MOTU Classics Shadow Beast!

I scored a great deal on a Mattel Masters of the Universe Classics Shadow Beast today!  He stand close to 10" tall and towers over the rest of Skeletor's forces!  The dim-witted, but powerful creatures were often used in the cartoon as muscle for Skeletor's schemes, controlled by the henchman, Beastman.

Mattel keeps the high-quality of this figure line going strong here.  Check out the pictures below.  Everything from his fur to the wood rings on his club are expertly detailed.  This is a very slick addition to my MOTU Classics collection.

And look how BIG this guy is compared to Beastman, She-Ra, & He-Man!

1967 "Vintage" Avengers Figures

Today the family and I visited the Gulf Coast Toy Show in Deer Park, Tx.  While there I spotted what I believed was an unbelievable find, a set of 4 vintage Marvel plastic figures from the 60's!  I talked the guy down 25% on the cost and left feeling very pleased with myself.  As I prepped for this post I found this article: http://spidermancollector.net/wordpress/?p=177.  Here I found that, though the original Marvel figures were released in 1967, they were light gray.  Subsequent releases followed until, finally, bootleg versions were released in the 80's and are easy to spot do to their hard, red plastic.  Today I bought a set of bootlegged 80's reproductions.  That being said, the figures are very cool and I still feel like I got a decent bargain.  Check out the pics below.  I LOVE the sculpt on the Iron Man.

You win some, you lose some.  I had hoped to have snagged a set of the first Avengers figures produced, but at least I got a cool retro-looking set of figures for a decent price.

Ram Man Review - MOTU Classics

At long last, a core member of the Masters of the Universe has gotten his turn at being re-imagined by the folks at Mattel.  Ram Man makes his triumphant debut with an all-new, much larger than average sculpt.  While no taller than the other MOTU Classics figures, he's almost twice as wide and twice as heavy.  This is one beefy figure!

While not the smartest member of He-Man entourage, Rammy was a mainstay of the original show and no MOTU collection is complete without him.  He comes with an update of his classic versions' axe and a kind of weird alternate head.  I'm assuming it's inspired by the 2001 updated cartoon.  It's just an ugly head sporting a metal yarmulke.  Needless to say that extra head is going straight in the accessories box.

Ram Man is so large that Mattel had to create a special, larger packaging just to hold him!  I don't have a previous figure's packaging handy to compare, but you can see what it looks like by itself.

While I love the updated version of his axe, I always picture Ram Man fighting with just his head.  Luckily, Mattel sculpted a handy axe holder right on his back!

As you can see below, Mattel's attention to detail continues with this excellent figure.  The sculpt is great and the paint apps are equal in quality.  The glossy paint really sells the metal look of his helmet.  His face guards really limit the head motion, but who cares?  He looks awesome!

Here's that weird extra head I mentioned earlier.  Well-sculpted, but weird.

Here are a few shots of Ram Man with his friends to show you a size comparison.

Here is my new Ram Man standing next to my vintage Ram Man.  I'd say they've made a few improvements.

Now it comes down to it...Ram Man vs Juggernaut. Who stops who?  Tell me your thoughts in the comment section!

I'm really excited to finally add Ram Man to my MOTU Collection.  I now have almost every character that I really wanted for this collection, but it literally wouldn't have been complete without this figure.  It took them several years to get around to him, but it was worth the wait.  Nice job Mattel!

DeMarco Murray's Figure Debut

One of the figures I've been on alert for since it's reported release last November was McFarland Sports first figure of Dallas Cowboy running back, DeMarco Murray.  Not only is Murray the Cowboy's best shot at a serious running game in several years, he's also a former Oklahoma Sooner, which means he's pretty much my favorite sports figure in the history of sports.

Considering I grew up with the old Starting Lineup figures, these McFarlands Sports Pics blow me away.  The poses are dynamic, the likenesses are very good, and the paint apps are spot on.  The quality on these are so good, it's really pretty surprising they're as affordable as they are at $12-$15 on-shelf. 

Check out the detail on these close-up shots!  The helmets feature a glossy, glittery paint while the chin straps are a matte, off-white.  The detail work is just stellar.  Look at the NFL logo on his collar!  I didn't get a good pic of his face, but they did good work there as well.  It's not the best likeness I've seen in this series, but it's close.

And here he is running with Mr. All-Time Rushing Leader, Emmitt Smith! 

Excellent work by the folks at McFarland Sports.  Often popular figures get re-released in their college uniforms.  I already have Adrian Peterson and Sam Bradford in the OU crimson. Let's hope DeMarco joins them sometime soon!

Simply Amazing

Marvel Select Unmasked Amazing Spiderman Figure Review

I was surprised when I came upon this figure in the Disney Store yesterday.  I looked for it last Fall and they had already sold out.  I was pretty excited to finally find one.

If you haven't seen the Amazing Spider-Man movie, you're missing out.  I loved the old trilogy, but this new movie just really nails the character.  It was SO good!  Anyway, this is an action figure review, so lets stay on topic.

Spidey comes with a masked and unmasked head, gloved or ungloved forearms, and a detailed brick wall base.  The heads were pretty hard to pop on and off and I was afraid I was about to break something, but it got easier after the first time I switched them.  The hands were easy to switch, but once on stayed nice and tight in their joint.

The likeness isn't spot on, like some movie figures I've gotten, but it's close enough for me.  Check out the details on the raised webbing and the texture on the red and blue parts of his costume!  His hair also has some nice highlights to give it depth.  This is some pretty slick work by the Marvel Select team.

Here's a look at Spidey with his mask and gloves on.  In a rare change, the gloved hands are both in fists instead of the "web slinging" pose.  Almost all Spideys come with the web slinging pose these days, so I'm glad for a change here.

This figure actually looks great with his mask on OR off.  I had a hard time deciding which way to display him.  Again, check out that texture.  When I was a kid we were lucky to get the webs PAINTED on his costume, much less sculpted on!

Here's a size comparison with the Marvel Legends Avengers Hulk figure.  They're in pretty nice scale together, though he's too tall to hang out with my Marvel Legends.  I've decided to display him alongside my movie figure collection.  He's pretty tall and fits right in with those figures.  Hulk gets away with hanging out with the Legends because he's SUPPOSED to be a lot larger than them.  Spidey's supposed to be tall, but not a head taller than Cap.

Here he's facing off against my Marvel Legends Lizard.  Though this figure isn't over-sized and imposing like the Marvel Legends movie Lizard figure, I think he's a much better design & sculpt, so I decided against upgrading him.  This Lizard came in a 4 or 5 pack of Marvel Legends Spidey villains and I'm pretty sure that's they only time they used this sculpt.

Overall, I'm happier with this figure than I though I would be.  Getting him out of the packaging and checking out his detail and costume options...he's top notch.  I'm giving him a 9 out of 10 just for the fact that he's got a faulty knee joint and I think his head likeness could have been a bit better.  Still...this is almost a perfect Spidey figure.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

And now... your moment of Zen.

Evil: Now available in Chrome!

Marvel Select Ultron
There have been a couple of attempts at making a decent Ultron action figure in recent years, but even the vaunted Marvel Legends line by ToyBiz fell far short of the mark.  Theirs resembled some kind of anthropomorphic robot dog.  Thankfully, Marvel's evil robotic mastermind is finally getting a respectable tribute via the Marvel Select figure line.

Quick back story: Ultron was originally created by Hank Pym (a.k.a. Antman, a.k.a. Giant Man, a.k.a. Yellowjacket, a.k.a. Deadbeat Husband) to be an asset to the Avengers.  Instead the sentient robot learned faster than intended and, when Pym rejected his creation (think Frankenstein), the robot rebelled and vowed to destroy his "father" and the Avengers.  He has been a dangerous foe for Earth's Mightest Heroes ever since.

Below you see a size and shininess comparrison with the Thor movie line Destroyer, and Marvel Select Colossus.  As you can see, Ultron is shiny, but Colossus is still the shiniest.  Russia wins this round.

Overall, this is the Ultron figure I've been holding out for.  His design is pretty simple for a robot, but fits his classic look, so I'm happy there.  My only regret is that the promo pictures featured more details inside his open mouth, but in the final product, we just get a flat mouth sculpt with red paint.  His sculpt is great.  His muted metallic paint apps are very nice and the black accents are painted on very meticulously.  Overall, I'm very happy with this figure and am glad I waited for this version before buying.  I'll give it 9 out of 10.  Nice job Marvel Select crew!

And now...you're moment of Zen.

Instagram invades Eternia!!!

Just a few fun Instagram pics featuring a few figures from my Masters of the Universe Classics collection.  Enjoy!