#action figures

The Flexatron knockoff action figure line. My favorite is the green devil, who looks very informed by Chinese culture. 

The bad guy was known as “Herr Bone.”

Yes! My first unboxing video!

Marvel Universe: Bucky

Decent at best. It’s a matter of preference whether or not you’re a fan of the original costume. The figure is smaller than the average Marvel Universe figure and with that comes the very delicate feeling, which this figure is. For accessories, Bucky comes with 2 Tommy Guns which the figure holds very well. While holding the guns, the figure or at least mine, has difficulty standing.

Marvel Universe: Dark Hawkeye

Yes. “Dark Hawkeye” or Bullseye dressed up as Hawkeye. The figure itself is very good with the face sculpt being the best part about it. It’s looks evil. The paint job, the quality and build of the figure also deserves praise. I have no complaints with this one. It’s perfect for my standards.

Norman Osbourne forming his own “Dark Avengers” might have been cool….. for 1999!  But reading it today, I’m not so sure.

This reminded me of the Team Rocket Pokemon cards from my days in middle school where every Pokemon in that wave began with the word “Dark”Eventhatwas better than we we got here as those cards were excellent. The Dark Avengers was lackluster. The best part about it was the selection of villains Osbourne chose for the team. Having Skarr as the new Hulk and Bullseye as the new Hawkeye was an obvious yet clever move by the writers but it never actually gets the reader invested in the new team. The figures are a different story as everyone of them (or at least the figures that were released) deserves a spot on any collectors list.

Marvel Universe: Green Goblin

This is from wave 2. Whether or not this figure re-uses the earlier body mold I cannot say but it does work here. The face looks demonic and the patterns on both his arm and leg sleeves have been sculpted in. It looks great. The glider has no detail to it. It also has no pegs so the figure doesn’t stand very well on it. The purse or man bag is removable and the pumpkin bomb can be attached to right hand only via peg. There’s not much more I can say.

The Green Goblin is one of Spider-Man’s oldest villains and he’ll live in infamy as the man who helped cause the death of Gwen Stacy…. and yet I have always found him to be extremely boring. I’ve never been fan of the Green Goblin at all. I think Marvel got it rightwith the Hob Goblin which I feel is superior.

G.I. Joe Extreme: Iron Claw

Toy’s from my childhood and from the 90′s. I’ll be honest. I got this toy in the 3rd grade but would you believe that I just recently found out that these were actually G.I. Joe figures?. All of the kids in my 3rd grade class had these. I remember it as clear as day. They were cool yet no one could ever tell me the names of these toys. Not that I cared at the time because my father would later buy me the only 2 that would ever own. The 2 that I got came in a 2pack. The other toy was a soldier which I no longer have. As a matter of fact, I lost the toy very early on. So “The Skull” as I and many of the kids in my class used to call him, is the only physical memory I have that these things ever existed.

2 years ago I decided to do some research and I discovered that these were from a short lived line called “G.I. Joe Extreme” The name was correct. Most of the toys I had seen were just that. They were cool, big and looked very intimidating for the time. They had cool weapons and their face were always pissed off. Apparently G.I. Joe Extreme also featured comic books and a cartoon that ran for 2 seasons!. Again, no one I ever knew had seen or heard of the cartoon nor were they aware that comic books existed. The toy in the photos is actually a character called “Iron Claw” who supposedly, was brutal and quite the bad ass as well. In other words he was the main villain of the series. The soldier I mentioned earlier was actually a character named “Stone”who looked a lot like Duke but was much bigger physically which brings me to my next point. These things were 5 inches and some were even bigger. They also maxed out with 3 points of articulation which is nothing compared to their smaller G.I. Joe counter parts and down right pathetic for 2016.

The photos don’t lie. He’s beat up. This is one of the oldest toys to survive my childhood. Although I didn’t know it at the time, he was my top villain. Playing with him against some of my other toys would often result in tough battles which explains his now deformed appearance. I guess subconsciously I knew that he was a villain and his boots always reminded me of the wrestler Triple H when he was “Hunter Hearst Helmsly” in 1996. I even gave him the pedigree move to. The missing fingers that came from all of the pokes to the eyes of my other toys. The fist, which has been caved in and filed down from all of the constant punches thrown looks like an ugly tumor. Did I mention that the fist once had claw like features as well? Look closely enough and you’ll see traces of it still. The rope on his left hand used to have a loop that dangled down is gone from all of the illegal chokes that was associated with it. I could go on and on but he survived which is something I can’t say for today’s figures as they wouldn’t last 5 minutes in a child’s hands today.

Marvel Select: Colossus

The design of this Marvel Select figure really takes me back to the 90s’ when Jim Lee was working on the X-Men comics. What I love most about this figure is the proportions. Despite having superhuman strength, Colossus does not have the muscle mass of Hulk or the Juggernaut. He is, for the most part, taller and leaner in comparison. It even looks that way when standing this figure next to those 2 other Select figures as well. For the toy photographers out there this figure does have an ankle pivot so a running pose is possible to achieve without the assistance of a back drop. The leg articulation may prove to be a nuisance however. It’s one of those joints that moves outwards instead of forward. The upper chest piece is removable but I haven’t been able to do it with my figure. Compared it’s Marvel Universe  counterpart, the paint apps are much brighter on this version. For my personal preference, I like this one over the Marvel Universe and if you’re unable to track down the old Toy Biz Marvel Legends figure, then this Diamond Select is the one you should go with instead.

Marvel Universe: Colossus

This is one of those rare instances where I like both the Marvel Select and the Marvel Universe version of a figure. The figure’s sculpt has great detail. Everything is sculpted in. The face looks great and quite honestly, I like the paint applications better on this version than the Select version.The articulation is good but like the earlier releases of this wave, there is any issue with the legs popping off. and there are no ankle pivots either. Overall, this is a must have and it really shows off the potential of what this particular figure line is capable of should Hasbro decide to put the effort in.

Marvel Universe: Captain America

A personal favorite. Although it’s not the classic look, the figure overall is excellent and it uses a body mold that I haven’t seen on any another figure unless someone can correct me. One of my favorite aspects about this figure s the shield. Instead of the usual peg attachment (which the shield does have) it comes with 2 small straps so that make it possible for the figure to backpack the shield. For my standards, this figure is perfect and it’s nice to see that Hasbro has treated the noble Captain very well in the action figure department.

staff:

There’s a little bit for nearly every fandom over at SDCC. Here are just some of the nice JPEGs and GIFed video snaps we have in our story.