Combat Belt Batman - BTAS

Batman: the Animated Series was an amazing cartoon show. I really enjoyed it and the toy line looked fun, but I already had so many characters from the Batman movie toys I didn't dive into the line to deep. The first Animated Series figure I got was Combat Belt Batman. This is a gimmicky figure done right! Once you remove the "action feature gear" he is just a standard Batman. I'm posting about this figure  today because I got him in my Easter Basket many years ago. (Happy Easter if you're of that persuasion)

Combat Belt Batman comes with a snap on belt, a spring-loaded missile launcher that attaches to the belt, a grappling hook and rope that can be launched, a giant Batarang that can also be fired, and a set of snap on hand cuffs. 

Like the Super Powers and movie figures, this Batman comes with a cloth cape that clips around his neck. The cape is very large and can wrap around his shoulders. This cape is also one of the nicest quality toy capes I've ever seen on an action figure Batman.

I played with this figure a lot. Here he is putting the cuffs on the Joker. This figure will always have a special place in my collection. He was such a great representation of the character from the cartoon. I even used him in the animated series this blog is named after... Action Figure Adventures. Follow the link to see him in action and voiced by Batman writer Doug Moench.

Tusken Raiders (Sand People) - Star Wars

The Tusken Raiders were one of the first figures I ever army built. I was so happy when I had three of them as a kid. I still often buy them at yard sales. Sometimes labeled as Sand People, which is what they were referred to in the movie, these tan figures have one of the best sculpts from that first wave of vintage Star Wars figures.

 The Tusken Raider is the only figure in the entire line to have their hands sculpted in a position so that they look like they could ride a bike. This is cool, because it allows you to pose them holding their gaffi sticks above their heads. This allows kids to recreate that classic war cry shot from the movie I don't have a gaffi stick, so it's not pictured. Like many figures from the original line the Tusken Raiders also came with vinyl capes.

I'd love to see the Sand People raid  the city of Tusken in a possible stand alone movie. Maybe it could be a plot point in the rumored "Yoda movie".

GI Joe: Retaliation - Opening Day

I saw GI Joe: Retaliation on opening day and decided to post about it. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so I'm going to focus on the freedies I picked up. I saw online that they were handing out specially packaged 3D glasses, so I took an old pair with me so I could keep these sealed. Not that they will ever be worth anything. Just a fun keep sake.

They were also giving out these posters in the lobby. The bad side features an advertisement to per-order the Blu-Ray at Walmart. The poster is printed in black, white, and gray with a few red highlights. The poster shows off most of the characters from the movie.

I won't spoil the movie, but I did enjoy it. I felt it was more true to the spirit and story of  the GI Joe comics. It's nice to have Cobra Commander look like Cobra Commander. The ninja battle on the mountain was very cool. I did find the 3D to be kind of annoying at times. There were a lot of scenes were part of the shot was blocked by someone's shoulder or a beam and it was weird having these objects feel so close to me. It really is a shame they wasted so many important characters in the first movie. I'm hoping for a third.

Armatron - Z-Bots

This little robot was my favorite toy from the Z-bots line. I didn't know that these robots had names as a kid, but with the power of the internet I know it's called Armatron. In Elementary School my one teacher used to allow us to earn "play money" for doing various things. Then at certain times of the year we could cash the money in for candy or small toys. I bought this guy in 3rd grade when I was at the height of my playing with vintage Star Wars figures phase. This little droid helped the Rebels out of many sticky situations.

Armatron is a predominately white robot with two legs, a football shaped body and twin chin guns. It has a small "head" on top of the body with that appear to be eyes.

The Riddler - DC Universe Classics

The Riddler was one of the first DC Universe Classics figures I ever picked up. He is from the wave of figures that included parts to make the collect and connect Bane figure. I'm previously posted about just about all the other characters from that wave. This Riddler figure is dressed in his green body suit covered in back question marks. He has a purple mask and gloves. The only accessory the figure came with was a gold question mark cane (not pictured). This figure is pretty generic have only a unique head. The head sculpt is nice... he has an interesting smirk.

Domino - Toybiz

Well it's spring time. Flea Market season is here. Unfortunately it's been pretty cold here in Pennsylvania so far this Spring. It even snowed today. Over the weekend I went out to the flea markets, but didn't find anything. I decided to check out the thrift shops today. I hit up the Goodwill that just opened next to my Toys R Us. I didn't find anything so I checked out Slavation Army. I've never really had luck there with toys, but today I found a carded 90's X-Men figure.

Domino is a member of the X-Force Team and is a weapons expert. The card mentions her "Twin Weapon Arsenal".  Domino comes with two silver missiles that clip to her legs and two black guns that can connect to make one weapon. The missiles are spring-loaded and can be launched from the guns. Domino has shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee articulation. Her elbows are swivel cuts, so her arms can move in and out but not be straightened.

The card was in fairly good shape, unfortunately the people used packing tape to attach the price tag to the card back. They had the figure priced at $3.99 but all toys were 50% off today. I love looking at all the figures on the card back. This figure is from late enough in the line I didn't have two many figures that apear on the package. There are two figures on there that a friend gave me from his childhood collection when I was in college. I ended up giving those figures to my buddy Tony from Action Figs & Things.

 Domino with were Twin Cannon, loaded with one of her missiles.

 There was also a Mystique trading card as a free pack-in.

Mosquitor - Color Blanks

I have been recently buying and making costume figures using the Rose Art Color Blanks. A while back I made a couple of Masters of the Universe themed figures. I kind of got started on these guys after Pixel Dan posted about Color Blanks during his Advent Calendar. I sent him pictures of my Spikor and Man-E-Faces. Both of them were done using marker on the plastic figures. I decided to sculpt and paint a custom Mosquitor for Dan as a birthday present.

I forgot to photograph him as normal, so this photo was taken in the parking lot of the post office. He's made using the triangle headed Color Blank. I sculpted on details like his eyes, nose, and belt. I sculpted him a little gun and the tip of his nose is a tooth pick. Dan shows him off in the video below.

Alien Queen - Kenner

I remember seeing Aliens for the first time. It was during the Blizzard of '93 and I was snowed in at my best friend Derek's house. It blew me away. As soon as I found out there were Aliens action figures I had to get a bunch. The next Spring I asked for the Queen, Scorpion Alien, and Lt. Ripley for my birthday. I lucked out and my parents got me all three.

 The Queen is huge and features three sets of arms. The Queen also features a number of awesome action features. (And that's coming from a guy who doesn't really like action features in his action figures.)

 

There is a button on the Alien Queen's hip that activates a tail whipping action. The Queen has an enormous tail that has an amazing spiny sculpt. The tail is so big and long it actually comes as a separate piece in the packaging.

 

There is a rubbery bulb underneath the Queen's head ridge. When you squeeze it the air pressure makes the Queen's smaller mouth pop out from her main mouth. This is one of the coolest things the Aliens do in the movie. It's so great that they could incorporate the feature into one of the toys.

Epic Combat!

My buddy Paul, who is a toy reseller, recently gave me a second Queen. He and his Dad bought tons of Aliens figures back in the day and have been sitting on them to resell. When he moved recently the bubble from one of the Queens fell off the card back, So since it's not carded anymore Paul gave her to me. Above you can see the packaging. I love the display on the card back showing off the other toys. Below you can see how the Queen, her tail, and the Chest Burster  accessory are all packaged in the bubble.

The Queen came with a little hard plastic Chest Burster. This little baby Alien was always fun to use with a Vintage Star Wars Taun Taun. If you have Han's Open Belly Taun Taun you could stick the Chest Burster inside.

Prequel Astromech Droids - Star Wars

The Star Wars Prequels introduced fan to lots of new Jedi, Aliens, and Droids. Today I'm taking a look at a couple of Astromech Droids released in the Episode III toy line.


R4-P17  helped Obi-wan Kenobi with his star fighter missions. This particular droid really makes his comment about not remembering ever owning a droid even stranger in Episode IV. R4 uses the same mold as pretty much all the Astromechs. He's painted up in a rusty red and white paint scheme. He has some gun metal details. I wanted to get this guy because Obi-wan is one of my favorite characters and R4 is a side kick to him of sorts.

The Episode III R2-D2 came with many accessories. He has little clip on rocket boosters and a giant mechanical arm that can attach to his dome. The arm moves when you turn his head. I kind of hate the robotic arm, but the boosters are a nice accessory. He has a pretty standard blue and white paint scheme. R2 also has a little tan weathering at the bottom of the figure.

R4-M6 is a droid that never got any screen time yet he gets an action figure. After I bought Mace Windu's Jedi Fighter vehicle I decided to get his Astromech as well. I kind of wish that all droids with a round dome were R2 units and all the ones with the block tapered heads (R4-D4 from Ep IV) were R4 units. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what is the difference between an R2 and R4 unit if it's not their head?

This last droid is a custom figure. I had an extra R2-D2 and decided to paint him up as an extra droid. I painted all the silver parts bronze and the blue parts green. He's got a "Fighting Irish" feel going on. I haven't named him. I'm not sure if he's an R2 or R4 unit.

The Faceless One - MOTUC

The Faceless One is one of my favorite characters created for the 200x He-Man cartoon. He's powerful, interesting, and important to the back story of other characters. He was not a top priority for me when I first started collection MOTU Classics, but soon I just had to have all the figures.

The Faceless One is a great blend of new and reused parts. He looks really evil and very imposing. He comes with an awesome "glowing" Havoc Staff and his magical Ram Stone. Some people have complained that his face is too detailed for a guy called Faceless. I don't mind. Most times nicknames or code names take a feature to the extreme.

 

This guys has cool looking armor and awesome accessories. He's not a must have, but is so great.

Agira - Ultraman Mini-Monster

Years ago I visited a "Dollar Store" that was not part of a chain (as far as I could tell) and they had lots of cute little baby versions of Ultraman monster for sale. I bought one of each style for my best friend Derek who is a huge Japanese Monster fan. I  also picked up a few for myself as well. The figures came with no tags or packaging. I figured out this guy is Agira by looking through lots of pictures of monsters online. These figures are lot of fun and there were probably 8 or 10 different monsters available at the time. Agira features no articulation. He is a golden/brown Triceratops with a red frill. He actually has a pretty decent amount of shading for such a small toy. He stands about 4" tall.

Merlin - The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone is my all time favorite Disney movie. It's old enough, and not quite popular enough, so there isn't a lot of merchandise for the movie. This little Merlin figure was part of a fast food promotion. He is solid plastic with articulation at the shoulders. His beard is made of rooted hair. He's a cool little figure, but I kind of wish his beard was just sculpted on.

Spider-Man (Black Costume)

I have always loved Spider-Man's black costume. Since it's first appearance in Secret Wars I have loved the simplicity of the black and the boldness of the large white spider logo. I have always wanted the black costumed figure from the Secret Wars line, but he's genrally more expensive than I care to spend. I picked up this super articulated Spider-Man from the Super Hero Show Down line.

 

This figure came with a base, some trading (game) cards, springloaded rocket launcher, and some gaming dice. I've never played the Super Hero Show Down game. I only own a few figures from the line. I picked up Spider-Man (Blue/Red and Black), Thing, and Doc Ock from SmallJoes.com when their were on clearance years ago. He's a pretty nice figure, but occasionally the joints fall apart.

Gung Ho - GI Joe '83

Gung Ho is the first member of the Marine Corps to join GI Joe. He was one of many unique characters to join the team in the second year. Characters like Gung Ho, Snow Job, and Doc helped break the mold of the '82 Joes. As a kid I wished the Gung Ho figure was a little bulkier. In the Sunbow cartoon series Gung Ho was a very imposing character and the original figure didn't quite reflect that.

 Gung Ho is dressed in a light blue uniform with green camo on his pants. His vest is open revealing a large Marine Corps tattoo on his chest. He came with a light blue backpack (mine has yellowed some) and a dark gray grenade launcher.

I sometimes like to equip Gung Ho with the weapon pack version of Snow Job's gun. All the characters in the original cartoon used this gun and I closely associate it with Gung Ho. as a kid I loved the rivalry between Gung Ho and Horror Show (from the October Guard) in the cartoon series.

St. Patty's Day Parade

Earlier this week Wade from Wade's Comic Madness (local comic book store) posted on Facebook he was looking for people with comic costumes to walk in the St. Patrick's Day Parade that goes past his shop. We had Superman (Wade), Spider-Man, Batgirl, Optimus Prime (myself), and a whole team of kid Avengers.

Wonder Woman Car - Corgi

I have previously posted about other 1979 Corgi Die Cast Cars featuring DC Superheroes. Today's car features Wonder Woman. She's not real attractive I might add. This orange convertible holds a seated (torso up) Wonder Woman figure and has a sticker resembling her outfit.

 The sticker as well as the orange paint show some wear, but it's it pretty good shape for a toy of it's vintage. My neighbor gave me this car as a kid and it's been in my collection ever since.

 It's a pretty cool car. I'd love to see it painted differently with a better looking figure of just about anyone riding in it. I also think it's kind of funny that Wonder Woman is so large and her car only has one seat.

Spikor - Vintage MOTU

Spikor... the spikiest guy on Eternia. This purple villain is Skeletor's blacksmith. He's covered in spikes from head to waist. His left arm houses his action feature. Like the rest of the Masters of the Universe figures he wears furry boots and underpants. In addition to being covered in spikes, Spikor came with an orange spiked club for a weapon. The spikes on his torso are oddly rubbery and occasionally ripped off on loose figures I see at yard sales.

When you twist Spikor's waist it activates his action feature. His spiked trident arm extends as his torso is twisted. The chrome on mine is a little worn.  Spikor has a cool appearance and was a figure I always wanted as a kid. You can always check out my review of the MOTUC version and my custom Color Blanks Spikor.

Ace Duck - TMNT

Ace Duck was released as part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line in 1989. He was one of my all time favorite figures from the original line. In fact, when I slimmed down my toy collection in Middle School Ace was one of three figures I saved from my large TMNT collection. He has a great sculpt and awesome accessories. He's a yellow duck dressed in jeans, a leather jacket, and pilot hat.  He is reminiscent of Donald or Howard the Duck. I always wanted Ace to get an episode in the cartoon show, but all he got was a super brief cameo that was more of a sight gag. Maybe Nickelodeon will bring this guy back.

Ace Duck comes with removable articulated wings, a removable hat, a bandolier, four egg grenades, and a pistol. His wings are articulated on a pivot that plugs into his back. They  articulate like a pair of scissors. They can't "flap". His hat has a little post inside that plugs into a hole in his head. Unfortunately this makes it so no one else can wear it.

Here is Ace without his hat and wings. The sculpting on the feathers on his chest look really great. He has sort of a wind blown look. His legs are slightly pre-posed like all the rest of the Turtles.

 Ace has a cool "Turtles" logo on the back of his jacket similar to April O'Neil. One interesting thing to note about Ace Duck is that his arms are articulated differently that pretty much every other figure in the TMNT line. His shoulders have hinge joints allowing him to "flap" his arms.

Maverick - X-Men Origin

One year for my birthday my buddy Greg went to our local comic shop and bought my pull file (in store monthly comic subscription service) and two X-Men Origin figures for me, One of those X-Men Origin Wolverine figures was Maverick. This figure looks just like Maverick in the 90's comics. He comes with a large rifle and a bandolier. The figure has a lot of nice details. I like all the lines in the silver armor. I don't really know a lot about the character other than he is linked to Wolverine through the Weapon-X program.

The Penguin - Toy Biz

After the success of the 1989 Batman movie Toy Biz renamed their Batman toy line and expanded the characters they were releasing. The DC Super Heroes line featured many characters and were based on the old Kenner Super Powers line. Here is the Super Heroes version of the Penguin. I previously posted about the Batman Returns version of the character. I don't own the Super Powers figure, so I'm not sure the exact differences there. It appears that the Super Powers and Batman Return Penguins share a head sculpt, but the Super Heroes version has it's own head. If you look at pictures of the other figures note the size of the nose, shape of the eye, and mouth. You can see that the head is similar but not the same. I have also read there are variations in the tails to his jacket (I'm not sure about that).

 

The penguin is dressed in his blue jacket with purple pants. I always wonder if he was supposed to wear blue or black. In old comics, when they only had twelve colors, blue was often used as a highlight on something black.The white paint on his shirt is easily marred, so if you have this figure take care of that. He comes with an umbrella weapon. The handle contains a spring loaded mechanism to launch the umbrella top missile. The mechanism lock is very weak and frequently fires without the button being touched. The coat tails are removable (on this version at least)

He's a great figure and I had a lot of fun with him as a kid. I always found the umbrella weapon very frustrating. I would have rather he came with a two versions and no spring action. I would have loved it if  he came with an open and closed version of the umbrella.