Action Figure #813: Star Wars The Black Series Droideka Destroyer Droid

 Goddamn, I love how Droideka sounds.

 I've been meaning to get the Droideka Destroyer Droid for a while now, as he was, to me, the most iconic part of The Phantom Menace. This was the first Star Wars movie I was gonna watch on the cinema, and here come the Jedi, the do short work of the droids... until these guys come around and they have to run away. And in the TPM videogame they also made them deadly! So... yeah, I've been wanting to get one of these guys for a while now.

 For starters, the sculpt is beautiful. While this is not the most detailed guy around, they made all his robotic engineering look really good, with rivets on his blasters, cables and pumps on his arms and what not. He is molded in metallic maroon and gunmetal grey that looks really nice too. So, on the whole, I can't complain about how the figure looks.

 That said, do not try to get him into a ball, this is not a transformer.

 The articulation, well... since this is a non-humanoid figure, there's a lot to say about it. From the top, his head and neck are joined by a tiny ball joint. It's so tiny that I'm scared it might break, and, I've owned him for little over a day and his head is already loose on it. The neck piece is rather large, reaching  down to his ball-formed pelvis-part thing, but it connects to the 'spine' through a double hinge that lets you prop it a bit upwards or downward, but very little. The spine connects to the pelvis on a hinge, so he does have some waist articulation of sorts. The arms are hinged to the chest, so you can move them forwards and backwards a bit. They are connected to the 'forearms' by a single joint that can turn, but sine there are some cables in the way, you won't get 360 degrees without breaking them. These forearms are connected to hinged blaster 'hands'. On his 'hips' there are two plates on his sides that are hinged and can be moved. Lastly, he has three legs, two on his sides and on the back which can be moved to the sides as well as upwards and downwards, so you can get him trying to look taller too. While he could be as tall as Bucky Cap, his 'accurate' standing pose has him standing a bit lower... but he is wide, so he is, overall, a rather large figure.

 While the articulation isn't all that, I can't really fault them, this is a complicated figure to sculpt right, so the fact that we get any articulation at all deserves some praise. On the whole, it's a nice piece, although the neck could've been a bit better.

8.0

Action Figure #812: Marvel Legends Grizzly (...or Ursa Major)

 Just bear with me, man!

 I wasn't 100% sure if I was going to get Grizzly but, well, while he is kinda silly, he came out during my favorite era of Spider-Man, the 70's-80's. So... yeah, plus, Rhino needed some company.

 Grizzly is a recycled Ursa Major, to the point that he comes with an alternate set of paws and head, with an articulated jaw, in case you prefer the X-Men. As for the figure itself... it's a guy wearing a bear costume, I really don't have much more to say. The sculpt looks good, and he has a darker brown wash to highlight some of the musculature, which is very welcome. If I had any other thing to say... well, maybe a pair of fists would've been nice to have him be able to punch something.

 That said... he has some of the best accessories for a villain. He has the aforementioned Ursa Major head and paws, but also... a money bag, a set of order god ingots, a set of spread gold ingots and a lone gold ingot. As silly as it sounds, these accessories can help with any other street criminal display, they look fantastic. 

 Grizzly has single jointed elbows and knees which barely reach 90 degrees, the usual for the larger figures. By now maybe we should've started getting double jointed elbows and knees with these, but I don't mind since these larger figures don't really need to be nimble. He has useless swivels on his biceps, since you can turn the elbows, but the swivels on his thighs do help since the knees can't turn. Probably a byproduct of being a BAF, but the right leg kept coming out at the swivel, so I had to use glue to make the peg thicker, since then, no issues. The ab crunch is on a ball peg with little range forward, but a lot of range backward...

 ...at the cost of looking like this. Not a nice sight. He is as tall as Rhino, and taller than Buck Gap.

 Grizzly is... he is unimpressive. The idea of a man wearing a suit is the kind of silliness the 70's were filled with. But he ain't a bad figure, and being able to be turned into Ursa Major is a neat extra. His accessories are dope, however. So... yeah, I don't think it's a must've, but I'm not disappointed from my purchase.

7.0

Action Figure #811: Marvel Legends Dogpool (& Deadpool)

 Finally, the bestest of bois gets an action figure!

 Finally, we have Dogpool (& Deadpool) which was probably the most glaring omission from the last wave. Among all Deadpool variants, this was probably the most wanted.

 Sadly, Deadpool is kinda lame. He is a tiny figure, and the paint apps are... subpar, so his tongue seems to be coming out of the side of his mouth. Not a good sculpt at all.

 His only articulation point is his head, which he can turn. That's it. He is way shorter than Bucky Cap.

 His biggest accessory is the Deadpool action figure. Finally, we get an accurate Deadpool with the golden guns. Since I don't own the previous movie DP figures I can't tell how much is recycled, but I can tell you that this suit matches the slightly updated costume he wore in the third movie, from the black spots on his neck, to the gold accents and his belt clasp. Unlike Dogpool, all the tiny gold accents are accurately applied throughout the body, and he is a nice looking figure.

 He comes with three adamantium skeleton pieces he can wield as clubs, a set of hands with adamantium claws, two trigger finger hands, two sword-gripping hands, two rock-and-roll hands, a knife, two katanas, the two golden guns and the lovely Hulk Hands that can be put over most fists. My one gripe... Is that I think the trigger finger hands should've been able to hold both katanas and guns, but the handles are just too different, the Katanas are too thin, and the guns are too thick. I think I might add some tape over the Katana hilts, just so that I don't have to swap hands when I want to toy around with him.

 He is outfitted with double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs and waist, as well as a hinged ab crunch with decent range. He has traditional butterfly joints on his chest for added range. His right shoulder was a bit tight, but after applying some oil he has been moving very smoothly. The one thing to keep in mind, when using his waist or the ab-crunch, is that the gun holsters on his thighs might get in the way of the Katana scabbards on his back, so just keep that in mind. He is as tall as Bucky Cap... which makes him a touch shorter than comic book DP!

 Well, I'm glad I had to cancel last year's DP figure, because this one is great. The golden guns and accents through his body make it very eye-catching, at least to me who happens to love yellow and gold. My interest in movie Marvel figures isn't very high, but I'm glad when the few I buy are this good.

8.0

Action Figure #810: Marvel Legends Wolverine (Wolverine & Deadpool)

 Now with battle damage.

 I stopped watching Super Hero movies a while ago, but these figures came out and... well, after they were on their way, this Wolverine (Deadpool & Wolverine) as well as another(Spoilers!) so I decided to watch the Deadpool flicks, and, well.... they are fun. So, yeah, I bought the figures, and then watched the movies. Sue me!

 I actually pre-ordered the first DP and Wolvie figures last year, but... other figures released too, and I had to pick and choose, so I sacrificed the movie figures, because, let's be honest, I don't really watch the movies. But waiting was a good choice, because now we get the proper movie-accurate figures we should've gotten last year! So, Wolverine... This is the look he sports during the Deadpool massacre, and I think they did a decent job with it. So, for the costume itself... I like how it turned out in the movie, so I like how the figure looks, I mean, I was going to buy the figures without watching the movie because I felt the design was that good!

 That said... While this is the sleeveless look he sports for most of the movie, he comes with no unmasked head. They assume you simply bought the other Wolverines or will buy the others. Another thing is that he comes with battle damage, he has a cut on both arms and his chest and legs are dirty. Still, Hasbro is lazy, so his back is pristine. I do like how both butterfly joints are asymmetrical, sporting different torn patterns. That said, I feel like the proportions are a bit off. His torso is a square, no V shaped torso, which kinda makes him look kinda weak, and his crotch is a bit too long, so the torso ends up looking kinda unimposing. Jackman didn't kill himself in the gym to get done dirty like this! He comes with two clawed fists, a clawless fist and a 'come get some' finger hand, as well as two headsculpts, one sporting a neutral look and the other one with a battle ready scowl.

 Lastly... I think the most disappointing bit about him is that he feels gummy to the touch. I know we should expect this from Hasbro, but still.

 The articulation was unexpectedly good. Elbows and knees are double jointed, so no issues there, his biceps and thighs have swivels on them, as well as his waist. His ab crunch is on a hinge with pretty good range. That said, his neck is the most compromised joint, looking down or to the front is fine, but he can't look upwards very well. That said, what shocked me the most are his butterfly joints, as they are like Akuma's, being able to be moved to the sides as well as up and down! I'd never expect innovation from Hasbro, but here we are! What I liked the most, however, is that he has no stiff joints, so while the figure is a bit gummy, there's no resistance when moving his limbs around, so I don't worry about him breaking. Since Jackman is not a midget, he is as tall as Buckycap, and taller than Comic Book Wolvies.

 While it's a bit of a shame bout his proportions, I do think that, overall, this is a good figure. He is fun to pose and play with, and while he does feel gummy to the touch, it's not the kind of gummy that makes you scare about it breaking. There's a few things that could've been done better, but for the most part, he delivers.

7.5

Action Figure #809: Power Rangers Lightning Collection In Space Pyscho Black Ranger

 And to think last year I decided I'd try to get all these expensive fellows. Well, I did it!

 I did lose the auction for the In Space Psycho Black Ranger however my story didn't end there. Part of the reason I let the auction go was that he was being sold for a set price in another listing. But I guess some other bidder saw it first and got him right after getting outbid. It all seemed lost until a week later a listing for this guy popped up. I didn't even think about it twice!

 Well, on the outset, this might be the most boring of the lot because he is just black all over. I think they put black paint over the parts that are colored on the other Rangers but I'm not 100% if it isn't just my eyes playing tricks on me. For some reason his collar is gold instead of white, which is accurate to the Source Material, but it's still a bit odd. He comes with two gripping hands, a fist, a energy wielding hand and his club-staff weapon thing.

 The seller shipped him with no alternate right hand to the energy thingie one, so I hat to get creative and simply chopped off the green energy. Beyond the green stubs at the end of his fingers, I think this hand wound up looking really cool in poses with his club!

 Same articulation as always. Double jointed elbows and knees, hinged waist, ball jointed ab crunch, butterfly joints and swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots. That said, both shoulders were incredibly stiff, to the point I had to use both hot water AND oil to get them a bit looser. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 LOOK AT THE SEVEN ROSTER TEAM TOGETHER, LIKE, DAMN! This is one of the coolest looking teams once assembled, between the designs and the weapons. That said, beyond the Red, Blue and Silver Rangers I wouldn't say the others are worth the explosive prices they are going for nowadays, particularly the Green one. I'm scoring this one lower than the rest due to the stiff shoulders.

6.0

Action Figure #808: Power Rangers Lightning Collection In Space Pyscho Yellow Ranger

 And now, the other psycho lady!

 Well, some guy had for auction this In Space Yellow Psycho Ranger alongside the pink and the black one, albeit in separate listings. All three auctions ballooned up so I decided to let the Black one go since I had seen more listings pop up for him. But, hey, I got Pink and Yellow together!

 Well, same exact sculpt as the Pink one, but in yellow. And I do love Yellow, particularly when coupled with Black. If you ask me, this one is one of the coolest looking Psycho Rangers thanks to the yellow coloring. She comes with a blaster, two gripping hands, a fist, a energy wielding hand and a yellow effect piece... that sadly wasn't included with the listing.

 Her weapon is a gun... but she has no trigger finger, which sucks because without the finger locked in the trigger her grip  on the gun is pretty loose. So I took a knife to her hand and got myself a trigger finger hand.

 Copy Paste time! Articulation follows the same rules as the other male-to-female bucks. She does have butterfly joints, thigh swivels, boot swivels, biceps swivels, double jointed knees, a hinged waist, a ball jointed ab-crunch... but single jointed elbows. Kind of a shame, but it works. The hinged waist feels a bit... crickety. It does a lot of noise when bending her, but it doesn't seem like it'll break any time soon. Surprisingly, she seems to be a smidge taller than her male counterparts, but still shorter than Bucky Cap. The explanation is that the Psycho male buck can't close his legs as much as the female buck, so it can end up standing a bit shorter.

 Look at all these guys together! I might be missing the Black Ranger(Or am I....?) but with this lady in tow I have a traditional Sentai color schema: Yellow, Blue, Red, Green and Pink with a Sixth Ranger, in this case being Silver, which is super cool!

7.0

Action Figure #807: Power Rangers Lightning Collection In Space Pyscho Pink Ranger

 Pretty in pink? Psycho in Pink!

 Well, seems I continue to gather the Psycho Rangers, and now I finally get the female version of the buck with the In Space Psycho Pink Ranger joining my collection. I did mention I'd see myself forced to get all of them, right?

 Well, it's the Psycho buck but in female form. While it does make more sense for them to use a different buck, in the show itself all the Psycho Rangers, regardless of gender, looked the same. This frame is a bit more petty, but it doesn't look half bad, and neither does the design in pink. She comes with a bow, the same pink energy arrow as the MMPR Pink Ranger, two gripping hands, a fist, and an energy wielding hand. Her hands are actually smaller than the guys' so they are not compatible.

 Articulation follows the same rules as the other male-to-female bucks. She does have butterfly joints, thigh swivels, boot swivels, biceps swivels, double jointed knees, a hinged waist, a ball jointed ab-crunch... but single jointed elbows. Kind of a shame, but it works. The hinged waist feels a bit... crickety. It does a lot of noise when bending her, but it doesn't seem like it'll break any time soon. Surprisingly, she seems to be a smidge taller than her male counterparts, but still shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She's a decent addition to my rangers, and with her in tow that means... I finally have a full five member Psycho Ranger team, even if it's not the classic line up! The figure itself is nothing too crazy, but I like owning her.

7.0