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]

Baxter Stockman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mirage Comics (Neca) - Basic Series
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
Unlike everything that followed after, the Mirage TMNT comics didn't have a huge cast of mutants and other non-human characters, but it still had some pretty interesting humans. One of the first human villains after Shredder's "demise" is the evil scientist Baxter Stockman. Despite his presence throughout the franchise, his role in the original comics was minimal. Over at NECA, Richard Force and David Giraud brought the original Baxter into action figure form. The default portrait is a sly grin, and it's very accurate to how he appears in the comic, but it can be swapped out for a more sinister look with a wider grin and visible forehead wrinkles. The hair has a lumpy texture, giving it a bit more definition, and the paint is good, though the alternate head has better work. At about 6...[See More]

Steel Clan Robot
Gargoyles (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.90 stars by RMaster007
Most gargoyles are flesh and blood, as with any other creature in the world, but there are some that aren't, like David Xanatos' army of evil "Steel Clan" robots. I've seen this release in-store a lot, but it wasn't until a few days ago I caved in and got it. This is probably the last time I'll mention the packaging with this line, since we all know these figures have great box art, and this one in particular depicts an army of these robots glaring at you with their menacing red eyes. Other than that, it's all the same. Same text on back, same cross-sell, same interior backdrop. Xanatos must have a thing for Goliath, as the Steel Clan robots are made in his image. The chiseled jaw and long hair are reminiscent of him, but it's basically a blockier, mechanical version of the big guy....[See More]

Professor Perry 2-Pack
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 1990 Movie (Neca) - Secret of the Ooze
Rated 4.85 stars by RMaster007
NECA seems to have almost run out of characters from the first two TMNT films, or at least the ones everyone wants. They've done enough to satisfy fans, though, with the latest Secret of the Ooze release being not one, but two versions of Professor Jordan Perry in a single two-pack. I guess they really like him over there. Unlike most movie figures, this set is a much-easier-to-get NECA Store exclusive rather than a Walmart one, and is still available as of this writing. One of the Perrys comes wearing a TGRI lab coat, with a square-patterned shirt and brown suspenders, and the straps are sculpted onto the torso separate from the waist. The other Perry wears an orange jumpsuit, also TGRI-branded, but has that same shirt underneath it. There is quite a bit of shared tooling between both...[See More]

Count Chocula
Cereal (Jada Toys) - General Mills
Rated 4.40 stars by RMaster007
With Jada Toys making action figures for various popular licenses such as Mega Man, Street Fighter, and even Cyberpunk Edgerunners, sometimes we'll have to look back to a few years ago when they decided to enter the figure market. Universal Monsters was one of their first lines, and going hand-in-hand with those were a few figures of General Mills' spooky cereal mascots. Sure, anyone could make a Frankenstein, but who was willing to do Franken Berry? I've been on the fence on the figures for a while now, but I finally caved in and picked up Count Chocula for a good price not long ago. The packaging features the classic box art on the front, which fits for a cereal-based figure like this one. The back has a comic, albeit covered up a bit by other graphics, and there's even mock...[See More]

Six-Shooter / Jester
Puppet Master (Neca) - Ultimate
Rated 4.70 stars by RMaster007
It's been a few years already since NECA put out their first Puppet Master figures. The two-packs they did, one with Blade and Torch and the other with Tunneler and Pinhead, were very well-made with specific accessories, but they just stopped after that. The drought seems to have ended now with two much-needed characters: Jester, who I assume is the puppets "leader," and Six-Shooter, who debuted in the third movie. Starting with the one who came first, Jester is a rather devious-looking fellow, ready to find another victim. There's three sculpted lines running around the head, replicating how the parts of his head spun around to change his expression in the film. That feature was supposed to be here, but it got omitted; I guess it would've been too hard to implement given his small size....[See More]

Scumbug
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Super7) - Ultimates!
Rated 4.80 stars by RMaster007
Scumbug isn't a TMNT character you see talked about much. He wasn't really present much in past media, being just a one-time character in the original cartoon, and some other versions like the Archie comics barely looked like him, though Mutant Mayhem reintroduced him (or in it's case, her) to today's audiences. NECA already made a great figure of him a while back, but that hasn't stopped Super7 from making their own version. While NECA's Scumbug was a recreation of the toon design which was no different from the original Playmates toy, Super7's more directly updates the toy design. Most of that involves simply making him more colorful, with all those little bugs crawling over him now being painted, along with a few other additional colors. There are some changes to the overall design as...[See More]

Duffman
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.50 stars by RMaster007
The first wave of Simpsons Ultimates had a guy who serves beer, and now we have a guy who promotes beer. Makes sense, doesn't it? Duffman is said to be played by many different people in the show, but he always looks the same (is there a bunch of guys who look the same in Springfield?). The man has a somewhat cylindrical head shape, wearing a Duff hat and sunglasses. The sunglasses aren't removable, but there are eyes sculpted and painted underneath, though he doesn't seem to have pupils. The default portrait is a grin, but he also has an open mouth head, as well as a head with a Duff sticker slapped onto his face, coming from "Pygmoelian." The sticker can actually be removed, pegging into the mouth, leaving you with an "oh yeah" expression. All three heads look nice, and the clean paint...[See More]

Hank Scorpio
Simpsons (Super7) - Ultimates
Rated 4.45 stars by RMaster007
In the history of one-shot Simpsons characters, none are more recognizable than Hank Scorpio. Granted, season 8 had a lot of great one-timers, such as camp collector John, the hard-assed but incompetent Rex Banner, and the tragic Frank Grimes, but Scorpio is fondly remembered as one of the nicest supervillains there is. We got a Playmates one years ago, but Super7 knew he was a fan-favorite, hence why he got the Ultimate treatment. Hank's portrait seems to capture the villain aspect of his character, with a stern, not-very-happy expression (somebody must've eaten part of his lunch). It looks accurate to the show, and the paint on the hair and beard is mostly clean, though the left eye is a little sloppy. Like the others, two additional heads are included: one with gritted teeth and...[See More]