#74: Batman Classic TV Series - Catwoman

Finally, the sole female figure from the Batman '66 line is making its way through retail channels. Catwoman was famously played by three different actresses between the series and the movie it inspired, and this is the Julie Newmar version. Can Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether retools be far behind? The figure features a fairly good, if slightly cartoonish, likeness. Articulation is standard, and there's not a whole lot of paintwork necessary, but what there is seems to be good. Her gloves and boots are a more glossy black than the rest of her catsuit. She doesn't include any accessories. Her left hand is sculpted in an odd flat pose (she can tell Batman to talk to the hand), while the right is merely open. A clawing hand would have been appropriate.

Catwoman's display base features the sound effect "CRRAACK!" which is presumably the crack of a whip. Too bad she doesn't have one, although I don't remember her using one in the TV show. Not that she can hold one anyway, with her open hands. Once again, the image on the card is printed in a horizontal orientation, but the card only fits into the base vertically.

Batman surrounded!

#73: Star Trek Hot Wheels - U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701

I'm not exactly a big Star Trek fan. I've only seen the two newer movies, plus Wrath of Khan. But the Enterprise is a classic iconic spaceship, so I've been keeping an eye out for the Hot Wheels version of it for a few months. I lucked into it in a display at a grocery store, and snatched it up immediately. I think this is the newer movie version of the ship, and it is sporting some battle damage, in the form of scorch marks painted on various points. I'd have preferred a clean version, but it is what it is. This is also my first instance of a Hot Wheels toy coming out of the package warped. The main dish and body of the Enterprise is metal like normal Hot Wheels toys, but the nacelles and arms they're on are made of plastic. They are a little warped from the packaging, so they aren't completely straight. I think it would have been amusingly ridiculous if the Enterprise had included wheels, but instead there is a small stand for it. The stand is in the shape of what I think is the logo of the Federation, the sort of inverted V shape that is on the communicators.

"Captain, this is most illogical. It needs to be at least three times as big!"

My entire collection of Star Trek toys.

#72: Sci-Fi Revoltech 005 - Jack Skellington

I've been feeling the Halloween spirit, and I've been reading reviews of Revoltech figures but don't have any, so those circumstances combined have inspired me to pick up the Revoltech Jack Skellington figure. Jack looks pretty accurate to his onscreen appearance, so he's ridiculously tall and thin with tiny feet. The only thing that looks off is the appearance of the revolver joints which are basically swivel-hinge joints. He is very well articulated, though. Even the neck is articulated on both ends. The bow tie can rotate too, as it is attached by a peg.

Jack includes a display base which consists of a section of sidewalk with a bit of fence interrupted by a gate, with a tree behind it. The three jack o' lanterns are attached by pegs and can be repositioned. A branch of the tree plugs into the back of Jack's torso. While the coattails are parted in a way to allow the branch through, it does still push them back a little.

For accessories, Jack includes a few extra hands. There are two grabbing hands, and a pointing left hand. The hands are very easy to swap out, as they are attached by a simple peg. There is also a name plate which would wouldn't look out of place sitting in front of him on a desk. For storage, a small box made of orange translucent plastic is also included.

It seems like a lot of Japanese figures get alternate face plates with different expressions, and Jack gets four extra heads rather than different face plates. There's a scared face, a scary face, a big smile, and a thinking face. They're all very nice looking and easy to swap out on his neck.

Even though his feet are tiny, Jack can be posed without the assistance of his base.

SKELETONS!

#71: Imaginext DC Super Friends - Bizarro & Safe

So far, I've managed to avoid getting any Imaginext toys, mostly because I don't need to start collecting in yet another new scale, although the playsets and vehicles are pretty cool. Then I saw there is a Bizarro set, and I do like collecting Bizarros, so I thought I would give it a try. After a couple months keeping an eye out for the set, I finally found one. This is an interesting design for Bizarro. I'm assuming it's a repaint of a New 52 version of Superman, given the lack of trunks and a belt. For some reason, New 52 Bizarro is wearing a t-shirt, so this toy isn't exactly faithful to any design. Still, it's the more purple version of his costume, which is a look I prefer, so that's cool. These toys are designed for the younger set, so articulation is fairly minimal. The shoulders are swivel-hinges, the wrists are swivels, and the legs are connected and can only swivel back and forth. His cape is also soft goods, so if I had any vehicles from the line, he'd be able to sit in it. Bizarro is packaged with a safe. It opens when you push on the dial. It's a little too small for him to fit inside. It's not really anything terribly exciting, and I would have preferred another character instead.

Bizarros!

#70: Transformers Generations - Megatron

I have a few different Megatrons in my collection, but not one that I consider a definitive Megatron (maybe I'll end up buying a Masterpiece version if they do a re-release). So when a new, cool looking one came along, a sale convinced me to pick it up. And hey, the new deluxe Generations figures come with comic books, which is a pretty good deal since an average comic costs about 3 dollars these days. So anyway, this is a deluxe figure, which means it's a the shorter side for Megatron. Fortunately, it's a pretty cool robot. He's mostly a slightly sparkly dark grey, with pink/purplish bits throughout, which makes for a cool looking color scheme. He's got the traditional bucket head helmet, and the giant cannon on his arm. It's hard to mistake this robot for anyone else.

The altmode is a pretty cool looking stealth bomber. The wing tips disconnect and attach to each other to form the robot mode's arm cannon. Going from robot to bomber is a bit tricky, in part due to a couple unclear steps in the instructions, and partly due to the difficulty of aligning parts just so. It's not the most fun transformation scheme, but it is easy enough going back to robot mode.

"Lord Megatron, you seem to have shrunk in the wash! I can barely stand to see you like this!"

"All hail Starscream!"

#69: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - Wolverine's Chopper Showdown (6866)

Wolverine's Chopper Showdown seems to be loosely inspired by the scene in his first solo movie where he takes down a helicopter while riding a motorcycle. Except in this scenario, Deadpool is piloting, and for some reason Magneto is there too. Included in the set is a helicopter, a motorcycle, and three minifigures: Wolverine, Deadpool, and Magneto.

The helicopter is color coordinated with its pilot, Deadpool. It has missile launchers on its wings, but they are the kind that are supposed to be flicked out with the finger, and end up not going very far. There are also swords on the ends of the wings. Because Deadpool, I guess? There's room for one in the cockpit, and an empty area in the back for more figures. Deadpool has a gun and a acabbard on his back which can hold two swords.

Magneto has two faces, an angry one and a serious one. He also includes a disk which I assume is meant to be a piece of metal that he levitates to allow himself to fly. It has been a while since I've read any X-Men comics, but I thought he was able to levitate himself without the aid of standing on a piece of metal.

Wolverine similarly has two faces. His claws are pieces that he holds in his hand, which works well enough, but does look a little funny. I think it would have been an improvement if they were pieces that clipped onto his wrists so that the claws could appear to be coming from the backs of his hands. He also includes a motorcycle, which isn't terribly interesting. Since this is a bareheaded Wolverine, his hood is shown hanging down on his back. He gets printing on the front and back of his chest, so I guess that makes him extra fancy.

I've been thinking about picking up this set for a while now, but never really felt like paying full price. Fortunately, last week Target had a sale, and this set was about 25% off.

#68: Transformers Masterpiece - Acid Storm

Alone with Masterpiece Soundwave, Hasbro released Acid Storm. It's kind of an odd choice. Sure, they've done the three main Seekers already, but this is the newer Masterpiece Seeker mold, so I'm surprised they didn't just go ahead and re-release Starscream already. That's got to be in the works. In any case, I like Seekers, and I like the color green. Starscream is too expensive on the secondary market, while although Acid Storm is sold out, he wasn't a big mover, so I was able to get a good deal for one online. Sure the box was a little beat up, but I got it for slightly cheaper than retail, so that is a win.

Acid Storm has the worst set of instructions I have ever seen with a Transformers toy. It only demonstrates how to go from robot to jet, and many of the steps are glossed over, or entirely obscure. It took me a few minutes to figure out what to do with the nose cone in robot mode, as well as a portion of the canopy which folds under, steps which are essentially missing in the instructions.

When I finally got to it from jet mode, the robot mode is pretty cool. I do think the head looks like it sits too high on the body, or maybe the shoulders just look too low. The chest panels flip up to reveal missiles, which is fun. The display base functions as a flight stand, which is always a feature I dig.

Jet mode is pretty cool, and I have no problems with it. I love the ridiculously bright green that most of the jet is, and the digital camo on the wings is pretty cool. Again, the display base can be used as a flight stand for the jet. There are also a couple of detachable missiles that can be attached to the wings or the display stand. There is a tiny pilot made of unpainted green plastic. There is also a little plastic half circle that I think is meant to hold Megatron's gun form (as is included with Masterpiece Soundwave).

#67: DC Universe Signauture Collection - Huntress

Club Infinite Earths is winding down after having failed to make the subscription levels to proceed for next year. Huntress is not the last Bat-family character that will be released before it's over, but she is one of the few women, and one of the figures I was looking forward to. I forgot how ridiculously expensive Matty shipping is for just one figure, which is kind of a bummer. Fortunately, Huntress turned out fairly well. It's something of a rarity to see a Mattel figure with so much new sculpting AND an accessory, which helps. They went with the version of her costume that sports randomly exposed flesh (thanks, Jim Lee), and I wish they had gone with the fully covered costume as seen in Birds of Prey. Fortunately I didn't have any QC issues, although the long hair restricts head movement almost entirely. Otherwise, the articulation is the standard for the line. It's a cool figure, although I wish I hadn't had to pay Matty prices for it.

I don't have an Oracle figure, and don't expect Mattel to release one

#66: Scooby Doo Mystery Micro-Figures - Velma

Blindpacked minifigures has become one of the interesting trends in toys lately, thanks to LEGO's ongoing line. They're a pretty inexpensive way to get a lot of characters, and add the thrill of surprise/frustration of figuring out what you'll get to the toy buying experience. Character Building, who already has a Doctor Who line of these is expanding into Scooby Doo. Friend of the blog James was trying to get both Daphne and Velma, but ended up with two Velmas, so I got the spare. Apparently only Velma and Daphne are in the blindpacked line, and if you want the rest of the Scooby gang, you have to buy the larger building sets. So that pretty much kills any likelihood that I'll be getting the whole group. As the brains of the operation, Velma is probably the most important character anyway.

"Meddling kids!"

#65: Star Wars The Black Series - Sandtrooper

I have to say, I'm pretty surprised that Hasbro went with the Sandtrooper rather than the more iconic Stormtrooper for its first wave. It's good that they're not using all the most iconic characters at first, as it allows them to be more spread out. Judging by how fast these figures seem to be moving from shelves, Hasbro should be able to make enough to get to all the important characters. Like Darth Maul, the Sandtrooper has double elbows and knees, although the armor pieces are a little more restrictive of movement. He's got three guns for accessories, the standard Imperial blaster pictured above, and two rifles as seen below. The backpack and shoulder pauldron can be removed, leaving you with a very dirty Stormtrooper (although not entirely accurate, as there are some small differences in the armor). My only real complaint about the Sandtrooper is about its dirtiness. The helmet is just a little too dirty, so it doesn't quite match the rest of the armor. Presumably this sort of thing varies from figure to figure, but finding multiples to compare might not be very likely.

One of his other guns, what I think of as the Sandtrooper rifle.

Through the years.

I don't have a Dewback, so here's Panthor. Also, the Sandtrooper's final rifle.