Action Figure #903: STORM Arena Ryu

 Boring Karate Guy joins the fray!

 Much like Sagat, I didn't think I'd be buying STORM Arena's Ryu because I really don't care about Ryu and I already owned Jada's. But the more SA figures I purchased the more I liked the line and... well, am I lucky they decided to reissue their older releases!

 Same exact sculpt as Ken, but with a different paint job and a different head. It is a good sculpt though, and the anime style head does make Ryu seem a bit more interesting than he usually is. The only thing worth mentioning is that it seems Ryu tends to be a victim of yellowing after some months. Hasn't happened to mine, probably because it's brand spankin' new, but it's something to keep in mine.

 He comes with two fists, two Hadoken hands, two heads, a base and... a kinda pathetic Hadoken effect. C'mon, even Dan's got a better fireball game than him! Worth noting, is that while Dan keeps his hands just fine, this figure is just a reissue so it has the same exact issue as my Ken did: His left fist comes off very easily.

 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. His joints have all been very smooth, unlike Ken's, so I've had no issue with him so far.

 And the comparison with Jada's Ryu. Yeah, same as per usual, I prefer Jada's engineering and it having more solid plastic but STORM Arena actually went for Alpha Ryu which looks much, much cooler than SF II Ryu. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 He's a fun figure, much like Ken was, although I don't particularly care about Ryu. I'm going to score him taking into account that his joints haven't gotten stuck... at least yet, and that he hasn't started yellowing... at least so far. I might revise the score if that changes.

8.0

Action Figure #902: STORM Arena Sagat

 I'd be angry too if I was bald.

 I wouldn't stop at just one Sagat oh no. I know, I said I'd only buy STORM Arena figures of SF characters Jada hadn't made... but... I kinda fell in love with the Storm Arena line, for all its faults, so here I am.

 This is one of the best sculpted figures I own bar none. This guy's musculature is lovingly sculpted in a way that looks incredible, filled with exaggerated detail that makes him look all so imposing. I also love how they kept the anime proportions of Street Fighter Alpha, making his hands and feet look large and powerful. So, yeah, doesn't matter how I pose him, he always looks amazing.

 He comes with an effect piece, a stand, two heads(Neutral and scowling), two fists and two open hands.

 The effect piece is this sort of flame diaper for his leg that doesn't look very good and loves to come off his leg. It's a shame, because STORM Arena's effects have been pretty good... until now.

 Articulation is incredible, as usual: Double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his thighs, shins and biceps. He has very generous butterfly joints and a ball jointed ab crunch and waist, as well as drop-down hips. The only place it's a bit lacking is the torso articulation, as he can't bend forward or backwards too much. Also, due to the soft-plastic torso, his entire neck loves to pop off from the ball peg. They are minor gripes, really, the guy can hit a ton of different poses.

 And the comparison with JADA's. Jada's is actually a tiny bit taller, but this one looks a thousand times cooler. That said, I prefer Jada's engineering, with hard plastic for his chest and simpler joints. Also, I don't really blame JADA, as their Sagat looks very soft... much like his Street Fighter II sprite does, while STORM Arena went for the much sharper and stylish Alpha design. Regardless, both are excellent figures, that would look incredible on any Street Fighter collection, and it's up to personal preference which one is better. As expected, he is quite a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 So, yeah, fantastic figure. His neck popping off every now and then is the only thing that holds back this figure, as I don't mind the scrappy effect piece considering he doesn't need it to look badass.

9.5

Action Figure #901: Marvel Legends Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)

 Or how I like to call him, Ghost Driver.

 I don't care about most diversity replacement character, but I've always loved Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) probably because he was drawn, at first, by the guy that did Luther Strode. Regardless, at some point it seemed that this figure would never come out because his HasLab initiative didn't get funded, but luckily, here we are and I can finally add my second favorite Ghost Rider in my collection.

 As far as I could tell, this is a completely new sculpt. Even the hands, with the white lines, have the outlines sculpted onto them. It all goes to show that someone in the Marvel Legends team did care about good ol' Robbie. The look of the figure is really good, the skull has all the lines it's known for sculpted on it, although unpainted. I've seen some people putting paint on it, and it does look nice and reminiscent of how he was drawn by the Luther Strode artist, but I'm not sure if it fits the aesthetics of Marvel Legends. So, for all intents and purposes, I like the figure we got. It's a good, new sculpt, and I think they did a good job with him.

 He comes with two gripping hands, a fist, an open hand, a longer version of the plastic chain they love recycling, a hammer and a crowbar. Only thing I would've added would've been Robbie's human face.

 The chain can connect to either crowbar or hammer on one end only, which is kinda limiting, but since it's made of plastic... it barely hold on. So as a feature, it leaves a lot to be desired.

 Articulation is relatively good. He has double jointed elbows and knees, with knee, thigh, bicep and waist swivels, as well as a hinged ab crunch. No butterfly joints here, sadly. The one big issue with him is the tried and true gummy shoulders. I had to oil the shoulders to make them smoother as not to stress the plastic on the shoulders. I'm dead tired of these gummy shoulders that will break one day. It's the reason I'm not buy as many Marvel Legends as I used to. He is a bit shorter than Danny Ketch, which makes him a bit shorter than Johnny and Bucky Cap. 

 Great new sculpt, good articulation, crappy plastic. Basically, the same as most current Marvel Legends.

7.0

Action Figure #900: Mattel DC Premier Nightwing

 Number #900 could only be, yes, another Nightwing!

 Finally, Nightwing had made his triumphant appearance in the line. Way sooner than I would've expected, not that I'm complaining, but then again, Dick has grown in popularity these past few years.

 So, being the kid's line, they sadly went for the more simple large blue-symbol on the chest with no finger straps look. I still like it, and he does have the symbol on his back, which some takes on this costume skip sometimes, so it's not too bad... but, c'mon, Nightwing is always better with the finger stripes! Other than that, yeah, they kept it as simple as possible, without armored gauntlets even, and all the details on him are painted on. The head sculpt is very well done, he has a very handsome, squared jaw, and a very self-assured expression that fits him very nicely.

 He has two accessories, well, technically three: His two Eskrima sticks and, in what is the biggest liberty taken with the character, a blue belt so that he can store his sticks.

 Until now, I've been praising how each figure gets their own sculpt. This is the end of that, because Dick borrows his torso from Flash. Which, I guess, is decent enough, as he shouldn't be as beefy as Bruce...

...and he borrows his legs from John Stewart. It's funny, because the feet do have some sort of armored sculpt on them, which clashes a bit with how smooth the rest of Dick's ensemble is.

 This is how the sticks are stored. They stay on fairly well.

 Articulation is the same as with the other figures in the line: He has single jointed elbows that go slightly beyond 90 degrees, double jointed knees, swivels on his thighs, boots and waist. Pretty decent, but it could be better.

 Here he is compared to the Nightwing figures I banished to my Mother's house. Which will be my futre house, but I digress. Yeah, compared with icons and DCUC, this one has the weakest design, but the articulation is comparable to DCUC's and the sculpt itself is the best one. Sure, it's the simplest one of the bunch, but he has the best proportions. He is slightly taller han Bucky Cap, Batman is only slightly taller, as is Mattel's Multiverse's Robin, but he is taller than this line's Robin.

 In closing... This is not my favorite take on the classic black and blue, but they did a good job with him. It seems Mattel is going to give us Nightwing variants, much like Batman, so hopefully we'll get one with finger stripes down the line.

7.5

Action Figure #899: Mattel DC Premier Bane

 He breaks the Bat, I break the bank.

 Do you know what my collection has been missing for a while? A Bane figure. Considering he breaks the Bat, and I did enjoy the Knightfall storyline, I've been meaning to get Bane for a long, long while. It seems Mattel just decided to make it easy on me.

 This is a remarkably faithful classic Bane representation. It's missing a few details on the gauntlet, the belt is wrong, the eyes a bit small, but other than that, he is spot on. From the asymmetrical gloves, to the single arm-strap... If this is the only Bane you can get you will not be disappointed.

 Articulation is almost the same as with the other figures in the line: He has single jointed elbows that go slightly beyond 90 degrees, double jointed knees, swivels on his boots and waist. He is only missing the thigh swivels. The one issue I have with him is that as you play with his arm, the cable comes out of his head fairly easily. I might have to super glue it. This guy is massive, way taller than Bucky and Bats. He is as tall as Clayface.

 Bane's fantastic, he is everything one could've asked for from this line. Great size, great sculpt that is quite faithful to the comic, decent articulation... Not having ankle articulation or an ab crunch is still preventing the line from being truly exceptional, but as it stands, it's still a great option for collectors.

8.0

Action Figure #898: Mattel DC Premier Batman (Nightwing 3 pack)

 Now we are doing different shades.

 And so... here comes another Batman figure, because there can't ever be enough. This one's probably the worst one so far because he isn't a palette swap but just a shade swap.

 So, yeah, it's just a different shade of grey and blue. It's a metallic grey with a deeper blue. The old one was more comic book accurate, but I'm keeping this one and retiring the other one because I prefer this color scheme. That said, I swapped the belts because this one looked like a very sickly greenish yellow I just didn't like.

 Same great sculpt, so nothing else to add here. The accessories are kinda lame, it's just two giant gauntlets. They are nigh identical to John Stewart's.

 Articulation is the same as with the other three figures I got: He has single jointed elbows that go slightly beyond 90 degrees, double jointed knees, swivels on his thighs, boots and waist. For the price, it's not even half bad, it's comparable to their old DCUC line, considering how pathetic that diaphragm hinge was. He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap

 So... yeah, it's a good figure, but this is the laziest Mattel has gotten. At least their other Batman releases have proper different colors, this one simply changed the shades. There was no reason to even get the original release.

7.0

Action Figure #897: Longbox Heroes Prestige The Tick

 SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

 Confession time: I never really liked The Tick back when I was younger, even though my sister loved it. But, him being part of my childhood, I sorta had to get him the moment he was announced, plus, I love having comic book heroes outside Marvel and DC. Hilariously, the wait for the figure turned into a deep-dive into the world of the Tick, as I've read every single issue ever made... which aren't many to be honest. And while I don't think the comics ever reached the height of the first 13 issue incomplete run, other writers had the occassional gem here and there... like The Tick being the Herald of a Galactus expy, riding a floating flip flop!

 The sculpt is top notch, they made him very top-heavy, as he is always portrayed, and they kept his giant, rectangular jaw intact. The guy has very little paint, in fact, outside of his heads, he is pure blue plastic, so some kind of wash, to highlight the muscles, would've been nice. Aside from that... yeah, the sculpt is perfect, I wouldn't change anything about it.

 He comes with two fists, two gripping hands, his evil-finder spectacles, the tie he used to harass the Superman expy and a base. Maybe an alternate set of open hands, or even a spoon, the one that inspired his catch-phrase, would've been welcome, but what is here suffices.

 The figure has import-styled joints, of which I'm not much of a fan, but they are smooth... for the most part. He has double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his biceps and thighs. Due to the import-styled joints that have more pieces than are really necessary, his bicep swivels are very tight, and I dare not apply oil to them, in case it might loosen the connection between the shoulder and elbow. Yeah, not a fan of import-styled joints. He has a ball jointed ab-crunch and waist, but they don't have much range, as well as toe-joints and 360 butterfly joints. I had both of his arms pop out of the torso, one of the arms twice, but they pop back in very easily.

 This is as much as he can bend forward.

 And as far as he can bend backwards. As stated before, it's kind of pathetic. At least the torso shifts to the sides much better. He is quite a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 He is definitely not perfect, between the tight bicep swivels and the arms that shouldn't pop out at all... but they got the look of The Tick to a tee, and the articulation is pretty good. I've high hopes for the rest of the line.

8.0