Action Figure Review: Mercy and Pharah from Overwatch Ultimates by Hasbro

  It's been a few days so it's time for another review from Hasbro's Overwatch Ultimates toyline. As I've stated on all of these reviews, I've never played Overwatch. Prior to picking these figures up I wasn't even familiar with the story. Heck, other than recognizing a few of the main characters, I was completely ignorant of the property. Cool action figures is enough to get me excited, though, and now I'm starting to pick up on some of the lore. Today I'm checking out a very cool two-pack that features two of the more popular characters from the game: Mercy and Pharah. Mercy is the code name for Dr. Angela Ziegler, a 37 year old Swiss field medic and first responder from Zurich while Pharah is the code name for Fareeha Amari, a 32 year old security chief from Giza, Egypt. While the characters in Overwatch have multiple different "skins" that showcase different appearances for the figures, Mercy and Pharah come in their standard looks. Let's take a look at this two-pack after the break...

Minifigure Review: He-Man (Orange) from Masters of the Universe Micro Vinyl by Super7

   Just last week Super7 listed a few Masters of the Universe vinyl toys which they originally released at the Five Points Festival earlier this month. While some of the figures were fairly expensive, I really wanted to add at least one of the He-Man and Skeletor minifigures to my collection. Each of the figures came in either orange or blue so I ordered one of each sculpt: An orange He-Man and a blue Skeletor (that made sense to me). Super7 shipped these quickly and they arrived on Saturday. Ready for a quick look at a Japanese vinyl styled He-Man? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: He-Ro from Masters of the Universe: The Powers of Grayskull by Super7

   Yesterday I checked out Eldor, the heroic mentor from Super7's Masters of the Universe: The Powers of Grayskull and now I'm checking out He-Ro, the Most Powerful Wizard in the Universe. I talked a lot about these figures yesterday and their significance in Masters of the Universe history so today I'm going to give less of a history lessen and more of some general thoughts on Super7's efforts here. Super7 has done some really cool stuff with the Masters of the Universe license and while they have had some criticism due to pricing and delays, overall I think they've done a pretty good job of doing something with a license that Mattel kind of threw away for a few years. Honestly, I wonder if if it was the fact that so many companies like Super7, Mondo, Funko, and The Loyal Subjects wanted the rights to do MOTU product that Mattel seems to now be interested in getting back into the game and is really pushing the upcoming film. Hopefully there is room for everyone at the table so that collectors are presented with a wide array of MOTU offerings. Super7 does a stellar job on packaging and art design and in these respects He-Ro truly excels. Let's check out He-Ro in detail after the break...

Action Figure Review: Eldor from Masters of the Universe: The Powers of Grayskull by Super7

    There's no denying that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a wildly successful property back in the early to mid 1980s. Beginning in 1982, the line grew in popularity until 1986 when the toyline was doing around $400 million in sales. Sadly, in 1987 the line dropped in sales. Despite the release of the live action film that year the line dropped to around $7 million in sales, causing Mattel to scrap plans for the next planned expansion: The Powers of Grayskull. Mattel's plan for the future of Masters of the Universe was to go back in time to Preternia, Eternia's ancient past filled with wizards and dinosaurs. The new main hero of this series would be, well He-Ro, a powerful wizard. It's interesting that Mattel went backwards, attempting to do the prequel thing before pretty much anyone else. While Mattel did limited releases of the three dinosaurs from the line and the two giants (released only in Italy), the figures were scrapped. For a number of years now fans have know about Mattel's planned figures for He-Ro and Eldor. The two characters were released in Masters of the Universe Classics but fans of the vintage line would always have an empty spot on the shelf where these two characters should have been...until now! As part of their mass amount of MOTU product Super7 has done a remarkable job of finally getting these never before produced vintage prototypes out to collectors as legitimate figures. Let's start with Eldor, the Heroic Guardian of the Book of Living Spells, after the break...

Action Figure Review: Reaper (Blackwatch Reyes) from Overwatch Ultimates by Hasbro

    Today I'm checking out another figure from Hasbro's Overwatch Ultimates line and this time it's Reaper (Blackwatch Reyes). That's a rather oddly named figure, isn't it? I'm no Overwatch expert by any means (I have not actually even played the game) but a brief glimpse through the Overwatch Wiki gave me some information to help make sense of things. While Reaper is one of the most recognizable characters in the game, this isn't how he usually dresses. While most of the alternate skins for characters are simple palette swaps, sometimes they offer up a truly unique appearance. Reaper's real name is Gabriel Reyes and before he was a mercenary and a terrorist, he was the commander of a US Army group called Blackwatch, were he served alongside of Jack Morrison/ Soldier 76. At some point I'm sure we'll get Reyes in his Reaper outfit but to kick things off Hasbro's offering up this "prequel" version of Reyes that is one of his Legendary skins. I have to admit that the story and character connections in this game are making me more interested in playing this than anything I've heard about the game itself, which doesn't appear to be very story based. Are there novels or comics that anyone would recommend? For now, let's check out the Blackwatch version of Reyes/ Reaper after the break...

Action Figure Review: Battle Cat from Masters of the Universe Action Vinyls by The Loyal Subjects

    I have quite a few of the Masters of the Universe Action Vinyls from The Loyal Subjects, but you know what? This is the first one I've reviewed on the site! Just as the cases of the second series of figures is starting to hit store shelves (Hot Topic had an exclusive case of series 2 at the end of 2018), cases of just Battle Cat and Panthor are also starting to arrive. The Loyal Subjects has evolved on their approach to blind boxes and while Series 2 has a mixture of blind boxed and regularly packaged figures, Battle Cat and Panthor are packaged in traditional window boxes. Pretty cool, right? Cringer is easily one of my favorite Masters of the Universe characters so that means Battle Cat gets pretty high marks in my book, too. Let's check out this very cool miniature Battle Cat after the break...

Action Figure Review: Ana (Shrike) and Soldier: 76 from Overwatch Ultimates by Hasbro

    Sorry that it's been a few days since I posted a new review! Something pretty cool arrived in the mail this weekend and it's been keeping me busy. I'll be showing it off shortly but today I'm going to be checking out one of the 2-packs from Hasbro's Overwatch Ultimates line: Ana (Shrike) and Soldier: 76. As I said in my review of Sombra, I really don't know that much about Overwatch. I'm familiar with it but I've never played it nor have I read any of the tie-in comics. I really just dig the character designs and I like the product Hasbro has put out. This set includes two completely unique action figures. The Overwatch characters have multiple different "skins" they can wear which usually seem to be just new color schemes but some, like Ana's, feature different elements such as the Tron-like helmet seen here. Let's check out Ana and Soldier: 76 after the break...