Action Figure #643: Star Wars The Black Series Ki-Adi-Mundi

 There are so many so many jokes in poor taste I could do about his head...

 Ki-Adi-Mundi must be one of the most hated Jedi characters, at best considered the worst of how the old Jedi operated and at worst a psychopath. That got dark faster than Clone Wars did!

 Well... I think he looks great. The paint apps on his face are a bit softer than I would've liked, but they paid great attention to his wrinkly old head. The overall look of the figure is very chunky, with beefy arms and legs that I do quite like. His only accessory is his light saber.

 He has the most modern articulation the series offers.  This means single jointed elbows and knees with very good range, swivels on his thighs, butterfly joints, a ball jointed waist and the newer ball pegs for his wrists. His robes ae made of soft plastic, so his legs aren't compromised. His unorthodox head makes him taller than Bucky Cap.

 Dislike the character as much as you want, he is a good action figure, with his uniquely sculpted robes and heads. I'll be the first to admit that he isn't the most pleasant figure to look at, but that's Ki-Adi-Mundi for you!

7.5

Action Figure #642: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Dino Thunder Black Ranger

 Paging Doctor Tommy please!

 Remember that deal that got me the Abarekiller as well as another Ranger? Well, it was the Dino Thunder Black Ranger, Tommy's final Ranger form. This one has also gotten kinda expensive, although not as expensive as the White Ranger, so I'm happy I got both figures for the price of what one of them usually goes for alone!

 Well... this is another fantastic ranger design. The Black and Gold color scheme looks classy and striking, and I do love his baton weapon which is pretty unique for a Ranger. He comes with an alternate Doctor Tommy head, which has a decent likeness to Jason David Frank, an alternate set of hands, his weapon and a effect for it.

 If you'll allow me a little copy/paste: Double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, swivels on his thighs, boots and biceps, a hinged waist and a ball jointed ab crunch.

 His shoulder pads are made of very soft plastic and won't get in the way of his arms. He is a smidge shorter than Bucky Cap.

 He is another fantastic ranger figure. Great design, lovely color scheme and same great articulation as the rest of the line.

9.0

Action Figure #641: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Dino Thunder White Ranger

 You wanted edgy Power Rangers? Enter the Abarekiller.

 Abarekiller is interesting because he almost killed Super Sentai, so they had to turn him into a hero. But then again, technically this is the Dino Thunder White Ranger and not the Dino Thunder Killer! I'm not very familiar with either Abareranger nor Dino Thunder, but this guy looked cool as hell... and went obscenely high in price, so the sooner I got him the better.

 Even though I'm not familiar with the character I'll be the first to tell you that this guy is cool as hell. His design is pretty spiffy for a ranger, and I love the white, gold and black color scheme, with a badass red visor to top it all off. Oh! And he gets a Shield! Well, I got this guy loose so I'm missing most accessories, but, hey, I got him in a deal with another ranger(Spoilers!), including the updated helmet, so I'm not complaining! A bit of lore, when the guy first released, the visor was missing the black outline due to an oversight, so Hasbro shipped the correct helmet to those who asked. Aside from that, he comes with an alternate set of hands, an unmasked head sculpt as well as his feather weapon and a cool energy effect for his weapon, which I sadly missed out on.

 He has the same fantastic articulation as the rest of the line. Double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, swivels on his thighs, boots and biceps, a hinged waist and a ball jointed ab crunch. His shield is strapless and won't hinder his articulation in any way. He is a touch shorter than Bucky Cap.

 He is a fantastic looking ranger, no wonder he is so expensive! I'm glad I got such a good deal on him, and it included the updated helmet and weapon!

9.0

Action Figure #640: Marvel Legends Heroic Age Iron Man

 Heroic what? This is Bleeding Age Iron Man!

 Call him Heroic Age Iron Man if you want, I prefer to call this armor Bleeding Age. I've been meaning to get him for a while now because I like this look. Sure, I hadn't read Iron Man in a while, but this one time I started getting back into comics when I went to Argentina, I got a number of X-Men VS Avenges in which Tony was wearing this armor. Plus, I've taken a break from Spider-man comics and I left off during the Heroic Era Avengers in which Tony wears this one!

 I'll be honest but fair... he is a very old figure, and it shows. His proportions are very clunky, he has huge trapezoids and nearly no neck, his back is huge and the proportions on his legs just look off. On the bright side, I like the metallic red and mustard they went with, even if the flat blue paint they used for his reactors look a bit dull. He comes with no accessories, but, hey, this being an older figure also means that the plastic feels very sturdy.

 As outdated as the sculpt is, the articulation hits all the rights notes. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs and waist, as well as a hinged ab crunch. The only small issue I have with him is that his wrist gauntlets get in the way of spinning his hands, so you have to finagle with them a bit. He is slightly taller than Bucky Cap. 

 For such an old figure, he holds up respectably well, so I'm glad to finally add this guy into my collection. Now, if they'd update Heroes Reborn Iron Man...

6.0

Action Figure #639: Marvel Legends Blackheart

 So... is he like a hedgehog then?

 As someone that spent countless hours playing the Capcom VS series there was no way I wasn't building Blackheart even if it took me a little while.

 The first thing I'm going to mention is that assembling him was painful, he has pointy spikes all over his body, so applying pressure to put everything in place, well, hurt my hands a bit! Moving on from that, the sculpt is incredible even if he is no Holocaust! I was a bit disappointed he wasn't navy blue, like in the Capcom series, but this is accurate to the comic books so I won't hold it against him. The paint is minimal, he has a bit of a blue wash on his tendrils over on his head that look pretty cool, to the point I feel like they should've applied it to the entire figure. He comes with an alternate of fists, but I don't remember where I stashed them!

 Articulation is excellent. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his thighs and biceps, with a hinged waist, a ball jointed ab crunch as well as butterfly joints, with a bendy tail. He is a bit top heavy, so the only way to successfully pose him is to take advantage of the tail to act as another foothold. I was a bit disappointed that his feet can't pivot, which would've helped a lot with his stability. He is quite a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 Blackheart came out great! He is a pretty great BAF, great, unique sculpt nice size, nice articulation...  yeah, it's a good one! And a Marvel VS Capcom figure we had been missing for a while!

8.5

Action Figure #638: Marvel Legends Blood Storm

 So... she makes it rain blood?

 Brother Voodoo was a character I would've gotten at some point or another, but Blood Storm? Nope, never. I just got her for the BAF, and I'm just thankful I didn't have to get Hellverine too.

 When I first popped out the figure from her plastic bed I thought that she looked kinda good and I could actually like her. That quickly went away, because she feels very gummy, in particular her slim, lanky legs. Her thighs are just too thin, this is Storm for crying out loud! And, yeah, my beef with this figure are her legs, but they do ruin the overall look of the figure. She comes with a calm head and an angry head, as well as two sets of hands.

 A look at her lanky legs. Yes, those are pins. I don't mind pins, but, c'mon, this is a 2024 figure.

 She has double jointed knees, which are pretty good, but single jointed elbows that barely reach 90 degrees. She has thigh swivels and a waist swivel, but, surprisingly no boot swivels. She has a ball jointed ab crunch.

 A closer look at her pathetic elbow bend, I was wrong, she doesn't even hit 90 degrees! She is as tall as Bucky Cap.

 Blood Storm is a boring figure, with an outdated sculpt and sub par articulation, based on a version of a character I doubt many people care about. Overall, a lazy and boring figure. But, hey, that means I now have every piece for...

3.5

Action Figure #637: Cyberpunk Edgerunners Lucy

 He really did fly her to the moon...

 Jada Toys has been killing it with their action figures so to say I was hyped about their next work would be putting it mildly. Sadly, Mezco type figures, with soft goods for clothes just aren't my thing, so I had to skip David... But not Lucy since most of her figure is fully sculpted plastic! Edgerunners was a darn good anime, so I'm happy we get figures!

 Well, this figure is an entirely new sculpt, and she looks fantastic. Lucy is not the most detailed design ever, but Jada even managed to make her multi-colored hair work. The only piece that is made out of soft goods is her jacket, which is wired at the bottom so that you can pose it. I suggest taking her hands off before taking off the jacket in order not to damage it. As with most domestic anime figures, the face is a bit off, but they have done a much better job with it than Bandai's Anime Heroes or Jazzware's Total Anime lines. It's so good that I hope they get another anime license. Lucy comes with an alternate angry head, two trigger finger hands, two open hands, a fist, a cigar-holding hand, a gun and two cables that can connect to her forearms. These are very thin and won't hold any interesting posing, plus, they don't stay on her forearms very well. They will hold a pose, but they will fall off if you try to play with her arms while the cables are connected.

 It's Jada, of course the articulation is brilliant! Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on her biceps, thighs and boots, with a ball jointed waist and a ball jointed ab crunch. The only thing missing would be butterfly joints, but she's still very highly poseable and fun to play with. She's a head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 About anything that Jada touches turns to gold. The sculpt is perfect, and while the face is not as good, compared to any other domestic anime figure, this one is leagues and bounds better. The articulation is great, as always, and the plastic feels sturdy. Overall, she's so good that I'm considering setting my soft good bias aside and getting David too!

10

Action Figure #636: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Goldar(Winged)

 There's a reason Zedd clipped his wings.

 Speaking of Ranger villains, I had to get Goldar too. There were two versions available, one with Wings, and one without them, as Zedd punished him. I thought wings were the way to go.... I might've been wrong.

 The sculpt is pretty much perfect. His armor has all the right details in all the right places, and the headsculpt matches the show 1:1. The problem is the paint. There's a lot of sculpted parts, like below his arms, that are sculpted in the facsimile of a leathery material, and they should be painted red or maroon. They didn't paint it at all, leaving it as unpainted gold plastic. It's not just that, some parts had a different shade of gold paint applied to them, but others didn't just because. This makes it look more like a lazy Chinese bootleg than a collectible. He comes with his wings, his sword, an effect piece for his sword and two alternate hands. Hs wings, the reason I got this version, are horrible. It has the gummiest pegs I've ever seen and they keep coming out of the back ports. I hate them, I opted to remove them.

 At least the articulation is up to snuff, matching the rest of the figures in the line: Double jointed elbows and knees, hinged waist, ball jointed ab crunch, butterfly joints and swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots. You can get him looking pretty badass alright. He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 Great sculpt, great articulation... but very lazy paintjob. Sometimes Hasbro can get it so right, and other times they fall short of greatness out of simple laziness.

5.5

Action Figure #635: Marvel Legends Chameleon(Retro-Carded)

 The man with a thousand faces.

 Chameleon is one of the few of Spider-Man's most classic villains that I had yet to add to my collection. While the older figure in a sit would've suited me better, I hold more nostalgia for this silly looking super villain look he had in the show.

 Well, work went into this guy, as I'm pretty sure the torso is entirely new. Aside from that, the head sculpt is beautiful, and they added some black shading to highlight some of his features, which isn't faithful to the source material but does give the figure a more realistic look. Now then, I have one big issue with the figure, and that's the belt: It's a single piece together with the chest band, it hangs loose over the figure and can't be removed. Why is this an issue? Because it's a huge missed opportunity, as the belt was how Chameleon transformed in the show, and it gave away when it was him and not the real character, so being able to put the belt on other figures would've been amazing. He comes with two trigger finger hands, two fists, a pistol, a rifle and a crumpled J Jonah Jameson mask.

 The mask accessory has indentations for his fingers so that he can hold it.

 He has the standard Marvel Legends articulation: Double jointed elbows and Knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs, boots and waist with a hinged ab crunch. You can get him into any position that you could need. He is a touch taller than Bucky Cap.

 Not my favorite look for The Chameleon, but Hasbro managed to get his TAS look down to a tee. A removable belt could've been neat, but what we got is great by itself.

8.0

Action Figure #634: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger

 Pretty in pink.

 Every 90's kid first crush was Kimberly Hart, the Mighty Mophin Pink Ranger and there's no arguing that. Having opened her, that means I've a version of every MMPR in my collection, finally!

 Well, she's the same buck as the previous Yellow Ranger, so same deal, except that she has a mini skirt setting her apart. She comes with two fancy gripping hands, a flat palm hand, a fist, a Kimberly head, an arrow and an arrow beam effect. The Kimberly head is decent, but has a bit of a creepy uncanny smile going on. The bow and arrows are cool and all, but it's hard to get cool poses using them. Gettingeher to hold an arrow is a hassle enough!

 The side of her bow that can be combined with the other guys' weapons lacks paint and detail, so you can only pose the bow one way, which kinda sucks.

 On the articulation front... let me do a quick copy paste: she has single jointed elbows and no bicep swivels. She gets double jointed knees, butterfly joints, boot and thigh swivels, a ball jointed ab crunch and a hinged waist. The skirt is soft enough not to hinder her legs in any meaningful way. She is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Same deal as the yellow ranger. She was decent at the time, it's just that there's a new version with better proportioned and articulated arms out there, as well as a more accurate paintjob on the belt. But if you'd rather not overpay, this one is just fine.

6.0

Action Figure #633: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Scorpina(Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger & Scorpina two Pack)

 GET OVER HE--wait, wrong Scorpion.

 Now, this two pack was great because it came with two figures I really wanted, a female Yellow MM Ranger and, well, Scorpina the original baddie.

 Well, she is amazing. She had a lot of armor pieces sculpted just for her and her alone, and I love the overall asymmetrical look of the character, which they nailed really well. The only thing, I feel like the face sculpt isn't very accurate to the actress, but that'd be my only gripe. She comes with two gripping hands, a fist, an open hand, her boomerang and an electric effect for her weapon.

 The shoulder pad is a separate piece that can be rotated, so it doesn't get in the way of her articulation, but I'm getting ahead of myself!

 Shes built on the same outdated female buck as the yellow Ranger, meaning that she has single jointed elbows and no bicep swivels. She gets double jointed knees, butterfly joints, boot and thigh swivels, a ball jointed ab crunch and a hinged waist. She's almost as tall as Bucky Cap.

 I'm quite happy with this figure. What she's missing in arm articulation she makes up for with a really cool design.

8.0