2nd Annual Top 10 Most Viewed Action Figures!

It's the 2nd anniversary of the blog and we've been making a few steps since last year! More S.H. Figuarts, the discovery of the wonder that is Mafex and a guest blog on the Gemr.com website!

With that, here are the most viewed figures from April 23rd of 2018 to the same date as this year.

 10: S.H. Figuarts Rock Lee.

Such a zany character with crazy eyes and even crazier taijutsu skills, Rock Lee is a great support character in the Naruto universe and has had some of the best battles in Naruto show. Styled after the likes of Bruce Lee (sounds like "Blues Lee", so the writer made it "Rock Lee" to follow the unintentional musical genre theme). The fact he came with all the parts to change him into Gate released form is just all the better. 

His Konoha Senpuu is better than yours

Best Transformation award! Also, most involved
parts swapping

9. Hasbro Spiderman (Gameverse): One of my favourite games of this year, Hasbro did a pretty good job of using their spiderman parts and new paint to make this a pretty good copy of the game version. It may be the only spiderman figure I own, so I'm glad I own it! 

Easiest to Photograph in a Hanging Pose
Award! 

I was excited to find out that S.H. Figuarts is making this!
They're definitely getting more of my money.

8. S.H. Figuarts Kakashi Hatake: He is easily one of the most popular characters in Naruto. He's got a great story, awesome jutsu, and is just an all around great character. A few things I wished they had done was to make a better Chidori effect and make his crotch a lot less diaper-y! Other than that this is a great figure. 

Best Winky Face! Also, best
Protagonist award!

Had to add some lightning pieces, but it mostly works!

7. S.H. Figuarts Boruto Uzumaki: There are a lot of people who heavily criticize the Boruto show, but while I hear and understand that people don't like some of the departures from Naruto, I find it very entertaining and in many ways better written. This figure has one of the best leg joints made by S.H. figuarts and I think one of the best Rasengan effects. I only wish they had made Sarada and Mitsuki as well!

Best Articulation Award!

6. Mattel Multiverse Killer Croc: One of my wishes is to always get the rest of the Arkham big figures (Titan Joker, Clayface, Solomon Grundy, Killer Croc) but they are so expensive that it makes it nigh impossible to justify. This figure, however, is easily justifiable! It is meant for a 4" scale figure of Nightwing to see imposing and huge as he is in the game. However, his size matches him up as a man-sized version when compared to regular 7" scale Arkham figures. He's not perfect, but he's a good stand-in for now!

Best Alternative to a Very Expensive Figure Award!

He just wishes he had an ankle joint!

5. S.H. Figuarts Minato Namikaze: Naruto's father, 4th Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and inventor of the Rasengan makes Minato a force to be reckoned with. He sealed half of the Nine-tailed best in his son to protect his village and sacrificed his life but he does come back every once in a while for some great appearances and even a few fights! Super well designed even if the cloak isn't removable and can get in the way sometimes.

Best Ghost Father Award!

Flyin' Lightnin' Yellow Flash

4. S.H. Figuarts Itachi Uchiha: Only one of two major villains from the Naruto series made in action figure form, Itachi proved to be a complex character with many a mysterious motive. His mastery over his Uchiha bloodline and various jutsu made him a formidable antagonist. He is the main plot drive for Sasuke in the show. The figure is pretty good but would've been better with a cloth cloak in my opinion!

Most Tragic Backstory Award!

Also angriest yelly face!

3. Sasuke Uchiha (Bandai):  This was an amazing find and discovery. I had no idea a figure of that level of articulation and special accessories was made. He's not as well sculpted or painted as an S.H. Figuarts but he looks pretty great for a 2003 figure! I would love to get the Kakashi and Naruto ones as well.

Rarest and Most Surprising
Action Figure Find of the year!

Demon Wind Shuriken action!

2.Playmates Toys April O'Neil: This is easily the worst figure in my collection. Maybe the horrible bashing I gave it caused more of a crowd! Either way, the 2nd spot goes to the worst!

Worst Figure of All Time Award!

Whatever!

1. S.H. Figuarts Madara Uchiha: So glad they had finally made another villain in the show. Not the most impressive way to handle the ab crunch, but the accessories and the rest of the figure is solid!
He received the most views (135 and climbing) and although I've said this many times, I wish they had made Tobirama and more Akatsuki!

Best Hair Award!

Also Coolest in the Summertime Award

Well, there you have it folks, another year of the blog done. I don't know what the next year is going to hold, I have a few figures, and plans to get some anime themed ones as well as more Mafex.
Happy Collecting!

Uchiha family

In rank order 1 to 10, front to back!

Faceoff! I think the bad guys would win this one

Or maybe Madara just take them all out!

Dance off bros! Noe that young Sasuke is too "cool" to show appreciation of dance or music. 

Marvel Legends - Spiderman (PS4 Game Version)

I absolutely loved the PS4 exclusive Spiderman game. It did everything I want out of a superhero game since the Arkham game series. Fun, action-packed combat sequences, fun story, hints of the comic book storylines so the fans can go "aha! That's from x when x does so and so!" and lots of good voice acting. I really enjoyed how fun it was just to web swing and wall crawl around the city. Unlike the Arkham games, you can sort of interact with people on the street and explore. The reflections they have in the game are crazy good as well. The game's spider suit is unique in that they designed some of the features to be less like super hero spandex and a bit more like athletic gear.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I don't collect Marvel Legends...per se!
I have a couple I had planned on using for customizing parts, though at this point those figures are still on the shelf.

THIS figure though was bought because of how much I loved the game and wanted a game representation of the suit. It's a pretty good figure, not perfect, but well done and they did a good job of the white paint apps. They did fine for including a few accessories. The head sculpt isn't preferred for me when viewed straight on, but here's the breakdown!

1st Annual Top 10 Most Viewed Action figures!

As of April 23rd, 2018, this blog has officially been running for a year! It's funny to think I've been writing this little hobby blog for *slightly* over a year. Anyway, I figure I'd celebrate that by starting a Top 10 Most viewed action figures. I figure *pun intended* I'd show off the blog posts that were of most interest to my readership. Here goes from 10th to 1st!



#10. DC Icons Aquaman
I did not expect him on this list, but it is --1. Nice that he made it and 2. Painfully funny that he is once again last on a list. I do actually like the figure, even with the gimmicky telepathy effect! He's simple, sleek and I like the glossy green parts of his suit.

Amazing-that-it-got-a-place Award!

"Willy's in trouble at the aquarium!"

#9. DC Icons Nightwing
He's always had a simple design in costume but Nightwing is my favorite in DC comics and this figure is my favorite Nightwing of the ones I own. I love the idea of a sidekick evolving to be his own thing. It's a natural progression that isn't often taken advantage of in comics. His kali sticks could be less plain but I'll be damned if I don't find his face sculpt one of the best of any Arkham or DC Classics I've seen.

Author's Favourite Award!

DC Icons line really should've made their
staves and sticks more interesting...basically
that's a metal bar with no features

#8 DC Icons Batgirl
Such a great Rebirth version of Batgirl. The fact this came with her big motorcycle is SWEET. With skid effects on the platform that comes with it! And a bunch of great accessories. She's a bit tricky to balance given the very light weight of the figure but is so great.

Punch pose! (for Instagram!)

Best Accessory Award!

#7 DC Collectibles Nightwing - Arkham Knight
He's only been in two of the four games, but his appearance in Arkham Knight was very pleasing. He had speaking parts, awesome dual play fights, and even some of his own missions and challenge maps. The character has a bit to be desired though. I don't particularly like his head and mask design. His articulation from his ab is just bad. His legs and body proportions also seem kinda weird. Oh well!

Marvel Legends - Black Panther: Giant Man BAF

Originally created in 1966, Black Panther would be one of the first African or even African-American heroes, preceding Black Lightning, Jon Stewart Green lantern, Luke Cage and Falcon. His original costume design by Jack Kirby looked like this. I always find it fascinating how hero concepts, both physically and in terms of character change over time.

Fun fact, the naming actually predates the actual political party, The Black Panthers. He is not the only Black Panther and won't be the last either. The Black Panther is a title in the tribe of T'Challa, who is granted the right to eat a special herb that allows him connection to the Panther deity. This essentially gives him magical powers that result in enhanced senses, speed, agility and strength. His signature claws are made of the same vibranium as Captain America's shield. It is that alien meteorite that is a central conflict in T'Challa's homeland of Wakanda, where many vie for it's possession to be made into weapons. So, kind of a real-world reflection of the exploitation of Africans by corporations and arms dealers! 

Wow, so you learn a lot doing a bit of wiki research. Even before all that info though, I find the Black Panther a fascinating character in the MCU. This figure impresses me quite a bit. They could have just made a general black body with some paint and standard articulation. They didn't thankfully. 

This figure has awesome texturing over his entire suit, and despite the little paint, it still looks amazing. The articulation is pretty close to standard marvel stuff, and yet it has much more range due to the way he was designed. The only accessory he has is his alternate unmasked head, but hey! That's pretty nice for Marvel! It's not often you get alternate heads unless it's a special pack of some kind. 

Marvel Legends Captain America - Abomination BAF

So this is yet another move on my part towards customizing. At this point I'll have to look at my notes to see what I even wanted him for! He's got decent enough paint to him and the body mold they used has a lot of good points: lots of points of articulation and an interesting throwing shield effect. The overall paint design though is probably the LEAST Captain America-y you can get!

That's because it is from the comic book storyline "Secret War" (Not Secret WARS...that's actually a different series) where Nick Fury sends a bunch of heroes to uncover a secret plot by the Latverian Prime Minister.

Marvel Legends Ironfist - Allfather BAF wave

I'll admit before Netflix's Ironfist series I had very little to know idea who Ironfist was. Now that I've learned more, I like his character and design. I can't say I was super impressed with the actor or script made for Danny Rand in the show, but perhaps in Defenders, it won't matter as much.

Like Nick Fury, this one is destined for customization! The head I'll likely use for Midnighter where the body will be for Apollo. That said, the figure is really good. There is tons of articulation, lots of ways to get him into great poses, and the white and gold creates a nice bright feel. He has some interesting blue shading on the white and comes with quite a few sets of alternate hands for different kung fu and dynamic poses. Very solid! He technically came as a build-a-figure for All-Father (Odin), but since I got him on a deal from eBay, this was not part of it.

Marvel Legends Nick Fury - Marvel Cinematic Universe

Ok, so full disclosure - I have a few Marvel Legends figures I got for dirt cheap because I am slowly getting into customizing. I am by no means collecting them, since I think as a collector unless you have a huge disposable income, you just can't collect them all (Sorry Ash). I am judiciously sticking to DC, some video game models, and some SH Figuarts, and that's plenty for now.  I actually bought this figure so that I could take parts of him and create the DC character Midnighter.

Side note:I generally enjoyed nearly all the movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (referred to as MCU from now on). I didn't care all too much for the Thor movies, mostly because I don't find the character especially interesting. That said, I'm keen on Ragnarok!

Ok, back on topic. Samuel Jackson plays Nick Fury here, and they did a good job with the character redesign. He's especially kick-ass in Winter Soldier. The figure based on him has a fairly good (75%) likeness to the actor. I really like the glossy black sheen of his coat and boots. I like that they put in some very nicely fitting holsters for his two weapons as well.  Though they sculpted the pants to be pretty baggy, it doesn't limit his articulation too much. What DOES limit it tough is that his trench coat is REALLY inflexible and it makes it almost impossible to keep him balanced. Add to that, they didn't put in a good ankle joint or even a boot cuff swivel, so it's pretty hard to put him into poses with his legs. His diaphragm joint is almost as useless as Nightwing's but just has a bit more movement.