Action Figure #440: Masters of the Universe Classics He-Ro

  Not a He-man, but a He-ro! Wait, a ro?!

 I've been meaning to get into the Master of the Universe Classics for a while now, and among all the characters that piqued my interest, He-Ro was the one I wanted the most. 

 This guy is one massive, thick boy. He feels very hefty and solid, which I really liked. He's bulkier than most of my other figures, which I'm OK with. As for the figure itself, I love the futuristic-meets-medieval look of the figure, heck, I specifically picked him to start this line with because I loved how his golden armor looked. And yeah, I'm not disappointed in the slightest.

 Articulation is very similar to DC Universe Classics, the only difference being the legs that rely on balljoints. Overall, you get a pretty decent, bulky action figure with enough possability. He is quite a bit taller than the Bucky Cap mold.

 His ab crunch is on a hinge, but between his armor and the solid-rubber cape, you'll barely get any range out of it.

 The hard-rubber loin-cloth also gets in the way of his kicking, so him not skipping leg day does nothing for him!

 Overall I love the guy. I love how he looks, I love how massive he is, and the articulation is as good as it needs to be. I'll be investing more into this line for sure.

9.0

Action Figure #439: DC Super Heroes Azrael

  Time for more glorious 90's edge.

 The 90's, for Comic Books, was an edgy, edgy time. Look, New 52 was edgy, but it had nothing on 90's comic books. And for Batman, nothing was edgier than Azrael. I remember visiting kiosks or whatever store carried comic books, and walking around this Batman and Azrael issues that featured the characters, and he looks so cool in his red an gold alongside his flaming blades... the guy was badass. And finally, I get to own him.

 In what's sort of a unique situation for a DCUC figure, Azrael comes in a weird pre-posed position that has his legs and torso slanted a bit to the right. His head is also perpetually hunched downward. This makes him look a bit odd when standing straight. Leaving that aside, I think the sculpt on this figure is amazing, he has this amazingly detailed gauntlets, as well as his robes and armor... he looks as badass as I had hoped. On the other hand, I always imagined his colors to be a bit brighter than this, with richer reds and golds. The figure looks great, it does, but I think the color scheme should've been more colorful. That aside, he also comes with his flaming wrist blades, and they look amazing, the color the picked for the fire looks amazing, and thanks to the duller reds and yellows on the figure... they stand out a lot.

 Articulation is par for the course with DCUC figures, but instead of having a hinge for the ab crunch, he has a ball-jointed ab-crunch. Doesn't give him as much range, but it's good enough. The gauntlets have swivels, so you can have fun with his wrist-blades. Due to the preposed neck, he is a bit shorter than the Bucky Cap mold, although the pointy end of his hood makes him look as tall.

 The figure could've been a bit better with a neutral stance, but you can get him into all manners of badass poses. The color scheme could've been richer too, but I'm content with the end result... so, while a few tweaks here and there could've made him a top-notch figure, what's here is still pretty good.

8.0

Action Figure #438: DC Collectibles New 52 Wonder Girl

  I guess you can't have enough Cassies...

 I promise, this is the last Wonder Girl that I'm gonna buy, well, as long as we are speaking about Cassie, since I do need a Donna Troy in my collection. Regardless, I always felt that as edgy as it was, I kinda liked Cass' New 52's design.

 Another figure that prioritizes sculpt over articulation... I think she looks fantastic. The golden armor pieces could've been done a bit more metallic-y, but I love the sparkly look they gave her leotard. It looks amazing on her. This version of Cass wore the Lasso on her waist, but as far as the figure goes... it's stuck there as a belt and nothing else, even though she comes with an open hand.

 And the articulations is... the articulation. Arms and legs are on balljoints, but no waist or ab articulation whatsoever. The knees and elbows are on single-jointed. She has swivels on her biceps, gauntlets and boots. Overall, it's slightly more articulation than your average DC Collectibles figures, but it's still pretty lackluster. She's a bit taller than Bucky-Cap.

 This is as far forward as the legs can go, and as much as her knees can bend.

 I feel that among the DC Collectibles and DC Direct figures that I own this one has one of the better sculpt-to-articulation quality ratio. No awkward pre-pose, and an acceptable amount of articulation points to have her doing some fun stuff.

6.0

Action Figure #437: DC Universe Classics Deadshot

 Bullseye needed a buddy...

 Deadshot has become such a core part of Suicide Squad that I think most people don't remember that he is actually a Batman villain. So, yeah, here he is in his most colorful self, Deadshot!

 Just look at this silly goof, clad in grey, yellow, red and silver, there's something to be said about extravagant, and it's not just the colors, just look at how much unique sculpting went into this guy, from the boots, the biceps, the gun-arms, the medallion on his chest... work went into this guy, and it paid off, because he looks so unique among the other DCUC figures. I just love looking at this guy.

 Same articulation as always. the belt-straps on his side do bother a bit when moving his legs around, but you can twist it a bit to give him more range.

 I think that he is an absolute banger of a figure. He is easy to pose, and his outfit is so distinctive that your eyes are drawn towards him wherever you place him. Fantastic. I'm not much of a fan of the guy, but I love this figure.

9.0

Action Figure #436: DC Universe Classics Dr. Fate

  You could say it was a fateful finding.

 Holy expensive figures, Batman! Dr. Fate was not a cheap purchase, but he was one that I've been meaning to add to my collection for a while. Not a character I'm very knowledgeable about, but one that I think looks badass, between the gold/yellow and blue color scheme and the badass helmet... I needed him.

 Well, this is not the most intricate hero design, that's for sure, but I like the look. He has very unique cape, a belt buckle-thingie ornament that's raised over his waist, his medallion and, of course, his trademark helmet. He comes with this cool energy ankh effect piece that can be placed over his open hand fingers. I really love the look of this figure. There was a variant with a golden helmet and medallion, but I'm cool with this fully yellow figure.

 There's nothing unique about his articulation, same old, same old. He is as tall as the Bucky Cap figure.

 Yeah, yeah, he is a very basic design... but I love him. He came out great, and the unique sculpting on his helmet and cape do help him stand out ever so slightly from the other DCUC figs.

8.0

Action Figure #435: DC Direct Zod

  All kneel before Zod!

 So, while I'm not much of a fan of Superman I knew that I needed a General Zod figure. I don't know much about Zod but I do know that he hasn't had a very consistent design, despite how notorious he is, so any figure would do. Lo and behold, the Zod from Superman: Last Son of Krypton had a figure released! Needless to say, I got on the case.

 As a DC Direct figure, he doesn't have much in the way of articulation but they prioritized the sculpt. And despite the weird pre-posed legs, he is a very clean sculpt, with a nice amount of detail in the way of creased clothes. That said, this is a very simple design, so there's not much to look at here.

 Single jointed elbows and knees, with very little range, ball-jointed elbows, but no swivels, and legs that can only go forward and backwards are all you get here. It's enough, I suppose, but a waist swivel could've gone a long way. He is slightly taller than the Bucky-cap mold.

 These are the pre-posed legs. You can get him to stand on his own, but it does look a bit weird.

 He is decent. I've not love for Zod, but I needed a Zod figure, and... if any one figure would do, as long as it was on the six inch scale, I guess I'm satisfied with him. I guess.

5.0

Action Figure #434: Star Wars Series Black Archive Darth Vader

  Your instincts serve you well...

 I'll admit, I've never quite liked Darth Vader's design. The bulky helmet looks so silly, and as years went by, the sillier his costume looked. But, if I'm to have Star Wars figures, a Darth Vader is a must have in my collection, plus, I used to own his figure way back when.

 Well, as far as the sculpt goes, he looks exactly like I remembered him. His black parts are very glossy, which I feel look quite accurate, and the use of soft-goods for his robes and cape look great. There's a nice amount of detail on his silly and outdated chest-panel piece, and his outfit is filled with textures. The one thing, I think his hand could have a better grip on his blade.

 While this is a new rerelease, it's a re-release of an older figure, so, in some ways, he is a bit outdated, even by Black Series' standards. This Vader has no butterfly joints on his arms, no extra hands and the unmask feature is nowhere to be seen... which I consider it a plus, as I don't want his helmet coming off and I would never use his unmasked head anyways. He has a waist swivel and leg swivels, double jointed knees and single jointed elbows. His legs are a bit gummy, but it's not too bad. Surprisingly, for a Series Black figure, he is as tall as the Bucky Cap mold.

 Vader's eyes are sometimes depicted with a dull red shine to them... I don't think it came across too well with this figure, as his eyes end up looking a bit brown or maroon rather than red. It's not too distracting, and you have to pay attention to his eyes to notice it, but, yeah...

 I needed a Vader figure in my collection, and I'm quite content with it. I did some research on Vader figures and there's not one perfect figure, I feel. Sure, I would've liked butterfly joints, but, I certainly didn't want the unmasking feature... So I feel that any one figure could've filled this spot in my collection. That said, I like this figure, and maybe... maybe he doesn't look as silly as I've been thinking all this time.

8.0

Action Figure #433: DC Direct Wonder Girl(Cass)

  This is wondrous, another Wonder Girl!

 Well, I wasn't quite so happy with my Wonder Girl figure. While DCUC figures are certainly dated, Cassandra's was extra clunky. From the weird proportions to... well, everything about it, so  I thought... why not get another take on the same character?

 Well, as per usual, DC Direct leaves aside articulation in order to prioritize the sculpt, and... look at the comparison! She's much smaller, as she should, her legs don't look all wonky, her expression doesn't look devoid of emotions, the symbol on her chest looks much better and the colors are more vibrant. Easily a much better figure all around.

 That said... yeah, the articulation kinda sucks. She can turn her hands, but no swivels anywhere, and her legs can only move forward and backward. She has single jointed elbows and knees, but there's not much you can get out of them, and her arms can move sideways and upwards. I mean... it's decent, but nothing special. BUT, to be fair, DCUC's figure was only slightly more articulated than this!

 Her lasso is kinda pathetic. It consists of a few strands of golden thread knit together. It will probably come undone any time now.

 That's as far as the arms can move sideways It's not too bad.

 Y'know, I dig this take on the character. Much more vibrant, in both color and sculpt, so I'll take the loss on articulation and get a better looking fig out of it.

6.0

Action Figure #432: S. H. Figuarts Eustass Kid

  After the timeskip he should be Eustass Adult.

 Figuarts' One Piece line has received a ton of criticism, and seeing video reviews of Luffy, Sanji and Zoro... yeesh! But I just couldn't resist getting my hands on Eustass Kid, I just love the guy! He can't possibly be as terrible as Jin... could he?

 He is not. For starters, you get four faceplates, four right hands, a stand and an obnoxiously heavy cape. No, really, the cape is heavier than the figure, and the figure is already larger than your average Figuarts! So good luck trying to stand him with it, might as well be an useless accessory. It's not all bad news, the figure looks incredibly, Tamashii captured his likeness perfectly, and a lot of work went into him. The design of his pants is sculpted onto the figure as are all his scars and musculature. And, to be fair, I love how the cape was sculpted, it's just that it's too heavy for the figure itself.

 While Jin was a bust, Jesus, this guy is amazing. He has swivels on his arms and legs, has inverted butterfly-joints(They go INTO his neck from the bottom to the top), has an ab crunch AND a waist swivel... and I haven't even gotten to the best part...

 His mechanical arm has INDIVIDUAL fingers that can BEND. The amount of fun stuff you can do with him is almost endless, I've had as much fun posing him as I did with Makima.

 My one caveat is that he has those ugly, slim Revoltech-like shoulder joints. It's not the nicest looking joint... but it's not too bad. He is taller than the Bucky Cap mold.

 Honestly, this one goes right next to my favorite Figuarts, heck, action figures in general. Sure, the cape is pretty much useless, but, BUT, it's not like you need the cap for him to look good, now is it?

10

Action Figure #431: S. H. Figuarts Jin Kazama

  Game over.

 Well, I was super hyped about Figuarts' Jin Kazama, I mean, I love Tekken, and Jin looks amazing, and as decent as Game Dimensions' take on him was... Figuarts is Figuarts, but....

 Well, the guy looks great. He comes with a decent assortment of alternate hands and heads, as well as a lackluster cardboard stand to use as a backdrop. The figure has a LOT of detail everywhere and the paint job is spot on. There are a few questionable engineering choices, such as having the leg straps connect via a ball-peg... which adds nothing to make it articulated and it disconnects all the time. There's also a belt buckle on his waist that comes off every now and then when twisting his torso, and there's no reason for it to be a separate piece or not to be glued onto him by default.

 But where Jin Kazama fails is in his articulation. There are no bicep swivels, although his gauntlets can rotate, regardless, this gives him a fairly lackluster range on his arm. And even though it looks like he has butterfly joints, they aren't. It looks like he has an ab crunch, but he doesn't, his waist is on a hinge that offers decent range, however. No leg swivels or boot swivels, which also affects the displayability on his legs. But the biggest issue? Look at the fragile little pegs on his arms Oh, and the ball peg on his ab-crunch is super tight, I can't twist him without him making the most awful sounds.

 LOOK AT THEM.

 Well, as careful as I was with him, his left arm broke. I played with him about 10 minutes before the arm broke. I waited until I got home to put some oil on the other arm to ease the stress on it... but it's way too fragile. I looked up online and it happened to at least one other person. Right now, his left arm is glued on to his faux-butterfly joint, making him handicapped forever. He is as tall as a Marvel Legends.

 Dude, this is a fighting game character and the articulation isn't up to snuff, and even if it was, those tiny little pegs are unacceptable. How is it that Game Dimensions' 20 usd Jin is better than this one? Figuarts, c'mon.

3.0