Frankenstein

 Frankenstein

NECA - Universal Monsters

Yes, just plain Frankenstein.  Get over the "Frankenstein's Monster" thing...I'm a lazy typist.  After all these years of second and third tier horror properties, NECA is finally tackling the granddaddy of them all!

Frank is the first of many Universal Monsters coming.  He's probably number three or four on my list of the classics, but you can't not have him in your collection.  He looks great...spot on Boris Karloff in all three head sculpts.

I really like the manacles.  Gotta love real metal chains on toys.  He also comes with some flowers...but no little girl for chucking into the drink.  Extra heads means less other accessories. Other than some lab stuff (which would be better suited for a deluxe set), I wish he had a torch to prod him with.  Ah well, I had a couple of spares laying around.

Frankenstein hit Walmart right in time for Father's Day.  What?!  Well, that's kind of funny considering his creation and all.  He should be getting a larger release soon if you missed him, in both color and black and white variations.  In spite of the "classic" presentation, I wanted the color versions to fit in better with all my Halloween figure displays.

Wolfman is coming next, followed by the Mummy.  Wolfy is number two on my list, right behind Dracula.  Speaking of Drac, I was hesitant to get excited by this line until NECA confirmed they had likeness rights to Bela Lugosi.  His estate has been a notorious hold-out for many a line, so I wasn't about to start buying in on another potentially incomplete set.  Not that Dracula was ever absent from these...he was just an imposter.  Lugosi or bust!  NECA had better make good on that promise, or Frank here might be sleeping with the Gill-man very soon!

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

Friday the 13th Part VII:  The New Blood

NECA

Did I need another figure of this blatant “Halloween” rip-off?  Just look at the bones!!!  

The gore and fun kills kept the franchise going, and made for some interesting Jason Voorhies variations.  I was ready to call it quits with the video game version and Part 2 “sack-head.”  And the Part V version satiated my need for the hockey mask AND gore, with worm face and split hand features.  But this…this pushes the gross-out meter to eleven!

I don’t remember much of Part VII, other than this beat up looking Jason chained to the bottom of the lake.  Real metal chains on actions figures…I’m a sucker for them!  And being fish food for a while has left him deteriorated and slimy looking.  The exposed bones look so, so good!

He has two interchangeable heads.  One that comes with a full, removable hockey mask to reveal his grotesque monster face.  The sculpt shines through the eyeholes and the broken bottom portion of the mask.

The other head is a screaming monster face with a port in the back to support a mask that has been split in two.  It’s a neat effect, and the plastic straps are rubbery, yet not too rigid to support how much you want to reveal of Mommy’s special lil guy.

He also comes with a large amount of assorted cutlery.  Bloody ax and machete are nothing new, so how about a bloody rail spike to the noggin?  The offwithyourhead overhead circular saw is neat, but I foresee this breaking with minimal effort in the future.  I’m gonna stick with the good old hand sickle.  Or maybe the kaiser sling blade...mmm hmmm....

Unlike Michael Myers, Jason has delivered the goods in time for this Halloween season yet again.  The next “Halloween” set (with Dr. Loomis) will probably get here in time for Valentine’s Day.  Which I guess February is a scary movie dumping ground…

Take a look back at more Jason Voorhies variants:

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2018/10/pennywise-and-jason.html

https://terribletoyman.blogspot.com/2020/10/sack-head-jason.html 

Mini-Puft Surprise

Mini-Puft Surprise

Hasbro

Goo! Now you can get some "non-edible" play goo with a mystery mini-Puft figure!  There are six different figures to collect, and each can has an imprinted serial number on it to clue you in on which is inside.  You know...because the mystery gimmick is a sucky rip-off otherwise.

"That's for Camp Waconda!"

The goo is very gooey, requiring you to rapidly roll a bit into a ball to even begin to start removing it from everything it touches.  There's a good reason the figures are double-bagged inside the container:  the first gets ruined in cleaning/opening, and the second is to protect the figure.  I feel it would be a hassle to clean this off the Ghostbusters, so that's a no-go for me.  We'll have to wait for the return of Ectoplasm for that bit of fun.  

Aren't they cute?  While you're deciding if "cute" is what you're looking for in "Ghostbusters" (a bit too much in the vein of “Baby Yoda” success) , I'll tell you which are my favorites:  chocolate bar, puddle, and flames.  While they scale big with both 5 and 6 inch figures, they are still fun to bust when more ghosts are needed.  

There have already been pictures of several waves to come.  I hope the movie is good enough not to put the kibosh on these…and/or that they don’t get stuck on a barge in the California harbors too long after and get sent straight to Five Below stores.

James Bond Jr.

 James Bond Jr.

Hasbro

On the eve of the 25th James Bond film, and the end of the Daniel Craig era, let’s take it back 30 years…to a time when the franchise lay dormant, and producers were desperate to keep 007 alive.  Since the films were tied up in legal disputes and Timothy Dalton walked away, a new Bond would heed the call to action:  Bond…James Bond…Junior?

Yeah, it’s as stupid and confusing as it sounds.  Even if you can overlook the proactively neon, early 90s appeal, how can a long-time fan get past, “Um, wasn’t Bond and only child?”  Is this a weird honorary title?  A family friend of “Uncle James?”  Well I guess if stupid “Spectre” made Blofeld a foster brother, anything goes!  Wait…forget that…how is Dr. No alive?  AND WHY IS HE GREEN?!  Action figure appeal, I guess.  Or surviving his dip into hot, radioactive water had some repercussions?  Actually, he predates the same treatment Iron Man’s nemesis, Mandarin would get…avoiding Asian stereotypes by making them “alien” looking.  BUT HE STILL LOOKS LIKE A GREEN FU MANCHU!!!

Anyway, most changes can be chalked up to "James Bond for Kids" needed a brighter color palette.  Jaws’ suit is the brightest of blues.  And Oddjob…yikes…

 

They all have true “action features” appropriate to the characters.  Jaws, has exaggerated, ratcheting teeth, and Oddjob can throw his Run DMC hat.  Dr. No has a killer grip AND an arsenal of interchangeable weapon hands.

There are a few “original”figures in the line…like Dr. Derange.  He has a Jekyll/Hyde thing going on with his gimmick. With that grin and monocle, I prefer to think of him as the new incarnation of Dr. Carl Mortner, ex-Nazi scientist and Max Zorin’s test-tube daddy from “A View to a Kill.”  Hey, if Dr. No and Oddjob survived, this guy could have Robocop-ed himself back together after that blimp explosion, right?  And maybe the suave, younger turn is actually a bit of Max that survived?!  Crazy, right?  Just wait til I try and explain the only figure I am missing:  a mohawked, pirate/biker themed character, Captain Walker D. Plank.

Resurrecting villains works, but they went full-on “Muppet Babies” for the good guys.  Horace “IQ” Boothroyd, the grandson of Q, and Gordo Leiter, son of CIA agent, Felix Leiter.  Wait…fussy Q had a very private home life?  Was Felix married  before his newly wedded wife, Della was killed by South American drug lords in “License to Kill?”  

When your world looks kinda weird
and you wish you weren't there,
close your eyes and make believe
that you could be anywhere

Did you also imagine James Bond with a half-mullet and having some sort of gym coach named Buddy Mitchell?  Whatever…At least they all pack the appropriate gadgets, chops, and kicks.

 

The line included a couple of goofy variants for Junior (Scuba gear, flight gear, and, of course, *BARF* ninja gear) and a couple of vehicles.  The sports car is the biggest and best of them.  Not too far off from an actual 80s model car, save for the lame stickers on the sides and back.  You know what’s probably not a good idea for  a “secret” agent?  GETTING CUSTOM DECALS WITH YOUR NAME AND VISAGE PLASTERED ALL OVER YOUR CAR!

Aside from that, IQ has packed it with deadly features.  Extending machine guns and barbed, battering ram grill an.  Exhaust port missiles.  Raising, bullet-proof spoiler shield.  Buzz-saw extending rims.  Plus the old favorite, passenger side ejector seat!

 

 

I’ve had a lot of fun at the expense of this silly concept, but at least the figures are unique and a blast to play with.  Until Barbara Broccoli gets over herself and the idea that 007 merchandise needs to be high-end, adult only, this line and the Sideshow Collectibles dolls from the early 2000s are as good as it gets for comprehensive Bond figures.  I am holding out hope that a “made-to-order” concept, like Super 7 does with Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, Disney, etc, can talk some sense into her and get us some James Bond “Ultimates.”  6-7 inch articulated Bond figures with accessories, character selection from across the entire film library…sigh…

Muppet Babies!
They make their dreams come true
Muppet Babies!
They'll do the same for you!