Hank
Dungeons & Dragons (Hasbro) - Cartoon Classics
Rated 4.05 stars by RMaster007
While Dungeons and Dragons is a well-known role-playing game, not everyone who's heard of it knows there was a cartoon in the early 80s. Despite its short run, it's still fondly remembered by those who've seen it, and 40 years later, it's finally gotten action figures thanks to Hasbro. To be honest, I had no interest in the franchise beforehand, but when my local Ollie's got the first wave of figures for $10 apiece, I couldn't resist. The cardbacks for these figures are interesting, as they don't use any plastic, a current Hasbro tradition. The contents are kept inside a closed-window box made part of the card, and the artwork on both the backing and side is great, and the spine artwork lines up with one another, so getting them all will make for a good display for you in-box collectors...[See More]

King-Size Homer
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.00 stars by RMaster007
Don't get me wrong, Super7 did a pretty good job with their short run with the Simpsons license, but their character selection was quite poor. Wave 1 had a decent mix of major and minor characters, and wave 2 offered a better selection, but then wave 3 was all B/C-listers, and wave 4 was an unusual mix of deep-cut characters and variants, notably giving us our second Homer variant before doing a regular one. Sheesh, no wonder Disney dropped them. At least their second Homer comes from another one of the show's best episodes, "King-Size Homer." Super7's team already nailed Homer's likeness with the "Deep Space" version, so doing him again was no difficult task here, they just had to make the lower part of his head fatter. This is accurate to the episode, as he had to pack on the pounds to...[See More]

C. Montgomery Burns
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.25 stars by RMaster007
The oldest, richest, most powerful, and no doubt meanest person in Springfield, and now a 7" scale action figure. Excellent… C. Montgomery Burns (Super7 opted not to call him just Mr. Burns) has a very unique head design, no doubt coming from the Simpsons' early years. The big forehead, long, pointed nose, and overbite make him stand out a bit from most of the characters in the show, and you'd think it'd be hard to convert to three dimensions. Surprisingly, no, as Super7's team of sculptors produced a spot-on recreation of the character's unusual appearance. The one oddity is that when you look at him from below, his jaw and chin appear small, almost as if they're going into the roof of his mouth. The Playmates version did the same, and here, I feel it would've looked nicer if his lower...[See More]

Ralph Wiggum
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 3.85 stars by RMaster007
In the world of B-list Simpsons characters, Ralph Wiggum is one of the most iconic ones. He's a special kid, and a highly-quotable one at that, so what are the odds he'd receive an Ultimate figure? Besides, Bart(man) can't be the only kid in the line. Ralph's default expression is a blank stare with a smile. There's not much going in his head, but his heart is certainly full of love. His design is captured well in plastic form, looking near-perfectly recreated, save for his hair. He's supposed to have a bald spot right on top, but Super7 designed it as a big piece of stringy soft plastic plopped onto the head. It throws off the appearance of an otherwise accurate figure, and the hair strands should've just been sculpted onto the head. He gets an alternate head with an ice cream cone...[See More]

Harley Quinn (Timed Edition)
Batman (Mondo) - Animated Series
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
Although I haven't been keeping up with Mondo's Batman Animated line, from what I've been hearing, they're really good, and while Catwoman was the only one I had up until recently, I'm starting to get into it more. I pre-ordered Bane when the timed edition was up, and I also got Harley Quinn some time ago as well. Most fans know she was a character created for the show, and has since become an iconic villain in the franchise, so her inclusion in this line was a no-brainer. The box is pretty simple in nature, being red all around, but Danny Haas' art on the front is great. This is a fifth-panel box with an opening flap to reveal the contents inside, and it's made out of a thick, durable cardboard. It's very easy to open up and get everything out, so there's no reason not to play with...[See More]

Count Orlok (Nosferatu)
Universal Monsters (Neca) - Ultimate Collection
Rated 4.90 stars by RMaster007
It's hard to believe that there are films that are over a hundred years old out there, but there are, such as Nosferatu. Released in 1922, it's known as the first vampire film, and is rather well-known (probably thanks to SpongeBob). Super7 made their own action figure of the main creature, Count Orlok, to celebrate its 100-year milestone, but NECA came along and did one that both looked better and cost less. Guess which one I went with? The packaging is nothing too special, though the front bears a painting that looks just like the figure inside, done by Daniel Horne. I'm guessing they couldn't do a poster this time, since the film's so darn old there's no surviving ones. You still have photos of the figure on the sides and back, along with a gate backdrop on the inside. I don't talk...[See More]

Samurai Adventure Michelangelo and Space Adventure Donatello
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Classic Cartoon (Neca) - Multi-Packs
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
Character variants are inevitable in cartoon figure lines, but how often do such lines incorporate variants not seen in the source material? NECA's TMNT line, which hasn't been variant-heavy thanks to the wide character selection, started giving specific characters all-new outfits. Usagi, a mere two-episode character, got both new space and samurai outfits, and such themes are present with one of their latest two-packs. The samurai role is played here by Michelangelo, and he looks like a total badass. The combat-focused head, with gritted teeth, is an all-new sculpt, and it's got the traditional samurai kabuto helmet on him. This helmet pegs into the back, where a mask knot would usually go, allowing it to fit on his head with ease. You can swap his head out for an afraid expression, and...[See More]

Slam Dunkin' Don
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Super7) - Ultimates!
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
After Samurai Leo, Surfer Mikey, and Space Cadet Raph, you'd think Super7 would do an Ultimate Undercover Donatello next, but nope, it's Slam Dunkin' Don. It was supposed to be Punker Don, but that got pushed back by a lot, so here we are. Granted, an Undercover Don would've been great in this format, but I guess the BBTS-exclusive Undercover Raph filled the "turtle in a trenchcoat" quota. The portrait of the Slam Dunkin' Don was kinda weird. I suppose it's supposed to be a "game face," but the expression is still a little off-putting. Super7 and Four Horsemen did a good job recreating it in a larger scale, albeit without the goggles, and also threw in an extra head. This head has a somewhat happier expression, with his tongue hanging out, and it fits for this specific version of the...[See More]

Punk Disguise Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Classic Cartoon (Neca) - Multi-Packs
Rated 4.65 stars by RMaster007
In licenses with a ton of characters like TMNT, it's important to keep major characters on the shelves, such as the Turtles themselves. With this year's Haulathon, there's plenty of new versions of the brothers, including outfits both in-house and sourced from the cartoon, the latter being the long-awaited "punk" disguises. The Loyal Subjects did some punk Turtles already, but those suffered from weird design choices and mediocre head sculpts (which were the S.H. Figuarts Turtles heads but worse), so here's NECA with something better. Usually these four-packs have unique art, slipcovers and/or fifth-panel flaps, but not this set; it's just a standard window box with the same motif as the rest of the toon line. It does a good job showing everything off, though, and the new artwork done...[See More]

Soundwave (G1)
Transformers (Super7) - Ultimate
Rated 4.60 stars by RMaster007
I think it's clear now that Super7's Transformers Ultimates line is done for. We haven't seen any waves go up for pre-order since the end of 2022, and with complaints about the quality and articulation, alongside most of the figures having gone on sale, Super7 may have felt the line wasn't worth continuing. On a more positive note, they at least gave us fan-favorite Soundwave. Soundwave has a rather unique head design (though not as unique as Shockwave), with no visible mouth and red, visor-like eyes. It gives him bit more of an ominous vibe than the other Decepticons, and Four Horsemen did a great job matching his animated appearance. Back then, Transformer designs weren't consistent across media, let alone toys, and Soundwave's alternate heads reflect that. One of them originates from...[See More]