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]

Michael Myers (Curse of Michael Myers)
Halloween (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
Throughout the history of the franchise, the Halloween series has been retooled and rebooted a lot, with the Blumhouse trilogy notably ignoring everything after the first. One of the now-non-canonical timelines took place over three movies, with the last of them (and sixth overall), The Curse of Michael Myers, revealing that his bloodlust was the result of a cult. Not many fans liked that explanation, and it's commonly agreed Michael's just the walking embodiment of evil, but it hasn't made the film any less of a guilty pleasure. Now that NECA's done figures of all three modern Michaels, they're going back to 1995 and giving us his aforementioned Curse appearance. After the first two and the fourth films used a modified Captain Kirk mask for Michael, the next two used all-new masks, with...[See More]

Dancin' Homer
Simpsons (Jakks Pacific) - Mini
Rated 4.40 stars by RMaster007
Jakks Pacific has shown a willingness to work with different scales for their licenses. With Mario and Sonic, they've done 2.5" figures and playsets, basic 4" figures, the occasional 5" subline, and even figures larger than that. So far, their Simpsons line is only in the 2.5" and 5" scales, but unlike their other major licenses, I've been willing to get both scales because of how much I love the series. That said, the latest 2.5" wave isn't easy to find at retail, though I managed to find Homer first, and then everyone else sometime later. Unlike the past two waves, the Simpson variant here isn't Bart, but Homer, and in his "Dancin' Homer" outfit. At 3" tall, Homer stands out for not having a stiff pose or a blank stare like most of these figures do; the legs are spread, the left arm is...[See More]

Sub-Zero
Mortal Kombat (Infinite Concepts) - Basic Series
Rated 3.40 stars by RMaster007
Mortal Kombat is a property that has opened itself up to many toy lines, thanks to the unique cast of characters and uber-goriness. Storm did a great but sadly ended line of (mostly) high-quality figures, and McFarlane is returning to it with a Klassic line, something I've been wanting for a while, and then there's Infinite Concepts. If you haven't heard of them, it's because they weren't around for long, with their only releases being a wave of MK figures in the start of the new millennium. They're not easy to find and even most costly to get, but I was lucky to find Sub-Zero for a decent price. These figures come on huge cardbacks, and they just scream late-90s/early-2000s figure packaging design. From fire on the front to thunder on the back complementing a cross-sell and a...[See More]

Bart (Skateboard / Blue Shirt)
Simpsons (Jakks Pacific) - Basic Series
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
Jakks' Simpsons line has been coming out at a quick pace, but it seems for now it's taking a short break. There hasn't been anything officially announced or released aside from the Amazon-exclusive Funzo doll, but there's been plenty of leaked figure and plush listings, and my guess is that within next month or so we'll get some news on upcoming products. Until then, the fourth wave has been out for a while for both scales, and I'll be looking at the 5" ones first. Of course, they had to include one main family member in the wave, so Bart fills that position. This isn't a specific outfit or anything, just a regular Bart, and the same mold as the one in the first wave at that. So what's different? His shirt. The prior Bartman figure had a blue shirt, and that's what this release gets....[See More]

Dark Leonardo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Classic Cartoon (Neca) - Basic Series
Rated 4.45 stars by RMaster007
Before I get into talking about the last Haulathon TMNT toon figure, have you read IDW's TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures comic? It's an expansion of the original 1987 cartoon, and it does a great job providing new stories from that universe while keeping the charm and humor of the show. It's given us plenty of action figure potential as well, so it's odd NECA hasn't tried doing any of the new characters or outfits from it, at least until a few months ago. The first SMA figure is Dark Leonardo, coming from issue #20, which features Michelangelo in an alternate universe where he never existed, resulting in his brothers and sensei being evil. Aaron Hazouri is once again doing the box art, and it's paired with a clever pun for the faux VHS title, "Two Scoops of Evil." I also see a bit of...[See More]