Super 7 Ultimates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) Splinter and Foot Soldier review

A few quarters ago, I took a look at the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the Super 7 Ultimates line. They were pretty good for the most part, with the biggest issue being the price they all share ($55 a pop). I was still interested in checking out the rest of the lineup because of my love to that version of TMNT, but I would rather wait for the price to go down instead. The first issue that arose was the $10 increase for the second wave, which consists of Splinter, Casey Jones, Shredder, and a Foot Soldier. This time, I'll split the wave in half and review them in pairs for the sake of not delaying things as much as I can. For today's review, we'll see if any more red flags pop up as we take a look at the master and fodder of Ninja Turtle lore!

Here we have Master Splinter in-hand. For anyone wondering, this version was the actual rat owned by Hamato Yoshi, though he clawed Hun instead of Shredder given the different bearers of that title throughout this continuity. What I like about Splinter's design is that it captures the essence of an old, wise mentor as an anthropomorphic animal without making it too cartoony or something that a furry freak would be attracted to. As for the translation from digital animation to plastic, I want to say they mostly nailed the look of the character, but the problem many will bring up is how cheap he kind of feels. Super 7 usually has this PVC look to their toys in order to better make the sculpts smoother, hence being animation accurate, but the company sometimes makes the paint apps somewhat chalky or nowhere near as premium as one would hope. The grey plastic used for his head, arms, and legs is meant to match the animation, yet it kind of feels somewhat flat for a character meant to be in that color. Almost like it makes the white for the eyebrows appear indistinguishable from the shade of grey used for the rest of him. At least they got the legs correct with the digitigrade bone structure, and the tail at least had some lines sculpted to resemble some skin texture found on actual rodents, but alas, no bendy wire implementation. 

The head sculpt manages to resemble how the character looked, and the eyes are thankfully locked out better, but the nose could have been painted better. As for the whiskers, I understand there are some limitations with the size and durability, but they holes used for inserting them could have been a bit less unsightly. Articulation consists of a double ball jointed neck with the standard side to side turn and somewhat limited up and down. Shoulders are able to move front and back with slight hindrance from his robes; in and out movement works fine as well as the bicep rotation yet the elbow joints barely go past 90 degrees. Wrists have tiny pegs for rotation and equally small hinges for moving them in and out, which despite being functional makes me worry about the longevity. He has a reasonably workable torso joint, and while the bottom of the robe inhibits his leg movement somewhat, the legs are able to move around reasonably well on ball joints. He has thigh swivels, double jointed knees, ankle hinges, and a swivel in lieu of ankle pivot given the nature of his legs. The tail is articulated at the base where it connects, but that's it for it.

In addition to the relaxed hands hands and the set of hands in the articulation segment, Splinter comes with a stick fitting for his name, a pair of hands to hold it in either side, a pair of splayed open hands, and a pair of fists. He also has an alternate head with his eyes closed as he meditates. Fits very well for a wise mentor such as himself.

He also comes with his pre-mutation self and a quartet of baby turtles. I like that the paint on them is reasonable, though Splinterat suffers from having the feet and tail off level with the rest of his limbs. 

As for the Foot Soldier, this manages to be mostly better than Splinter interns of plastic quality visuals. The black, gunmetal grey, and light grey combo may be fairly monochromatic, but at least nothing feels as cheap as some Super 7 items come across. Granted, light bounces off a bit on the area where the logo is printed, but he doesn't have a cheap, unfinished look to him compared to Splinter. The grey on the gloves and boots also help from representing protective pads that deflect any cuts from swords or anything similar. The anatomy is slightly stylized, which is appropriate for the show's aesthetics, but it also fits given their lean and agile nature as ninjas, of course. 

Head sculpt is simple in terms of sculptwork, and much like plenty of older Spider-Man heads, does appear somewhat balloonish, yet the creases for the eyebrows and the eyes raised in relief help make it look more like a human is underneath that mask. The yellow eyes are the best part of this toy, too. As for his articulation, the head is on a ball joint, shoulders and biceps work similarly to Splinter, though he has slightly better double jointed elbows, the wrists use the same level of range, torso moves around a bit more, hips have more range than Splinter does thanks to the shorter skirt, thigh swivels are present, double jointed knees actually work on him, and he has the more traditional ankle hinge and pivot.

One of his alternate heads has him with the left eye squinting somewhat, adding a bit of personality to a featureless mask. Not only that, but it goes well with either the bo staff or the throwing stars, which has their own dedicated hands. Thankfully, the bo staff is not reused from Donatello.

He also has a pair of katanas also new to his sculpt, which also helps that his weapon holding hands are able to hinge downwards as all sword wielders should have. He also includes an alternate right hand more gestural than the others with a third head featuring a headset; this represents the Foot Technician, though some wires on the back would have completed the look.

For a size comparison, here they are alongside Leonardo. We'll see who will pop up with Shredder and Casey Jones for their review. As one would expect these match closer to the 1/10 scale more than anything, so you can put the 2003 cast with your DC Multiverse collection for any crossover displays. The turtles will mostly work fine enough for 1/12 scale, though, and moreso than the Playmates Classic Collection molds. So where do I stand with our rat and foe? Sadly, Splinter falls short thanks to his overall qualities being outweighed by his negatives, from how drab the grey plastic looks on him to the head sculpt being let down somewhat by the coloring of the eyebrows and thick whiskers. Not to mention his rat form has some wonky molding to him, and the articulation he has could be better. The Foot Ninja does a better job at being an action figure, and I appreciate the accessories and personality he has for a Super 7 Ultimate. However, the two get points taken away from a $10 price hike. Sure, they're new molds and have a reasonable number of accessories, but are they worth getting at those prices if fans should know the Turtles' prices weren't already that great? I really want to say they're great as a dan of the 2003 series, but I have more issues with them than I do the turtles. Splinter moreso than the Foot Ninja. With discounts popping up here and there, pay around $45 or less for all Super 7 Ultimates. Don't be ripped off by their tariff bs, especially after they did their layoff and went on like nothing happened (which is more noticeable for a smaller company than the average conglomerate given you'd think there'd be more standards for the little guys).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Splinter)

⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Foot Ninja)

McFarlane DC Multiverse Black Adam & Kid Flash review

It's about time I got to do a review involving these two. While some people may know who Black Adam is (or at least know of the movie that underperformed despite boasts of changing hierarchies), I'll go over a brief bio on the character: real name Teth-Adam, this character was once granted the immense power of ancient gods from the original Wizard Shazam. Unlike the present day Captain Marvel/Shazam, Black Adam was merciless to those in his way, and while one would see the need to avenge his family from curb stomping his oppressors, he was kept within the imprisonment of his home nation, Kahndaq, for thousands of years until he became a full-on foe against CM and later Superman or serving as an anti-hero. As for Kid Flash, this is the Wally West version of the mantle, who was a sidekick of Barry Allen as well as being his nephew thanks to the OG Flash being married to Iris West. Wally would later serve as a founding member of the Teen Titans before succeeding Barry Allen as the next Flash post-Crisis. With these brief overviews on the characters taken care of, let's review them together while understanding they are paired both because of the wave they're in and because of the lightning bolt chests.

Here we have Black Adam in-hand, who reuses the Captain Marvel version of the Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman body mold. It's always an appropriate choice for someone as powerful and robust as him, Teth and Recovery Suit Supes are two of the buck's uses to not come with a cape (at least in my collection). The black and gold combo is always a favorite of mine, and especially with the lightning bolt on the center. I'm not sure if the boots are painted gold like the bolt, forearm guards, and belt, but if they're molded in a metallic gold, then they're thankfully able to color match the rest of him that is colored gold (hopefully no GPS in sight). All that said, this does just about what I would expect a classic Black Adam to look like, and the body mold will always be one I appreciate they use instead of Hush Superman or AC1000.

Head sculpt is pretty consistent with the likeness to the comic version of Black Adam, at least the classic look with the widow's peak and the ear shape that Dwayne Johnson lacked in his version of the character. While articulation is standard, he can pull off the superhero landing pretty well. 

His only accessories are a pair of alternate hands that we got with plenty of other Supermen in this line. Was it hard to at least retool these to come with lightning zapping out of the tips of his fingers? I get that some figures need to have the bubble trays intact for the sake of keeping costs down, but how hard could it have been, really? Also, it looks like some stress formed at the center of the palms, which is the first I'm seeing with this figure. It didn't show up on all the Supermen I own, and I'm not sure if this is a rare issue or not.

For a comparison with a more heroic champion, here he is with Page Punchers Captain Marvel. The same buck they're sharing is at least great for some consistency between Teth-Adam and Billy Batson, and while some retooling to slightly raise the symbols in relief would be even better, reusing body molds based on their lore with Wizard Shazam makes perfect sense. Sadly for Black Adam, he loses to the present day pupil, as just coming with a pair of hands and nothing else pales in comparison to the BB coming with a wired cape and collar, on top of including a comic book for about $24.99! By contrast, Black Adam lacks cloth goods and any comic so to speak, making him less worthy of his slight price hike than what CM got. Shame too because I mostly like this figure if not for how cheap the value is.

As for Kid Flash, this figure is a retool of I believe the Jon Kent Superman body mold. I have that buck as 90s Superboy, the Page Punchers with the disappointing lack of a leather jacket, but as one would probably expect, this figure suffers from keeping the same ridges for the boots associated with Jon Kent. It's always going to be an issue no matter what color the legs are in, but and it makes me wish McFarlane did some retooling to not only reduce the need for any inaccuracies. I'm sure there are boots that aren't too thick for the build of this character, especially since it'd prevent any poor paint coverage or bleeding between any parts colored or molded either in red or yellow. Some may think the build is a little too muscular, but that's to be expected from superheroes built in this era. After all, he wasn't from the time when artists would draw twinks in cosplay.

Head sculpt is kind of dorky, but that's to be expected when you're trying to go for a trademark of your own rather than the eventual task of filling in for your dead uncle-in-law. At least there is a bit of a wash to the hair, and as the articulation is consistently the same with 98% of the line, let's go over the accessories. He comes with a pair of running hands that I wish the other Flashes came with, and he also has some lightning effect parts that to onto the hands to simulate his power through the Speed Force. Normally, I dread putting these on since they don't specify which ones go where or how they're supposed to fit on, but these are a little easier to keep on him than the Snyder Cut Flash effect parts, for sure. You might get them to fit on his eventual grown up Flash suit form thanks to the slightly thicker proportions on the Blue Beetle body.

Here he is with his mentor, and you can tell that photographing these two wasn't easy thanks to the constant change in coloration despite the modern age of cameras we have. In that case, we have a problem where Wally has a more pinkish red than it should be, while Barry Allen shouldn't have that dark of a red for his suit. Maybe Wally should be a bit shorter than he currently is, but then again, I suspect that was a byproduct of using the Jon Kent body mold, who is slightly taller than teenage Wally West. If you want to imagine how he looks next to his successor era self, pretend Barry is using the Wally West tooling. 

Overall, Black Adam looks better as a figure than Wally West, yet the latter has more accessories to offer than the old champion could ever offer. It's more of a pick-your-poison situation with these two than I felt with Sinestro vs Brainiac, because a more classic Teth is something many people likely want more than they do a pre-Crisis Wally. Especially knowing how some fans grew up with the DCAU version of Flash, who was Wally in this case. Get whichever figure you want, be it Black Adam to put against Captain Marvel and Superman, or Kid Flash to form your Teen Titans.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (for both) 

Yolopark AMK Pro Bumblebee Movie Soundwave review

You probably already know what I am about to say with my love for the Yolopark series, and you may also know about how much I don't like this version of Soundwave in terms of movie designs. That said, nothing can compare to the bizarre story I am about to tell: I won this by surprise 2 days after the 4th of July, and then had the usual updates for about a week. At that point, I was notified that the item was arriving late, so I thought "it'll come eventually", and decided to let it wait. 2 weeks later, I had enough with waiting for nothing and tried to find any way of calling out my post office for any inaction. They told me I needed to make an account to demand a search request, and one was initiated on August 2. I felt that if nothing was to ever pop up on the day set one month after the last update, the review will be scrapped. That was the case until August 13, where it arrived at the post office before making its way on the same day. Very unbelievable. So now we have to resurrect this review and see if this turned out to be greater than I expect it to!

Here we have Soundwave fully assembled, matching his brief appearance perfectly from the Bumblebee movie. Granted, his CG model, chunky and tubby as it may be, was never rigged to transform, which is something Hasbro needed to fix when it came to their Studio Series line. That said, in spite of my opinions on the design, I will set those aside and see how faithfully they translated it. The proportions are correct as one should expect, and the paintwork is intricate in regards to the intentional scratches as well as having the blues and whites appear rich and less plasticky. That said, there are these brownish bits of wash that might resemble rust or some other kind of intended wear, but not only does it come off too easily, but it also looks bad. It's almost like he tried to smear himself with shit but didn't wipe some of it off. Just because I felt the design was dookie doesn't mean he should look like he has some on him! Other than that, he does just what I expect Yolopark would do in terms of matching his fat ass.

Head sculpt matches how he appeared in the movie, though if I am allowed to talk about my personal feelings regarding it, I always felt the shape looked more like an amateur cosplayer helmet thanks to how bug the top part looks combined with the dopey visor shape. At least he has no sad eye look (provided you have it lit up since I lack batteries atm). Also wipe that shit off your face. Articulation is standard for the Yolopark range, with the double ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, ball jointed wrists, and bicep swivels all being standard, though we have elbow range closer to a 90 degree single jointed elbow as well as some of the most limited range for the torso. He can rotate at the waist somewhat, and you can nudge a bit of the side panels above the waist so he can tilt and ab crunch somewhat, but it's as effective as a fat person doing sit ups. The hips have the standard double range thanks to the drop down set up, and the same goes for the thigh swivels as well as moving in and out. That said, the latter has the side panels of the upper thighs on hinges that can shift downwards so as to allow the range to move better. It's a little over designed, but it does the job fine. Not as effectively as the shifting panels when you bend the knees, which helps keep the shape of the leg fairly curved without things being broken up. Helps add a bit of life and realism to the engineering. Ankles swivel, hinge, and pivot, with toe ticulation about as average as his rifle. At the very least, it has a tab so you can use it with the articulated hands or stored away for the pre-posed hands.

On a side note, Soundwave comes with alternate hands sculpted in different poses. One pair relaxed, another for holding the weapon, and a third for pointing. These hands inexplicably have removable ball joints that are mean to be switched with each other, which I already hate since those will be easily lost, on top of no other Yolopark AMK Pro figure doing this to my knowledge. The rust on these look way better than on the rest of the toy.

An acrylic version of Ravage is included as a preorder bonus if I recall correctly, and it can not only be stored inside a silicone case, but it can also be kept inside his opening chest. When it has the same effect of putting a reprolabel on a block, it at least is detailed nicely and fits in the cavity.

He comes with a proper Ravage as one would expect given the Threezero version naturally included one, and Hasbro's Studio Series Core Class version was released in the same wave as Voyager Soundwave back in 2022. The paintwork is both intricately exquisite as with his master, yet we still have the problem of the brown here and there. Assembling him is pretty straightforward, and he's another instance of an AMK Pro coming with a bonus figure to accompany the larger character (with this seen earlier from Tarn's Nickel and G1 Bumblebee's Spike, and it makes me wish Scourge came with Freezer or Novakane). The anatomy is there for a feline robot, though I always found the head to be far too dog-like in comparison. The missiles on the side and the pod on top, which were unpainted and easy to lose on the Studio Series version, are better colored to match the rest of the toy. I also like that the claws are fairly sharp enough while still adhering to some form of safety. As expected, the pod can be removed on the top, but his forehead is removable. I don't it was intended to have some light up feature, especially since the lower jaw is also a separate piece.

Articulation consists of a limited ball joint at the neck, a hinge within the back of the head, ball joints for all four legs to move around, hinges for the forelegs and hind legs, and the paws are also hinged. The tail can only point downwards, which sucks since I was hoping it would also point upwards to simulate the part where he lands on all fours after Prime punches him.

This comparison should be easier to set aside. The Core Class is obviously much smaller and less detailed, but on the bright side, it can turn into some cuboid thing! How neat. That said, it makes me wish we got a regular Deluxe Ravage that turned into something way cooler, a bit like his ROTF form almost 2 decades ago.

And here we have a Soundwave comparison, and the Studio Series version appears to be ever so slightly wider. No doubt that's so it can integrate the ability to transformation and to store Ravage proper. In all honesty, both do their jobs perfectly fine, though SS is cheaper and can transform into nothing! You're free to choose either one, but that being said, this is the weakest AMK Pro I reviewed so far, mostly due to the limited articulation in some areas, the situation with the swappable PVC hands, and the rust that looks more like feces. Some will claim I'm biased or am a Bayverse truther or whatever, but hey, they can always cling onto their Beewun Primes if their feelings are ever hurt. Other.rhan Blitzwing, Shatter, and Dropkick, there are no further plans for more BBM designs.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers 2007 Premium Series Barricade review

We got another Premium Series review already?! Well, after reviewing Jazz a while back, why not go for another Decepticon this time around? Once again, it's a character I previously had a version of back in 2008 as part of a clearance sale with the Allspark Power repaints exclusive to Target. He, along with Bumblebee and Brawl, were ones I had, but since gave them away after losing pieces and putting them in a parts lot when I used to do trade-ins at a toy shop. As we get closer to the 20th anniversary of the first Transformers movie, I thought it would be great to revisit the older molds and see how well they hold up today. You know who Barricade is by now, so let's get en route to the review!

Here we have Barricade in his Saleen Mustang mode, decked out in police livery with a Decepticon twist. Sadly, my copy suffers from the badge on this photographed side appearing smeary. Thankfully, the rest of the paint apps are both kept intact after all these years. Obviously, a lot of older Movie figures tend to focus more on the altmodes like Alternators did, but to its credit, when you're a badass evil cop car, it's always important to never compromise unless you're TLK. What interests me is that the POLICE text on the doors and spoiler is vac metal printing, which may or may not be accurate, but it rocks like hell! The frost detailing for the windows is odd since it's not something you'd normally see in the movie, and only he and Ironhide have this oddity. Probably because there isn't much you can do to distinguish the two TFs in the movie who have prominently black alternate modes (and if TFWiki tries to twist the context of what I said, then I will release their own kind of Epstein files). Personally, I would have gone with a much darker black tint for said windows or put the toy in bot mode.

The front of the car can open to reveal that the grille is removable...

...and unfolding that piece reveals the little robot known as Frenzy! Yes, the same partner that Hasbro refuses to include with their Studio Series and MPM Barricades. This and the Human Alliance only manage to include the crazy radio dude. Sadly, this figure is the same as the original release, and that's questionable since a silver coat of paint and movie-accurate blue eyes would be nice.

Transformation is very simple for the time period: the arms form almost a third of the alt mode, while the torso transforms as you'd expect from the time period, and the legs simply extend while the feet go down with the spikes pointing up. While the shoulders are normally left alone, having them ball jointed means you can position them however you like, and I rotated them to make the arms appear more interesting visually. Robot mode is closer to how the Unicron Trilogy's latter two shows depicted their Transformers in terms of not refining their proportions; what I mean is that the simpler recreation of the CG model makes him far less accurate than later toys could. The torso is far from able to deform like in the film and looks more like how some G1 Transformers have their chests look, while the arms are flat and very panely thanks to the hands entirely staying molded in the forearms. What does annoy me is that the rear windshield halves on the back of the legs are painted in a metallic blue, which doesn't match the frost on the front windshield and the door windows. I'd have stuck with all windows painted in that bluish deco. Apart from that, Barricade manages to do fine enough at resembling the design he had in the movie, though the blue should still be purple.

Head sculpt is better painted, with the silver for most of the face as well as the gold exclusively for the mouth area. That said, the silver on the top makes him look like Guy Fieri, but at least he has lightpiping. Articulation, sadly, is very limited for a 2007 Deluxe, as the shoulders and elbows are on ball joints while the elbows and double-digitigrade knees are on ratchets. The lack of neck articulation is especially weird for a toy of this size considering most figures at least have a swivel for the head. As for his gimmick, he has a punch attack accessible with a button on the left arm instead of an Automorph gimmick.

The first ever use of the mold has metallic purple details, no paint apps for the hood, windows, the 911 markings, and 643 markings behind the doors. His face is more gold than it should be, though Frenzy is unchanged going from regular to Premium Series.

Later on, a Recon repaint gives him a security officer deco that makes him more like an Autobot, though given this is the same Decepticon who pretends to be a cop, it's only natural he'd fool innocent humans. Frenzy is now blue instead of grey, which is certainly accurate for the G1 fans who follow the Marvel Comics or old toys.

This is the Allspark repaint that I once had because I could never get my hands on the original at the time. It gives him baby blue on the arms, crotch, thighs, and lower legs, with the face also receiving that. It looks very gaudy, but it feels like something a G2 toy would have done. Frenzy is colored red as one would want him to be if they're hooked on the Sunbow cartoon or the Skybound comics.

The ROTF release is back in the old deco, but instead of Frenzy, he has interrogation arms (henceforth the name Interrogator Barricade) that he once used to confront Sam Witwicky prior to transforming. Weirdly, we went with this older deco, but then again, this is likely from the economy requiring Hasbro to use fewer paint apps

And finally, we have the Hunters Rumble repaint based on Hong Kong police cars. The deco is very gaudy in bot mode, but this does feel even more like a G2 repaint than anything. He came with a repaint of Sideswipe with blue accents and added paint apps on the altmode.

For a size comparison, here he is in between the Masterpiece Movie version and the Studio Series. I used to have the DOTM Deluxe but gave it away when Studio Series popped up, while I never had the Human Alliance version. While Barricade's like Jazz, where the figure is okay on its own, I will give it the benefit of the doubt when it comes to translating a complex robot design into a toy made after the days of Cybertron and Classics. They already got the general shape mostly right, but the only thing holding it back is the articulation. It's still a cool addition to any collection, just mostly for the sake of showcasing history and appreciating a time when Transformers used to be affordable and still retain the right balance of fun play features and good articulation + presentation, unlike most toys made for today's kids that are victims of penny-pinching and heavier favoritism to the adult collectors. I mean, I feel happy sticking with Generations (for the most part), but it sucks knowing the TFs made mostly for kids are getting more attention from older fans starving for new media constantly rather than the target audience who's more into smartphones and tablets. To punish and enslave, indeed...

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐