Action Figure #910: Star Wars The Black Series Lord Starkiller

 The ultimate Gary Stu is back.

 I don't know how many people were clamoring for a Lord Starkiller but I'm not gonna complain about getting more EU figures, so just keep'em comin' and I'll keep on buyin' them!

 In a surprising twist, Lord Starkiller has what looks to be an entirely new sculpt. This is surprising because, as I have written on other EU figures, Hasbro tends to cheap out on these. But not here. All new sculpt. He is not super detailed, but there's fun stuff sculpted on his back, as well as all the cables coming out of right gauntlet. But the cherry on top, his coattails are made of soft goods, and all three parts are wired, which is incredible. When it comes to soft goods, 90% of the time I don't care if they are wired or not, but in this case... it allows for such fun posing! My only issue is that the soft-plastic belt kinda gets warped on some of the more wild poses.

 Lord Starkiller is kinda what I expected out of some of the Cal Kestis Figures, because he comes with SIX different light saber hilts, all of them different, but more importantly, all of them with their own blade. They are all red, which is fair enough for a Sith. Lately, Black Series' Siths have come out with almost orange-looking blades, so I like Starkiller's red sabers... even if they could've been a bit darker. He also comes with two pairs of hands: an Open hand set, and a gripping hand set.

 Articulation wise, same old, same old. Single jointed elbows and knees with deep cuts, a ball jointed waist with very little range and the new ball-peg wrists. If he has butterfly-joints they are so negligible they might as well not even be there because they are so far up inside the torso that any additional range is minimal. He is as tall as Starkiller and a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Is it worth the premium price point? I don't know. I'm quite satisfied with the figure, I love the wired soft goods pieces, I think the accessories are perfect for him and I sure do appreciate the all new sculpt... but he's never been a character I desperately needed in my collection, and I don't think his design is anything to write home about.

8.5

Action Figure #909: Star Wars The Black Series Rook Kast

 Hello Rook Kast... and good bye, we barely knew ye.

 I haven't watched Shadow Lord yet, but yes, I heard about the fate that befalls Rook Kast in the show. Ah well! I liked her since I saw her in Clone Wars, so the moment she was announced I pre-ordered her. She was definitely a face I wanted in my collection.

 The figure is pretty much excellent. Her pseudo mandalorian armor is full of details, and I love the color choices they went with. The headsculpt is kinda beautiful, although she might look a bit nicer than she really is. Unlike most Mandalorians, her Jetpack is glued onto her back... and I'm OK with it, considering some of these love to fall out.

 She comes with two pistols and an alternate helmeted headsculpt... The pistols are fine, but I find it curious that due to the shape of her guns she doesn't really need trigger fingers, but she gets one on each hand, whereas most Black Series' figures only get a right hand trigger finger! Also, sadly, the helmet is an alternate head. I saw people celebrating this choice, but I'd rather it be a helmet I can remove at will. 

 Her guns have pegs that can be slotted on her armored skirt piece, but it doesn't hold very well.

 Articulation is exactly like other Black Series figures. Single jointed elbows and knees with deep cuts, butterfly joints, and a ball jointed waist. She uses the new ball-peg wrists. The soft-plastic skit DOES limit he legs, but it's not too bad. She's about a head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Rook is a fine little figure. I really love how she looks. There's not much I would've changed besides, y'know, allowing her to put her helmet on top of her head.

7.5

Action Figure #908: Mattel DC Premier Superman

 My first ever classic Superman, red undied 'n' everything!

 Mattel's collector's line was just announced and it's incredible and six inches tall to boot, so this may just be my last DC Premier figure... and what better way to, potentially, end on that the big blue Superman himself!

 Who am I kidding, if DC Premier gets a figure before their new collector's line I will grab it. Them's the breaks.

 Soo, sculpt wise, he seems to use a unique sculpt, I thought he was using Flash's chest again, but nope, it's a different torso. That aside, he looks perfect, this is Superman through and through. That said, since the cape is made of soft-goods and this is the kid's line... he is missing the yellow shield on the cape, but aside from that, this is a very generic, all-encompasing classic Superman figure. He even gets his squared jaw and little hair curl over his forehead.

 As for accessories, for some reason, the Man of Steel gets a chest-armor. Sure. Also a two pieces of an I-Beam iron slab, as well as a chain that can be slotted on its ends. I had a hard time getting the bent part of the I-Beam onto Superman's hand. The iron slab is a good accessory, I guess.

 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

 And not, comparison with my closest thing to a classic Superman: Rebirth Superman. Yeah, this ne looks better. Mind you, Multiverse's Superman was fine for its time, but even though this one has more limited articulation, I think the brighter colors and more muscular proportions make it a better Superman.

 I'm happy with him. Trunks-out Superman isn't my favorite look for the guy, but let's be real, I needed a classic Superman in my collection, and this guy fits the bill.... at least until the new Mattel release comes out!

8.0

Action Figure #907: Loose Collector Youngblood Shaft

 Build-a-figure? Ensamble-a-figure?

 Loose Collector has been releasing new figures inspired on Rob Liefeld's work, particularly Youngblood, and, sadly... I dislike most of them. But this guy, Shaft looked kinda cool, so I locked in my pre-order. Much like I did with the Tick, while I awaited this guy I decided to finally read Youngblood. And it sucks. It's one of the worst comic books I've ever read, it's everything wrong with the 90's in one book, I'm on issue 8 and I've seen like 5 different takes on Wolverine, and this guy, Shaft, has worn like 4 different costumes. Look, I'm not a Liefeld hater, I appreciate how his art-style, controversial as it is, basically DEFINED the 90's. But Youngblood is BAD. 

 Funnily enough, much like they did with Captain Canuck, the box has like three different pieces of artwork depicting Shaft, and in none of them he's wearing the costume the action figure depicts. What's more, I'm up to issue 8 or 9, and Shaft hasn't worn the costume the figure is wearing either. He's come close, but he hasn't worn that belt or that shoulder holster yet, so... yeah.

 The first thing you'll notice upon opening the figure... is that you have to assemble some of the pieces yourself. This is just lame. This figure is about 80 bucks, all these pieces should've come on the guy already.

 And putting the wristbands on is kinda hard, I dented the plastic with my nails trying to make room for the peg to hold the hand. C'mon, this should've come pre-assembled.

 And then we get to the figure itself... and well, this is the ONE design from Youngblood I liked, and I think he looks great in plastic. The reds and whites look very clean, at least at first, I love the flesh tone they picked for him, and the little golden highlights add some pizzaz to the overall design. He has Liefeld's trademark pouches on his legs, as well as bullet straps on his shoulders and right bicep, for some reason. The bow is a plain silver piece of plastic without much detail, but that's EXACTLY how Liefeld drew it. So... yeah, I love how he came out, except for the face. They gave him a very aquiline nose, and that's not even how Liefeld draws him, so that's 100% Loose Collector's design choice, and it does make him kinda ugly. For good, or bad, they didn't give him the classic tiny-eyes scowl Liefeld loved drawing.

 He comes with a backpack, that can store the bow on its side, two fists, two fists with holes to put arrows on, two gripping hands and two different sets of open hands as well as an alternate, angry, head sculpt. My only complaint is that the back pack, the bow and the thin arrows are all made of hard plastic, which means that if they bend: They break. This is the one thing they should copy from Hasbro's gummy plastic!

 Articulation is pretty good. Double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his biceps, thighs and shins. He seems to have 360 butterfly joints on his shoulders, for added range, and both his waist and ab crunch are on ball joints. The range is pretty good on both. Much like Captain Canuck, he uses the import-styled elbows and knees, but his arm doesn't love to pop off.

 All that said... the paint apps don't seem to be the best ever. Between the loose belt and the fact the abdomen piece goes into the pelvis... the paint on his abs is scuffing.

 What's more, even the white paint below the brown holster, which for all intents and purposes isn't shifting around like the belt is... is also scuffing. Unavoidable? Maybe. Or maybe it needed another coat of white paint. He is slightly taller than Bucky Cap.

 Overall? I don't love him... but I don't hate him. In all honesty, I love most of the figure, I just wish the figure came out already assembled, and they found a way to avoid all the paint scuffing. That said, is it worth the 80 bucks? Maybe. I don't regret paying that much for the figure, and at least the plastic feels much better than anything that has come out of Hasbro.

8.0

Action Figure #906: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Zeo Red Ranger

 Go Go Tommy Rangers!

 Getting the Zeo Red Ranger means that now I own every Tommy Ranger! For some reason, he was pretty darn cheap, but hey, I'm not gonna look at a gift horse in the mouth!

 Well, same buck as Green and Blue, but in Red. It's a fun, neat character design, although I don't think this costumes looks as good as Blue and Green do, it's still relatively good looking, plus, look how good all of them look together! Now if I could get a good deal on Pink...

 He comes with two gripping hands, two fists, an effect for his blaster, the blaster itself, two swords and an unhelmeted head. Did you see me mentioning two swords? Unlike Blue, he does include his personal weapon.

 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. All of his joints were silky smooth. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 He's a neat little figure. Red and gold is always a good combo, and his star-shaped visor was certainly a choice. I wish I had more to say, but at the end of the day, I've covered this buck twice already!

8.0

Action Figure #905: Star Wars The Black Series Jedi Temple Guards

 I just love having to buy repeats!

 Just what I wanted, more Jedi Temple Guards in my collection. I mean... Boy, do I have a lot to say about this pack.

 So, I won't be speaking about the Clone Wars Temple Guard because I already covered him when he released by himself. But since Hasbro is often greedy, the only way to get the Rebels Temple Guard is by double dipping. Oh, but it's not that simple! This pack can only be bought at the Disney store, and it costs 60 usd, meaning 30 per figure, BEFORE shipping, and unless you add more stuff into your order you are not getting free shipping, so it's, technically, over 60 usd for a character you probably already owned and the new one. That's just nasty. And this is technically an army building pack, so it has no reason being that expensive.

 While I don't think this design is as good as the other one, I still like how the guy looks, I like how his only accessory, his lightsaber pike, looks too. Reuse between both figures is minimal, consisting of only the arms, and maybe, the upper legs. Even the heads are different, because this one is bigger because it doesn't come with a hood.

 The lightsaber pike can be collapsed, that said, the joint connecting both ends is scarily tiny.

 On the other hand, they cheaped out on the paint for the hilt, so the silver is already chipping. Lame, lame, very lame.

 Articulation is pretty good. A ball jointed waist, butterfly joints, single jointed elbows and knees with good range, and the new ball-peg wrists for good measure. The one true handicap is his waist armor that somewhat limits how much he can  lift his legs to the side. The shoulder pads rotate along the arm, so no issues there. He is a smidge shorter than Buck Cap.

 If I could buy the figure by himself I'd be much more lenient with the score, but c'mon, the previous Jedi Temple Guard isn't even a year old and they already are reusing him on a two pack. And not happy with it, the two pack is more expensive than buy two figures by themselves, and that's BEFORE the shipping you'll have to, most likely, pay for. And, look, maybe if it was the most spectacular figure even I wouldn't mind, but it's just a nameless Jedi Temple Guard.

5.5

Action Figure #904: Marvel Legends The Punisher (Gamerverse)

 Seems Hasbro just can't stop coming out with Punisher figs.

 After Marvel took a stand against The Punisher it felt like we'd stop getting merch with... and yet, here we are, yet another new Punisher figure, in fact, it sorta feels like Hasbro kinda loves the character.

 So, the sculpt is absolutely amazing. When people started begging for Rivals figures I didn't really want Hasbro to make them, because I KNEW that they'd just reuse sculpts but give them the Marvel Rivals costumes, while these figures needed new sculpts to account for the animesque proportions. Well, I get to eat crow because Hasbro just went ahead and made all new sculpts just for these figures. And this Punisher looks exceptional, from his very thick proportions, to all the details his costume is made out of... This Punisher is a beauty.

 He comes with two guns, two trigger finger hands, four firing effects, which don't stay on the smaller weapon very well, two heads, a fist and an open gripping hand. 

 The alternate head is lovely, they even gave him very animesque fangs on his teeth! Love the detail that went into this guy.

 The gripping hand is sorta bleh, because he really can't use it very well due to his proportions.

 This big boi has double jointed knees, serviceable single jointed elbows, swivels on biceps, thighs, boots, drop down hips and a ball jointed ab crunch, hidden beneath the vest, with not a lot of range. The only thing I would've changed: Giving him butterfly joints. His limbs and muscles are so stubby and thick that the would've done wonders for him. They'd be just fine behind his vest. While he is a chonkster, he isn't much taller than Bucky Cap.

 While not absolutely perfect, this is as good as I would've wanted for Marvel Rivals figures. Like I said, a few little changes here and there would take the figure to the next level, but I'm mighty impressed by what Hasbro did with him. Hopefully I can ship the next Marvel Rivals figures soon, and yes, spoilers!

9.0