Panda Khan (Crouching Panda, Hidden Turtles)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Classic Cartoon (Neca) - Basic Series
Rated 4.50 stars by RMaster007
The original TMNT cartoon has provided NECA with a lot of ideas for figures, including even the most deep-cut of characters. Around last year or so, they started putting characters in outfits that haven't appeared in the show, like Space Usagi and Samurai Michelangelo, but now they're including characters that haven't appeared in the show at all. Panda Khan is the first, and like Usagi, he's an indie comic character who found recognition through the 80s-90s TMNT toyline, and his creators are letting NECA do a "what-if" figure. Aaron Hazouri once again does the box art, and it matches both the old FHE tapes and the better-animated episodes of the cartoon ("Green with Jealousy" is a notable example). Panda Khan is wielding his sword, and the turtles are hiding in the bamboo, unsure if he...[See More]

Santa Jack
Nightmare Before Christmas (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.60 stars by RMaster007
Too early to feel Christmassy? It usually isn't, but it's feeling that way now that temperatures are rising. Since NECA's new Nightmare Before Christmas figures were all ready for release near the holidays, they obviously had to do a Santa Jack Skellington. The more Jack, the merrier! The same crew behind the other figures - Marty Henley, Kyle Windrix, and Andrew Lawson - did Santa Jack, and they didn't reuse any of the expressions the regular Jack had. However, this Jack only has three heads: one happy, one surprised, and one winking. Like before, the work here matches the source material very well, and the clean paint certainly helps. You can use these with the regular Jack… if you don't mind the obvious sockets on the top and sides of the heads. These are for the Santa cap and beard,...[See More]

Bart (Krusty the Clown Hat)
Simpsons (Jakks Pacific) - Mini
Rated 4.35 stars by RMaster007
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Jakks Pacific is doing a great job with The Simpsons. Although their 5" figures are my favorite, the smaller-scale 2.5" line has been very fun as well, already having plenty of characters and even dioramas. I've almost completed wave two, having gotten Itchy recently thanks to Five Below, but I also just got all of the third wave, featuring a solid line-up of Springfield's key citizens. Of course, they needed a main family member to be the hook of the wave, and Bart fills that role again. It's the same sculpt as the first-wave Bart, but the deco is slightly different. His shirt is white, and there's Krusty's head on it as well. Krusty's likeness is printed on, with a clean result, and the paint on the sleeves and shoes is clean as well. Other...[See More]

Mayor of Halloween Town
Nightmare Before Christmas (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.25 stars by RMaster007
It's been a few years since NECA announced their return to The Nightmare Before Christmas, but I'm still surprised they started making figures again, even with the long-running Diamond Select line still going (they look great, but I never got any of them… yet). Jack and Sally are the ones everyone wants, but it didn't hurt for NECA to include another character, so here's the unnamed Mayor of Halloween Town. In contrast to the tall and slender Jack and Sally, the Mayor is short and chunky, but nevertheless is one of the many unique denizens of Halloween Town. He too is sculpted by Marty Henley and Kyle Windrix, but not Andrew Lawson, so I assume he wasn't needed for the portrait here. The Mayor is identifiable by his two-faced cone-shaped head, with a jovial expression and mismatched eyes...[See More]

Batman (Lightning Strike)
Batman - Animated Series (McFarlane) - Basic Series
Rated 4.40 stars by RMaster007
Although I don't care much for most of what McFarlane is doing with DC, their rereleases of DC Direct's Batman Animated line have been pretty good. I haven't bothered with the TNBA figures after wave one because they haven't done too well with them, but the BTAS line is featuring new variants and build-a-figures, so it's been more worth getting. The original plan for wave three, which featured a Bruce Wayne BAF, got bumped back to wave four (which is coming out now), but the new wave three lineup is pretty darn good. Distribution hasn't been great, however, but my local store got in a casepack a while back and I was able to get all four figures at once. Batman once again leads the wave, and it's the same mold we've gotten in the previous two waves, with the same odd-looking head and...[See More]

Shredder
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Neca) - Adventures
Rated 4.55 stars by RMaster007
Although it's been going at a slower pace than the other lines, NECA's TMNT Adventures line has proven just as strong. It's given us more than a couple of unique characters and designs, a good chunk of which never got figures before, and the great quality and work put into them certainly help. The latest release is Shredder himself, because the big bad had to join the line sometime, and although he's Walmart-only for right now, he's very easy to find in-store. Since the Archie TMNT comic was adapted from the animated show running at the time, most of the existing characters' designs weren't changed all that much for it. Shredder's build is the same as the toon, but the colors are different. His helmet is white, and the mask is blue, both with painted comic-like shine on them. The lines...[See More]

Sally
Nightmare Before Christmas (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.75 stars by RMaster007
Although Jack Skellington is the face of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally is the film's other main character and has been merchandised just as much as him. She was the first alongside him to be revealed when NECA announced a return to NBX figures, and while it wasn't the only figure released last year (or at least close to the end of it) with Super7's own Ultimate figure, we all know NECA is the better deal. As a living ragdoll, Sally looks more human-like than anyone else in Halloweentown, but not exactly flesh-like. Her skin is a light blue-green, somewhat like a zombie, and there are also stitches all over her. The face has a big stitch line running down the side of her face, alongside stitches on the side of her lips, and even her eyelashes somewhat resemble stitches. The...[See More]

Krusty the Clown
Simpsons (Jakks Pacific) - Mini
Rated 4.15 stars by RMaster007
Jakks Pacific's Simpsons line has been keeping a steady but surprisingly quick pace when it comes to releases. We've gotten wave 3 around the start of the year, wave four is showing up now, and more products are on the way, including a cool Funzo recreation. I already went over the first three waves of 5" figures, including the premium figures and the Walmart-exclusive Bartman, but why am I just now getting to the second 2.5" wave? Because I haven't been able to complete it. Wave 2 had a bit of a Krusty theme, with Krusty himself, another Bart, Sideshow Bob, Itchy, and Scratchy. The cat and mouse pair has proven very hard to find, even with Five Below getting the wave in stock, but at least through them I was able to get Bob. I was going to wait until I completed the wave to review it,...[See More]

Jack Skellington
Nightmare Before Christmas (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.90 stars by RMaster007
There's no denying The Nightmare Before Christmas is a very iconic movie, thanks to its animation, its songs, its acting… well, just about everything about it is great, and it's the ideal film to watch during Christmas, Halloween, or whenever. Its popularity has led to plenty of merchandise, notably by NECA; they did a ton of different products with the license, but their action figure line is what fans recognize most. Years later, Diamond Select got the license, and is still putting out a huge, expansive line of figures, not to mention Super7 doing a few in the same scale. NECA announced back in 2022 that they would be doing figures again, much to everyone's surprise, and they began hitting stores just a few months ago. Kicking off my coverage of the line is the Pumpkin King himself:...[See More]

Drederick Tatum
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.05 stars by RMaster007
It's been a long while since I last reviewed a Super7 Simpsons figure, partially because they lost the license last year because Disney was tired of their incompetence when it came to Ultimates for their IPs, but mostly because I never really picked up the remaining two I needed because I was looking to pay less than retail for them. Devil Flanders has sold out through most places and seems impossible to get for retail now (probably for the best since I heard he's bad even by S7 standards), but I wasn't going to miss out on two figures, so I got Springfield's heavyweight champion Drederick Tatum, receiving his first-ever figure. Tatum was heavily based off Mike Tyson, and you can see it a bit in his design, including his large build. He doesn't look exactly like his inspiration, as his...[See More]