Action Figure #732: Marvel Legends Emma Frost (X-Men '97)

 Another mediocre Emma Frost figure? Color me surprised.

 I love Emma Frost and I love Cyclops, and I love them together, so I haven't forgotten the character assassination of her when she cheated on him with Namor. But that aside, I've been needing a classic Emma on my collection, so the moment she was announced I knew I had to get her.

 But they blundered her again! She is yet another figure that uses those unstable heels nobody likes. And much like the previous Emma, her solid plastic cape prevents her from ever moving her arms. At least, in this case, you can take the cape off, and Emma has used costumes similar to this one without the cape, so it works. She seems to be a retooling of the Hellfire fourpack Emma, and made a bit tamer with less skin showing, which is fine with me. She comes with two beautiful head sculpts that fit her very well, I specially like the one with the smirk, as well as two pair of hands.

 Articulation on the figure is serviceable. Double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on her biceps and thighs. Hidden below the corset is a ball jointed waist, but it has next-to-no range, so it works more like a swivel. A swivel I had to heat up, because the ball was stuck, and thus, the peg was twisting.

 The gummy plastic strikes again, every time you bend her arms, you'll stress the shoulder pegs on the bicep swivel. She is a bit taller than Bucky Cap due to the heels.

 What can I say, they keep making mediocre Emma Frost figures. If they are going to continue with this solid plastic capes that restrict her arms, they should go for their capeless designs, of which there are plenty. And either remove the heels, or make them thicker, I'll take funny looking heels over these stilettos that can barely balance the figure on top.

4.5

Action Figure #731: Marvel Legends Jubilee (X-Men '97)

 To me, she'll always be Jubilation Lee.

 Waiting paid off! I've wanted a Jubilee for the longest time now, but I always hated her 90's look, and the modern Jubilee was a BAF, so she was quite expensive. Well, here comes Jubilee in her second outfit from the show, which happens to be a nice mesh of new and old. My perfect Jubilee is here!

 Well, that bit of new and old extends to the sculpt as well. You see, sadly, she is built on that very outdated female teen buck I dislike so much, the same one as X-23 and the Spider-Girls, but, thankfully, it's on the retooled version they used for Mania which offers a bit more range. That said, her yellow coat and arms seem to be new, and they look very shiny and bright, which fits Jubilee so much. Her face sculpt is beautiful, she looks confident and peppy, like she should, and I love the reflection effect they put on her shades. Her accessories are all bangers. She comes with two open hands, a right fist, a left cup hand, to hold the beverage cup she comes with, and two alternate hands that spew here fireworks. Both hands have different effects, so they aren't just mirrored, which is very cool.

 Jubilee has acceptable articulation. Knees and elbows are double jointed, and she gets swivels on her biceps, thighs and boots. She could've benefited from butterfly joints, but whatever, the real issue comes with the lack of torso articulation. She has no waist articulation, and the ball jointed ab crunch barely has any range, if any at all, plus, the jacket makes it hard to even use it. At least, being on the retooled Mania version of the buck, she has more range on her kicks, and the legs don't come off, so that's a win. Kinda. She is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She's not an spectacular figure by any means but... she is good enough. The buck needs to be retired, because it simply isn't a good sculpt, but the accessories and the great job they did with the head makes it hard for me to really dislike the figure. So... yeah, she is fine, but she definitely could've been better.

7.0

Action Figure #730: Marvel Legends Morph (X-Men '97)

 Retconned into being the world's first They/Them.

 When Morph was claimed as a nonbinary before the series ever came out, it was the first red flag. Once again, a Woke vehicle skinwalking a beloved franchise. And look, I don't have a problem with woke as long as it's new stuff. Well... it wasn't. X-Men '97 wasn't preachy at all, and, to be honest, a character that morphs into other characters is pretty much genderless, so... it fits. 

 And to match this new non-binary identity, this figure was given a new, very lithe body, which helps making them more androgynous, which once again, fits the character. The classic head also looks more feminine than they did in the original show, but I'll take it. So, yeah, this figure has a 100% new sculpt that works really well for the character. And I love how different it looks, it's always nice when Hasbro introduces new body types, to have a more diverse looking display of characters. His jacket has some nicely sculpted pouches and details, but keeping them very simple, trying to match the show's style. He is a bit gummy, but not too bad, thankfully. He comes with three heads: Comic/'97 featureless Morph face, a more androgynous take on the original head, and the head of the bad guy he morphed into during the show. He comes with two open hands and two fists. One little thing that I'll mention is that the original head has cellshaded features, which somewhat clashes with the rest of the body. And the neck is white, so using the other heads clashes a bit... but I don't mind, I wanted the nostalgia head! 

 Articulation is good enough. Double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his biceps, thighs, waist and boots. He has a hinged ab-crunch that goes forward a lot, but not backwards.

 A little issue, is that when bending the legs you might stress the peg on the boot swivel. Just something to keep in mind. Damn Hasbro's gummy plastic! He is pretty much as tall as Bucky Cap, maybe a millimeter shorter.

 He's a fun little figure. I love the new sculpt, I love this new take on Morph, I love the color and, I also love how articulated Marvel Legends is at its best. Fantastic figure.

8.5

Action Figure #729: Marvel Legends Sunspot (X-Men '97)

 And here comes the diversity hire.

 Sunspot was one of the new characters introduced in X-Men '97, and while I don't particularly like him, because I'm pretty sure I haven't read a single comic featuring him... but I'm always happy when more obscure characters get a chance to shine outside the source material, specially when they retain some familiarity to the source material.

 Believe it or not, this was one of the characters I was looking forward to the most from this wave. My comic accurate Sunspot is on the Bucky Cap, so he needed a much needed upgrade, and this one seems to be cast on a new buck, which I though looked pretty sleek. I think his uniform looks great, and even though his head is a tad larger than it should, they did a great job with his wavy hair. He comes with two fists, two open hands, and two effect pieces. One of the effect pieces slots into his arm much better if you remove his hand, mind you. A full-black alternate head, for when he uses his powers, would've been great, but... I already have a transformed Sunspot, might as well keep this one like this! Now then, while he doesn't feel super gummy, his left arm showed stress marks BEFORE I even played with him, but the right arm is perfectly OK.

 The arm in question. Eugh.

 This figure covers all the basics. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots, a hinged waist and a ball jointed ab crunch, and let's not forget about the butterfly joints! He is as tall as Bucky Cap, but he looks a bit lankier, and his head is larger due to the hair.

 While it doesn't have my favorite proportions ever... I've been having a lot of fun posing him with his fire effects. While the right arm scares me about it breaking, I think he looks dope. The entire color scheme works really well, the pastel yellows and blacks make his tan skin stand out, and couple it with the translucent orange fire effects and you get a very eyecatching piece! So, for the score... I'm going to assume that the arm won't break and score the figure assuming that even if the peg is stressed, it won't break... if it does, well, I'll add an addendum! Because I REALLY like how he came out.

8.5

Action Figure #728: Marvel Legends Scorpion (Molten Man Wave)

 We are going for comic accurate now, baby!

 As I said in my previous Scorpion entry, when I bought the TAS Scorpion I did it on nostalgia for Spider-Man TAS, as I hadn't read much Spider-Man... but by the time I wrote the entry, I had read A TON of Spider-man, and the fleshless-mouth design grew on me... well, about time I did something about it!

 Well, this is the same exact figure as the other Scorpion, but clad in a beautiful metallic green. He has darker green gloves, boots and shorts to add some variety into the design, which I quite like. As for accuracy to the source material... well, Scorpion has gone through various little changes throughout the years, and this one skews towards the more classic 'green pajamas'. Due to him having a nose, instead of slits, and a pointy end on his tail, as well as the nasty scowl on his face... He is based on one of my favorite Spider-Man artist's take on the character: Sal Buscema's! It's pretty much an exact match to how he drew Scorpion in The Spectacular Spider-Man, so... I love him.

 Something neat I found... there are mask endings sculpted on his cheeks, so they knew that they were going to reuse this sculpt piece by piece eventually, because the TAS figure is IDENTICAL, barring the paint apps.

 Articulation is good enough for the character. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, waist, thighs and boots, as well as a ball jointed ab crunch, with not much range, and a bendy tail that you can play with. The tail can make it a bit hard to get him to stand, but it's not very annoying. He is an older ML, so he isn't gummy at all! He is as tall as Bucky Cap, it might not look like in the photo, but that's because I had to tilt his torso to balance the tail and... yadda yadda.

 Is a different color scheme enough for me to raise the score on the same figure? Yes. Because this figure looks EXACTLY like how one of my favorite Spider-Man artists drew him, so I love this guy, and looks much neater than the garish TAS figure.

9.0

Action Figure #727: Marvel Legends QuickSilver (RetroCarded)

 The first figure of the year came quickly!

 Quicksilver was one of those really basic figures that I've been missing. It's not my fault! The iconic blue Quicksilver was stuck in an out of print three pack, and this classic green one was a Wallmart exclusive, so getting my hands on him wasn't easy at all.

 And the way I got him... well this is a quick and dirty kitbash of sorts. The seller didn't mention it, but this Quicksilver is using the blue one's head, because the green one had two separated wisps of hair, plus, the hair was white too instead of grey. I don't really care because, to be honest, I prefer the wispless head sculpt. That said, I also prefer the blue costume. I remember when I started reading Spider-man starting from Amazing Fantasy #15 and was shocked when he faced off against Quicksilver, maybe in a Marvel Team-Up issue, and Quicksilver was dressed in this garish green costume. I didn't like it. This version of the costume doesn't seem to be the classic-classic green costume either, because that one had olive green accents instead of white, but whatever. With all the color shenanigans out of the way, what do I think about the figure? Well... I find the green to be garish, and before buying the figure I watched some videos that showed how the green on the torso didn't match the green on the limbs, which looks to be the case on my photos too... but trust me, when you look at the figure in hand you can barely tell the different shades of green apart, so it's pretty much an nonissue. What is a bit of an issue, however, is that much like the Blue Quicksilver figure, and even Deimon Strom, Pietro's head is too big for the body, cartoonishly so, which is a bit disappointing. I do appreciate how he looks like Magneto, however, because no crappy retcon will make audiences not take him as Magneto's son. As for the body, I love the Sunfire mold, I've said it countless times, but this one has very gummy arms and shoulder pegs, which is never a good thing. He comes with two fists and two grabby hands, people were mad that he didn't have open-palm running hands, but I think the grabby hands work well.

 Articulation is excellent as with any Sunfire buck. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs, waist and boots, butterfly joints as well as a hinged ab crunch. So he is very poseable... if only his arms weren't so gummy. I've already seen stress marks on his right shoulder peg. Pathetic. His big head makes him a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 He is... He is fine, I guess. I mean... Take in mind I don't really like the classic green costume on Pietro, so that already makes me not like him too much, and the big head makes him look a bit iffy. The gummy arms don't help at all. Overall? Just an average ML that doesn't do the buck justice. But at least I've got a comic book Pietro now, I guess.

5.0

Archile's End of the Year Best and Worst of 2025 Part II

 Time to finish the fight, now in plastic, for the second time.

 Unlike the last year, I was ready this time, so I had a much easier time making these lists, plus, since there were less figures to cover, it was easier to make. Well then, time to go on, right? But first, we have to cover the two Star Wars sub Categories!

Best and Worst Star Wars Figures

Runner-up) Anakin Skywalker (Ahsoka)

 This figure is a mess. Most of its articulation is outdated, which is surprising since the General Kenobi figure was so good, but even if I ignore that... the arms are just too long, this figure NEVER looks good, no matter the angle, no matter the pose, there's no way that this figure will ever look good. At least it has decent soft-good pieces, and the head sculpt is actually really good, which is the only thing that kept this guy as the runner up...

Loser) Captain Poe Dameron

 Because this Poe figure doesn't even have that going for him! Terrible sculpt, terrible articulation and it doesn't even look like the actor! The Sequel Trilogy was so bad that it even spawned terrible action figures.

    

Runner-up) Nightsister Merrin

 It hurts having Merrin's run on the lists end here, because she is truly an exceptional figure, but that's simply just how fantastic the winner is...

Winner) SDCC Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi

 But what can Merrin do when facing the excellence of this two-pack? Both action figures are exceptional, being the best figures that The Black Series have EVER released, and the included diorama is such a cool extra... Honestly, I don't see how The Black Series will ever top this.

Best and Worst Action Figures of 2025

 Well, my friends... now it's time to end the lists, these are the best and worst figures I played with this year. 

8) Anime Heroes Aiolos

 Anime Heroes actually had the least bad showing this year. Aiolos is not so much bad as it is limited. Because the sculpt is pretty good, the golden plastic is quite flashy... but armor just limits his articulation so much that it hurst. I'm sure that there were ways to allow him better movement, but they preferred to put the sculpt first. Not a good idea when dealing with Action Figures. I'd buy a statue if I wanted a good sculpt!

7) DC Direct Brainiac (New Krypton)

 Another figure that prioritized sculpt over articulation, but this one is even MORE limited, with elbows and knees that don't even hit 90 degrees, but also an arm that comes off and an overall unappealing design. I just wanted a Brainiac figure. The classic green and pink look just isn't for me, and the one I like the most is the blue-skinned one from TAS, but... I went with this. Maybe I didn't need a Brainiac.

6) S. H. Figuarts Okarun

 A Figuarts below DC Direct figures? Well... yeah, because I actually expected better from Tamashii Nations. As a matter of fact, this figure was actually on my Most Disappointing list for a while before I decided to put other figures there. I mean, there's a reason I gave it three Worst Of awards this year. Ugly sculpt, limited articulation, problems just standing up... Tamashii released more than a few blunders this year, eh!

5) Marvel Legends Blood Storm

 Storm got done dirty. For a figure released in late 2024, this kind of dated elbow articulation is just unacceptable, add to it those lanky legs that aren't even pinless, and a version of Storm that I think nobody ever wanted... There's not much good I could say about this figure. Maybe that at least it came with a BAF piece?

4) Power Rangers Lightning Collection Dino Charge Red Ranger

 But this guy didn't even include a BAF piece. And the worst bit about him? Despite how tight his arms are, he has gone up in price a lot. There are other expensive Rangers, but they are usually really good figures, this one has NOTHING going for him, so if you want him, you have to overpay for a poorly engineered figure. Lame!

3) Star Wars The Black Series Captain Poe Dameron

 Hasbro took their job seriously when it came to making figures from the Sequel Trilogy, because they managed to capture the quality of the films in a single figure. I'll give it this much, having this guy is a good point of comparison to see just how much the Black Series has evolved. How now they manage to capture the likeness of the characters much better, how now they go for sleeker sculpts and better joints, and how even the packaging has improved. So, thank you Poe, for showing me just how much this line has improved.

Runner-up) Game of Thrones Legacy Collection White Walker

 The entire Legacy Collection is a mess, but this one had the most issues I've had with any figure from this line. While other figures lost arms or legs and I had to superglue them back together, this one only lost a wrist... but it doesn't mean much since he has two right biceps. But even if he had the right(heh!) biceps, they can't even hit a 90 degree bend. At least the sculpting and the paint is good, I mean... Jon Snow and Daenarys didn't even look like their actors, and I think he sorta looks like a White Walker, so that's something... I guess.

Loser) JADA Toys Robocop 3.0

 I would've never expected to have JADA as the Winner(Loser?) of the Worst Action Figure of a year, but here we are. In their defense, this figure came years before their resurgence with Street Fighter, but still. I think the single key element that says everything that needs to be said about this figure... is that the elbows can't even hit a 90 degree bend forward... but they go beyond if you bend it backwards. I thought I got a dud that came with the wrong arms, but... nope, I looked up Robocop's design, and the arms are right, it's just that the engineering is so bad. At least he can turn on his visor, right? Because once the battery dies, his visor will be black, while it was red in the movie. Brilliant design choice!

8) DC Direct Batman Rogues Gallery The Penguin

 The worst of the best! This is another one of those figures that is so lacking on the articulation front that it might as well just been an statue... but the sculpt is so deliciously good that I just can't help but give it a pass. So much work went into this guy that I just can't hate it, so I'll take the hit on the articulation so that I can have a devilish looking Penguin figure!

7) Anime Heroes Sabo

 There's been so much Sabo this year, Jesus! But, well, he is my favorite One Piece character, and it's not my fault I got two great figures depicting him! In Anime Heroes case, this is a really good rendition of his initial black ensemble, and the simple design is a great match for Anime Heroes simplicity. Yeah, this is a great budget Sabo, and if it's the only one you could afford you'd be pretty happy with him.

6) Power Rangers Lightning Collection Crimson Hawk Ryu

 Equal parts Street Fighter and Power Ranger, Crimson Hawk Ryu was a figure that didn't need to be made, but it got made and we are all the better for it. A great looking design that translated beautifully into plastic, with a nice amount of accessories to display him with and the line's standardized articulation that let's you pose him in all sorts of ways... An excellent offering from the line, and unlike the Dino Charge Red Ranger, this one's very cheap!

5) Savage Crucible Who-Man

 Who? Who-Man, of course! Medieval action figures just don't get any better than this, the guy seems tailor made for me, with the beautiful fire-y swords and the gorgeous golden armor, this is, like, my ideal medieval fantasy hero... and as much as all his spikes hurt my fingers, it's hard to keep my hands off him, because he is such a fun figure to pose.

4) JADA Toys Sagat

 And the only way to clean my palate from the awful Robocop 3.0 figure would be to write about JADA's modern work, in this case, Sagat. He is such a beast! Sagat is massive, which allowed JADA to have fun sculpting all his muscles and giving him a mean ol' face or two. I don't think there was ever any doubt that JADA would continue to make fantastic action figures, and all of their Street Fighter offerings this year was excellent, even their Cyberpunk 2077 were top of the line, but I had to go with Sagat because he is just this extra bit more badass than any other figure they have released so far. Let's see if they can somehow top themselves next year.

3) S. H. Figuarts Sabo

 Anime Heroes' Sabo was perfectly fine for what it was, but if you are willing to hurt your wallet a bit more... Figuarts did the best 6 inch Sabo figure on the market. It's so good that I eventually wound up preferring this look to his original one, because playing with him I realized just how many cool poses I could hit with Sabo looking like this. It's a fantastic little work of art that I kept playing with every now and then this 2025, and I still think it might be one of the finest figures Tamashii Nations has released. And now, finally, I'm done writing about Sabo!

Runner-up) Marvel Legends Nemesis (Build-A-Figure)

 Just like I wrote on the previous entry, this figure is too cool for a Marvel Legends, with the amount of gritty detail and the color scheme, this looks straight out of DOOM. And, yeah, this might be one of the most Heavy Metal figures I own, if not the most, and I've loved posing him as a villain to various different groups of figures this year, always trying to find excuses to just pop him in my displays. It's a badass figure in every single way. 

Winner) Star Wars The Black Series SDCC Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi

 It almost feels like cheating because this is a pair of figures, but... you can't talk about this pack without mentioning the Diorama, and who'd get the Diorama, Anakin or Obi-Wan? I just can't help it but value it all together. And, well, both of the action figures are spectacular. They are the best figures that have come out of The Black Series before and since, and no other has matched either one. From the likeness to the characters and actors, to how they made the sculpt of both characters look layered, to how smooth they made the cuts for the joints making both figures look very sleek... and that's not even getting into the lava-floater diorama that takes both figures to the next level. This was one of the most annoying action figures to get EVER. While working I would refresh Hasbro Pulse over and over again HOPING I'd see it back in stock because Pulse Members had bonus time to get it. Then, while walking back home, I'd see that it briefly came back in stock and I hated EVERYTHING. And then I woke up the next day VERY early just for a chance to get it... and I did! And I was so happy. It was such an ordeal. But, y'know what? It was worth it. I HATED having to do it, but when I finally had it on my hands... it felt like such a treat! This was everything a Prequel Fan could've ever wanted and then some. Much like JADA, the Black Series team is gonna have a hard time topping themselves next year.