Action Figure #726: Star Wars The Black Series Nightsister Merrin (Jedi Survivor)

 FINALLY FINALLY WE GET MERRIN, I'VE WAITED FOR SO DARN LONG!

 The first thing I did after I finished Jedi Fallen Order was look up action figures, and that's how I ended up with Cal Kestis, my first Black Series figure. But I wanted everyone else of the Mantis crew! Nightsister Merrin ! Cere Yunda! Greeze! All of them! It's been, like, what, 7 years? But finally, finally we have Merrin.

 I would've been OK with either design, I love both her Nighsister look as well as this Spelunker outfit, so I'm just glad that we finally have her. And she was worth the wait. The head sculpt is spot on, which is more than I can say about all their attempts at Cal, but the rest of her costume is very detailed. She gets sculpted, and painted, jewels on her right wrist, the rings on her hands her necklace, the doodad that hangs from her belt... love went into making this figure, and it shows. She comes with a green energy effect that plugs on her hands, her knife, which can be holstered behind, and the knife in lance form as well.

 Articulation is everything you expect from modern Black Series. Butterfly joints, single jointed elbows and knees with good bends, legs reach 90 degrees, elbows go beyond. She has very good butterfly joints and a ball jointed waist. She also shas swivels on her boots. I've honestly been having a lot of fun with Merrin. She is shorter than Bucky Cap and both Cal Kestises

 Brilliant figure, this is everything I wanted from Merrin. The sculpt is very faithful to an already appealing design, and the articulation is really good for a character like this. The accessories are also very welcome and appropriate for her. A total winner.

10

Action Figure #725: Jada Toys Street Fighter II Vega

 You've met the Orange ninja, now meet the Spaniard Ninja.

 I've always felt that the concept behind Vega , or Balrog if you are in Japan, doesn't work. A Spanish ninja? How does that work? And Vega's special moves never felt very ninja-y to me beyond his aerial Izuna Drop. But, ah well.

 There's something about holding a JADA figure that just feels so nice, specially after going through so many gummy Hasbro figures. This guy feels sturdy, like he won't break easily. The joints aren't gummy at all, the pegs aren't getting stressed. Beautiful. Vega has never been one of my favorite characters, he always felt too tall, too lanky, he always looked much cooler in art than in game... so this is one time I'm glad that he doesn't feel faithful to the source material! The guy is BUILT, and he is slightly taller than Ken on Ryu, so he feels like a proper warrior. Aside from that, the sculpt and design is great, as per usual... although I find his unmasked head to be ugly. They went after his most updated character portrait, but I don't think he came out looking very good, so I'm gonna choose to keep mine with the masked head. The paint apps are spot on, and his belt is wired, so you can pose it around. Jada showing everyone else how it's done, as usual! He comes with two sets of hands. Two fists, one with a claw that can't be removed, and two open hands, the one with the glove doesn't have the claw, but, the figure comes with an extra claw accessory, in case he drops it, that can be slotted onto the hand, so no worries there. He comes with a masked head and an unmasked head, as well as a loose mask. The loose mask is very soft, and won't go over his unmasked head, it's just there for when he gets hit and drops it. There's also a slashing effect for his claw.

 Same standard articulation as always. Double jointed elbows and knees with great range, swivels on his biceps, thighs and ankles, a ball jointed waist and a hinged ab crunch that only goes backwards and forwards. He laso has very nice butterfly joints. So, yeah, fantastic figure to play with. He is slightly taller than Bucky Cap, which makes him a bit taller than Ryu and Ken.

 I love this figure. His proportions are not accurate to the game, but I do feel like the elevate his design to something more appealing... which I'm sure won't make Vega fans very happy.... but it made me happy! So, despite me preferring it this way, I'll be deducting some points due to it.

9.0

Action Figure #724: Star Wars The Black Series Barriss Offee

 Can't trust your friends!

 Barriss Offee is more than a traitor, she is the character that changed Ahsoka's life forever, so in a way, she's one of the most important characters in Clone Wars, despite how little screen time she had. I should've gotten Luminara too, oh well!

 So, in a way, this is a very simple a basic figure, there's not much to say, you can look at her, she's a girl wearing black with a black skirt. But, gotta give credit where credit is due. Her chest and arms are fully textured, which makes her stand out, and her cloak was given the same pattern she wore on the show which is just beautiful, so they did the most they could out of such a simple design. She comes with her light saber.

 You can take off her hood, if you wish, but her neck is flesh colored, which I don't think looks too good with her black cap. I also feel like her neck feels too long without the hood, so I'd suggest you keep it on.

 Below the skirt she gets high heels and very thin legs. I don't like this. Leia has the same thin legs that warp easily, and the heels don't seem befitting of a Jedi and makes it harder to balance her. Not a fan of this choice.

 She has nice, deep cuts on her single jointed elbows allowing for a nice bend. She has butterfly joints that allow for double handed sword wielding. Her waist is ball jointed. Legs are oldschool, so she gets thigh swivels, boot swivels and double jointed knees. They are fine. The skirt is made of soft goods, so they don't restrict her movement. She is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She's a fine figure, it's just that she doesn't have the most impressive design ever made, so there's nothing remarkable about her. But she's fine, I just wish they'd retire Leia's legs because they are very outdated.

6.5

Action Figure #723: Power Rangers Lightning Collection MMPR x TMNT Morphed April O'Neil

  So she's a Mighty Morphin Journalist Ranger?

 So... I wasn't gonna review Morphed April O'Neil until I noticed something that kept me from selling her... this Pink Ranger has no skirt! This is a different take on the Mighty Morphin Pink Ranger, so now I had to keep her!

 So, while she looks like the original release, there are some slight differences. The biggest one is the lack of a skirt, but if you look closer you'll notice that her arms, forearms and legs are a bit thicker than Kimberly's. The helmet is slightly different too, is it a better or a worse different? I'm not sure. So, y'know, while the differences are minimal, I still like this alternate take, so I'm keeping her. She comes with a nice, and original, assortment of accessories. She has two pair of hands, as expected, an unmorphed April head, par for the course, the gun blaster in one mode the bow, painted silver instead of white, the two pink arrows... and a microphone and a camera accessories! These last two  are very interesting, and will probably work to make some nice displays with other figures.

 Articulation follows the older female buck trend. Single jointed elbows, but double jointed knees. The elbow bend reaches slightly above 90 degrees, so it's acceptable. She has swivels on thighs and boots, as well as butterfly joints. Her torso has a ball jointed ab crunch and a hinged waist with not a lot of range, to be fair. It's... it's fine. You can play with her just fine. She is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She's not a better Pink Ranger, but an alternate Pink Ranger, and while the figure itself is nothing special, I think she's a fine little figure to own. The fun journalist accessories do bump the score up a bit, because those are very original.

7.0

Action Figure #722: Power Rangers Lightning Collection MMPR x TMNT Morphed Michelangelo

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Morphed Ranger Turtles?

 I've been meaning to get these crossover Lightning Collection X Ninja Turtles figures for a while now, and later this year Big Bad Toystore had them on sale... so I finally got a pair(Spoilers!) of these releases. Let's start with my childhood favorite, Morphed Michelangelo !

 Mikey gets the Yellow form. Personality-wise he should've gotten Zack's powers, but I'll let it slide because a turtle in yellow has always been a great idea, cheers Jennika! The guy has pretty much an all new sculpt, his limbs are thicker than other Ranger figures, and he also gets a hard plastic shell over his torso, unique to him and his brothers. The helmet is new too, and it gets threatening red pupils, I love it! The rhombuses on his gloves and boots are sculpted on, unlike the basic rangers, which is neat too, and I love how sturdy the plastic feels. So, yeah, great looking sculpt, nice quality, great design and... a nice assortment of accessories. The Mikey alternate head is all smiles, perfect for Mikey, you get 3 sets of hands, two dagger nunchucks and a single energy effect to use on it. Not bad!

 Lightning Collection always keeps their standards! Double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, although you won't get much range due to the shell, swivels on his biceps, boots and thighs and a ball jointed waist... that you can't use beyond tilting him to the sides or turning him around, due to the shell. He has no ab crunch articulation, but he does have drop down hips. 

 Turning his waist moves the shell along, so it will limit his leg movement. Just something to keep in mind. He is almost as tall as Bucky Cap!

 Overall, a fantastic little figure. I love having good quality Ninja Turtles figures in 6 inches, particularly because most turtle figures are on the 5 inch scale, and the BST AXN figures were a disappointment.

8.5

Action Figure #721: Star Wars The Black Series The Ronin

 It was only a matter of time before we got LightKatanas...

 Full disclosure, I haven't watched Star Wars Visions yet. The first season seemed promising, but it was just a vehicle to make Season 2 just full on female led. Which is fine if you are the target audience, but I'm not. All that said, I did hear about each short and The Ronin was probably the standout, which is why we are here.

 This guy was released in two forms. A Two pack with a medieval R2D2, colored in black and white with soft goods... or this single release, that had colored skin and a soft-plastic jacket. The Black and White release while a nice novelty, wasn't something that would've meshed well with the rest of my collection, so I opted for the one that was colored. All that said, this is a fantastic, completely original sculpt. The guy looks like a badass, and while I'm sure the soft-goods jacket would fit better... I love what they did with it here, as both it as well as the belt are all sinewy and twisty, which makes it look very cool and very anime-esque. The entire sculpt of this guy is brilliant, but the jacket and belt do take the cake. He comes with two accessories. His katana, which comes with its sheathe, as well as a medieval looking pistol. The pistol is holstered and it can't be unholstered, which kinda sucks. Both items are meant to be slotted on his hip, but they come off easily... but it shouldn't matter, since the belt holds them in place very well by itself.

 The articulation is a bit of a mixed bag. He has butterfly joints, with very ample range allowing or some cool double handed poses. His elbows are single jointed, but the range on the bend is excellent. While the wrists are hinged, moving up and down, his forearms connect to his sleeves via ball joints, which adds extra range to how you can position his arms, which is a very neat trick. His waist is on a ball joint with pathetic range. I know that this is how Black Series works, so I never complain about it, but, in this case, an ab crunch of some sort would've been EPIC to give him some amazing unsheathing poses. It would've veered this figure into amazing territory. His knees are single jointed, but due to the size of his hakama, they barely reach a 90 degree bend. His ankles are swiveled. Overall, it's not bad, but if he only had had some more torso articulation he would've been one of the best black series figures ever. He is almost as tall as Bucky Cap.

 This figure is really, really good. Most of my grievances are small, for the brunt of the figure is really great, so it's an easy recommendation for anyone that likes Star Wars.

9.0

Action Figure #720: STORM Arena Ken

 Sure you can!

 I've wanted a lot of STORM figures before because they cover a lot of Fighting Game characters, but their figures were always too large! Enter STORM Arena, a true 6 inch line they decided to debut with Ken from Street Fighter Alpha 3. Seems JADA has some competition now!

 Well, this is a beautiful figure. The sculpt brings Street Fighter Alpha's anime style to life with angular muscles and vibrant colors. Seems they took a few notes from JADA, because much like their Ken, you can take the top of the Gi off, and the Gi itself is gorgeously textured, as well as given a darker red wash to highlight some of the sculpt. If you ask me, this figure has two things over JADA: Firstly, the anime style of the Alpha series is much more appealing than Street Fighter II's bulkier and rougher art, so this is a much more handsome and cooler looking Ken, and secondly, the accessories. We get two heads, two fists and two Hadoken hands much like Jada's, but this figure also includes a third pair of hands, made up of a hand for his Victory pose and one for his intro animation. Plus, instead of a generic orange Hadoken, Ken gets a much more appropriate Shoryuken flame effect. It also includes a fairly nice stand for the figure. And keep in mind the price point is ver close to Jada's!

 On a more personal and biased take, I'll admit I prefer Jada's Western engineering on the joints. As it can be seen above, the knees and elbows have the more eastern over-engineering that I don't like as much. It uses more parts, making them more fragile, and they don't look as natural. That said, the plastic and feel of this figure feels very sturdy, unlike a Figma or a Figuarts. Much like STORM's usual releases, the chest piece and the butterfly joints are made of very soft plastic, which is something I wasn't a huge fan of. Following eastern action figure standards, the feet and hands connect to ball joints on the wrists and ankles. I've had the hands come off moer times than I would've liked when playing with the figure. Also, the headsculpt's hair disconnects at the ponytail... it kept falling off, so I had to glue it on.

 Articulation is great all around. Elbows and knees are double jointed, he has swivels on his biceps, thighs and on the cut where his legs and pants meet. He has very generous butterfly joints, a ball jointed ab crunch, and a hinged waist that connects to the legs via a ball joint. He has drop down hips, but the pegs look very thick, so I'm not scared of them breaking. He has toe articulation, and you van rotate the tie on his belt. He has been very fun to pose. Most of his joints have been very smooth, although one of his knees is tighter than the other and the bicep swivels are very tight, one was clicking so hard I had to oil it. He is as tall as Jada's Ken and almost as tall as Bucky Cap.

 Update: That was at first... after playing with him for a while, both of his legs got super rigid out of nowhere. I had to oil up his hips, and even now, his legs are clicking really badly. The swivel on the right leg is so hard, that using the swivel pops the leg out now, due to the oil. Horrible. Other people are having this issue from what I read.

 So, I think this figure looks better than Jada's, but that's because Alpha has a much cooler art-style. The Ken is leagues and bounds more good looking... but that's because Jada's is faithful to how Ken looked in his portraits, while this Ken is more faithful to Alpha. Plus the yellow gloves look better than brown. That said, I prefer Jada's simpler engineering. Overall, I'll be getting more Storm Arena figures, this Ken is fantastic, despite a few minor complaints, although I won't double dip on characters I already own... which is why I cancelled Storm's Sagat, since Jada's good enough! All that said, it's a good time to like Action Figures and Street Fighter!

 Update: The clicking legs made me lower the score from 9.0 to 7.0. Yeah... I'm sticking to JADA as much as I can. these over-engineered joints are too finicky. At least he is not as gummy as Marvel Legends.

7.0

Action Figure #719: Marvel Legends Agent Anti-Venom (Magic: The Gathering)

 He's anti-guns too, he shoots Super Soakers!

 Considering how much love went into the new Agent Venom sculpt, it was only a matter of tine before they reused the mold for Agent Anti-Venom.

 So, for the most part, this figure's sculpt is identical to the original Agent Venom save for one little detail... Hasbro actually listened and they gave him a hole on his back! And he comes with an all new four-tendril accessory which holds guns much better than the original did! As far as the sculpt goes I like it a lot, he looks and feels like a tactical Spider-Man. That said... Agent Anti-Venom doesn't have the most consistent design but most people draw him with his eyes completely colored black. He also tends to have silver plates on his biceps and legs, but for this figure they only gave him silver stripes. The older Agent Anti-Venom did get these details right, just sayin'! But, hey! Maybe he is based on the Magic The Gathering design, right? Nope. You can compare it with the card itself, or the enlarged art on the side of the box: While the black-outlined eyes are accurate... that version of Flash has the black accents painted in blue, and the arms have vertical blue stripes instead of horizontal silver stripes. Look, look, these complaints are fairly minor, I think the figure looks great, I love the sculpt, I love how it looks, it's just that they could've tried sticking closer to the source material. This release is missing the Flash alternate head and the shotgun, but we get 3 pair of hands, five guns, 2 shooting effects and two smoke effects, as well as the aforementioned tendril accessory. Another paint-related thing worth mentioning is that all his guns are painted in metallic blue instead of black or grey. I think it had something to do with Magic The Gathering not wanting to be associated with guns, but it's just a rumor. Regardless, the metallic blue grew on me, so I don't hate the guns.

 The articulation is as follows; Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his thighs and biceps and a ball-jointed ab crunch with decent, but not spectacular, range. No waits swivels. His only downside is that the armored legs prevent his feet from pivoting or twisting too much, which will limit some of his poses, that said, you can work with his feet anyways. The pauldrons rotate alongside his shoulders, so no issues there. He is a touch shorter than Bucky-Cap, and a lot shorter than the previous figure.

 And now I can finally retire my old Agent Venom and Agent Anti-Venom figures, two of the most outdated figures I owned. While I had a lot to say about the paint, these two figures have been some of the ones I've liked the most this year. I've regularly played with Agent Venom ever since I got him, and I've had fun posing him next to the new Anti-Venom too. While I mentioned some of the liberties they took with the design, well, his design isn't super consistent, so it's a great take on Anti-Venom. And the new Tendril accessory just makes me like this figure a bit more than Agent Venom, even if I prefer the black color scheme!

9.5

Action Figure #718: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Dino Charge Red Ranger

 Let's hope the Red Leader is the best of the bunch!

 While not as expensive as the Dino Charge Gold Ranger or the Dino Charge Black Ranger(Spoilers!), the Dino Charge Red Ranger does go for a pretty penny this day, so I hope the price was worth it.

 It wasn't.

 I do like the design of this guy, but being a Wave 1 figure shows, because the yellow plastic on his weapons looks very cheap. The design itself is decent enough, they are a bit atypical for Rangers, with their smaller helmets, but it's fine. He comes with two gripping hands, a blaster, a sword, an effect piece, a fist, an open palm hand and an unmasked helmet.

 Much like the Blue Ranger, the hand he is supposed to grip the sword with is kinda lame, since you have to slot the weapon between two of his fingers. It looks weird.

 Being a Wave 1 figure has its perks, this is the only Dino Charge figure with painted silver on the hands!

 You know the deal about this, so let me copy paste a bit. Articulation follows everything this line has, with double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots, with a hinged waist a ball jointed diaphragm. Luckily, no drop-down hips. So far so good, right? Wrong. This is where this figure turns into garbage. Both of his shoulders are incredibly tight. Every time you lift them to the side you will stress the pegs. I watched video reviews, this happened to everyone. It got so bad that I decided to use super glue, to strengthen the pegs, and oil, to try to loosen up the shoulders. Well, I messed up and glued down his left shoulder to the butterfly join. Not willing to lose the articulation, I looked up how to dilute super glue, and most people said to freeze it and then it should be turn brittle. I did it... but broke the butterfly joint. So now his left arm lost most mobility but the swivel. I'll probably buy this bastard again down the line, but I can't believe he was shipped this way. This might be one of the worst LC figures Hasbro released. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 I hate this guy. He came out terrible. He was released alongside the White Ranger, which I own, and is just perfect, as well as the SPD Shadow Ranger, which also didn't have any of these issues. While I own the re-released Zedd, I'm willing to bet it was the same mold.... so why was this one so bad in comparison?

3.0

Action Figure #717: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Wild Force Lunar Wolf

 Before Hoeru, the GozyuWolf, we had the Lunar Wolf Ranger.

 Look, I'll admit, I don't know much about Sentai. I've only watched Gekiranger(EPIC), Shinkenger(Amazing!), a bit of Go-Onger(Hated it!), some DaiRanger(Would like to see more!) and Gozyuger... most of my Sentai knowledge comes from reading a lot, because I like the concept. I know even less about Power Ranger since the last season I watched was Lightspeed Rescue, and I didn't even finish it. Regardless, I never cared about the GaoRanger/Wild Force designs... but there's something about Wild Force Lunar Wolf that caught my eye...

 Simple. It's color scheme. Much like In Space Silver Ranger, I love the Silver with gold accents, it makes him look extra special. But beyond that, remember how I liked the asymmetry of the SPD Rangers? He's got it too with his blue sleeve! Yeah! I love how this guy looks, so getting him was kind of a priority. I love everything about him, the color scheme, the helmet design, his weapons... Fantastic Ranger, truly. He comes with two gripping hands, two clawed hands, two swords, an effect piece and an unmasked head. I had a really hard time picking out which hands to give him, because I love his swords... but the clawed hands on a wolf-themed ranger also fit so well. Alas, the swords won in the end.

 One minor thing worth mentioning, he came out before pinless technology was a thing, so he has blue pin on his silver legs. I don't mind it, but I do know that some people do.

 You know the deal about this, so let me copy paste a bit. Articulation follows everything this line has, with double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots, with a hinged waist a ball jointed diaphragm. Luckily, no drop-down hips. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 I utterly love this guy, so I'll be looking out for any excuse to pose him from now on!

9.0

Action Figure #716: Power Rangers Lightning Collection S.P.D. Green Ranger

 Considering the amount of green-skinned characters I own... I do need more Green Rangers.

 Considering how cool these designs look, S.P.D Green Ranger was the next clear choice for my collection. I mean, looks cool and is green, what else could I want?

 So, considering how much I paid for the Red SPD Ranger I wanted to cut costs with this one... So I got him loose, but 'complete'. Kinda. The guy removed the two gripping hands and gave him fists, so he could hold his weapons! Luckily I found a ranger gripping finger among my accessories, but still! Aside from that, much like DekaRed, DekaGreen is another cool looking Ranger, so I can't wait until I finish this team. He comes with an unmasked head, two gripping hands, a hand for his Morpher, an open palm, the morpher itself, and his weapon which is made up of three pieces, as well as a blast effect and an unmasked helmet.

 There's no way to know how this goes if you haven't seen the show, so I had to look up some videos. The longer piece slots on the handle, and you get a blaster thing. It doesn't hold perfectly well because both pieces are gummy, but it's not terrible.

 You know the deal about this, so let me copy paste a bit. Articulation follows everything this line has, with double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots, with a hinged waist a ball jointed diaphragm. Luckily, no drop-down hips. The only thing worth noting, is that his black shoulder is very stiff, particularly when rotating the arm. This seems to be common with this mold, because it happens with my Red SPD Ranger, as well as on a video I watched. He is almost as tall as Bucky Cap, which is weird because the red Ranger seemed shorter. Curious.

 Another brilliant SPD Ranger goes into my collection. I do think the Red looks a bit cooler with this mold, but not by much. Regardless, this one is much cheaper to find, and I think everyone deserves an SPD Ranger in their collection.

8.0