King of the Hill

 King of the Hill

 The Loyal Subjects and Sunny Days Entertainment

King of the Hill was a great show.  One that stayed consistent with it’s storytelling and characters through it’s run before bowing out at 13 seasons...both Simpsons and South Park could only hold up for about 8 before the cracks began to show.  It was always on the edge of cancellation, playing opening act for the Simpsons at a not-quite prime time slot, or being preempted by NASCAR or Major League Baseball.  I’m glad it endured, and that there are still fans out there now working on toys like these.

There were some KOTH figures produced a long ways back (Toycom...who?) that have since become pretty rare and expensive.  These may never get to give us a full roster of characters, but any Hank Hill is better than nothing.  And these $7 bendable figures wont break the bank either.

Bobby and Hank stand close to a 5-inch line.  They have all the mobility you could expect from bendys.  Since Hanky is more lanky, he’s the more flexible of the two.  Poor, rotund Bobby can really only move his arms.  Still, they look like decent 3D representations of their 2D counterparts, if just a lil too flat in the back.  Sorry, Hank...didn’t mean to bring up your flat butt situation again.

Sporting more articulation, albeit in a more bizarre, exaggerated form, comes the Loyal Subjects’ Hank from their Animation Collector Packs.  Hank is packed out with Bob’s Burgers, American Dad, and (barf) Family Guy characters.  There are Dale and Bobby figures in the line, but they are chase pack-ins...WTF?!

  

Even Hank is packed out less than some, but 1/24?!  1/48?!?!  Are you kidding me?!  Ugh...I guess I should be happy that they went with window boxes and not blind bags?  Shame...Hank is a fun little (about 3 inches) figure.  He comes with a propane tank, Alamo beer can, and collector card, all for about $10.

So, Loyal Subjects may be a dead end.  Perhaps Sunny Days can produce the rest of the cast...box set?  Here’s hoping!

Popeye and Bluto

Popeye and Bluto

Stormy Seas Ahead : Deluxe Box Set

Mezco ONE:12 Collective

Welcome back, Popeye!  It’s been a while since Mezco’s last offering took “toy of the year” right before the stroke of midnight New Year’s Eve, and this set looks to take the competition by storm all the same.  The Popeye figure might look familiar, but he’ll need the change of duds after going toe to toe against his arch-nemesis, Bluto!

Since this is a re-deco, let’s talk Sailor Man first.  Here, Popeye gets a rerelease in more Navy/nautical colors.  He comes with the same accessories as the last (pipes, hats, alt heads, hands, spyglass, compass, peacoat, duffle bag (though in new colors), and of course, spinach cans.  You get the same stand and “flight” rod system (now white instead of navy blue...one for Bluto, too). Nothing has changed as far as sculpt or articulation...you can’t improve on perfection.  Other than the new togs, there are a few new accessories that will make this double dip all worthwhile.  More on that after a look at Bluto.

He’s large. (Laaaaaarge!)  He’s mean. (Do you know what I mean?)  He’s everything you could want out of an exaggerated, yet realistic take on these characters.  The grimace captures the big palooka picture perfect.  Just look at the weathering on those shoes and pants!  He has a fair amount of articulation in the head, arms, and legs...the most important to posing being the wrists for interchangeable hands and accessories.  He has some motion in his waist, but nothing for the chest.  This is not disappointing, as it’s true to the barrel-chested nature of the beast.

Accessory-wise, he comes with a removable hat (magnetic), three sets of hands, a boat hook, a giant wrench, and a 300 lbs weight.  I had no idea that the wrench and weight would be die-cast metal until I took them out of the package.  Not a necessary detail in the least, but very cool.  Really let’s your Bluto figure show off his heft, balance, and strength.

Now, the bonus.  Both Popeye and Bluto come with alternate, battle-damaged heads!  There are some really neat bumps (Boff!), bruises, (Wham!) and even a little bit of blood.(Un’erstan’?)  So, down some spinach for some knock-down, drag-out, Fleischer-esque fisticuffs!

Bonus bonus!  Which I guess adds to the “Stormy Seas” theme...both characters have some extra sea-weathering gear!  Popeye gets a rain slicker and matching hat, and Bluto gets a big leather peacoat.  While I usually get a Bluto-sized grimace when it comes to the struggle of changing out soft goods outfits on action figures, these weren’t so bad.  They don’t look too bad for soft goods either.  Popeye’s rain hat may have been better as a sculpted item, but it’s by no means terrible.

I jumped on the preordered for this set maybe a year ago?  If you didn’t do the same, you may have missed the boat:  sold out in most online retailers.  I’m happy that there are enough fans out there to want figures like these. I imagine more variants will be on the way...heck, Popeye has always been a new head away from his Poopdeck Pappy.  Not sure if they will do an Olive Oyl...not sure if I would want one, thinking about how freakish she could look in a realistic take.  Eh, I’d still buy it.

Take a look back at the previous adventures of Popeye:

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2019/01/mezco-one12-popeye.html

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2018/07/popeye-and-pirate-ship.html

Hondo Ohnaka’s Slightly-Used Droid Depot

Hondo Ohnaka’s Slightly-Used Droid Depot

Disney - Hasbro

Times must be tough when Disney starts selling park exclusive merch to us fly over fans without us having to leave the state...or even the couch!  Some of these droid sets I have picked up at a local Disney Store, others on their website.  Some of them were deals...what?!  Who would have thought merch from “The Last Jedi” wouldn’t fly off the shelves?  Oh, Rian...still subverting our expectations....Anyway, Hondo Ohnaka (a recent Vintage Collection pick-up that I only really bought because of his neat animatronic at Galaxy’s Edge) is here to showcase these new droids...along with my entire collection of astromechs from years of collecting!

Two Frankensteined droids from extra droid parts. Droid: “Kill Meee....”

Let’s get Last Jedi out of the way...here are the all green and white resistance bots that came sold as a set.  Not sure where they appear in the movie.  Trailing Holdo, carrying her royal highness’s matched luggage in the background while she is scolding Poe, no doubt.

Next, some of the very few figures produced for Rise of Skywalker. (Thanks, again Rian...you too, Kathy!)  The blues aren’t that exciting, but the metallic sheen is nice.  Red and white has my fave color scheme...reminiscent of R5-D4.  D-O is a nice pack-in, but not when he’s taking the place of what should be a droid with more plastic to it.  Outside of these and returning characters, I think the only other new figure from this movie was Zori Bliss?  Sad...at least we have The Mandalorian, right?

BB-H20 was a Disney Shop online pick-up.  He’s different than the previous BBs from Target.  He has a port for customization on top of his head, but not much head motion due to a peg system.  The ball splits in two to reveal a removable silver do-dad.  This is his “Weeble-Wobble” system:  a weight that allows him to weeble and wobble but not fall down.  Because of this, he doesn’t have a flat spot on his ball for support like the others do.  Interesting...I wonder if this is the set up they have at the Disney parks’ build a droid area?

After complaining about missing out on them at Target in my area, two more Target stops way outside of town nabbed me the rest of their current exclusives.  Red has an extra dome I have misplaced.  Both the jets and serving tray have been borrowed from older R2-D2 releases.  The Halloween Special, as I call him, is obviously my favorite.  I dig his colors and his semi-translucent dome.

The rest of the Astromech gang comes from various points of the saga, collected from the Phantom Menace on:

The doomed crew of the Royal Naboo Starship - Red:  “Wait, you have the wrong Red!!!”

The guy with the triangle eye in the front might be my fave.

“It’s not the years, honey...it’s the mileage.”

Bucket was missing from the group because I covered him previously...and he’s on Star Tours Duty with Captain REX:

Bucket astromech droid

And you can look back at my ever-growing BB unit collection:

BB Units

E.T. and Galactic Senate Pods

E.T. and Galactic Senate Pods

NECA - Hasbro

I got a set of Galactic Senate Pods from EBay!  Now I can recreate the most exciting scenes from the prequel trilogy!  Let the debating and filibustering begin!  

One pod came in a set of repacked figures (Yoda, Palpatine, shock troopers) as a Target exclusive way back in the day.  I wasn’t quite crazy enough then to rebuy a bunch of figures I already had just so the Emperor could have the equivalent of a metal boulder to throw at a CGI puppet thing.  

Years go by, and NECA gave me a reason to give this another look with the arrival of their E.T. mystery mini figures.  Ugh...blind bag nonsense.  Actually, my wife was given two as a birthday gift, and I added a third (another neutral, arms down pose) just to make this all work.  

If you didn’t know E.T. existed in the Star Wars universe, here’s a clip from The Phantom Menace to save you the agony of rewatching the movie.  You would probably fall asleep during the political crap before their split second inclusion in the “vote of no confidence” crowd rabble scene:

Sit down, loser.

I like to believe that E.T.’s kind was one of the few groups that got out while the getting was good.  The people in the prequel movies were complete morons and made a mess of everything, so an E.T. family took their round spaceship (which looks quite similar to a trade federation core ship, right?) and galaxy hopped.  Also, maybe being a Force-sensitive race makes sense of E.T.’s telepathy and levitation powers?

Anyway, enjoy this very odd inclusion to my collection.  I picked them up cheap before Disney decides to flesh out that one line of Tarkin dialog into another horrible spin-off movie or show episode:

“The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.”

Wait!  That does sound awesome...the Emperor “dissolving” a whole room of these pods and their stuffy delegates?!  At least it would be better than anything in Rogue One...I wish I could dissolve Rogue One.

Paulie Pennino

Paulie Pennino

Rocky - Jakks Pacific

It’s a Thanksgiving miracle!  Everyone’s favorite alcoholic, abusive brother is home for the holidays.  I missed out on Paulie from the Jakks Pacific Rocky line way back in 2006, so this guy was a must at a local toy shop...for only $7.99!   Between Jakks and NECA, I feel my Rocky lineup is that much more complete now.  Time to start work on a custom of Paulie’s robot!

Take a look back at the rest of my Rocky Collection here:

NECA Rocky

Louis Tully’s Terrible Night

 Louis Tully’s Terrible Night

Ghostbusters Plasma Series- Hasbro

As it was originally planned as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, I should be jumping for joy that I got it with no fuss from Hasbro Pulse.  HOWEVER, this Plasma Series capper does come at a price...and I’m not just talking money.

Let’s talk positives first.  Louis Tully looks great.  They absolutely nailed the Rick Moranis head sculpt. Mattel’s figure was okay for it’s time, but this is a case where the digital scan trumps hand artistry by a mile.  

His body is totally unique to the line, having no shared parts that I can tell.  He is appropriately short and frumpy in all the right spots.  The articulation is greater and more improved than the Mattel Tully, obviously...my how Marvel Legends spoiled us all.

While making the colander helmet a separate, removable piece and not a part of a separate head does work just fine, Mattel still put a little more effort in their Tully in detail and accessories.  Pizza, popcorn barrel, barbecued Terror Dog head...here, you get nothing.  A tiny pot of coffee (yes, have some), a telephone, and a lamp would have put longtime collectors over the moon.  

I liked the dark blue stripes on the shirt that Mattel used, over the flat blue we get here.  I also wish he had a separate, neutral head.  This one, with the red eyes, is in full Keymaster mode. (What an asshole!)  Still, it’s the best version of the character we have gotten so far.

Having already released one as a build a figure, Hasbro thought this was the best way to get us to buy another Terror Dog.  They are right, but you’d think you would get a little more effort from them than what we have here. Reuse of the body sculpt and paint were a given, but the head...there’s supposed to be a difference of horns between Vinz Clotho and Zuul.  

Technically, we have two Vinz Clotho figures in name alone according to Hasbro.  The BAF was labeled Vinz and, to make their double pack gimmick scene specific, this one is also Vinz.  C’mon, we’re talking a bout a half a thimble’s worth of plastic here!  I could modify the horns myself...but this is the kind of abuse Ghostbusters fans already had to endure with Mattel!

Sigh, it is what it is...and what it is is at least a fairly well rounded first movie line.  Sure, there a a few more ghosts we’d like.  I’m hoping more are on the way just to get Slimer out there.  If not, Mattel at least has us covered with their efforts.  Gotta mix and match with this mixed bag of a property.  Ghostbusters deserves better...but, hey, it goes with the underdog theme, right?