Action Figure #896: Anime Heroes Sir Crocodile

 We callin' him Sir now?

 What I like about Bandai's budget line is that they just come out with new figures every now and then with no fanfare or announcements or anything. Sir Crocodile is one of the most iconic villains in One Piece because he was the first one to defeat Luffy, and he looked suave as hell doing it, so... when I discovered this guy existed, I quickly got ahold of him.

 The thing I find funny about this release, is that the box is decorated with Crocodile in his pre-timeskip outfit, but the figure itself is wearing his new post time-skip outfit. Was it a last minute change? Laziness? Who knows, but it's kind of a dumb oversight. The figure itself, well, as I've said before, Anime Heroes works well with One Piece because they already have weird caricaturesque proportions, so the wonkiness works in their favor. And in that way, sure, Crocodile in his top-heavy, lanky frame comes to life. I'd like to pay my respects to the sculptors, as western budget lines usually fumble anime faces, but Crocodile's is perfect. They are using new pinless engineering now, which looks pretty nice.

 His only accessory is his cape... which is molded plastic and sits on his shoulders, which means he can't hold a fun pose AND wear the cape, making it virtually useless.

 The figure uses new import-styled multi-piece joints, of which I've never been much of a fan. He has double jointed elbows and knees, but despite being double jointed the range of both isn't very impressive with the arms barely going over a 90 degree bend, with swivels on his biceps, but not on his thighs for some reason, at least the legs can turn a bit on the socket that is connected to the hips. The waist is on a ball joint, but there's barely any range, and there's no ab crunch. He also has drop-down hips. In other words, while the joints are built different, the articulation is more or less the same it's always been. In my case, his right leg is very squeaky and loves to come off, but a drop of oil seems to have solved it.  He is quite a bit taller than Bucky Cap, and judging from how Sabo looks with him, you can probably mix him with Figuarts if you wanted to.

 So, props where it's due: The sculpt is really, really good. Anime Heroes usually look a bit wonky, but Crocodile has an accurate heavy-top frame that translated into plastic really well, and I can't stress enough how good the head sculpt is. That said, they took the time to over-complicate the joints to use more pieces, but they don't have too much extra range, but not give him better torso articulation? Or even thigh swivels? Kind of a missed opportunity. That said, he's fine. He's a good Crocodile figure, just wished they found a better way to get his cape on.

7.0

Action Figure #895: STORM Arena Kaoru Hanayama

 Have you heard about Hanayama's tattoo?

 Kaoru Hanayama is the star of my favorite fight in the entire Baki universe: Hanayama VS Speck, so of course I was going to get this guy no matter what.

 The sculpt is downright spectacular. The guy looks beefy, and thick, as if he was ripped straight out of the manga, even his massive fists are as large as his head, much the way they should. While most of his body is white, he has a black wash on his clothes for extra detail, and his hands and head are sculpted with his trademark scars. But let's go back to his suit, he's got the same folds over his angles as Itagaki draws on him, so, really, the entire figure is a work of beauty. My one complaint would be all the soft plastic on his torso, as I fear his chest might tear like Hulk. But then again, STORM has been doing this for a while now, so I might be worrying too much.

 He comes with an extra angry head, and his eyes are pure white with no pupils as he is usually drawn, two gripping hands, for when tearing chunks from his enemies, two glass-holding hands, two open palms, two fists, a tiny pair of glasses, a really cool effect piece for his punch and the ever present stand, although the plastic alternative holding piece seems to have been retired. No big deal, as I usually use the metal gripping prongs.

 Articulation is as fantastic as all the other STORM Arena figures. He has double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his thighs and biceps, with a pair of very generous butterfly-joints, the range is so extreme that it can leave gaps on his back, but hey, he'll be doing some incredible front-facing poses! His waist and ab crunch are on ball joints with very generous range, and he gets drop-down hips too. The one glaring issue: The neck. His head will pop if you turn it, so you have to actually turn the neck if you want to have him looking to the side. Annoying? Yes. But not a deal breaker. He is quite a bit taller than Baki, and a touch taller than Bucky Cap.

 I'm not going to lie, when I first got him out of the box I hated him. The torso had so much soft plastic, the head would pop every time I turned it(before I realized the neck itself could turn) and so, he seemed kinda lame. But the more I played with him the more I fell in love with it. He is a brilliant action figure, I've already been spamming Instagram with a ton of photos, a few which can be found below!

9.5

Action Figure #894: Power Rangers Lightning Collection Zeo Blue Ranger

 Who needs weapons anyways!

 And with the Blue Zeo Ranger joining my collection, I'm almost done with this team!

 So, it's the Zeo neckless design but in blue. Well, this design looks really nice in blue, so it gets flying marks by me. I might even like him a smidge more than the Green Zeo Ranger.

 He comes with his pistol, his word, an unmasked head, two fists, two gripping hands, an effect piece and... where are his personal weapons!? If you want those, you have to purchase the generic Zeo mook enemy.... what the hell, Hasbro?

 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.

 Good figure, nice articulation, nice looking design... but having to buy another figure to get his personal weapons is insane. As insane as discovering that if I want to finish this team I'll have to pay about 100usd for the flimsy Pink Ranger... Oh, boy.

8.0

Action Figure #893: Star Wars The Black Series Mission Vao

 I've got a mission for you.

 Mission Vao has been on my wanted list as well, because whenever Bastilla is unavailable I put the weirdly named 'Mission' in my party in her stead. So now I can display both of my KOTOR parties!

 Much like Carth, this is a game figure release, so... you'll notice that she is reusing some of Mara's parts. That said, I think there are more new pieces to her, and she came out looking fantastic, outside of her slightly too long arms... which don't look so bad in person. But, yeah, aside from that, she's a faithful representation of her game counterpart.

 He only accessory is her blaster, but it's too large for her tiny hand, so she can't get a good grip on it. The other blaster is definitely Carth's, because this one's grip is more narrow... not that it helps her tiny trigger finger reaching the trigger.

 Articulation is pretty good, with deep cuts on her single jointed elbows and knees, she also has a hinged waist and a ball jointed ab-crunch, coupled with thigh swivels. All in all, it's easy to get her in cool poses, although butterfly joints would've been nice! She's a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 She came out looking a bit better than Carth, that's for sure. I love finally being able to display my KOTOR teams, hopefully we get the rest of the party members, HK has been awaited for too long!

7.0

Action Figure #892: Star Wars The Black Series Carth Onasi

 We've got Han Solo at home.

 While not the most exciting character ever, I am glad to finally get Carth Onasi in action figure form, because now I can finally have my KOTOR party of Bastilla and Carth in plastic form!

 Well... Carth looks kinda odd. He has been given weird lines on his face that makes him look kinda older than he should have. It's not awful, but... yeah. Also, his torso-vest looks very weird. In Black Series' team's defense, he does have a weird jacket design, but I'm pretty sure what is throwing off the design are the huge butterfly joints. Also, since this is a Star Wars game release... once again, they went for cheapness, so everything below the chest is borrowed and repainted from Kanan Jarrus.

 His only accessory is a single blaster, which is kinda sacrilegious since I found out I'm not the only one who likes to deck him with two blasters.

 And here you can see his huge butterfly joints. They are a bit tight so sometimes they get a bit too disconnected from the torso. For some reason, the arms look really long in photos, but in person it ain't so bad.

 Articulation wise, everything from the chest upwards is new, so he gets nice butterfly joints, deep single-jointed elbows and the new ball-jointed wrists, heck, I'm pretty sure he is borrowing Kyle Katarn's forearms. Anyways, he has a ball jointed ab crunch hidden by the soft-plastic vest overlay, and double jointed knees with thigh swivels. He is about as tall as Bucky Cap.

 Considering Hasbro, for some reason, cheaps out on the Star Wars game figures, I think Carth came out pretty well. A better headsculpt and chest sculpt, as well as an extra blaster and the newer engineering on his lower half would've been nice, but... He's fine.

6.0

Action Figure #891: Mattel DC Premier Batman (Mr. Freeze three-pack)

 More Batman, more colors... more money for Mattel, I guess.

 Yet another Batman recolor. Let's get on with it.

 It's the same Batman sculpt as before, only with a utility vest instead of a utility belt. It's not very well thought-out because it has four pegs in front but there's no way it can hold four accessories due to the limited space between them. As for the recolor itself, it's black and white but with a more tactical color scheme. That's it.

 He comes with the same assortment of tools as the basic Batman figure, meaning batarangs, mines, flashbangs, etc, but in a rather neat translucent orange plastic. He also comes with orange armguards and a big blaster gun with four projectiles.

 The orange arm-guard come with spikes, and they don't go over the ones on his gloves, so they don't make sense or look very good on Batman... although they do look better on other figures.

 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.

 I grew up in the 90's, Batman recolors were my jam. But not only is this recolor rather lame, but you are forced to buy him if you want Mr. Freeze and/or Hal Jordan, making me kinda dislike him even more. So it's not like he is a bad figure, he has the same sculpt as the other Batmen after all, but there's no reason to want to get this one other than being forced to because you want the other two figures.

5.0

Action Figure #890: Mattel DC Premier Mr. Freeze

 Mr. Freeze, not Mr. Water!

 It seems only Batman is getting villains, because Mr. Freeze just came here.... bundled with Green Lantern, for some reason. But hey, might as well start getting more villains!

 Mr. Freeze has a completely new sculpt made just for him, and much like with other figures in the line, he isn't a faithful recreation of any particular look, but rather, a very generic design that is unmistakably Mr. Freeze, albeit I think you can tell that there was quite a bit of inspiration from the Timmverse. Regardless, it is a good sculpt, with blasters sculpted onto his gauntlets, and armored details on his body and legs.

 He has a bunch of accessories, including a set of frozen overlays that are compatible with other six-inch figures as well as his Ice Gun. The overlays are fantastic, but the Ice gun...

 Or rather, the water gun. Another gimmick, this thing is super flimsy, because you can squish it under water in order to fill it with water, and then squish it to shoot water. Lame, because due to this gimmick, the blaster feels pathetic, it has no paint, no sturdiness, no thing. And the other Batmobile-compatible weapons had a handle AS WELL as a peg to connect it with the vehicle, this one only gets that tiny peg, which makes it look even sillier in Freeze's hands. No wonder they sculpted blasters on his gauntlets!

 And it being the kid's line, Freeze has no paint on his back. Lame!

 Articulation is same old, same old. Single jointed elbows with an over 90 degree bend, double jointed knees and swivels on his waist, thighs and boots. The head can only be articulated if you remove the helmet... but due to the shape of both his head AND the helmet, it will always push down his head when you put it on, which is kinda bleh. It's a competent choice that allows him to be played with just fine.

 Here he is compared to the DCUC figure. The new one is an upgrade in every way BUT the weapons and the paint apps. Still, looking at them side by side... look at how much more threatening the new one and his proportions are! Mr. Freeze is a tall figure, being closer to seven inches, which makes him taller than Bucky Cap and this line's other heroes!

 Mr. Freeze is almost a great figure. It's just that his accessory is so lame, the helmet-head is not well thought out and the paintless back is just embarrassing!

6.0