Mafex Justice League Batman

As I said previously I've begun posting content on Gemr, a great website for collectors of all things that you might collect!
My review of that is here: https://gemr.com/blog/action-figure-review-mafex-justice-league-batman/
On occassion, I will do this type of "linked review" to bring some much-deserved traffic to Gemr and showcase some of the guest blog work.

Please check it out if you haven't already! The folks there helped edit some of the photos and layout and it turned out pretty great!

The only thing I didn't include is the Jaystoyshelf rating which I will do below.

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. 

Mafex The Dark Knight: Joker 2.0

In The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, one thing stood out above all the rest in the film regardless of whether you are a superhero/Batman fan or not: the performance by the late Heath Ledger.  He was amazing as the Joker because he put such a unique take on the character's personality and appearance while also keeping to the essentials of what Joker's motivational psychopathy from the comics.

Mafex Medicom The Dark Knight Rises Batman 3.0

I really thought that Christopher Nolan did a great job of his Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises set of films. They were meant to be his own universe and his own slightly more realistic (as realistic as you can get with a superhero) take on Batman. There have been a few releases of Mafex Batmen from these movies, and out of the few I've seen, this one from The Dark Knight Rises seems to be one of the best all around. I much preferred the second film, but I enjoyed them all in their own way.

This and the Joker are my first Mafex figures, so I was really excited to have them and see what Mafex has been doing. They didn't disappoint. The details in sculpting and paint seem often superior to what S.H. Figuarts does, the articulation is top notch and the accessories are plentiful.
Also, this is my first figure that has a bendy-wire cape! So much fun what you can do with this guy!
This one has definitely become a top figure in my collection.

Mattel Multiverse - Batman (Batman Forever)

Batman Forever and its sequel, Batman & Robin, are not the fan favourites. In fact, most fans soundly denounce them. I recently rewatched Batman Forever for the sake of this review, mostly to compare scenes and likeness to the figure. I was a bit surprised that Forever does, in fact, do something better than the other films, such as a much longer romance and dialogue between Bruce and Dr. Meridian. His combat scenes are a bit more interesting to watch, though this may be mostly due to the improvement in the bat suit for the actor. Keaton couldn't turn his head in the cowl, so they had to use less dynamic fight scenes.

Regardless given that this is a 30 dollar figure, his likeness isn't too bad. They captured most of the look in the mask, even if the paint is a bit thick and lacking any shading/highlights to bring out the rest of the facial features. The general shape is pretty good, though I find the neck is a bit too thin. This may be mostly to allow some (albeit very limited) head movement.  I've held off on buying many Mattel figures for DC but I'm finding lately they have quite improved on the articulation and sculpt for their figures. This one has actually a ton of articulation points and even (a bit of a flimsy) toe hinge! Wow. The accessories are extensive enough and the best part (in my collector mind) is that the storage for all the pieces can fit in the stand he comes with. Bravo! That's classy, Mattel.

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!

S.H. Figuarts Naruto Vs. S.H. Figuarts Naruto (Sage Mode)

DING DING!

Although I was originally going to do the full comparison in the post, I realized there's enough to talk about that I'd make a separate post comparing these two figures. This may be a rare thing, but here are your categories to evaluate

Here are our categories!     Sculpt and Paint
                                            Overall Accuracy
                                            Accessories
                                            Articulation
                                            Price
                                   
I will credit this layout to ToyGalaxy's channel where he does Versus videos of two figures. Check him out here! Toy Galaxy's Youtube Channel

S.H. Figuarts - Naruto (Sage Mode)

If it hasn't been apparent from this blog yet, I am a Naruto fan in the same way I'm a Batman fan.
Love the franchise, am still watching the next generation show, Boruto, and love the figures that S.H. Figuarts has released. I wish they would release as many as they do Dragonball Z figures, but unfortunately, it seems it's not their priority right now since they haven't really released any since the Boruto figure (March 2018) and this figure (April 2018). That's nearly a full year now. Sorry if you're a fan of this line like I am, but I think the line is officially dead. They are still producing new statues, but that's just not my cup of tea!

Onto the fun stuff! This figure is great in so many ways. Earlier, they released an identical figure to this one without the robe, scroll or interchangeable arms (what were they thinking?). I held off on buying it, and am glad I did. Not only can you capture the scene where he fights Pain, but you can switch him to his regular figure as well as the face that shows the Sage mode (where he gets POWER MASCARA! Just kidding...)

His accessories also include a stand to hold up the large Rasen shuriken effect. So great!
And like the previously released figure, his colours are much brighter compared with the one originally released (which is still one of my favourites and have already reviewed here: Naruto Review

S.H. Figuarts Joker - Batman Ninja

In a world where Grodd has opened up a time portal to feudal Japan, Joker ha become one of the daimyo's, ruling from a giant mechanized Arkahm Castle against the other Batman villains, who ALSO have crazy castles.  If this isn't jumping the shark, I don't know what is! If you listen to the English dub, he is voiced by Tony Hale, famous for playing Buster Booth in Arrested Development. 

Joker appears with his hair grown out into a large bun/ponytail, wearing his classic colours in a mixture of western and Japanese style clothing. This is a pretty dead-on representation of his appearance in the animated movie. They've got every detail down with the small exception that his inner vest (purple edging) has a geometric pattern in the movie that isn't on the figure. We can forgive this!

S.H. Figuarts Batman Ninja

I, along with many DC and Batman fans was really excited earlier this year when the new animated film Batman Ninja released. I mean it's hard to go wrong: a new storyline set in Japan, sword fights, and all your favourite Batman characters and villains

Boy, were we wrong. I won't spoil things, but suffice to say there's a bit more than that that takes over the show and makes it a bit too silly. I personally would watch it again to see, but I wasn't as fond of the 3D animation style. The character designs were really neat though, so I knew I was getting the action figures designed by S.H. Figuarts. It's interesting to note that Figma has also made a few characters, but their Batman seems to have far wackier proportions.

Like the movie, I've heard both decent things about the figure and not so great things. Overall, I really the figure, but it does have a few things that I would change if I could.