Action Figure #654: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Red Ranger

 From a Tyrannosaurus to a Dragon to a... Monkey? Oh, the Red Ranger has seen better days...

 With the Mighty Morphin Ninja Red Ranger in my collection, it means... that we've only got two ninja rangers left! But we'll get to them once they arrive... Spoilers!

 Much like Aisha was a headswap of Kat, Rocky is just a headswap of Billy, so everything I wrote about the Blue Ninja's sculpt holds true for this one... even how lifeless the headsculpt is! Among the four Ninja Rangers I currently have, this one looks the least like the actor. I mean, the resemblance IS there, but it looks off, and his hair should be a richer shade of brown. He comes with three heads, two neck pieces, two alternate ninja hands... and an effect piece that was kind of a hassle to get on him. Once again, tinted in pearly pink, they should've gone with a pearly red.

 Articulation and height is the same as the Blue Ranger's.

 Yeah, he is another fine Ninja Ranger. I do feel like they could've done a better job with the unmasked headsculpt, but otherewise... he is fine.

7.0

Action Figure #653: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ninja Yellow Ranger

 Bright and yellow, these were 90's ninjas alright.

 I'm not quite done with the Ninja Rangers just yet, so now we have the Mighty Morphin Yellow Ninja Ranger taking up the spotlight. What can I say, I dig these designs!

 Aisha is pretty much just a headswap of the Pink Ninja Ranger, so everything I mentioned about Kat stays true for Aisha. Her headsculpt has a pretty good likeness to the actress, but it isn't perfect. She comes with the same amount of accessories too: Three heads, two neck pieces, two sets of hands and an effect piece... and I'm kinda disappointed in two ways. First of all, the effect piece can only be used with the open palm hands, and secondly... the effect is pearly pink tinted... they should've made it pearly yellow!

 There's not much to say about articulation, except that it's identical to Kat's, and she's a bit shorter than Bucky Cap too.

 I wish I had more to say, but being just a headswap of the Pink Ranger... yeah, she gets the same score, because it's basically the same figure, and being that the case, I quite like it!

7.0

Action Figure #652: Marvel Legends Thanos (Gamerverse Psylocke VS Thanos)

 Using Boss Characters is cheating!

 I've already whined about how tough getting this pack was in Psylocke's entry, so I'll focus on Gamerverse Thanos now, a figure I didn't really care about but came bundled with my girl.

 Look at this garish pastel purple and shiny orange Thanos! I remember how disappointed I was when I first played Marvel Vs Capcom 2 on PS2 and finally unlocked this guy only to be greeted by this hideous Orange Thanos. I've always hated his MvC look. But by that very same token, this is an accurate representation of his MvC look, and it's not just a simple classic Thanos recolor, as he was given a larger neckpiece and helmet-horns to match his sprite, so Hasbro wasn't lazy for a change. Sadly, he comes with no effect pieces and his only accessory is a snapping hand with the infinity gems. And now I must call them lazy, because only the snapping hand has the gems, as the fist is a normal fist... anyone that has played MvC or Marvel Super Heroes can tell you that Thanos is wearing the infinity gauntlet, so his fist should've had the gems on it.

 The articulation is acceptable for a guy his size, which is a huge improvement when compared to the Modern Thanos Marvel Legend. His ab crunch is on a hinge, with decent range, and his waist is on a swivel.

 He has swivels on his biceps, but single jointed elbows that don't reach 90 degrees, which kinda sucks. His neck piece is glued onto him, and due to the soft plastic ends that lie over his shoulders it doesn't get in the way of him raising his arms.... unlike Modern Thanos and his loose neck piece that you have to remove in order to raise his arms.

 But the biggest improvement is on his legs, look how far he can kick...

 ...and what a decent split he gets! You also don't need to fuss with his belt in order to twist his torso or get him to kick, as it's much better engineered than the old, pathetic Modern Thanos. His knees are double jointed and he has swivels on his thighs. He is a bit taller, just a touch, than modern Thanos, he is also much beefier, making for a much more imposing Thanos.

 So here's the dealio, since Thanos' look got modernized I haven't liked his classic look again, and I particularly dislike this color scheme. But this version of Thanos is much bulkier and much better articulated than Modern Thanos, so very much despite myself... this one is going to be my main Thanos going forward. Hopefully the Marvel Legends team decides to upgrade Modern Thanos one of these days.

6.0

Action Figure #651: Marvel Legends Psylocke (Gamerverse Psylocke VS Thanos)

 No Katana? Heresy!

 Gamerverse Psylocke was easily the most wanted Marvel VS Capcom set... but the geniuses at Hasbro made it a Target exclusive, making it hard to get for everyone. Including me because Target refuses to ship to the freighter hangars I must use to get my figures over here in Uruguay. So I had to buy it from Canada, have it shipped to Miami and then to my country. Getting toys shouldn't be this hard. Exclusivity is garbage for everyone but scalpers.

 But oh well, I managed to get the figure at a reasonable price, somehow... And she is gorgeous. Both sculpt and color makes her look as if she came right out of MvC, although with a thankfully less yellow skin tone! She's built on a tweaked version of the fantastic new female sculpt, so the proportions and bulkiness is just perfect. They sprayed some purple accents on her hair that makes her hair pop. She comes with an alternate angry face, two ninja fingers hands, a gripping hand, a fist, and an ope hand. She also comes with a few different pink energy effects, some which are a bit of a hassle to snap onto her wrists. Shockingly, no Katana.... but then again, she doesn't use Katanas in the game.

 As seen here, the straps on her arms and legs are sculpted onto the mold, and even her pelvis have the ends of the leotard sculpted on.

 The face effect piece...  I haven't figured how to put on her, and don't care since I'll never use it, but it's sculpted in the form of glasses, which I find funny.

 Since she is built on the new female buck, the articulation is excellent. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on her biceps and thighs, a hinged waist, a ball jointed ab crunch and butterfly joints. Everything a figure needs to be fun to pose and play with. And, even better, she doesn't feel gummy at all!

 And here she is compared to the previous iteration of this figure. This is an upgrade in every single way. Proportions are much better, the sculpt is infinitely better, and the articulation is on another level. I'd call her the definitive 90's Psylocke, but in the comics she'd wear a ponytail! She's almost as tall as Bucky Cap.

 This figure is proof of how far Marvel Legends have gotten, and how amazing they ae at their best without their crappy gummy plastic.

10

Action Figure #650: Star Wars The Black Series SDCC Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi

  I woke up at 7 am three days in a row to get this pack!

 You've no idea of how stressful getting this SDCC Exclusive Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi 2 pack was. First, Hasbro Pulse premium users were given an hour of advantage... but who cares, these ran out in 3 minutes. Three minutes! Then it came back in stock for a few minutes while I was out of my home. Depressed, I almost paid more than double the cost on Ebay just to get either this or the Savage Land 3 pack. Luckily I decided that no toy was worth that much, because a Twitter account claimed that exclusives sometimes restocked at 7 AM my time. So, despite partying all night, I woke up at 7 AM on Saturday and.... I managed to get the Savage Land pack(Spoilers!), but this one never came back in stock. Ah well, I tried again on Sunday, waking up my girlfriend and.... no dice. So I tried again on Monday morning, screwing up my sleep cycle and... nothing. For some reason, throughout Monday I kept refreshing Hasbro Pulse, just in case and.... and.... It came back up in stock and I managed to snag one! Jesus Christ, toys shouldn't be this stressful to buy, so this toy better be worth it. 

 While I usually prefer to give each figure in a pack their own entry... well, this is entry number 650, which makes it special, and it's the extra goodies included that makes this set what it is, and, to be honest, both figures are just as spectacular (Spoilers!), so it just makes sense! And the goodies are: an alternate force-push hand for both figures, an alternate head for each figure, three alternate in-motion lightsaber blades, a hit effect that allows you to slot in two blades for a clash effect and, of course, a gorgeous platform, lava and bot diorama set-piece.

 The little robot can actually move its arms.

 The lava piece that holds the robot can be loosely attached to the main piece. Not my favorite, since I would've liked a more secure hold, but it's alright.

 The pegs, for the figures' feet can be removed at will, there's two spare pegs and...

 ...they can be stored beneath the big platform.

 And finally, onto the figures themselves! Both of them have completely new and different sculpts. Both figures look exceptional, with highly detailed robes and head sculpts. The Black Series has come a long way, and the robes in particular look very nice thanks to the soft plastic, layered sculpts. This is the best Black Series has to offer, and it's fantastic.

 Articulation for both figures is identical, and it uses the best engineering that Black Series had done so far. Both figures have single jointed elbows and knees, but with very deep cuts giving them excellent range on both. They have swivels on their boots for some reason, a ball jointed waist and the new ball-pegged wrists. Both figures have butterfly joints, but Obi-Wan's are slightly better. Probably to make up for the thicker plastic robe overlay on his torso. The lower part of the robes are made out of very soft plastic, so the legs aren't compromised.

 It's as good a moment as any to show how Anakin's soft-plastic robes work. Interesting!

 I don't have the old Obi-Wan to compare with, but I do own the old Anakin and the difference is like night and day! Proportions are better, articulation is better, Old Anakin couldn't even hit 90 degrees with his arm bend, and his legs used to be very gummy... not anymore! And the paint is much better, I never noticed how pasty pale the original was! The old figure looks like a bootleg in comparison.

 The only thing the original has over this one.... is that they seem to have forgotten to paint the capsules on the new one's belt. I don't even mind it to be honest. Ani is almost as tall as Bucky Cap, while Obi is a bit shorter.

 Even without taking into account the Diorama setpiece, which is pretty excellent by itself, these two are easily my favorite Black Series' figures. They look incredible and are fun and easy to pose and play with. It's a shame they've been made so hard to acquire because this is Black Series at its best.

10

Action Figure #649: Marvel Legends Joe Fixit

 Green, Red and Grey... I finally have a Hulk Rangers team!

 I wasn't sure I'd be adding Joe Fixit the Grey Hulk into my collection, but I found a great deal for him so I just couldn't say no to it.

 At first I thought he was using Kingpin's buck, but he actually isn't, as this is an entirely new sculpt, or rather was when it first released as a BAF. He is also a bit shorter than the Green Hulk, as he should! He looks big and mean, a fantastic rendition of the character. He comes with a giant tommy gun, two fists, a trigger hand, an open hand and an even nastier alternate, hatless, head sculpt.

 As with most large figures, his articulation is a bit more limited. He has thigh swivels and bicep swivels. His ab crunch also has a swivel, but due to the soft plastic jacket I found it a bit tight when tugging at it for a spin. His knees and elbows are single jointed, barely reaching ninety degrees each.

 The biggest issue with his legs is that he can barely raise them, even if you try to spin his thighs alongside the hip pegs. This Hulk won't be kicking or jumping any time soon! He is quite taller than Bucky Cap, a touch taller than Kingpin and a smidge shorter than Hulk.

 Well, Joe Fixit is quite lacking when it comes to articulation, but man, just look at his drip! This is one nasty looking anti-hero, with great accessories and aura. Sure, he is the last Hulk I would get, but he is still a neat fig.

7.0

Action Figure #648: Marvel Legends Firestar(Spider-man & His Amazing Friends)

 Her powers are actually not fire related, so she's more like Radiationstar.

 I've been meaning to get my hands on Firestar for a while now, and I almost purchased this three pack a few times, but I finally managed to get Angelica loose by herself. Spider-Man and his amazing friends was a wacky show, and in some ways superior to its contemporary solo Spider-man show!

 To be perfectly fair, Firestar is a very simple design, so this figure is little more than a Shrike buck reuse with paint on top. But she does have a high collar unique to her, and I do love the flamey color scheme! She comes with two open hands, two fists, two heads, her pet dog who's name I don't recall and... two fire effects. To be fair, on the show she did have fire powers, but in the comic books it was changed to radiation waves.

 Highlighted here are two things. Firstly, one of the headsculpts forces her open collar a bit closed, which looks a bit odd. Also, she has gummy arms and shoulders.

 On the articulation end of things.... well, the usual. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on her biceps and thighs with a ball jointed ab crunch and no waist articulation. It's par for the norm, really. She's almost as tall as Bucky Cap.

 Firestar is a nice little figure. I don't think there's much more they could've done with the character.

7.0

Action Figure #647: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Ranger Slayer

 Slaaaaaaaay queen!

 Back to the world of the coinless we go with the Mighty Morphin Ranger Slayer. Look, I gave the comics a proper try and got up to the ranger Slayer's Solar Ranger team before I got tired of it. Between having to move between various magazines and them leaving a gaping hole in the narrative by skipping Tommy's Evil Arc... I didn't like it very much.

 Lemme tell you, the black and pink color scheme looks fantastic, so the color scheme alone makes me like this figure. But the rest of the design, and sculpt, is very cool too, I really do like this armored evil look for a brainwashed Kimberly! She comes with her bow, a black dagger-blaster, two alternate hands, a pink energy arrow and a tri-arrow accessory.

 The only issue worth mentioning with the sculpt is that the cape rests on her shoulders, which is all kinds of lame.

 The figure is made on a tweaked version of the original female buck, which while it still gets single jointed elbows, she also gets butterfly joints. Her knees are, however, double jointed, and she has swivels on her thighs and ankles, as well as a hinged waist and a ball jointed ab crunch. The only problem is, of course, the cape, so you'll have to pick between the cape or more dynamic poses. She is about a head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She is definitely a cool figure, it's a shame about the cape, but, hey, you can still get her looking cool much more easily than, say, the tyrannosaurus sentry.

7.0

Action Figure #646: Marvel Legends Rose

 This rose has thorns.

 Well, The Rose is one of the characters I've been waiting for the most, since I fell in love with Spidey's 80's runs. And, finally, he is here!

 And... well, he comes with two cool looking silenced guns, a rose and two sets of hands. The overall sculpt and paint job is accurate to the character, I'll give it that much, his suit even has a rose on his chest pocket. The thing is... the proportions look a bit off, mainly due to his lanky arms, making him look less than imposing.

 Articulation is where it gets spotty. He has double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his waist, biceps and thighs, with no ab crunch of any sort. It's almost the Marvel Legends standard, except that....

 His arms are scarily gummy, and the jacket's circular cuts should've been a bit larger, because they may get in the way of  you moving his shoulders, thus stressing the gummy shoulder pegs.

 But worst of all, his jacket is longer than any other suited Marvel Legends, making him unable to kick, crouch decently or get an acceptable leg split. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 C'mon, Rose might not be relevant nowadays, but he was a key part of Spider-man's 80's Hobgoblin saga, so him getting such a lackluster figure kinda sucks. He needed better engineering and better proportions, I mean, he is easily the worst suited Marvel Legends I own.

4.5