I open a toy & post it here... VOL 2!

[Team Jetfire]

Originally Posted by Robimus

Brilliant!

Bork-Bork-Bork!

[Team Jetfire]

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McFarlane Toys: Fortnite: Skully



Full disclosure I'm writing this review on a plane that is currently over Greenland and am going off memory of these figures from when I opened them a few days ago. And while that is not much different than my normal process, I at least have the figure within an arm's reach, my own photos to reference or even an internet connection to ensure I have the correct figure name. And while the title of this review will be correct (edited as required), I'm going to take a guess here that her name is Skully; an homage to both X-Files and the skulls adorned on her outfit. Now that I really think about it I?m 90% certain that I'm correct too, which is a win for me and my 40 something year old brain.

Pros: Kudos to McFarlane for producing another female character so early in the line. It's not just the importance of inclusion, but also because they do a really solid job on these lady figures. And while my preference is for the more wacky figures, she is a solid addition with a nice sculpt, decent articulation and cool accessories.

Cons: I got nothing: she?s a great overall figure.

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- G.I. Joe Retro: Gung-Ho





I’m all for change and while I didn’t mind the new “Classified” Gung Ho, but this is the type of thing that dreams are made of, especially if like me, Gung Ho was your first GI Joe as a kid and you have a massive soft spot for the character. Seriously this was the perfect Retro figure for me to pick up and I adore Hasbro for updating the original. That said, I hope that they continue to update new characters rather than just making scaled up 6” versions of the old school RAH figures: we should be moving forward a bit right? All that said, I have to complain a bit so I will. Who at Hasbro thought it was a good idea to release Lady Jay as the first retro figure? And while I’m sure she is not a bad figure, the timing is insane give that retailers JUST got rid of the classified version of her. Now there are legit hundreds of Retro Jays out in the wild, clogging shelves so the figures that everyone else wants don’t have room on the pegs. SO FRUSTRATING.

Pros: Everything except one minor detail is amazing with Gung Ho. Awesome sculpt, retro paint job goodness and fantastic accessories including his grenade launcher, a pistol with a working holster, a knife with a working sheath, a bald head covered with a marine style ( I think) hat and even a similar retro style backpack. SO GOOD.

Cons: Two minor issues: 1. And its been discussed to death: that tattoo is bad and looks a bit German circa 1936 if-you-know-what-I-mean? 2. The backpack peg technology has somehow gotten worse in the past few years and I struggle with keeping it in place.

[Team Jetfire]

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Diamond Selects- The Muppets: Janice and Floyd Pepper




Here?s a fun fact about me: I used to be in a band, well rather in a few bands if I am being truthful.

The first was during my High School Days: We were a pretty standard 5 (or four if our lead showed up for practice) piece outfit with an early Stone Temple Pilots sound that was all the rage back in 1996/7. Probably was a bit too grunge for our rhythm section (Guitar, Bass (thats me) and Drummer) liking given that we were more into Skate Punk at the time, but had little say given that the singer wrote the songs didn?t love melodic tunes and we had to work together to find a sound enjoyable to all of us. As High School bands go we were completely average and despite a few house party gigs, we only really played for our close friends and girlfriends. We tried to record a demo with a 4 track mixer that we rented for the weekend, but most of the time was used up by some other friends who wanted to record a ?quick? cover tune of Down By Law?s Independence Day. It's a great song, but I still get pissed listening to the original given how much time that took away from us. Anyways, around that time the band broke up because we all just stopped hanging out. That said I have some VERY fond memories of hanging out at our drummer's parents house, chilling in the basement for hours on end and just having a blast with my friends. Oh, I also broke my collar bone at one of those ?house party? gigs when I tried to crowd surf, but that is another story.

Pros: As with the other Muppets I love both the sculpt and the overall look for both Janice and Floyd. Articulation is surprisingly good for such small and thin bodies and it even allows for some nice poses with their guitars.

Cons: So, I realize that these are re-packed ?classics? from a previous line, but I feel like Diamond got a little cheap with the accessories. As I understand from some product packaging, the original set came with 2 amps and 2 mics w/stands, but this set only has one of each. What?s the deal?

[Team Jetfire]

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Super 7- Disney Ultimates: Pinocchio.









Much like the movie Pinocchio, I?m note sure how I feel about the Super 7 figure of Pinocchio. Yes it?s classic Disney and yes there is some to love, but I?m just not sure it was worth the time (for movie) or money (for toy). That said, I?m perfectly aware of the baggage that I?m still carrying about my recent Super 7 experience and that it is affecting my view on these figures, but I digress, I feel like this could have been better. I?ll go into more detail in my Pros and Cons, but I did want to take this time to proclaim that I officially do not like alternative heads as accessories and will start including them as ?cons? in my future reviews. Why you ask? Because they are stupid, that?s why. The way I see it is that I am an out of the box toy collector that removes the figure from packaging and displays it on a shelf. I only have 1 base figure and three heads. How am I going to display the extra heads? They literally go into a storage case. I?d much rather if manufactures spent the money on usable things rather than stuff that is not going to be used. That said, my new found ire is limited to companies producing full heads and not those like Beast Kingdom and Jazwares that only change parts of the face plate: those are innovative, the heads are lazy.

Pros: I really like the sculpt that Super 7 did on Pinocchio and looks very true to his Disney animated look. Articulation is decent for a figure his size and they included a good amount of accessories including Jiminy the Cricket and Figaro the cat. Something also needs to be said about that packaging as it is basically a MISB collectors wet dream.

Cons: Alt heads should not be considered accessories. Yes they are cool, but I only have one wooden boy to display it with. Also as compared to both Mickey and Prince John, Pinocchio comes up a bit short on value.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

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Toybiz- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Goblin Archer




It’s interesting doing a bit of a retrospective on the Toybiz Lord of the Rings line 15 years removed from when it ended. What does that mean? Well, I’ve spent the last 12 months reviewing eBay listings searching for missing bricks of my LOTR wall and over time trends start to appear. And while I have a pretty good handle on what is hot in the current collector market, there seems to be very little rhyme or reason, outside of supply, of certain figures that creates big swings in after market prices for certain figures. And while the lay person might think that a main character like Frodo or Aragorn would be in big demand, it is more likely that a no name “GOBIN ARCHER” with 1 second of film time fetches a much higher price. That is not to say that it isn’t a good figure, or rather not worth it, but tells a story that while most people want the main cast, there is and will always be a market for the lesser known character. Hold-up… did I just accidentally poke holes in Toy Story 2? By all accounts Stinky Pete should have been worth Woody given that Woody was the main character and they would have produced WAY more of him. Yikes, I have to work through this now… To be continued.

Pros: Typically awesome figure all around with a detailed sculpt and nice accessories, including a bow, 4 arrows and a quiver to hold them.

Cons: Little issue with the articulation and overall ability to pose, but he looks great nevertheless.

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Star Wars Black Series: Kylo Ren.




As of the writing of this review, Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out 5 years ago and it's hard to put into words how much it splintered the Star Wars fandom. Yes there has always been a healthy debate as to what is considered good or bad Star Wars, but this did create a massive fault in the franchise and if I’m being honest, I’m still not sure if it is a good thing or bad thing, or rather if I like or dislike it. Now before I go too far, I want to note the following: I like Rian Johnson’s vision, the visuals are amazing and I support the idea that he put forward. I particularly liked the plot point that both the First Order and the Resistance are responsible for war profiteering and growing class issues throughout the galaxy as well as the idea that Rey was a nobody and there are many other force sensitive kids out there. For too long have we tied ourselves to the Skywalkers and this was a perfect time to free ourselves to grow from there. The things I don’t like are more nuanced and include the constant loss of life of the Resistance throughout the movie. Much like counting bullets of a hero’s machine gun, this is the opposite effect of “how many people do they have to kill before they are all deal: A bunch were killed off in the first space battle, then a steady stream of command ships were blown up in the chase and even more of the escape ships were taken out before the “HOLDO'' Maneuver was executed. I suppose that was part of the story and by the end the remaining resistance was able to fit on the Falcon, but with so many taken out, why do we even care? I don’t know, I guess it's clear that they want to echo Empire Strikes Back with the hopeless ending, but I just find it hard to believe the Resistance is that poorly run.

Anyways I could write for hours about this movie, but I think it is important as Star Wars fans to understand that not everything can be good, but some things can be great. Take those great things and enjoy them while not focusing on the bad because after all, it's not going anywhere.

Pros: In all honesty I WAS going to pass on this version of Kylo due to a combination of not liking him without his helmet (nothing against Adam Driver) and Black Series burn out, but I actually happy that I did as there is just something about this character. And despite the hate that the Last Jedi continues to get, Kylo was almost at his best here. The figure captures the overall look really well, has a good amount of articulation and I like that it comes with a lite and unlit saber. Also KUDOS to Hasbro for the softgoods cloak.

Cons: I got nothing: Kylo is a solid figure.

[Team Jetfire]

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Mcfarlane Toys- Avatar: Jake Sully



At the time of this writing we are knee deep in Avatar given that the much anticipated (or not) sequel has been dominating the theaters for weeks on end. And while I have not seen it yet (will eventually) I DID see the original one in theaters all those years ago and keep it in regular rotation for background noise when I am working on the computer.

Much like everyone else I was pretty captivated with the world of Pandora at the time of its original release, but quickly forgot about it after the rise of other movie series’ dominated the landscape. Who wants to watch Avatar when you can watch Transformers and Marvel movies come to life on the big screen. Since then my feelings have changed to appreciation for what James Cameron did. Granted it took almost 13 years of sequels and reboots to see it, but Avatar was, for the most part, a very popular original piece of art. And before you get on me with the whole “Pocahontas with blue cats” complaint; yes it is derivative of historical “outsider” type movies, but at least it takes place in a newly created universe not tied to previous IP; James Cameron was channeling his inner George Lucas and built a new world for us to enjoy and when you subtract the introduction story from the universe, it may turn out to be a pretty fun place to explore further.

Pros: I was both surprised and cautiously optimistic when I saw that McFarlane Toys was producing figures for Avatar and figured that they would be worth picking up, if not just for the novelty of the subject matter and for the most part they did not disappoint. I love both the sculpt and the articulation scheme and appreciate that they included a few alt hands, a bow and a knife with sheath storage!

Cons: I love the bow and I love the alternate bow hand to emulate pulling the bow string back. What I don’t love is not having either an arrow or box string to make it look like he is aiming an actual shot. Not going to line, it's a weird choice by Mcfarlane on this.

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Nakia




Full disclosure: I’ve been slipping in these reviews. I’m still working on them, but it seems that my time is getting drawn away due to one very addictive mobile app game: Marvel Snap. Yes, thanks to this stupid game, I have less and less time to open figures, take pics and write reviews which is crazy considering that it is a legit free to pay game (have not spent a dollar) and that it’s a simple card game. I legitimately have access to the BEST game systems and games on the planet right now and instead I’m trying to beat a Wong with a Cosmo to win over that location (if you play, you will understand). Anyways, this is my recommendation to you if you are looking for a new game to play on your phone. It’s like Magic the Gathering for noobs, but extremely accessible and like I said, you do not need to spend a penny if you don’t want to.

Pros: Nakia is a great figure with lots of little molded details on the sculpt that really make it pop which is refreshing given that up to this point I’ve only opened “Panthers” from this wave and was ready for something different. The articulation is standard for the Marvel Female mold and thankfully the hard plastic tunic does not get in the way and I love her hoop blades. Also, just look at that face sculpt…WOW.

Cons: Really nothing to note: she’s a solid figure.