Laurie Strode
Halloween (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
Even if it retconned the memorable second Halloween movie, the 2018 film is darn good, with a compelling story and plenty of brutal kills. I was rewatching it the other day while writing my NECA 2018 Michael Myers review, and mentioned how I needed to scout out physical releases of its sequels. Just a day later, I found a Blu-ray set of the whole Blumhouse trilogy at Walmart. Talk about a coincidence! I watched Kills already and plan on checking out Ends this weekend, but for now, I'm going over NECA's figure of Laurie Strode, the series' other main character. The original Halloween was Jamie Lee Curtis' film debut as Laurie, making her a horror icon who has returned to the role more than once. Since 40 years has passed in-universe, teen scream queen Laurie Strode is close to sixty, as...[See More]

Treehouse of Horror 4 (Collector's Lair)
Simpsons (Playmates) - Exclusives
Rated 4.05 stars by RMaster007
Playmates' Simpsons line enjoyed a nice five-year run, and they managed to put out a ton of characters and sets within that timeframe. Near the line's end, they started to pull a bit from past the show's golden age (which is considered to have ended with Season 8, but I'm one of many who still enjoy the show beyond that point), with characters like Ol' Gil and Manjula and her octuplets being made, as well as a set from the tenth Treehouse of Horror special. Doing the Collector's (Comic Book Guy's supervillain persona) lair made sense for the final THOH release, since there's a bit of The Collector in all of us… except we're not deranged enough to collect actual people. The Collector's Lair is bigger than the average World of Springfield set. Nowhere near the size of Main Street, but it...[See More]

Leonardo (2003 Animated)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Super7) - Ultimates!
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
Super7's TMNT Ultimates line has been one of their most recognizable and more enjoyable lines they've done. Granted, they aren't perfect, suffering from things like odd aesthetic choices, articulation issues, and high prices (and they're getting worse), but for the most part, their work has been solid. However, Playmates at some point seemingly got cold feet about letting S7 copy their designs (probably because of all the reissues they're doing now), and they've been forced to do fewer OG designs. They've gotten around this issue by doing in-house designs, but they're now including figures from the 2003 cartoon in the line. 4Kids Turtles figures aimed towards collectors is something I've been wanting for a while, and I'm glad Super7 is delivering. Ever better is that the first wave has...[See More]

Michael Myers
Halloween (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
As I mentioned in my previous review of a Michael Myers figure, the Halloween franchise has gone through a short-lived attempt to change to an anthology series, a retool rendering three prior movies non-canon, a rebooted pair of films by Rob Zombie, and another retool that made everything but the first non-canon. The 2018 movie by Blumhouse was the first one in like nine years, and it was great and brutal. I haven't seen Kills or Ends yet, and I need to scout out DVDs for them, but I did get NECA's take of this version of Myers not too long ago. Michael's return to killing saw him donning his iconic mask once more, but since 40 years had passed, it's rather worn out. The various creases and wash on it represent its aged look well, as the material for it is close to falling apart, but the...[See More]

Dhalsim
Street Fighter (Jada Toys) - Ultra Street Fighter II
Rated 4.90 stars by RMaster007
When Street Fighter comes to mind, you don't think about two aggressive drunks going at it in the middle of the road; you think about heroes and villains duking it out with super strength, energy blasts, fire, electricity, and other abilities that no real-life person can do. The second game brought one of the series' most outlandish characters in Dhalsim, an Indian yoga master… who has elastic limbs. And breathes fire. And is the first Jada figure I'm reviewing in a long while. Being from India, Dhalsim has a darker complexion than the figures before him, as well as face and head paint that fits his culture. He's also outfitted with large earrings (actual metal, mind you, since that's what Jada likes most) and what seems to be a bead in his forearm, but more unusual than that are his...[See More]

Robocop
Robocop (Neca) - 35th Anniversary
Rated 4.25 stars by Dark Fire Action Figure Art
This is a decent figure of RoboCop, but it is essentially a reissue of the old Spring Holster RoboCop with some added accessories. The articulation is limited just like their previous RoboCop figures. This isn't a huge deal since RoboCop has pretty stiff movements in the films, but I feel there could have been some upgrades made, given the Hagane Works RoboCop is the same scale and has much better articulation then the NECA figures. The spring holster is very fragile and easy to break on these figures, so I avoid using them at all given I had bad experiences with the previous three releases. This one also should have been the one to be included with the Repair Chair, but that was more of a smart move on NECA's part forcing fans to buy both pristine and battle damaged versions if they...[See More]

Machiko
Predators (Neca) - Series 18
Rated 4.45 stars by Dark Fire Action Figure Art
This was another long awaited figure for me personally. Machiko Noguchi is easily my favorite human character in the Alien and Predator Universe, and NECA did a fairly good job at capturing her appearance from Aliens vs Predator: War. This figure comes with a couple of accessories in the form of her burner rifle, a removable bio-mask, and an alternate hand. The mask is accurate to the one she wore in Issue 0 though it would have been nice if it had included a more Jungle Hunter-like one, too, as she wore one like it through the rest of the series. The mask's tubes can plug into her shoulder cannon, but it's a bit of a pain to plug them in and keep them in. I put some super glue on the ends, allowed it to dry and that seemed to make them fit more snugly. The rife is accurate to the one...[See More]

Hagane Works Robocop
Robocop (Good Smile Company) - Basic Series
Rated 4.75 stars by Dark Fire Action Figure Art
In my opinion this RoboCop is the best 7" scale depiction of the character and is leagues above the NECA figures of the same scale. It is a bit on the higher price side but well worth it if you're a RoboCop fan and can find it at retail price. The sculpt is pretty film accurate and the figure is made of a mix of die and plastic. The metal gives it a bit of heft and actually makes it so it stands on its own well, though it also includes a stand. The figures comes with an array of accessories and alternate parts including: hands, mouth pieces for different expressions, battle damaged parts, two different Auto 9 Pistols, and a Cobra Assault Cannon as well as a base and a stand arm. The base also opens for part storage, which is really nice. The only accessory I wish it had included is a...[See More]

Duffman
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.50 stars by RMaster007
The first wave of Simpsons Ultimates had a guy who serves beer, and now we have a guy who promotes beer. Makes sense, doesn't it? Duffman is said to be played by many different people in the show, but he always looks the same (is there a bunch of guys who look the same in Springfield?). The man has a somewhat cylindrical head shape, wearing a Duff hat and sunglasses. The sunglasses aren't removable, but there are eyes sculpted and painted underneath, though he doesn't seem to have pupils. The default portrait is a grin, but he also has an open mouth head, as well as a head with a Duff sticker slapped onto his face, coming from "Pygmoelian." The sticker can actually be removed, pegging into the mouth, leaving you with an "oh yeah" expression. All three heads look nice, and the clean paint...[See More]

Scumbug
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Super7) - Ultimates!
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
Scumbug isn't a TMNT character you see talked about much. He wasn't really present much in past media, being just a one-time character in the original cartoon, and some other versions like the Archie comics barely looked like him, though Mutant Mayhem reintroduced him (or in it's case, her) to today's audiences. NECA already made a great figure of him a while back, but that hasn't stopped Super7 from making their own version. While NECA's Scumbug was a recreation of the toon design which was no different from the original Playmates toy, Super7's more directly updates the toy design. Most of that involves simply making him more colorful, with all those little bugs crawling over him now being painted, along with a few other additional colors. There are some changes to the overall design as...[See More]

Mighty Morphin Eye Guy
Power Rangers Lightning Collection (Hasbro) - Mighty Morphin
Rated 3.50 stars by Karl T. Face
Ironically, I eyeballed this extensively when it came out. Finally pulled the trigger on a trade, but there's a reason I waited. As a Kaiju nut and mythology fan, I couldn't turn down another classic Dora Monster in the end. This one's based on Argos, the hundred-eyed giant that guarded one of Zeus' side pieces from his frequent advances, despite her having already been turned into a heifer. Dora Argus, meanwhile, was created to trap a little girl in a nightmare dimension to break her spirit so their pathetic resident vampire could actually drink human blood for a change. Either way, this is some wacky stuff. First, the good. This thing is big, hefty, and very well sculpted. Various eyes are half-closed, and the freaky skin texture looks great. The articulation is the usual Lightning...[See More]