DC McFarlane Wonder Woman 84 figure review

I'll go over my thoughts on WW84 as briefly as I can since I don't want to make an overly long rant like Thew Adams did over ROTF Skids & Mudflap. The moment I saw that the film was going to take place in the 80s and try to win over the Lynda Carter fans that would never even be interested in the new stuff due to their nostalgia blindness, I didn't give a rats ass about the movie overall. The 2017 movie was a good way to depict the character's origin story and worked fairly well apart from the third act. And in any case, I'd rather see more of the Snyderverse than some of the filler DCEU movies made by WB. Alright, rant over, I did find this figure on clearance and decided to get it for the sake of having a version of Wonder Woman as McFarlane foolishly didn't include a version that better matched her appearance in the Snyder Cut along with the sword & shield. So will this version work well instead?

Here we have Wonder Woman in hand. As far as the anatomy goes, the proportions look fairly accurate to the figure since part of me expected the figure to look a little wonky after seeing some of the proportions made on the other McFarlane stuff. With it being a live-action character, I can see it feeling a little more naturalistic in terms of its appearance moreso than the comic and animation-based sculpts. The figure's armor looks fairly good, and the metallic paint is nicely applied despite it being a thing for only WW84. Some parts of the figure do look a little odd in terms of how the flesh color is not covered nicely on the knee pads molded on the thighs or the bands. As for the skin tone, it looks very good and is much more consistent than we normally see with these half-revealing figures. The front of the skirt should be a little closer to the crotch area, and I don't know why it sticks out when it shouldn't. But beyond that, the figure looks good as far as being accurate to Wonder Woman's appearance in the movie. Her head sculpt is decent, and I like how the tiara is painted and stands out from her forehead while her hair is painted to look naturalistic. The likeness to Gal Gadot is decent, though not 100% accurate to her. Thankfully the eyes, eyebrows, and lips are painted properly.

The articulation for this figure is surprisingly plentiful for a female character: head is on a ball joint with slightly limited range due to the hair, shoulders move front and back, in and out, there are additional shoulder joints that serve as added range for moving outwards while serving as butterfly joints for moving front and back. The biceps swivel, the elbows bend at two points, and the wrists can swivel but also have the ability to hinge in and out as well as upside down with a similar joint that I found from the Bandai Legacy Power Rangers (somewhat unsightly if you ask me). The torso can move around but there is a gap from the bust of the figure. The hips move front and back, in and out, the thighs can swivel somewhat, the knees bend at two points, and the ankles can hinge up and down, the feet can sort of pivot, and the toes can hinge up and down a la Master Chief and Arcee from earlier this week. As far as accessories go, while she lacks her sword and shield that she uses in Batman v. Superman as well as Zack Snyder's Justice League, she also lacks alternate hands that would look so much better for a regular display than the Lego hands she has. Instead, all she has are a lasso piece that doesn't really stay in place...

...a longer lasso that she can't really hold as well because of how thin the grip is compared to her hands, and a stand that has a subtle DC logo printed on it. Yep. That's it.

For a comparison with the Mattel version of the figure, you can tell that the figure is both taller, has more naturalistic skin for her, and is somewhat vibrant in coloring. She's certainly better than the Mattel figure in terms of articulation and likeness, but I will say that I prefer the coloring of the Mattel figure, the way the lasso stays in her harness, and the inclusion of at least a sword. Makes me wonder if I can get a sword and shield at a decent price because I'm not that big of a fan of this figure as it is. While it's neat to have gotten her for a price tag that's far cheaper than normal, and the likeness, as well as the articulation, are nice, I'm not too happy with the figure's lack of accessories beyond the lasso pieces and the basic stand. And the sad part is that there appears to be no sign of a ZSJL version of the character since every picture promoting the McFarlane team has her as the WW84 version. So with all that said, I'd recommend getting her for cheap. Good luck finding weapons for her, though.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers R.E.D Series Arcee review

The Robot Enhanced Design line of Transformers figures should seem like a really cool take on the franchise's robots in disguise, yet I never really cared too much about it if I'm being honest. I was already NOT interested in the G1 characters because I own versions of them that do transform and they're pretty much everywhere at this point, but when I saw Cheetor and especially Arcee, I was tempted as hell to get them. As someone who's tired as hell over the G1 fatigue and someone who was a MASSIVE Prime fan, Arcee was one I really wanted to buy the moment I saw it in person. And even if I got both the First-Edition and PRID versions of the character, I got this figure because the character is one of my favorites of all time; some would say that it's because of her sexy design, but that's the cherry on top of a well-written character that stands out from her backstory as well as the development she received with seeing Team Prime as a family. But now let's take a look at the figure in the review! 

Here we have Arcee in-hand, beautifully capturing her CGI model without looking like a transforming toy. The proportions, sculptwork, and coloring are accurate to the character model, though they could be al little more metallic (also mine has a small scuff on her upper chest. The bronze on her should be pink, but it does have a somewhat pink tint to it...almost like a rose gold. I don't really think anything is missing on this figure, and we even get details that Hasbro normally doesn't do with the transforming figures like the nicely sculpted wings, the wheel being in her spine, and the bikini bottom not having a wasp tail from part of the bike mode. It's everything I'd want an Arcee toy to have if she could transform with better engineering, though this one doesn't do it. In terms of the feel, I am disappointed that the R.E.D Series figures have a bit of a cheaper feel than they really should at $20. If the Marvel Legends, Black Series, Lightning Collection, and every other 6 inch figure line made by Hasbro can feel good in-hand, why can't the Transformers equivalent? I'm not expecting the solid build quality of a Deluxe, but the figures just feel cheaper and not up to the current standards of the line, and Arcee is sadly no exception thanks to her somewhat wobbly knee swivels.

Head sculpt is perfect to the figure, with all of the paint apps applied nicely and resulting in a fairly crisp look to her head. There are even some details that I normally wouldn't find on her like the ear circles. The eyes pop beautifully compared to the prior light-piped eyes from her Deluxe counterparts, though I don't remember her having lipstick since her lips were the same color as her face. Her articulation is mostly good, though I will admit is mostly similar to the Deluxe toys: Head can look left and right but barely looks up and down, shoulders move front and back, in and out, the arms swivel at the elbow as well as have the forearms swivel at the armor base, the wrists swivel as well as hinge in and out, the figure can ab-crunch yet refuses to click in different points, hips move front and back as well as in and out while the bikini bottom can be lifted to allow the hips to move, the thighs swivel, the knees bend while the lower legs swivel, and the front of the foot can hinge as well as pivot.

In terms of the accessories included with her, we have two effect pieces, two open hands with trigger fingers (which are completely useless without any guns for her to hold), the arm blades, the ion blasters, and a Dark Energon cube. The final accessory makes sense since Dark Energon was a thing in the Prime line, but it certainly is no shard that you'd see Megatron use.

Before we go over the accessories (except for the hands), there is one thing worth mentioning: her chest can come off to reveal her inner workings. While some would probably get a kick out of Transmetal Blackarachnia's removable bra, this is a pretty useless feature. While it surprises me that not many TF fans have lost their shit over it (not even any of the shitty ass journos who claim to be progressive), I'd rather trade the feature for sturdier plastic. That being said, it's great to have her go with the arm blades despite them being flat gray. The effect pieces are another worthless aspect of the toy. Why go with them if they're in the same flat gray that her blades are in? If they were blue and looked more like swoosh effects, then I'd be happier with them. As it stands, they suck. 

My favorite thing about this figure are the guns. They are the proper designs and replace her hands as they did in the Prime series. Generally speaking, you can have her either with the thumbs facing upwards or upside down. 

Here is Arcee sandwiched in-between her Deluxe counterparts; those two definitely look inaccurate compared to her sleek and sexy body, especially when she doesn't need to transform into a motorcycle at a Deluxe size. That being said, I prefer the plastic quality of the Deluxes more than this one. And as for my final verdict, Arcee's kind of a mixed-positive figure in the line; she looks amazing and has none of the G1 snore factor crap pulling her back, but she does fall short on the articulation as well as the accessories. Had she been able do bend her elbows and knees deeper while having more range of motion, I'd be happier with the base figure. Then stuff like the plastic quality feeling somewhat flimsy takes off some points, and half of her accessories are worthless. I'd trade the removable chest feature as well as the trigger hands and the effect pieces for a flight stand, a Jack minifigure, karate chop hands and/or blast effect pieces for her guns. While I do recommend her since she is the only R.E.D character without a current toy in the Generations line (again, we have boring ass G1 having lamer toys that are pointless compared to the WFC trilogy line), I do feel Cheetor is the stronger of not just their wave but the entire line so far.

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

Halo Spartan Collection Master Chief review

I want to learn more about the Halo franchise. Like I know who Master Chief John-117 is, I know terms like Spartan, Arbiter, Grunt, Warthog, and Cortana, and I am aware that fans didn't like how the Chief was treated in the 2010s, but I'm not as experienced about the series as I am with Mario or Sonic. I'll be sure to fix that, especially when I get around to playing the older games and wait to see how Halo Infinite turns out. In the meantime, I've got a Master Chief review that I want to make because this guy's pretty cool. Let's see how the Spartan Collection does him justice...which is a weird thing to say because I never owned any Master Chief figures before.

Here is Master Chief in hand, looking as he will appear in Halo: Infinite. As far as the armor is concerned, it's nicely done when it comes to replicating how it is in the series, with battle damage and scuffs to present him with a war-torn look that still makes the guy look weirdly pristine. The use of silver and black on the green armor helps accentuate those details, and the shade of green toes the line of popping on a shelf while still looking militaristic. It also goes well with the black mesh underneath the green armor, which is always a plus. The proportions are great, though I have a feeling the arms should either be closer to the neck or have some beef to them. That and they need some bulk around them, too. The side and back look great, too, and I like how the hinges for the knees look like proper detailing.

Helmet looks outstanding! It's got the proportions, the paint app, the chrome visor, and the proper sculpted details to make this guy feel distinct from other helmeted heroes in pop culture. It's everything he has to make him distinctly Master Chief. As for his articulation, his head can look left and right and slightly wiggle side to side; his head can look up and down on the neck hinge. The shoulders move front and back, in and out, the biceps swivel, though most of that range is limited due to the flexible shoulder pad. The elbows bend at two points, and the wrists can swivel as well as hinge in and out. There are butterfly joints though the movement is a little limited due to them moving forwards rather than backwards. The diaphragm moves around somewhat as well as the lower torso, but the range is limited due to the sculpting of the armor. The hips move front and back, in and out, thighs swivel (though the armor could scuff with the pelvis due to the lack of space between the hinges. The thighs swivel, the knees bend at two stiff points, and the feet can hinge, pivot, and even provide toe articulation!

You have a handful of display options. Some include the alternate hands that let you either have relaxed hands when punching is not on the top of the Chief's head, him holding his MK50 Sidekick pistol, and him with his iconic MA40 Assault Rifle either single or dual-held. These pics made me think of the promo shots for Halo Infinite, and it made me excited to play it later in the year!

The rifle can also be stored on the back of the figure as one would expect, while the pistol can be on the thigh via a panel that can come off and be flipped around so the peg can be repurposed for the gun.

For a comparison with other versions of the versions of Master Chief, I want to mention that some are different either in terms of suit designs or aesthetic choices. The Jayzwares version of Master Chief is the Infinite version while the second Chief picture is the Joyride version from Halo 2, the third is from McFarlane and is from Halo 4, and the fourth pic is the Halo 5 version from Mattel with removable armor. I don't know how the others work apart from the Mattel one's armor, but I don't think they'll be good enough to replace this version. Apart from the very slightly limited articulation, the kind of weak grip on the guns, and the sort of frail shoulder pads, this is the best Master Chief figure that is out there. While my love for the character might be bigger than my knowledge of the entire franchise, he is a piece of encouragement to dip my toes into the Halo franchise before making a big dive. And now, it's time for John-117 to finish the fight.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NECA King Kong review

The first-ever NECA product I ever own is none other than the big monke himself, King Kong! As far as characters go, King Kong is one of those monsters that you gotta treat with respect; he's more than just a rampaging beast that people are scared of; he has layers that would help him connect with everyone around him easily. This is something that I especially loved with the Peter Jackson King Kong reboot and the Legendary-produced Kong: Skull Island; they see King Kong as more than a big monkey and treat him like a God-like being of sorts. While NECA's prior versions have been based on specific versions, this is a new take on the guy, and it's a figure that is courtesy of my friend Illiniguy34!

Here we have King Kong in-hand.  As far as the anatomy is concerned, it captures the way a big gorilla like him would look, with the right amount of chunk for the body in contrast to his long arms and his somewhat stumpy legs. The sculpting of the figure is also done well, with the fur/hair sculpted to give it a realistic look while also contrasting it with the bare pecs and the bare parts of the face, hands, and toes. The paintwork is done beautifully, with a brush to accentuate the detailing to further help the fur/hair pop even more. There are even scratch marks on the flesh of King Kong to show how rough the fights are when he goes against monsters as big as him. Since this is an organic character, having the sculpting fit nicely with the cuts used for the articulation can be hard, and while there are some noticeable gaps or seams, I think NECA did a good job overall. It's also a heavy piece, thanks to the quality of the toy as well as the materials used in them.

Head sculpt is insanely good, with the paint work added on them as well as the sculpting used to make the toy look like a living creature. The flesh wounds, eyes, and the mouth with the teeth, tongue, and gums are painted and sculpted gorgeously. As for the articulation, King Kong can move his head around on a ball joint where the head connects and a bigger ball-type joint where the head moves on the body. The arms move front and back, in and out, swivel at the biceps, and bend at two points at the elbow while also swiveling at the wrist as well as hinging at it. There is a diaphragm joint, hips that move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at two points for the knees, and swivel as well as hinge the ankles. So you can have him with a chest-beating pose as obligated for all King Kong toys (and any gorilla/ape/primate toy) to pull off.

You can have him be in a knuckle-dragging pose if you want, but I will admit it doesn't have the same naturalistic look that Transformers Apeface and Optimus Primal can pull off. Even he's realizing he can't do it as well as those two.

For reuses, this is the magazine cover repaint that has King Kong based on an old-school first appearance where the artwork is more stylized in terms of coloring on top of how it mimics the oil-paint look for the pink and...green?...in his face as well as the yellow on the right shoulder. It's all about the aesthetics and the light shading used to make the artwork pop nicely without the use of filters and the like; old school artstyles can be very fascinating for that alone! Oh and I forgot to say but he also has an alternate head and open hands...

...and here he is with his alternate angrier head and open hands as he is now sandwiched in-between two other toys that will share the review spotlight later this week! You can have him ready to intimidate any unlucky travelers in Skull Island as he prepares to push them down before punching their sad asses into a pulp! Of course, he can't do that with Master Chief and Arcee because they're needed for a review each! So overall, NECA King Kong is a great way to delve into their line of premium action figures while also discovering that they're actually more affordable than expected! With so many licenses to delve into and me not sure of where to start, Ernie was kind enough to provide me the king of the jungle as a sign of encouragement! Maybe a classic Godzilla would be more than helpful to give some symmetry. 

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends Stilt-Man Build-A-Figure review

As we have taken a look at the 6 Marvel Legends figures from this wave, we now have the Stilt-Man Build-A-Figure to take a look at! As far as character backgrounds go, the name Stilt-Man has been used for Wilbur Day, an unnamed successor, Michael Watts, and Callie Ryan taking over as the lady version. The character of Stilt-Man is pretty much another sign of his time, as he was a supervillain that wanted to do some of the more basic tasks that villains in the Marvel Universes would do compared to the more complex likes of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Loki, etc, and he was able to use his impenetrable armor to extend his limbs, taking on the likes of Daredevil, Spider-Man, and even the god of thunder, Thor! So he's pretty much a paint-by-the-numbers villain in the Marvel universe that does mean making the most out of him as a BAF would work well. Many would probably prefer someone like SP//DR, Kingpin, or Scorpion (the latter would be perfect), but the former two were developed before in the traditional comic appearances back in 2018 and 2019, so having a villain with some connection to Spider-Man in a sense is perfectly fine, and it's now time to see the BAF assembled...

...but first, let's rank the characters in this wave, staring at the bottom two with Prowler and Frog-Man. The former is ranked 6th due to the underwhelming aspects of the toy; its arms don't move in as nicely and come off if you attempt to do so, the lack of accessories hurt the display potential, and the ab-crunch doesn't work as nicely as I'd like. Prowler's sculpt doesn't really match the CGI model, but that'd be forgiven if it wasn't for the other issues being present. As for the latter figure, Frog-Man is a pretty good reuse of the Doc Ock figure despite having the ports for the tentacles somewhat in the back, and while the character's design is not as cool as Prowler, he at least has more bang for your buck and has some very nice quality control by comparison. My favorite part is the inner face having some intimidation compared to the goofy frog mask.

In fourth place is the Hand Ninja and in third place is Spider-Gwen! The former might look like a generic ninja toy but does have a bit of charm to him by the sculpting, articulation, and accessories he has. Maybe if you have a comic Daredevil or a ninja Wolverine at your disposal, then army-building some Hand Ninjas would do you wonders. As for the latter, Spider-Gwen may be the only figure with a reuse in terms of the trio of Spider-Verse heroes available, and she might seem like a reuse of the Target version, but her new hood, head, the shoes, the deco, and the proper Gwen Stacy head make her feel a lot more fulfilling by comparison. And if that's not enough for you, she's got a sweet bonus in the form of Spider-Ham!

In second place is Peter B. Parker, who has quite the amount of personality to help him stand out from the other figures while also having a crisp head sculpt that is spot-on to the CGI model. The sculpt is perfect for the guy, and it helps him stand out from the rest of the Spider-Men in any Marvel Legends collection...but the true winner is Miles Morales! The character's Spider-Verse incarnation was already one that I loved from the movie due to his soul and influence as a fish-out-of-water within the Spider-Verse, but this figure does the character justice beautifully; the outfit combined with the suit screams Miles Morales. Now let's see if a more suited character would give him an alternate "hey" headsculpt.

And here we have the Stilt-Man BAF completed! Putting the pieces together is pretty easy, though the chest and back armor combined with the head's flexible antennae did make it hard to not warp them. And the resulting figure we have is...interesting. The aspect of him having the stilt-legs is interesting, but it does mean making use of the stand that he comes with. The silver plastic may make him shiny, yet it is actually marbly as most metallic/chrome-like Legends figures tend to have. I do wish the figure would have a little more color variety since it does have the feeling of being unpainted. As for the head, it's paint apps look very bad compared to the rest of the face paint used on the other figures. The eyes look a little lop-sided while the flesh paint for the mouth region could almost use some shading to make the skin look a little more naturalistic. That especially goes for the lips, which do have a smile but are a little lacking in terms of paint (not that it needs lip stick). And yeah, it does have the weird look of a bootleg 60s-70s Batman. 

His articulation is very interesting, as most of it is the same with the shoulders, torso, and hips, but his head can't really move anywhere without risking his antennae getting bent, there are no knees present, and the thigh swivels are kind of useless unless you want his ankles to bend as if he is walking. Oh and he has no knee articulation. You can not only give him the briefcase and his pistol, but you can also play around with the leg stilts. If it was possible, I'd have another Hand-Ninja or two to give him some extra height, but for now, he'll be in a pickle as he extended one leg at the cost of shortening the other. Alternatively, you can make him into a midget by removing the stilts and have his ass kicked by Spider-Man or Daredevil.

And here he is with the entire wave! This has been a rather interesting way for me to get into an entire wave of Marvel Legends, as I usually get figures that don't come with BAF pieces or are mostly standalone in terms of theme. It's something that is hard for me to get into since I'd require getting most of the space that fans like ShartimusPrime, Glenn Webb, etc would have, but I was pretty happy with collecting the 6 Marvel Legends figures that made up the Stilt-Man wave. I was already willing to get the Spider-Verse characters, but having Frog-Man and Hand Ninja was pretty surprising in terms of quality. Definitely happy to own them both.

Overall ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.2 out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐