Mafex - Wonder Woman (Justice League Movie)

Don't get me wrong, I'm a DC fan for sure, but Justice League wasn't a great movie. I liked parts of it, sure. I enjoyed the lighter tone (I don't really care about the Zack Snyder "cut" or whatever it is, but I'll probably watch it anyway). It wasn't DCEUs best or worst movie. Gal Gadot though I enjoyed as Wonder Woman. She appears to be Bruce's first ally in forming a team to find the other Mother Boxes sought after by Steppenwolf, who is a terrible villain. 

This figure scales well with the other DC Mafex film figures, and is decent, though not a great likeness to the actress. The paint and sculpt are great so that helps it out a lot! The accessories are also great even if they have a missed opportunity with the extra head - it has hair in a different style but the expression is more or less the same! Odd. 

The articulation has some odd gapping in the shoulder but is otherwise very good as well. You can get her in tons of poses and as an added plus they made her hair out of very soft material so that she can actually turn her head and has some decent range! What?! A female figure with long hair that allows head movement? Yes! It's true. 

S.H. Figuarts Vicious (Cowboy Bebop)

Vicious was part of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate of which Spike also was part of. He, Spike and Julia used to be friends while all working in the Syndicate. Spike convinced Julia to leave it all behind, triggering feelings of betrayal in Vicious and inevitable descent into being a primary antagonist for the series. The series portrays him as a clever, conniving, bloodthirsty opportunist who is willing to do anything to get to where he needs to. 

He doesn't change during the series but instead serves as a foil to Spike. 

The figure is another spot-on representation by S.H. Figuarts. They've got the proportions, evil grin, clothes, sword, and bird down to perfection. On any scale I think this is superior, even compared with the Play Arts Kai version. I'm glad they made an antagonist for Spike in figure form before anything else, but I would still love to see Faye and the rest of the team. 

DC Collectibles Harley Quinn (Arkham Knight)

By the time Arkham Knight rolls around, Harley Quinn has been on kind of a wild ride. In Origins she lives her classic story from a psychiatrist in training under Hugo Strange. In Asylum, she is the assistant to Joker's plan to turn the Asylum into his own funhouse. In City, she goes between being the assistant to the mourning girlfriend who manages to capture Batman, leading a fun play as Robin in the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC. In Arkham Knight, she takes control of Joker's gang and joins Scarecrow, not for the big overall plan, but simply to destroy Batman.

This appearance and look for Harley Quinn definitely is more in line with the Arkham City version. She has the two-tone leggings with diamonds, hair in two side ponytails, and her baseball bat. One thing added was the puffed shoulders more in line with her Asylum appearance. She does still have the white makeup, but not as much else typical of her previous appearances. For a figure I wasn't sure DC Collectibles was going to give a good treatment of, I'm pleasantly surprised. It has decent articulation and quite a few fun accessories.

DC Collectibles Red Hood (Arkham Knight)

Jason Todd aka Red Hood plays a big role in the Arkham Knight series because, spoiler alert...

...he is the Arkham Knight!

The voice acting is awesome and I do love how they handled him in the game. His DLC was waaaaaaay too short and I felt they could have added his origin story from the time he was awoken after dying at the Joker's hands. He is super fun to play though and I wish developers had allowed you the option to free-roam as Red Hood. Apparently, there is some cheat to do that?

 Anyway the point is, I finally got it! Red Hood has been on my holy grail list of Arkham figures for quite a while. After over a year or so of looking at eBay, I found one and bit the bullet on the price. It was ridiculously high for that particular figure but to be fair it was only sold at Gamestops. Some scalpers charged an insane amount for what is essentially the same moulding and plastics process that created the other 40 dollars CAD Arkham figures. I discovered my holy grail limit is about 100 considering the original price. Learn something new every day!

Now to make matters confusing, this is NOT the Red Hood that is basically the Arkham knight with this head minus the hood. This is much rarer and harder to find. He's a really cool figure and I dig the aesthetic they went with to create this version of Red Hood. The voice acting for him in the game was great, and I enjoyed the (all too brief) side mission where you play as this version of the character.

This officially completes the Arkham figures I wanted for the Bat-family in the game. I think one of the neatest, though really impossible, things I like is the two massive pistols he has. They combine and link to transform into his sniper rifle, and while they didn't do that here, you can imagine with the Arkham Knight's sniper rifle. His range of movement is pretty good and he has a good weight to him like the Azrael figure. The hood I would've preferred to be removable and the jacket a little softer to allow his ab crunch to move him backwards. Otherwise, his paint and sculpt is great, and am having tons of fun with him in various two gun poses.

3rd Annual Top 10 (11!) Most Viewed Action Figures!

It's that time again! I first posted on this blog on April 27th of 2017, so here's to year three!
I've bee admittedly far less active this year for blogging, though this time has given me more chances to do so recently. This year I've been branching out more into collecting some less mainstream toy lines as well as diving heavily into the Mafex Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy figures. I did mention the last year that I'd be buying the S.H. Figuarts version of PS4 Spiderman but that never happened (it is really hard to find and ridiculously expensive now)

Honourable mention also goes out to the Do you Even Bootleg Mafex Batman Justice league post that actually garnered the most views out of anything else, but isn't technically one figure! Also, note one entry has two figures because it came in a two-pack I reviewed together, so technically this is 11!

Without further ado, here are your most viewed of 2019-2020!

McFarlane Toys - Superman Unchained (DC Multiverse)

Superman, despite various toys, never usually needs anything resembling a suit of armour. He's nigh-invulnerable to everything except to a few things writers later created for him like kryptonite, magic etc. He meets his match in a very similar alien being named Wraith, who is generally an anti-hero who is loyal to America. Unlike Superman, Wraith has no problem killing to protect America and its interests. Like Superman, he draws his power from the Sun and is far more experienced and stronger using it. For example, he can use his entire body to manipulate energy blasts where Superman can only use his eyes.

As circumstances would have it they butt heads and Superman is defeated. He is forced to don a suit of armour containing an unnamed mineral that Wraith is vulnerable to (a little TOO similar now!). 

He defeats Wraith and generally this suit was only seen in a few panels of the comics, so it's interesting to me that this was picked to be an action figure. Definitely one of the first fully realized forms I've ever seen in a figure. Interesting pick, McFarlane! 

McFarlane Toys - Hellbat (DC Multiverse)

The Hellbat suit is a set of advanced armor designed by the Justice League to help Batman in encounters that require meta-human powers as he is one of the few that do not have any. Forged with the help of Superman, Aquaman, Wonderwoman, Cyborg, Green Lantern and The Flash, it is made of nanoparticles that can reassemble as pieces on voice command of the user. Batman first uses it in Batman and Robin Vol 2 #33 (Sept 2014) to retrieve Damian's sarcophagus from Darkseid on the planet Apokolips. The suit was also worn later on by Lois Lane to protect her son, Johnathan Kent.

Now this is my first McFarlane toys so before the full review, a few general impressions I get from interviews with McFarlane and other figures in his new DC Multiverse line:
- He's testing out many corners of the DC figure market to see what sticks thus why he's made animated versions, Arkham versions, DCEU film versions, and comic book appearance ones (no matter how obscure!)
- He's really trying to emphasize better articulation with his figures as he's done with the Fortnite line.
- He's not like 100% sure of his game plan

Now for this figure, I think it's just AWESOME. I mean if it was a 30 CAD statue, I probably still would have bought it. It's got amazing aesthetics, pretty decent articulation, few accessories but such a good shelf appeal. I bought both this figure and the Superman Unchained figure for that shelf appeal alone.

Panda Mony Toys - Sabotage (Alter Nation)

Sabotage is your ultimate disgruntled ex-employee. His team was decommissioned because of the investment in the new animal hybrid team, GK Special forces. As far as I can tell he's a cybernetically armored and enhanced human whose main job seems to just be a pain in the ass of the GK because he's real cranky! That said he's got an impressive body armor suit all decked out in blue and purple (the color of villainy!).

The figure is nice and heavy with some impressive firepower,  an intense eye light-up feature and an action punch arm that puts older 90s toys to shame! For this figure, in particular, I don't mind the lack of upper body articulation since it fits with the bulky design. The feet do a get a bit floppy sometimes but that, and the bad stickers, are my only true complaint!

Panda Mony Toys - Sham (Alter Nation)

Sham's name is pretty apt for two reasons: you can't quite tell what his true motivations are since he is both a saviour in his mini-comic and yet is somewhat cold-blooded (yes! I went there!) and frees the main villain, Sabotage (yes, he is a member of the GK Special forces). The second reason is the most obvious and that is that he is a chameleon man!

I absolutely love his look and his accessories which do make him very much the covert spy and saboteur of the team. The figure has a really nice translucent green and yellow throughout the skin. He's pretty snappy in his bow tie and has pretty good lower limb articulation although the upper body leaves a lot to be desired. His action feature is pretty neat, and the end of that tongue is really quite sticky!

Panda Mony Toys - Albert VII (Alter Nation)

He's a monkey/bull hybrid. What. I mean it's just the horns but interesting enough! I would think a highly agile practical joker character who leaps and climbs would be at a slight disadvantage having clunky horns to watch out for all the time, but clearly, I wouldn't qualify for GK Special forces! According to his store bio, he does have legs strong enough for both leaping and charging!

He's one of the most articulated and fun to pose characters of the six and has the most 90s practical joke accessories: boxing glove hammer, whoopie cushion (yes, it works, folks), and (I assume) banana cream pie!  Even his two weapons have joke pieces to them. I'm not sure why his name is Albert VII, but interestingly enough on some parts of the website, his name is Little Bighorn. I actually find that one a bit more fitting, since there's no real explanation as to why Alberta VII.