#116: Marvel Legends (Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2) - Mantis

It took a while (not many people are selling Mantis parts on Ebay), but I finally got the rest of the pieces I needed to assemble Mantis. *insert obligatory grumbling about Mantis being a build a figure and not a regular carded release here* Anyway, as a major addition to the cast, I'm glad Mantis didn't have to wait a few years to get a figure. It's a nice looking figure, and the metallic green really catches the eye.

#115: Star Wars The Black Series (The Last Jedi) - Supreme Leader Snoke

Since he only appeared as a giant hologram in the last movie, Hasbro didn't bother making a six inch figure for Snoke. But he appears in the flesh for The Last Jedi, so now he gets a figure. Sadly, he remains as enigmatic as ever, although I assume his backstory will be filled in with a tie-in novel at some point. Although a golden bathrobe is not the costume I would have expected for the leader of a bunch of Imperial wannabes, I will give Snoke points for originality in not choosing a more Sith-like set of black robes. Since it's all soft goods, he's fully articulated, and the costume doesn't get in the way of his movement. In case anybody wonders what Snoke is wearing under that robe, the answer is short white pants and gold slippers. There are no accessories included, although I can't really think of any that would be appropriate.

#114: Star Wars The Black Series (The Last Jedi) - Resistance Tech Rose

Now that I've finally seen The Last Jedi and have some context for the figures I've bought from the movie, here's Rose, who is a new character. I'm not getting into any spoiler territory, but I liked the movie, and I liked the character. Rose looks like she did onscreen, in her comfy looking Resistance tech jumpsuit, armed with a blaster rifle, and taser (which clips on to her belt). I think my favorite thing about the figure is the expression on her face, which to me looks like she's having trouble believing that she just heard say something incredibly dumb.

#113: Marvel Legends (Spider-Man Homecoming) - Vulture's Flight Gear

I finished collecting all theses pieces a little while ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. Otherwise, I am almost completely caught up with my blogging, with only entries I purchased this month left to get to. So, the thing about the Vulture's wings is that they have a massive wingspan. There's no way they could have released this as a standard solo carded figure without coming up with a new pricepoint. So it does make some sense to have the wings be the build a figure for this series. I think this is the second version of the Vulture's wings, which he uses for the heist in the climax of the movie.

#112: Marvel Legends Series (12 inch) - Thor

It took a little longer to find Thor on sale than it did Hulk (and then of course, the day after I bought it, I found a better deal), but I finally did, and here he is. I think this is my favorite Thor figure. It's just really cool looking. And it has a soft goods cape that, due to the larger scale, actually looks good. There are two sets of hands: fists and gripping. There are two versions of Mjolnir: standard and partially translucent for lightning throwing action. Best of all, there are two heads: one bearded and one clean shaven. There are also two sets of hair: one for going bare headed, and one for the helmet. The hair slips on and off the heads, so you can choose for Thor to be in any combination of facial hair and helmet wearing that you'd like. I am on record as being both pro-beard and pro-awesome helmets, so that's how I'm displaying my Thor. There's even a loop on Thor's belt to hold Mjolnir.

#111: Star Wars The Black Series (A New Hope) - Jawa

I went to a Target that's not my usual one, and there was a random endcap filled with Jawa and Death Squad Commanders. I'd been on the lookout for the Jawa figure for a while, so that was a nice find. Sadly, the days of getting two Jawas for the price of one figure seems to have passed. While the Jawa is fully articulated, its leg articulation is mostly rendered moot by the plastic robes. It comes with two blunderbuss looking blasters, one of which is connected by a cord to a pack on its belt.

#110: Transformers Titans Return - Cosmos

There have been a couple modern versions of Cosmos released over the past few years, but they have generally been hard to find. Or at least, I've never seen any for sale without substantial secondary markups. But this release has been pretty easy to find. Oh, and for the record, I bought this on Black Friday, so I'm now less than a month behind on my blogging. This wasn't on sale or anything, but it just happened to be Black Friday when I bought it. Cosmos is one of the smaller scaled Transformers, so robot mode is fairly basic and has no accessories. But it looks cool.

The real appeal of Cosmos, for me, is the absolutely ridiculous alt-mode of a flying saucer. If other Autobots can turn into exotic sports cars, a UFO might as well be an acceptable alt-mode as well.

#109: Marvel Legends (Thor Ragnarok) - Thor and Valkyrie

Valkyrie is one of the key new characters introduced in Ragnarok, so naturally the only way to get a figure of her is in a two pack. Thor is a retooled and repainted version of the solo release. He's got a bare head, less armor, and includes Heimdall's sword as well as a lightning effects piece (spoilers?). It's not a bad figure, and it's different, so your mileage may vary on whether it's different enough to make the double dipping acceptable. Valkyrie is the real star of this set, of course. She's a nice looking figure and comes with her cool sword as well as a scabbard. The scabbard doesn't properly attach to her, although it can tuck into her belt. It's not perfect, but it works.

#108: Marvel Legends Series (12 inch) - Spider-Man

Remember when Target started carrying the 12 inch Deadpool, only to clearance it out after seemingly a week? Well, they decided to get an exclusive 12 inch version of Spider-Man in his iconic black costume, then charge ten dollars more for no good reason and I still haven't seen it go on clearance. I'm not always the most patient toy buyer, but I was patient enough to wait for it to go on sale, which eventually it did. Basically, it's a straight repaint of the standard Spider-Man, with one less alternate head. This head is a new sculpt, as the eyes on this one are flat while the standard Spidey's head has eyes with rims. The alternate head is an unmasked Peter Parker with some tendrils of the symbiote reaching up. He also gets the same three sets of hands: fists, open, and thwip pose. Remember how I said this is a repaint and that the alternate head has the symbiote tendrils? That means that this figure has the web shooters sculpted on Spidey's wrists, which the symbiote didn't have. So you can ignore those and pretend this is the symbiote costume or ignore the alternate head and pretend this is the cloth version of the costume he wore after getting rid of the symbiote. I suppose if you're really upset by the shooters, you could sand them off. Me, I'm just going to ignore them.

#107: Marvel Legends Series (12 inch) - Hulk

It's the official release date for The Last Jedi, so here's a toy based on something else that Disney owns: the 12 inch scale Marvel Legends Hulk. The most obvious thing about this Hulk is that it's massive. So much that he is a more expensive price point than the other 12 inch scale figures. Fortunately, this is the best time of year to buy toys online, so I was able to get him for a much better than standard retail price. Unless you count Transformers as action figures (it's debatable), this is definitely the largest figure in my collection. He has two sets of hands: fists and open hands. There are also two heads: one with a more modern haircut featuring a scowl, and one with a more old fashioned bowl haircut featuring a yelling expression.