Minifigure Review: Pack B from M.U.S.C.L.E.: Mega Man by Super7

As someone who absolutely loves minifigures, particularly M.U.S.C.L.E., it hurts my hear that Super7's Mega Man M.U.S.C.L.E. figures are so terrible. Yeah, that's a spoiler for the rest of the review. Oh well. If you read my reviews fairly often, you might come to the conclusion that I'm not too harsh of a critic on most toys. That's partially because I usually buy stuff I'm predisposed to like but also because most modern action figures and toys that I pick up are actually pretty decent. Something happened with Super7's recent efforts on the Mega Man minifigures, though: The plastic is overly shiny, the figures feel bizarre (kind of oily/ sticky and not at all "solid"), and the sculpts are pathetically soft. Compare these to the Street Fighter II M.U.S.C.L.E. figures Super 7 released earlier this year and you'll wonder what happened. How did the same company release some of the greatest minis ever and some of the worst in such a short span of time? Who knows? Since I bought them and opened them, I feel compelled to at least review these as a cautionary tale for anyone who might be contemplating them!

Minifigure Review: Pack A from M.U.S.C.L.E.: Mega Man by Super7

 I'm just going to come out and say it: These are terrible. I love both the vintage M.U.S.C.L.E. and Super7's M.U.S.C.L.E. revival. I've reviewed nearly everything they've released thus far and nearly all of them have received high marks. While I'm certainly anywhere as big of a fan of Mega Man as I am of Masters of the Universe, Alien, or Street Fighter, I certainly have enjoyed a number of the games and I'm almost always willing to pick up some minifigures, particularly M.U.S.C.L.E. Folks, let me tell you that these are quite possibly the most disappointing minifgures I've ever owned. I hate to say that as I really was excited for these. They fail on almost every level, however; the plastic quality is crap, the detail is soft, the color isn't right, and the figures just feel sticky and oily. If you read my reviews regularly, you know that I don't usually write too many negative reviews. That's because I tend to only buy figures I'm pretty sure I'll like. I ordered this set as soon as I received the notice that it was available from Super7, so I kind of ordered sight unseen, knowing how good the stuff is Super7 usually produces. I'm not sure what happened here, though. Let's take a closer look at Pack A from M.U.S.C.L.E. Mega Man and see if you agree me...

Action Figure Review: R5-D4 from Star Wars: 40th Anniversary Collection by Hasbro

   Legend says there is only one way for a character in the Original Trilogy to be truly immortalized: To have had an action figure released by Kenner in the vintage Star Wars action figure line. R5-D4 is one of those characters. While the little R5 unit does have an overall effect on the plot, it's doubtful anyone would ever know his name if it weren't for the fact that Kenner released him in the 1979 series of Star Wars action figures. R5-D4 (AKA Skippy the Jedi Droid. It's true. Look it up.) wasn't one of the original 12, but Hasbro still decided to give him a release in the 40th Anniversary Collection as an exclusive to both GameStop and ThinkGeek. He was pretty tough to track down initially, but now he's starting to become a bit more common so look around at your local stores before you pay a bit more for him online. While he's lacking the proton torpedo launcher and blaster cannons of the POTF2 release, he's as film accurate as he's ever been. Let's take a closer look at R5-D4, the slacker droid with no motivation, after the break...

Action Figure Review: Legacy Pack from Star Wars: 40th Anniversary Collection by Hasbro

 I'm a bit late posting this but yes, today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Star Wars. To celebrate I'm looking at one of the releases from Hasbro's recent Star Wars: 40th Anniversary Collection action figure series: The Legacy Pack. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film, Hasbro has released (or re-released) Black Series figures of all twelve of the original Kenner Star Wars action figures from 1978, plus a few random extras as exclusives like R5-D4 and Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing Pilot gear. While the rest of the figures are available on upsized vintage style cards, Darth Vader is unique in that he comes included with what is labeled as the Legacy Pack. The set, retailing at $40 bucks, includes a carded Darth Vader figure and a display stand that's very similar to the one included with the 1978 "Early Bird Kit." Besides this desirable due to being part of the 40th Anniversary Series, this is also Hasbro's second attempt at sculpting a Vader; the original Black Series figure, based on Vader's Return of the Jedi costume, turned out being just so-so. This one, it turns out, is a complete new sculpt based on the A New Hope outfit. Ready for a closer look at this set? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Spacesuit Harley Quinn from DC Designer Series: Amanda Conner by DC Collectibles

 Earlier this week I reviewed the Traditional Harley Quinn figure and now I'm looking at the second figure in the Amanda Conner inspired DC Designer Series: Spacesuit Harley Quinn. Coming from the cover of issue #12 of the comic (she wears an outfit similar to this in the story, but it's a bit different) this figure represents an outfit Harley wore in space during her team-up with Power Girl against the evil Manos. Heck, it also includes the guardian of Manos' realm, a giant talking slice of pizza. This line definitely manages to capture the offbeat humor and fun of the Harley Quinn comic, but does it capture the quality? Join on and learn more after the break...

Action Figure Review: Traditional Harley Quinn from DC Designer Series: Amanda Conner by DC Collectibles

 The DC Designer Series seems to be getting back in a pretty steady groove. Just in the past couple of months DC Collectibles has released the incredible Ant Lucia Bombshells figures and the Amanda Conner inspired Harley Quinn series. Harley Quinn seems to be more popular with DC Collectibles than even Batman these days, so I imagine they have high hopes for an entire line of just Harley figures. If you haven't read Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti's Harley Quinn comics, you're missing out on some incredibly fun books. One of the things that is kind of off, though, is that of all the various Harleys offered in this series of figures, not one of them is anything that you might call a standard outfit for the character in the books. Even her "traditional" outfit rarely shows up. Still, it's not like a traditional Harley Quinn rendered in Conner's incredibly fun and expressive art style isn't going to sell, so I can completely understand why DC Collectibles released "Traditional Harley Quinn" as one of the first four figures in the line. Let's jump in and take a closer look at this figure after the break...

Statue Review: Poison Ivy from Vinyl Vixens by Vinyl Sugar/ Funko

   Today I'm looking at the Vinyl Vixens Poison Ivy from Vinyl Sugar, a statue I picked up on a really good clearance sale! Sometime last month I was at Manifest Disc (a record store in Charlotte, NC) and found that they were having a pretty incredible sale on a variety of toys and statues: Buy 1 get 2 free! I ended up grabbing six items from the sale including the Diamond Select Gotham Jim Gordon, the DC Collectibles B:TAS Riddler and Penguin, the DC Icons Green Arrow, and of course, the Poison Ivy vinyl statue I'm looking at today. I reviewed the Vinyl Vixens Batgirl back in 2015 and I liked it quite a bit. I think I might like Ivy even a bit better. Funko/ Vinyl Sugar has put out a number of different lines like this and while some have had some true longevity (POP! and Rock Candy come to mind), others like Vinyl Vixens and the atrocious Vinyl Idolz don't seem like they caught on. Still, I think Vinyl Vixens was a pretty decent line of vinyl statues and considering that most of them can be found at clearance prices, fans of the Gotham City Sirens might still be interested in tracking them down. Let's check out the beautiful and deadly Poison Ivy after the break!