Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Rattlesnake Mountain Ring

Rattlesnake Mountain Ring

Mattel - Masters of the WWE Universe

Despite the headache of tracking them down, this Walmart exclusive series is still going strong.  A year after the line’s debut with the Castle Grayskull ring, we have a follow up in Rattlesnake Mountain.  Hey, Skeletor and his goons need somewhere to train, right?  Not only that, but it comes with two legendary WWE figures that arguably top the last by a mile:  Stone Cold Steve Austin and the immortal Hulk Hogan!

I get that Austin makes a great snake man in name and attitude, even though I was never fully sold on his total heel turn in the WCW Invasion days.  It was an easy out for Mattel...give him some slightly snake-looking eyes, and clip on snake arm and call it a day.  

Without the clip-on snakes, just plain Austin doesnt look or feel very “Masters of the Universe.”  I mean, they could have at least made his vest fit the primitive-techno theme.  Or given him a suped up version of this leg brace.  Hell, they could have gone full on “Robotic Redneck”, as Jim Ross would say.  In any case, he was a much needed legend that I’m glad secured a spot this early in the line.  Oh, hey...you might have noticed the yin to Austin’s yang here: the most electrifying hero in Eternia, the Rock!

Rock is the lone series three pick up for me.  This wave has been notoriously difficult to find all around.  I am missing the Scare Glow/Undertaker mash-up, but even if I never find him, I still have the great one!  And what a great figure he makes.

They’ve outfitted him with a “Masters” armor, complete with signature brahma bull.  He comes packed with more accessories than most, even if they are reused.  He’s got a black, Man at Arms mace, and clip on electric bolts that date waaaay back to Superman Blue in Mattel’s DC Universe Classics.  Best of all, he has the WWEternia Championship belt!  It looks to be an homage to 2002’s Fisto revamp?  I could be wrong.  

From series four (cherry-picking the legends), brings us Jake the Snake and Mr. T!  Mr. T must have signed a lucrative deal with Mattel/WWE in the last year, because this is the third figure we have had of him in as much time.  No complaints about that here!  I pity the fool who complains about the multitudes of T!!!


He looks so good, so colorful!  Great choice of armor.  And best of all, is the added Fisto/Jitsu, fool-smashing gauntlets!  Not only are these an awesome choice for the character, but they cover up the factory defect of having two right hands on my figure...(sad trombone sound).  Oh, well...I’ll make due, as he has been super hard to find in the wild.

Jake may have the gimmick to top them all in this line.  Appropriately sitting proxy for King Kiss, he has removable armor to reveal his scaly underside.  And....drumroll...a tear away face to reveal his true nastiness!

This works so much better than one would think.  The face overlay isn’t too oversized, and fits perfectly snug.  I like that there is a little piece of rubber hair on his hairline that goes over it to make it look fairly natural.  

Last but certainly not least, Hulk Hogan makes his return to standard toy shelves!  The controversies have died down, and I am happy that they have re-embraced the character.  Legends collecting has felt empty without him, even if they’re giving me an overdose of Macho Man to compensate.  The Rock is the only one that comes close to his status in wrestling, so this has been a long time coming.  I hope the doors to Hulk merch remain open for the the foreseeable future.

Sorry, John Cena, you may have just been bumped from being the proxy He-man for this universe.  The one one in WWEternia that can tame those pythons is the man with the 24-in pythons, brother!  The Horde armor works because of the bulk, colors, and “h” on the chest...but I’m not sure about the “rips” on the back of the armor.  Sure, it replicates Hulk’s tattered entrance gear...but how strong is that armor exactly?  Tin foil?  Or am I supposed to pretend an Eternian dragon could only have made marks like that?  I’m gonna file this under “silly-yet-awesome”. 

The ring playset is a repaint of the first with new “lava” ropes and some towering snake ring posts.  In place of stairs, is a rickety-looking suspension bridge ramp (which I apparently misplaced before this phot shoot) that fits with the original Snake Mountain motif.  I didn’t need another ring taking up space, and I may have bought it just for the figures, but Mattel did a good job with the overall theme.

I look forward to more of these figures down the line, even if they are a pain to track down as store exclusives.  Hey, WWE and Mattel, we’re drowning in series 2 Roman Reigns here!  And no, more Seth Rollins doesn’t help!  Send more Legends, please!  

Take a look back at previous WWEternia figures and the Castle Grayskull ring:

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2020/07/masters-of-wwe-universe.html


Thursday, January 21, 2021

Iron Man’s Hall of Armor

Iron Man’s Hall of Armor

Disney Toybox

Toybox is a Disney Store exclusive line that features articulated 5-inch figures from all of their properties: Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, Marvel, etc.  Outside of the Disney staples that fit in with my Kingdom Hearts figures, this line isn’t for me.  However, it has allowed for some decent vehicles like the Spider-Buggy, which works great with my Marvel Legends figures...and now this:

A customizable, multi-level, Iron Man Hall of Armors playset!  Well...its more of a display piece than playset.  Anyway, of course I needed one to display my army of Legends armors!

And since I have so many, I had to buy two!  The best part about this set, is that the panels can be arranged  side by side in different configurations or stacked.  Ive seen fans online with these stacked at least five high!  If you dont have that much space, one set on it’s own folds up into a nice cube/cylinder for storage or travel.

It also comes with one Toy Box Iron Man figure and some extra upgrade parts.  Some of these parts can kind of be fudged on Marvel Legends figures, depending on the size of their calves.  Color-wise, these seem tailor-made for the recent Starboost and Atmosphere armors.

 

There are a couple of  additional play features.  The main deck has a rotating display table.  There is a small, robot arm at the top of one panel to assist Tony in getting dressed.  And, my favorite feature:  an opening and closing iris on the top deck for quick blast off and re-entry!

The only real downside to this set, is that the foot pegs wont fit Marvel Legends.  Some armors will be easier to stand inside the pods than others, so make sure to position them well...or be prepared to see all of your Iron Men you just spent 20 minutes setting up topple down like dominoes.

The playset is normally $50 on the Shop Disney site, but I got mine before Christmas on sale for $30 each.  I was also able to get free shipping with a promo code.  Check in on that store from time to time...they offer a lot of great promos. But be careful:  they have the nasty habit of putting up products you never knew existed, or that you never knew you wanted til you see them!


Take a look back at the Toy Box Spider-Mobile (Spider-Buggy):

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2018/12/spider-mobile.html