Venom

Venom Wave

Marvel Legends

Hasbro

I'm a little late with these, but no later than Hasbro was ready with these figures to coincide with the Venom movie.  I got these about the same time it hit Redbox.  If you weren't already drowning in Deadpool figures, someone pulled the level on the chute marked "More Symbiotes."  Somebody defrost "Green Jelly!"

Carnage and his offspring are totally 90s comic garbage, but they are so colorful and toyetic.  I skipped Cletus the first time around, and I am glad I did so.  I would have missed out on his alternate "unmasked head."  The slimy tentril pieces really add to the very Bagley look...very good translation from page to figure.  You also get some alternate murder hands!

Carnage was the tops for accessories in this wave.  No frills for Scream, unfortunately.  I guess you have to have a built in gimmick like Lasher.  Still, she looks great.  Always a fan of the colors.  We're still a couple of symbiotes short of "Separation Anxiety."

The Venom figure is the least exciting of the bunch, mostly because its a slight re-release/retool.  However, it could be considered a completely different figure, Pork Grind:  Spider-Ham's arch nemesis.  If that wasn't enough for a rebuy, you do get a great McFarlane-esque Eddie Brock head and some "unmasking" symbiote shoulder attachment.  Also, the Venom head (open mouth, no tongue) is new, so more variation for a favorite character.

Spider-Ham is getting a lot of flack because of his lack of articulation, especially in his lower half.  Yeah, it is lacking there and maybe he should have been a bonus pack-in elsewhere.  (Ah, the good old Toy Biz days.)  He is basically a pack-in for the largest piece of Monster Venom.  I still really like the overall figure.  If I did not want the full Venom, Spider-Ham would still be hard to resist picking up.  I had to throw Spider-man Noir into the pictures with him!

Poison was an odd choice, one that I could have skipped as he is an alternate timeline/universe version of Spider-man.  Wait...I take that back...after seeing the best picture of 2018, "Into the Spider-Verse," I definitely need any and all Spider-man variations!  While not all that familiar with the comic, he does look nice.  Very clean, Iron Man-like armor.  An unmasked head would have been made it better...thanks, Cosmic Spidey!

"Monster" Venom, while not as big as I had expected, is pretty massive.  Veins galore!  And the metallic purple really makes him unique to the others on the shelf.  Though I must say, if I had not wanted all the figures in this wave, he would be an easy pass.  Sorry, but Eddie Brock is Venom, and Mac Gargan is Scorpion.  Period.  And if Mac must be Venom for a bit, I prefer the scorpion tail as part of his look.

The last figure in this wave, Typhoid Mary, I am saving for a Daredevil review.  Or at least the next Spider-man wave, which is due any day now.  More to come on that soon!

Mezco One:12 Popeye

Popeye

Mezco One:12

Happy 90th Birthday to the man with the spinach can!  To celebrate, let's take a look at the definite figure of the year for 2018: Mezco's One:12 ultra-realistic Popeye!

Like Scrooge McDuck, Popeye is an old favorite of mine.  I couldn't resist this figure.  Having done a Popeye line in 2001 (see my retro review here), someone at Mezco must really love this guy to take a chance on a single, high-dollar figure.  So far, it sounds like the action figure community as a whole is eating him up.  And everyone should, especially comic book fans.  Popeye is the prototype superpowered superhero.  I needed this figure standing side by side with the Man of Steel and sitting next to Luke Skywalker on the Council of Nine.  He's epic and deserves an epic figure.

Let's get the griping out of the way first.  One:12 is a pretentious way of saying "it fits with the standard 6-inch figures."  Want some more pretension?  How about going all Mego with cloth clothing...seriously?  Who prefers cloth clothing on scales below 12 inches?  I really hope that's not the detailing that pushed these figures up to the $80 mark (wait for it.)  That's right...$80 for a 6-inch figure.  I will not be making a habit of this.  Well, unless they bring out more strange properties that you don't see everyday...like Popeye!

The cost aside, he delivers.  Over 28 points of articulation, an interchangeable outfit, and a fair amount of accessories along with a unique sculpt that is either something of dreams or nightmares.  The ultra-realistic take with cartoony proportions is both strange and beautiful.  All the lines in the forearms and face and...ew...cloth clothing means you can look at Popeye's defined abs!

Accessory-wise, you get a couple of hats (captain's hat, sailor cap, stocking cap), 2 cans of spinach (one closed, one crushed open), an opening compass, a telescoping spyglass, a duffle bag, and a peacoat.  There is also a large, round base with interchangeable foot peg or flight stand.  I guess the flight stand is for those big uppercuts.  You also get a plain pipe and one with a little, pissed off smoke cloud coming out of it (plus several extras of each, because they are so small and easy to lose.)  There is a second head for the figure, but it only has a slight variance in some gritted teeth.  I would have preferred a battle-damaged look with some scuffing, blood, and a black eye like Bluto really let him have it before it was time to break out the spinach.

  

This figure was announced some time ago and has been at the top of my "must haves" for some time.  I am glad to have him and he is a great figure, but I do have to end this on a sour note.  Out of the package, I noticed some popped or missing stitching on one of the inside pantlegs.  I contacted Mezco customer service to ask about replacement parts (which they do have as an inquiry selection on their contact page.)  I bought this figure from Big Bad Toy Store, so they said it was their policy to have me return it there for a full replacement.  Really?  You don't have a tiny pair of replacement pants handy?  Instead of dealing with the return hassle and wait to get a completely new figure, I'm living with the defect.  I find that hard to swallow on a big-ticket item.  It should be perfect, and good customer service should make it right with as little stress to the consumer as possible.  Despite where I bought them, I have had excellent, direct replacement service with figure defects from Diamond Select Toys and DC Collectibles.  For shame, Mezco.  As I told their "customer service" rep, Popeye would be disgusted.  Pissed off, in fact.  He would probably give you one chance to make it right before he popped you in the mouth and your pants comically exploded into hundreds of tiny replacement pants.

The Fantastic Feats of Captain Strong!

Ecto-1

Ecto-1

1:24 Scale Die-Cast Metal

Jada Toys

For whatever reason, Ray...call it rights issues with Cadillac, call it price negotiation, call it scaling...the Ghostbusters' ride, Ecto-1, has not had a release that scales well with figures outside of the original Kenner line.  Mattel tried to rape our fandom with a crowdfund.  Diamond Select has been a holdout on for their expansive Minimates line and their 7-inch line (so far.)  C'mon, Diamond...even ugly, ugly Funko made an Ecto for their ugly, ugly Pops.  After many years of waiting...everybody can relax, I found the car!   Jada Toys made a car that scales with Minimates pretty darn well!

And it's pretty darn detailed, too!  It features opening driver, passenger, and cargo doors and you can even take a look under the hood.  For as tiny as it is, the roof rack gizmos and doodads are as good as any model kit.  But  better than a model, the bulk of the car is durable metal and ready to roll.  

You can cram Minimates into the front seat with a little patience, but it really works best if you pop off their lower halves.  The back cargo can fit at least three of the removable proton packs easily.  

This is a pretty large, metal car with a lot of value for $20.  Jada is kicking Hot Wheels' butt with offerings like this and my 89 Batmobile.  If your're a Ghostbusters, car, or model enthusiast, this is definitely worth picking up.  I would like to see them tackle Ecto-1a and the car in it's original black, in-desperate-need-of-repair-form.  

Ghostbusters II Figures

Ghostbusters II

Diamond Select Toys

Diamond Select already gave us a more robust offering on the original movie compared to Mattel, plus a huge diorama playset to boot.  They've been trucking right along, giving the same treatment to Ghostbusters II.  Well...almost. 

We get all the montage/poster charcoal suits complete with Santa hats.  We get Slime Blowers, Giga Meters, and mood slime.  We get Ghostbuster Louis Tully with ear muffs.  We get a more menacing Vigo the Carpathian.  We get Janos Poha with an articulated Baby Oscar.  Is the sequel worth all this plastic?  Eh, probably not.  At least not enough to shell out for rights to the ghosts.  

I have heard that since a different FX company worked on the spooks, they were off limits.  What the?!  Mattel didn't give us Gozer, now Diamond won't give us the Scoleri Brothers?!  But they made a full lineup in the Minimates line?!  Jogger Ghost, Titanic Captain, Washington Square Ghost...At least I have Matty's too-short, limited-articulation Tony and Nunzio, and a wingless Movie Theater Ghost as stand-ins, right?  Sigh...

Lots of Ghostbusters variants doesn't make this lineup all that appealing, so I guess the selling point is the firehouse diorama.  It's looking pretty good so far, with interchangeable GB one and "peace sign" signs.  The doors open and the whole thing looks to be in scale.  Too bad there's never going to be a scale Ecto-1 to park inside it.  We'll have to wait for the The Real Ghostbusters (plus Slimer and a pointlessly small Stay Puft) to show off the finished HQ.