Action Figure #778: Power Rangers Lightning Collection S.P.D. Omega Ranger

 The low budget Ranger is now the thick wallet Ranger.

 In what is an ironic twist of fate... when it came to adapting Dekaranger, they didn't have enough budget for the S.P.D Omega Rangar AKA DekaBreak, so instead of hiring an actor, they turned him into a wisp of light. Now, the Omega Ranger is one of the most expensive rangers to get. Irony sucks.

 So, first things first... I got him loose, so no Unicycle or alternate hands. For what it's worth, I think the Unicycle looks kinda silly, and I wouldn't have equipped him with his Open Hand nor his Energy blasting open hand, and really, I only cared about getting the character. He gets no alternate head because, of course, he had no actor, but maybe a floating light wisp could've been a nice accessory. He also gets no weapon because, well, he had no weapon! So, moving aside from that, I do like this design. His helmet is a bit longer than the other SPD Rangers, which I don't like as much, but no biggie. I do love the metallic blue and shiny gold accents of the white ranger, however, and I think he has one of the coolest color schemes in the series, and he's also asymmetrical like the other SPD Rangers. All that said, I don't think he meshes quite as well with the other rangers as other Sixth Rangers do, because his "6" is in roman numerals, a "VI", and he has no black, so he looks a bit out of place. The one bit of Hasbro's trademark laziness... is that while the sculpted the ball-knuckles of his left hand, they didn'd paint them silver.

 I don't know if this is true for every Omega Ranger, but in mine's case, it's impossible to line up the VI from the chest to the abdomen. I didn't have this issue with any other SPD Ranger, which is a bit of a shame, but not a deal breaker. Also, while the right butterfly had gold paint on it, to stretch the V, the right butterfly joint has no gold paint to stretch the I, which just looks weird.

 Articulation is what you'd expect, so time for another copy paste! 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. The Omega Ranger has one extra thingie, the morpher on his left arm has a black lever that can be moved. It doesn't add much to the figure, but it's a neat little detail. He is almost as tall as Bucky Cap.

 I'm a bit torn. Like most Lightning Collection figures, the sculpt is good and the articulation is good too. I also think that this guy's color scheme is gorgeous... but by the same token, I don't think he fits the rest of the team very well. The one thing I'm sure of is that he is not worth the excessively high price he is going for right now, but then again, not only is he expensive, he is also hard to find for sale at all, so you might just buy him on impulse if you find him. I got him for about 85 usd loose, and while I don't really regret him... I've gotten better Ranger figures for less.

7.5

Action Figure #777: Marvel Legends Hydro Man

 And number 777 is.... Hydro Man? Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame

 I have strayed far from my roots. Originally I only wanted Spider-man Variants. Then Spider-Man villains. Then characters I saw Spidey interact with. Eventually it evolved into the whole Marvel universe, so I forgot about some key players, particularly from the 70's and 80's Spider-man, some of my favorite Spider-man content, characters such as Hydro Man.

 He looks nasty! No, really, the cocky grim they gave him suits him so much. He reuses the same buck as Sandman, which is very fitting considering that one time they fused together. What is completely new on him are his water-arms, which look phenomenal. Molded in a beautiful translucent blue plastic, the sculptors managed to give the illusion of torrential water with the texture they gave his arms and hands, which I think is nothing short of amazing. It's a bit of a shame you can't take the water off, so he will always have to be posed with his watery arms, but I'll take it. Originally he came with two watery platforms for his feet, which would've been welcome since he is very top-heavy, but I got him loose and very cheap, so I can't really complain.

 Alright, so the articulation is were things go a bit downhill for him. The basic body is fine, he has a very limited hinged ab crunch, swivels on his waist and thighs, and double jointed knees. But what you really want to know about are his arms. Well, they are single jointed mid-way through the biceps, and since these are single joints, you can turn them 360 degrees around. While these are joints, the range on them is pathetic, so you might as well forget about bending his arms. At least both of his hands are hinged, so you can turn them around, and bend them forward and backwards, which should allow some leeway in how you pose his arms. It's not perfect, but you can work with it.

 This is the extent of the arm bend. Since you can't probably tell, his right arm is bent, but the left arm is straight. Pretty pathetic, but I guess it's better than nothing. Maybe. he is slightly taller than Bucky Cap.

 Despite his very glaring limitations... I think he is a fine figure. They did a fantastic job with his watery arms, although I'm sure that they could've found a way to give him some way to bend his arms. Still, I appreciate the work on the sculpt, and you can get some good poses using all his other joints. It's not the best, but it's good enough.

7.0

Action Figure #776: Marvel Legends Knull

 Knull is a curse word in Swedish. What the knull!?

 Knull the King in Black is more than just a character. It's the culmination of Marvel's efforts to divorce Venom and the symbiotes from Spider-Man. A few years before the event, Marvel had been trying to make the Symbiotes their own thing, with events such as Venomverse in which multiple heroes got their own symbiote forms, and even Poison forms. They probably realized that Venom is as strong a character and Spider-Man and they could separate them both. Ah, well, it all led to the King in Black event which kinda sucked. The five main event issues were fine, but all the tie ins were a bore, particularly the Captain America and Valkyrie ones. It also doesn't help that the Omnibus places the main five issues first, so you are reading the tie-ins after everything is resolved, which kinda sucks. Ah well.

 The thing about Knull is that he is a relatively new character and has had few appearances outside the King in Black event. That said, between all tie-ins, Knull didn't have the most consistent design out there, some versions even gave him some hair ornaments which I though were kinda neat, but this figure is missing. All that said, I think this figure captures the most recognizable elements of Knull: A chest plate with big pauldrons and a red dragon spider-logo, which doesn't reach all the way to his back but I don't remember seeing his back in the comics so it might be accurate, white hair and red eyes, bandage straps on his arms... and clad in black. So any inconsistence you might find with the sculpt, well, you'll probably find an artist's version of Knull that has it too. I do love how he came out, he is a very badass looking villain, and he comes with two heads, one with a lipless mouth and spiky teeth, and a more neutral looking face. While he only used the former sporadically, I much prefer that more demonic look on him. Worth mentioning, considering Hasbro's current output, the plastic quality is great.

 His weapon, the All-Black which he reclaimed from Gorr, is lovely sculpted with all those veiny things on top of it... but not all of them were painted in red. I don't know if this was a stylistic choice or just cheapness, because in a few panels his All-Black had more red than black. It still looks pretty cool. It is a bit gummy, however.

 He gets double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his biceps, thighs and waist. He has an unimpressive hinged ab crunch, with not a whole lot of range forward, but worked better when bending him backward. The pauldrons rotate alongside the arm, so no loss on articulation there, but, his skirt is a bit harder than you'd expect, so he can't kick very high. He is... he is a surprisingly tall figure. Nothing in the comics made me imagine him this tall, but then again, his height wasn't very consistent either so I guess it's fine.

 Knull is a good figure. He is not a character I particularly like, but I think they did good work with him. The sculpting is good, the plastic quality is good... yeah, he is good.

8.5

Action Figure #775: Marvel Legends Deathbird

 ....so, like a Vulture or a Crow?

 So while I know a bit of Gladiator... I don't know much about Deathbird beyond what X-Men TAS showed me. And, sadly, I never cared too much about the Shi'Ar Empire, despite how much I enjoyed Cosmic Marvel back in the day, so this is a character I'm not much familiar with... which will probably taint my appraisal of her.

 So... I know very little of her, but... Well, she looks like I remember her looking, and that's gotta count for something! There's a lot of neat sculpting  all around her body, so it's not a simple buck recycle. And the metallic purples look great on her. Also, not a gooner, but I think that they did a great job with her cleavage. Wait! Hear me out! Since these are toys meant to be found at toy aisles, characters with cleavages usually get very boring sculpts, like MoonDragon's monobreast. But here, the breasts look natural, and the top is very sultry, fitting for a villainess. I also love the mean look on her face, she looks real nasty. Her cape, full of scales, is also very gorgeous, the metallic purple paint did wonders for it. Sadly, not accessories for her, not even an alternate set of hands. 

 She's, sadly, sculpted on the old female sculpt, so no waist articulation and a pathetic ball jointed ab crunch. She has double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on her biceps and thighs. Decent, but not the best. Her head tends to pop off when I move it, sadly. Her horns make her taller than Bucky Cap.

 Well, as somebody that doesn't care about this character... she's alright. She has no accessories, but I do like all the metallic purples, and she does look very evil, so I will find some use for her on my displays.

7.5

Action Figure #774: Marvel Legends Gladiator (Deathbird 2-Pack)

 And finally, the third Superman ripoff from Marvel.

 I'm not a super fan of the Shi'Ar saga of X-Men, but know what I'm a fan of? Annihilation Wave. And then, the Annihilators, and our boy Gladiator was part of both. Since he wasn't much of a priority, and he was kinda expensive, I kept putting it off on and on and on... But this two pack was my chance to finally get him!

 From what I can gather, this is an updated figure, and I can believe that, because I've never seen these thick shoulders before. Guess he never skips the military press! I think that due to the way the torso is cut, in a curve, and these shoulders being so wide, he is meant to have extra range, but they are no substitutes for butterfly joints. Still, he looks beefy and I like it. He comes with two fists, a wide open hand and a midway open hand that could work as him parrying an attack. I don't really like the wide-open hand, I don't think it would ever fit him. He also comes with a beautiful angry face that is oozing red energy from his eyes. If he was a villain, I'd stick him with that head forever. It's that good.

 Articulation is pretty good. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his waist, thighs, boots and biceps. His ab crunch, on a hinge, is pretty good too. The cape hangs a bit loose, but I didn't feel as if it made it harder to balance him, I think the figure is so hefty that the cape can't get him out of balance. I feel like the shoulders are a bit too tight. The arms aren't super gummy, and the pegs seem to be sturdy, so I wouldn't worry too much. He is taller than Bucky Cap by a head, and a bit taller than the previous strong-guy buck.

 If this is the new big guy buck going forward... I don't mind it. I hope the smooth out the shoulders, that's for sure, but the rest of the figure feels sturdy, not gummy at all, and he looks great next to smaller figures.

8.5

Action Figure #773: Marvel Legends Uncanny Spider-Man (NightCrawler)

 Either you are an X-Man or a Spider-Man, you have to pick one.

 Worse than the Venom Family. Worse than the Batman Family... it's the Spider-Man family, now we've got dozens of 'em running around. But I'll cut Uncanny Spider-Man (Nightcrawler) some slack, because he looks cool and wields a sword.

 This little guy looks really cool, red and black worked for Miles, it worked for Kaine, so it sure as hell will work for Nightcrawler too! He seems to be using some new limbs, because the details on his arms and boots are sculpted in, and I don't recognize the torso at all, because this isn't the Amazing Fantasy Buck. But still, y'know, he looks really nice, he is a cool looking Spider-Man. And he has a tail too! He comes with a purple teleport effect, two open hands, two fists and... a single gripping hand for his single sword. Doesn't Night Crawler usually wield too? Regardless, two gripping hands would've been nice, and I don't think the grip on the sword is the best, because the curl of the fingers is too short, so there's some gapping between the sword and the fingers. Mind you, it's just a nitpick, the sword stays relatively firmly in place, I just think the grip could've been even better. And another thing... This isn't a gummy figure! It seems most of the gummy issues come from the new Vulcan buck, the biceps not fitting properly on the pegs, but I digress.

 Articulation is almost perfect. He has double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on thighs, biceps and waist... and I'm usually OK with that, but due to his weird feet, swivels on the boots would've been amazing to get him into weirder poses. He has butterfly joints and a hinged ab crunch with decent range. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 This figure might just be the standout of the wave. Not only because of the really fun design for a Spider-Man, but because he also has good quality plastic. Nothing feels tight, no peg feels stressed... Why can't every Marvel Legends be like this?

9.0

Action Figure #772: Marvel Legends Hypno-Hustler

 Disco is back, baby!

 Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that the Hypno-Hustler, who's had like 3-4 different appearances, would've gotten a figure. But then again, the Fly had only two wearing the yellow costume, one in which he wrecked Moon Knight, and got a figure himself, so there are still chances for Kangaroo!

 For such an obscure character... they sure had fun! He seems to be sculpted on a retooled Sunfire buck, but he gets a few things on his torso, such as a thick neckpiece, some purple round sleeves on his shoulders and a belt that hangs over his waist. The boots are completely new too! While I don't remember him having these thick boots, must be a modern incarnation I'm not familiar with, the rest of the figure looks exactly like I remembered him. And special mention goes to his head sculpt, he looks menacing and silly at the same time. He comes with two fists, a left hand for cupping the guitar, and a right hand with a pick, for the guitar... and of course, his guitar and a microphone. I've two nitpicks, first, you can put the microphone on either hand, the one with the mic has a better grip but looks odd, and the cupping hand can hold it, but very loosely, and it looks awkward too. A gripping hand instead of a fist would've been much better. The other nitpick is that I think the guitar's strap is too long, so it falls off from him too easily. He also comes with two blast effects, and two smoke effects, for his boots... I don't remember this being an ability of his, so once again, must be some new incarnation of the character. Overall? The went above what one would expect for such an obscure character, and he doesn't feel gummy at all.

 Articulation-wise... It's a Sunfire buck, it's good. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs, boots and waist, and a hinged ab crunch. His afro makes him taller than Bucky Cap.

 And thus, a weirdo character only four of us remember gets a really great action figure. Plastic quality is great, which is weird for current Hasbro, the team had fun sculpting his head and accessories, being molded on a good buck makes him fun to play with... yeah, he's good, go get him!

8.0