Piranacon
Transformers - Generation 1 (Hasbro) - Series 5
Rated 5.00 stars by Karl T. Face
Behold, a truly unique combiner team! In the Scramble City vein, no less. What's so cool about it? Let's dive in! Full disclosure, I don't actually have the giftset as it was sold. Poor old Nautilator was left out of that one, probably for price reasons. It is the first 6-member team since Devastator, after all. Naturally, I had to pick him up, so this will cover the full team regardless. As a team, they're certainly eye-catching. Lots of salmon pink, seafoam green, and a smattering of black, grey and silver. The limb-bots suffer from the usual odd proportions and egregious kibble from these sorts of teams, while Snaptrap makes the best of his larger size (and pricepoint) with fairly nice work all around. Altmodes are quite fun across the board- a murderous tortoise with teeth is one...[See More]

Perceptor
Transformers - Generation 1 (Hasbro) - Series 2
Rated 5.00 stars by Karl T. Face
I own 3 microscopes, and 2 of them are Perceptors. This guy is seriously impressive. Not bad at all for a g1 toy thanks to his Microchange ancestry (if you ever had Micronauts, you know how good even the basic figures could be), Big P sports swivel shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivel-hinge knees and hips. Combined with a little vertical play in the toes, he's actually quite poseable compared to many. Armed with a rifle and (neutered for the TF release) missile launcher, he cuts an imposing figure. The only real downside here is the immobile neck. The altmode looks a tad wonky, but it's mostly the color and blocky central section. Compare it to children's/students' microscopes of the era, and it's fairly nice. The slightly wavy and uneven mirror below the tray doesn't look like it would...[See More]

Planet Ice
War Planets (Trendmasters) - Planets
Rated 4.50 stars by Karl T. Face
Quite a nice one here, and worth buying. War Planets may not be the best toyline of the era- maybe not even in the top ten- but it's certainly got its charm. This is a prime example. Yeah, the planet itself is decent- paint apps inside and out, to take advantage of the trend blue plastic, and a series of pegs and tabs inside to hold things in place, however precariously. But the armies are where it's at here. Not only do you get quite a strike force (8 grunts and 4 officers, all looking pretty good by the standards of the line), but there's a pair of 8-legged tanks in the fairly smooth Ice style, with a missile launcher and detachable jet, respectively, and an extra missile launcher for good measure. I can't quite explain the semi circular patch of ice with the mechanical stuff on one...[See More]

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]

Howling Wolfinica
Resurrection of Monstress (Yellow Submarine) - Basic Series
Rated 4.00 stars by Karl T. Face
Werewolves are fun. Rock music is fun. Do these great tastes taste great together? I say yes. The purple version appeals to me more than the more realistic brown, for whatever reason. Maybe the cartoonish nature of a punk rock lycanthrope toy (oddly, not the only one I own) demands an outrageous color scheme. Maybe my love for the colorful world of Darkstalkers is showing, or it's just closer to the blue of the original art. Whatever the reason, here we are. I'd have preferred a less neutral expression, and she doesn't hold her guitar worth a damn. But the accessories and base are so good, it almost doesn't matter. The stage floor and large speaker are augmented by two smaller speakers and an amp, to be placed however you like. One of the rats fits neatly into a hole in the floor. A...[See More]

Franken Steela
Resurrection of Monstress (Yellow Submarine) - Basic Series
Rated 4.00 stars by Karl T. Face
As a fan of Nirasawa's art style, I have to say, nobody captures it quite like Yellow Submarine. And as Mindless Self-Indulgence warned us, Frankenstein girls will indeed seem strangely sexy. This one's a bit of a sore point with me, in that I would have vastly preferred the blue version, with its more realistic colors. But that's apparently hard to find, so here we are. I can't complain too much, really. The operating table is hefty and substantial, making it feel like a pretty good value overall. The joints in are good and solid, even after 20 years. Paint is tight. The glaring neon accessories are the main reason I wanted the blue version; any detail on them gets swallowed up. A paint wash would have helped. That said, I can't argue with that amazing reclining table, nor the handful...[See More]

Creature Gillealla
Resurrection of Monstress (Yellow Submarine) - Basic Series
Rated 4.00 stars by Karl T. Face
I'm a sucker for the Gillman. Fish people in general, really. And one thing I don't see very often, at least in plastic form, is female fish folk. So Gillie here was an easy decision. But does she stack up? In a word, mostly. Once you get past the idea that you're basically buying a sexy monster girl statue, it goes down easier. The whole line has a 3-joint standard, neck and shoulders. This one bucks the trend with ankle hinges, which allow for standing or floating poses, but also muck up an otherwise killer sculpt. The real draw, as is typical of this line, is the sheer volume of accessories, allowing for lots of display options. She can (sort of) hold her knife or wear it, the skeleton fish can be tucked into various gaps, the breathing apparatus looks good on her (not making much...[See More]