Bellybomb
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Neca) - Adventures
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
NECA run's with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license has given us plenty of firsts when it comes to characters, doing a variety of allies and villains that haven't gotten figures before. They've done the first official Jagwar figure, the first Dreadmon figure, and now, the first Bellybomb figure. If you aren't familiar with him, he was a character made solely for the Archie TMNT Adventures comics (though the 2012 cartoon had a character clearly based off him), being present in three issues aiding Krang in his evil plans, and was introduced in the same issue as Slash. After all these years, this alien menace finally has some merch. I usually talk about the head first when it comes to figures, but in Bellybomb's case, he's almost all head. His name comes from the fact that his mouth is...[See More]

Living Room Diorama
Simpsons (Jakks Pacific) - Dioramas
Rated 4.20 stars by RMaster007
At the start of the 21st century, Playmates put out their best line that wasn't Ninja Turtles: Simpsons. The main gimmick of said line was that the figures could be plugged into playsets to spout lines from the show, and said feature was hit or miss at times, especially in its later years. Despite that, both the figures and sets looked fantastic, and now we have somewhat of a successor in Jakks Pacific. They're putting out figures in the same scale as Playmates, but with no talking feature. We have gotten a playset, however, but scaled to go with the smaller figures. Unsurprisingly, it's the Simpson residence. I've already discussed the packaging with the 2.5" figures, and the box for the set is more of the same, but windowless. You still get some good photos of the set, showing off all...[See More]

Dr. Elsa Schneider
Indiana Jones - Adventure Series (Hasbro) - Basic Series
Rated 3.00 stars by Wes68
For a series of films that have plenty of villains and baddies? The Adventure Series has a distinct lack of baddies and antagonists. Fewer still are female antagonists. There is no Irina Spalko from KotCS for example. And in the absence of Nazi officers like Vogel who are difficult to market? Elsa (and Donovan too), are perhaps more palatable for a company to make a figure of (Toht not withstanding). Elsa in the film for example tells Indy she believes in the Grail not the particular symbol of the German political party of the period. Yet Indy points out she stood up to be counted with the enemies of everything the Grail stands for. And here she is as a 6" figure. Elsa is probably a needed complement to the other figures in the Last Crusade centric third wave. She can pair with Donovan...[See More]

Family Multi-Pack
Simpsons (Jakks Pacific) - Mini
Rated 4.35 stars by RMaster007
Despite all the merchandise Simpsons has gotten over the years, there's been a small drought of true action figures for a couple years, with only more stylized stuff like Funko POPs and Kidrobot's vinyl figures. Super7 took a shot at it with a varied selection of characters, and most of them was good, but lack of key characters and poor sales resulted in Disney pulling the license. Not long after the news came out S7 lost the license, Jakks Pacific announced their own line of Simpsons figures and other collectibles. Their offerings have been showing up since last month, and in good numbers, including a line of smaller-scale figures. There's a set of the main family out now, including a wave of single-packed characters. When the line was first revealed (outside of the States), the...[See More]

Sla'Ker
Turtles of Grayskull (Mattel) - Basic Series
Rated 4.45 stars by RMaster007
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have crossed over with many other properties over the years, from Star Trek to Ghostbusters, from Batman to Power Rangers, and even Cobra Kai. One of the latest crossovers is a toyline started by Mattel last year: "Turtles of Grayskull." As you can guess from the name, the Ninja Turtles, along with their allies and enemies, are dropped into the world of Eternia, fighting alongside or against He-Man and co. I haven't seen the figures too often, and wasn't really that interested in them at first, but when I saw Sla'ker, the line's take on one of my favorite TMNT characters, I was all for him. It certainly helps he was on clearance. These figures usually come on cardbacks, but these deluxe releases are packaged in window boxes instead. The graphics are...[See More]

Professor Edward C. Burke (London after Midnight)
Universal Monsters (Neca) - Ultimate Collection
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
If you've never heard of London After Midnight, that's because there's no way to see it now. An old horror/mystery film from the 1920's, the film was lost to a vault fire a few decades later, but many an enthusiast has taken to preserving what's available of the film and keeping the story of it alive. NECA is also one of those people, but they're keeping it in the minds of classic horror fans not through stories and screencaps, but through action figures. The packaging design is similar to the Universal Monsters we've been seeing from NECA, with old poster art on the front and photos of the figure on all the other sides. It's not designated as part of that line, however, since the film was distributed by MGM, not Universal (plus I think it's public domain now). The figure and most...[See More]

Tombstone
Rock Lords (Tonka) - Evil Rock Lords
Rated 4.00 stars by Karl T. Face
I actually have a piece of the rock this guy is based on. Tombstone is a typical overconfident evil henchman of the 80s variety. He's got style, at least. Carries a scythe and all. This toy doesn't, but we'll come to that. This fellow basically has a little snake head on a long neck, spindly arms, and a beefy torso. Some damn big boots, too. And yet, it feels fairly cohesive. The "robot" parts are a sort of lime green. The deep green and uneven sculpt of the rocky areas are true to prasiolite, which I assume is the "quartz" listed on the package. Articulation, as usual, is a mixed bag. The hinges knees and swivel/hinge hips are decent enough, but the head only has vertical movement, and the shoulders and elbows are both ape-arm hinges, which is a pretty useless combo. The weapon here is...[See More]

First Turtles (Eastman & Laird)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mirage Comics (Neca) - Basic Series
Rated 4.65 stars by RMaster007
As I've brought up already, this year is the 40th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and whilst a huge franchise spanning comics, film, animation, and video games, it started off as mere sketches done between friends. Playmates gave us a set of Turtles based off Peter Laird's original group drawing, but NECA went one step further and gave us a two-pack of both Kevin Eastman and Laird's "first" turtles. This was an SDCC exclusive available through both the show and NECA direct, so unless you got them then, eBay's your only option now. As a convention exclusive, NECA had to do something special with the packaging, hence why in addition to the usual Mirage line graphics and trapezoidal shape, there's also a slipcover. The front of the cover depicts Eastman's renditions of this...[See More]

Original Sketch Leonardo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Classic Collection (Playmates) - 40th Anniversary
Rated 4.15 stars by RMaster007
In 1984, up-and-coming comic artist Kevin Eastman sketched up a goofy drawing of a ninja turtle, which led to his friend Peter Laird doing his own version, ultimately leading to them starting their own comic book. What was supposed to be a one-shot turned into a long-running comic series, and it wasn't long before it became a global franchise and pop culture phenomenon. Now it's 40 years later, and Playmates has been celebrating the anniversary with plenty of re-releases of figures and vehicles from the original toy line, alongside some new products, such as a set of turtles based off Laird's initial group sketch. In contrast to the usual cardback, Playmates put these figures in window boxes, likely due to them being more orientated to collectors than kids (still says 4+ on the box). The...[See More]

Earl Sinclair
Dinosaurs (Neca) - Ultimate Collection
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
Being a toy collector isn't easy at times, with how hard things can be to track down in-store (prefer that over buying online most of the time). The NECA Dinosaurs Earl Sinclair is an example, as I had a lot of trouble finding the regular version, but thankfully a trip out of town by the folks let them get him for me. Earl Sinclair is your usual sitcom patriarch: dopey and self-centered but mostly well-meaning. His design invokes this, with a soft, fat face and a friendly expression for (what he thinks is) a mighty megalosaurus. Eric Barnett did the sculpt, as with Baby, and it matches the puppet/suit used in the show well. The paint and wash are clean, and texturing is subtle but there. The alternate "talking" head is good, with eyes looking off to the side, and as the box shows, it was...[See More]