Raphael (Mutagen Ooze Glow)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Super7) - Ultimates!
Rated 4.70 stars by RMaster007
One thing that can certainly be said about Super7 is that they loving doing glow-in-the-dark figures. How much so? Their first released TMNT Ultimate was one of them, before the regular version even came out. We've since gotten a few others, including the four turtles themselves in "Mutagen Ooze" variants. They looked cool, but the higher $65 price due to the rising cost of glow material, along with it being Super7-exclusive meaning absurd shipping costs kept me away. Just earlier today, I was able to secure one for a good price at the annual Maryland Toy Expo, and it's my favorite turtle: Raphael. Usually, the glow figure packaging isn't much different from the regular versions outside of different colors and some GITD accents, but that's not the case here. The slip cover is designed...[See More]

Mummy (Color)
Universal Monsters (Neca) - Ultimate Collection
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
NECA's Universal Monsters line has been putting out some great figures, but I'll admit I haven't gotten much of them, mainly because I haven't seen much of the films. I'll make sure to change that, and I recently picked up another figures for my collection. His name is Imhotep, but everyone calls him the Mummy. The packaging is the same as the other monsters, with poster art on the front and figure shots on the back, but it looks good, and there's the usual front flap that reveals a window behind, showing off everything included. There also wasn't a lot of ties to worry about, making the mummy easy to free. The Mummy is the second Boris Karloff-played monster in the line, requiring a lot of make-up to bring the undead to life. He has very dry, somewhat pink skin, fitting for a...[See More]

Creep (40th Anniversary)
Creepshow (Neca) - Ultimate Collection
Rated 4.90 stars by RMaster007
It's Halloween once more, and I've been spending a few of the days leading up to it by watching some horror flicks. If there's one you definitely need to watch around this time, it's Creepshow. The George A. Romero and Stephen King film consists of five eerily entertaining stories, all wrapped up in an aesthetic that makes it look like a comic book come to life. In celebration of the film's 40th anniversary last year, NECA did a figure of its mascot, the Creep. They already did one based off the Shudder series a few years back, but this is what I was really holding out for. As with most NECA movie Ultimates, the Creep's packaging has the Creepshow poster on front, and shots of the figure on the back. It looks pretty good, and there are some comic book-inspired graphics as well, calling...[See More]

Lexington
Gargoyles (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
Since the line began, NECA's been giving Gargoyles fans a healthy mix of characters, with both major and supporting players. It's taken them some time to get to everyone in the Manhattan clan, but now they've gotten to the last one needed: Lexington. Lexington gets a smaller box than usual for this line, mainly because he's a smaller figure, but the artwork for it is great. It depicts the character in front of, or inside, what appears to be the clock tower where the Manhattan clan resides. On the inside, there's only two plastic ties holding in the figure, and there's a plastic cover keeping everything inside. Would be great if we could get that more often than tens of thousands of ties. Like Brooklyn and Broadway before him, Lexington isn't as humanlike in his facial features as others...[See More]

Number of the Beast (40th Anniversary)
Iron Maiden (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
Since 1980, the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden has made their mark on the world with plenty of awesome songs, and can arguably be considered one of the greatest bands of the genre. For years, NECA has worked with Iron Maiden to produce a couple collectibles of their mascot, Eddie, with the latest release commemorating the 40th anniversary of their hit single "The Number of the Beast." The packaging is much like what you usually get with NECA, presenting the original album cover by Derek Riggs on the front, and plenty of shots of the figure itself on the sides and back. It's simple, but it works. However, there are a lot of plastic ties holding in everything on the inside, so get your scissors handy. Eddie sports somewhat rough, decayed skin, being based off a photograph of a...[See More]

Space Ghost
Space Ghost Coast to Coast (Toycom) - Basic Series
Rated 4.00 stars by RMaster007
Years before the inception of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network put out one of their first original series for older audiences: Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The show took the Hanna-Barbera superhero and turned him into the egotistical, dimwitted host of an out-of-control talk show. It was a hilarious show that got better over time, and would set the stage for CN's aforementioned late-night block of programming. the show hasn't received too much merchandise outside of comics, but in the late 90s-early 2000s, Toycom and Art Asylum saw the potential, and put out a figure of the ghost host. The packaging is a cardback that makes use of nice graphics, with the other main characters being present on the box along with text on the back. The plastic front is actually shaped like Space Ghost's head, a...[See More]

Mechagodzilla (Toho)
Godzilla (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.50 stars by RMaster007
Giant robots are cool, and so are giant monsters. Combine the two and you get Mechagodzilla, the massive weapon against Godzilla. Debuting in the last two films of the Showa era, the character was popular enough to continue appearing in Godzilla media, including the Heisei-era film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and it's this version of the mech that gets the Ultimate treatment. The box is quite similar to Godzilla, but taller to house the character. The slip cover has a mechanical texture, which certainly fits, and the dark color scheme of the underlying box is good too. There's a more proper bio on the back for this character, which is an improvement over the wave one packaging. It's easy to get everything out, just remove some tape and twisties. As with the first wave, Four Horsemen...[See More]

Rob Zombie (Hellbilly Deluxe)
Asylum Ultimate Series (Art Asylum) - 18" Deluxe Figures
Rated 4.75 stars by Karl T. Face
Art Asylum lives up to both halves of their name! I became a fan of Rob Zombie in my early 20s, around the time I discovered C-list horror. Grindhouse flicks. They're written with the same weird imagery and gritty tone as his music, and that comes through in his movies as well. I was gifted this figure (doll, really) many years ago by a good friend, and it's been prominently displayed ever since. The doll itself is built on a rather generic 18" body, likely with an eye for reuse. Only the feet, hands, and head are unique. The boots are nice and clunky, the hands are good for clutching any number of things, and the head has a penetrating stare and very impressive rooted dreads with a grey dry-brushing. Between the pale skin, facial hair and cold expression, it comes off looking a lot like...[See More]

Stone Wing
Rock Lords (Tonka) - Vehicles
Rated 4.50 stars by Karl T. Face
It's not what it looks like. I liked Rock Lords as a kid. Tom Hanks can eat it, I had a lot of toys that turned into rocks, and they were awesome. But I never found the vehicles, except a freak sighting of the Rock Pot at a KB in the mid 90s, and I stupidly passed on that. But then this came along, and I had to pounce. Though officially a vehicle for the villains, the Stone Wing was originally designed for the heroes. It just so happened that none of the first-wave heroes could sit down, while all the villains could. Which makes me wonder if there was just a typo on the ledger somewhere to begin with. Anyway, this thing is made out of "a mysterious space rock monopole stone", which has antigravity properties. Which is ironic, since it weighs just over a pound and a half. There's a lot of...[See More]

Chun-Li
Street Fighter (Jada Toys) - Ultra Street Fighter II
Rated 4.60 stars by RMaster007
Befitting a popular fighting game, Street Fighter has received plenty of action figure lines. The first one (related to the games, not the movie) was by ReSaurus, and it was succeeded years later by the much better and longer-lasted SOTA line. Storm Collectibles' line serves as the most recent major one, with plenty of figures, but being produced overseas means they're sorta pricey. Thankfully, Jada Toys is giving us a cheaper option, and they're going through it slowly, but with promising-looking figures. It took me until their third release to actually get something from their line, but said figure is Chun-Li, one of my favorite characters from the series. These figures come in window boxes shaped like an arcade cabinet, complete with printed-on buttons and lifebars, and it definitely...[See More]