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

Action Figure #806: Jazwares Pokemon Select Typhlosion

 And now comes the other 800th candidate.

 Imagine my surprise learning not only that there were 6 inch articulated Pokemon figures but that they had also made Typhlosion which happens to be my favorite Pokemon ever. Ever. I had to get in on this, and so here we are!

 As far as the sculpt goes... just look at it, the figure is an absolutely gorgeous representation of how he looks in the games. The paint and plastic are very vibrant, and what few paint apps it has are spot on, unlike my other Jazwares Pokemon figure. It comes with a fairly basic, but stable, base to hold the figure in case you want to put him in weird poses.

 The flame effect connects to the neck via 4 pegs. It holds in place really well, and if you decide to pose him without the flames he's got the red funnels painted on for that modern, flameless look I don't like as much.

 Articulation is not quite as good as you'd expect. Typhlosion's main body is separated into 5 rings, and they seem to be ball jointed into each other, but you won't get any crazy curved crunch from him, although there is a notable difference from him standing as straight as he can and when fully crunched inward. His hips and shoulders are not ball jointed, while they can move a bit up, a bit down and a bit to the sides you don't get as much range as you'd like. He has a decent elbow range, and can rotate both hands and feet. He has the cutest tiny toe-hinges too! It's serviceable. He's almost as tall as Bucky Cap, maybe AS tall if I tried getting his back fully straightened, and as a 6 inch figure, he is obviously taller than my 4 inch Tyranitar.

 Typhlosion is a good figure that is a bit let down by its limited articulation. Mind you, the sculpt is phenomenal, and it's not like the articulation is bad, because it isn't, it's simply not as good as it could've been and a bit more range on his limbs could've gone a long way.

8.0

Action Figure #805: Star Wars The Black Series Kyle Katarn

 About damn time!

 If you were playing PC Star Wars games back in the late 90's and early 00's then you should be familiar with Kyle Katarn because he was the star of some of the most beloved Star Wars games of his era. He was THE Star Wars hero, so it's a bit surprising that it took so long to get a figure!

 Well, the thing about Kyle is that he has had many different designs, for example, in the first Dark Forces game he wore a jacket and not beard. Regardless, this is probably the most well known version of Kyle, although sometimes he gets a brown strap on his right arm. Regardless, if you like Kyle, you'll be familiar with this version of him. And, well, I think they sculpted him just right, he looks really badass. While Kyle has had different lightsabers, he comes with the one he built himself, as well as a slashing alternate blade and a blaster pistol.

 I quite like his left hand. It's not quite a trigger finger, but you can use it as a force using hand, a pointing finger, a secondary grip hand or a gun holding hand too. Good sculpt, I hope we see this hand again.

 The articulation matches the standards of the modern Black Series' figures. His single jointed elbows and knees have very deep cuts, he has butterfly joints complimented by the soft-plastic overlay on his chest, and a ball jointed waist. He also has useless thigh swivels. His hands are set on the new ball jointed pegs. You can definitely hit some cool poses with this guy. He is half-a-head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 I'm happy to say that Hasbro knocked it out of the park with Kyle. On the outset, he is a fairly simple figure, BUT, he is exactly what he needed to be.

9.0

Action Figure #804: Star Wars The Black Series Seventh Sister Inquisitor

 The runt of the litter.

 Well, the quest to own all Inquisitors continues with the Seventh Sister Inquisitor feature in this latest wave.

 And well, she might be the worst one of the bunch. So, as far as the sculpt goes, she is a nice looking figure. There's a nice amount of new sculpting just for her, and they gave her a really good face design that looks evil and confident that I think suits her really nicely. The only thing I'll hold against her, sculpt-wise, is that her skirt is very restrictive, so it should've been soft goods. She comes with he light saber, two alternate slashing blades, her helmet, which is divided into two pieces, and a little droid. The helmet doesn't have the snuggest fit ever, but it's good enough, much better than Moff Gideon's at least. Also, the grip on her blade isn't the best, and not because of the annoying hilt pegs, but because the hand is a bit more rubbery than it should.

 Articulation would be fine, single jointed elbows and knees with deep cuts, and a ball jointed waist... She has butterfly joints, but you won't get much range out of them. The real big issue is the skirt. I think I've stretched it a bit, but it still limits the movement with her legs. She has the new ball wrist pegs. She is quite shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She's definitely the weakest figure from this wave. She's not a totally awful figure, but the skirt is a real annoyance when it comes to putting her in cool poses. 

5.0

Action Figure #803: Star Wars The Black Series Jedi Master Dooku

 See? He wasn't always that bad!

 I can't say Jedi Master Dooku was high on my wishlist, but we do need more Jedi with curved sabers, and he does have a nice, unique color scheme... 

 Well, Light Side Dooku is an interesting mix of old and new. Legs and arms are clearly reused from the old Dooku, but the chest, skirt and heads are completely new. I do love his design, because he has this purpled and green color scheme no other Jedi has that makes him pop next to other Jedi. I do love the layered look his robes have, Black Series' has found its footing, and it's glorious. That said, the head-sculpts don't really look like Christopher Lee, but rather... Sacha Cohen? yeah.... Well, he comes with his saber, an alternate swiping blade and a bearded alternate head.

 What is impossible to ignore is how bland the hilt looks in comparison to Tyranus' saber. It's a flat silver plastic, with no accents whatsoever. This extends to the chain that holds his cape, Tyranus' is rivetted, this one is a simple line of plastic.

 Articulation-wise, he is up to par with the modern releases. Single jointed elbows and knees with very deep cuts for very good bends. The skirt is made of soft plastic that bends very easily, so you can lift his legs no problem. He has butterfly joints and a ball jointed waist. He has useless swivels on his thighs... useless, because single-jointed knees means you don't need to turn the thighs! It might just be my copy, but the thigh sculpt on his right leg doesn't seem to match the thigh sculpt. Sadly, he uses the old hinged wrists instead of the new ball pegs. He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 Well, he is not a huge improvement over the other Dooku figure, but I do like how unique he looks in comparison to other Jedi figures. He is a decent addition to any collection, just not a mandatory one.

8.0