their versatility. The various plastic rods (some of which double as plain and unimpressive missiles for the ever-present missile launchers) allow for various combinations of the large vehicle, two circular Giger-inspired platforms, and a big ol'snake monster. All that...[See More]

Pinsor and Battle Beetle
Sectaurs (Coleco) - Beasts
Rated 4.50 stars by Karl T. Face
While I was hoping to find Skulk, I did manage to luck out with this fellow, and apart from a niggling issue or two, it didn't disappoint. So, Pinsor is the old warhorse of the main cast. Every good action-adventure ensemble needs one, and he looks the part with his barrel-chested build and impressive mustache. Articulation is Sectaur-standard: ball-joint shoulders and hips, hinged knees and swivel neck. The paint is on-point, with no thin apps or overspill. I always loved the metallic tones and often-subtle airbrushing on these things. Accessories are as good as any from the line, consisting of an axe, pistol, saber and particularly large shield. These lead into my only gripe with him, as his three-fingered hands are held just shy of palms-upward for some reason. Rather than catching...[See More]

Butch Coolidge
Pulp Fiction (Diamond Select) - Basic Series
Rated 4.35 stars by RMaster007
When Quentin Tarantino comes to mind, one movie of his people are most likely to think about is Pulp Fiction. With a big-name cast and plenty of quotable lines, it’s definitely one of his most famous films. The film has received quite of bit of merchandise over the years, including a small line of figures by Diamond Select. While they only made three, the ones they did are still well-known characters, but they go for up to $100 on the secondary market nowadays. Fortunately, I managed to find one that’s been lying in a comic store for what may have been more than a year, and it happens to be Butch Coolidge. The packaging is the usual type like Diamond (I think used to) does – a big cardback with a picture of the figure on the side of the plastic. It looks like mine had some wear over the...[See More]

Pinhead / Tunneler
Puppet Master (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
It wasn’t that long ago that NECA’s long-awaited Puppet Master figures finally began hitting stores, and it also wasn’t long ago that I reviewed the first of the two-packs, Blade and Torch. While I liked them, I felt that they suffered from articulation issues and a lack of accessories. I just got my hands on the second one, Pinhead and Tunneler, and it’s time to see if they’re any better. The packaging isn’t much different from Blade and Torch, with photos of the original puppets on the front, and it splits down the middle and opens up like their case from the movies. You just have to cut some tape and plastic ties and that’s all you need to get them open and out of the box. Let’s start things off with Pinhead, and the name is accurate – he’s got a tiny head. It’s supposed to be,...[See More]

Quint (Shark Battle)
Jaws (Neca) - Clothed Retro
Rated 5.00 stars by RMaster007
It’s been about 45 years since the ever-famous Jaws hit theaters, the classic thriller involving a group of men setting out to kill a man-eating shark, and it inspired quite a lot of other films with similar premises. Last year, NECA announced that they had acquired the license and revealed prototypes of Quint and Brody at Toy Fair. Unfortunately, Brody got canned due to licensing issues, but Quint was still happening, and he finally saw a release last month. A Bruce the shark has been announced too, but who knows when we’ll get him (I predict next year). We have a nice window box for the packaging, with reused poster art combined with photographs of the figure. It’s easy to open up, too. Just remove the tape and plastic ties with some scissors and you’re good to go. They could’ve...[See More]

Blade / Torch
Puppet Master (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.45 stars by RMaster007
There’s a lot of long-running horror film franchises; Halloween, Freddy, Jason, Chucky… but one of the lesser-known ones is Full Moon Features’ Puppet Master. The series about a gang of killer puppets has only seen direct-to-video releases, but it’s still gotten quite a couple films and a decent following. Full Moon themselves produced quite a bit of merchandise for the franchise already, but NECA’s taking a shot at it now. They announced their figures back in October last year, and now they’re beginning to hit comic shops and specialty retailers. I got Blade and Torch a while back, and it’s worth noting that these are two-packs (thankfully not $50 ones…). The packaging is a bit unique to this line, and a main reason for that is because they’re two packs. So how could NECA fit two...[See More]

Baxter Stockman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (Neca) - Basic Series
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
While NECA’s done quite a bit of good with TMNT so far this year, especially with the Turtles in disguise 4-pack I have yet to get my hands on, but there’s a couple fans plenty excited for the return of the Mirage line. That’s how NECA got their start with the license years ago, and I’m more than eager to see what they have in store. Until then, we still have a few Turtles in Time figures to get out of the way. Aside from restocks of previous figures, the ultimate Baxter Stockman made his way to retailers last month. I was lucky enough to find him a while ago and now it’s review time. The packaging is similar in artwork to the regular figures, but the box type is the fifth-panel one used on NECA’s ultimates. On the front, we get some nice artwork of Baxter himself, with the nice campy...[See More]

Nutty
Happy Tree Friends (Stevenson Entertainment) - Deluxe
Rated 4.10 stars by RMaster007
There were many things that there were more popular in the 2000s than they are now, and one of those things is known as Happy Tree Friends. Despite the name, the web series has enough gore to make Mortal Kombat jealous. At the peak of its popularity, HTF has had a huge fanbase, a televised series on G4 (yes, the video game network that recently made a comeback), and a good amount of merchandise that is hard to find nowadays. Part of the many merchandise includes a figure line by Stevenson Entertainment Group. Nutty is one of the five they made, and as with the others, came in both regular and deluxe versions. The big window box takes up quite a bit of space on the shelf, but it has pretty decent graphics. The front and sides show off the show and character name, but the back is a...[See More]