#44: The Avengers - Movie Series Loki

In an effort to annoy toy collectors, Hasbro has also released a six inch line of Avengers characters as a Wal-Mart exclusive. From what I hear, it is proving to be hard to find, with characters such as Loki and the Hulk packed one per case. Fortunately for me, AJ's brother was able to find some of them and sent along a Loki for me. For those keeping count at home, this is my third Loki figure, and so far it is the best. Unless I get the Hot Toys version, I think this will be king of the Lokis (or is the plural of Loki something like Lokii?) in my collection.

Unsurprisingly, as it's the largest figure, this Loki has the best likeness of Tom Hiddleston. While the helmet is removable, it looks great on his head, almost as if it were a sculpted part of the head. As well as a removable helmet, Loki's cape is removable as well. Rounding out Loki's accessories is his fancy new staff, in its non-extended form. Unlike his smaller scale Hasbro counterpart, this version of Loki doesn't skimp on the articulation. The high point is the ankle articulation, which has great side to side motion, for wide stances. The legs are only slightly hindered by the "skirt" piece, but not so much as to be too annoying.

A three Loki army.

#43: Star Wars The Vintage Collection - Dr. Evazan (Cantina Patron)

After being lucky enough to find Ponda Baba a few months ago, I was looking forward to the upcoming release of his partner in villainy, Dr. Evazan. As I've mentioned before, it's been a few months since any new Star Wars figures have been showing up locally, but have been showing up on Amazon. So I was able to order this with Wedge, bringing my Star Wars collection one figure closer to what I will consider complete. I think the last time they made a Dr. Evazan figure was in the 90s, so this version is all new, and effectively the ultimate take in action figure form. I don't think there's really anything else they could do to improve a figure of the character. Well, okay, the weird chest hair shadow could probably be improved, but that's a minor complaint. It would be nicer if current waves were easier to find in stores, though.

"Let me lend you a hand, buddy!"

#42: Star Wars The Vintage Collection - Wedge Antilles

Wedge is one of the coolest characters from Star Wars despite getting minimal screen time. He is one of the very few survivors of the Battle of Yavin, he was in the Battle of Hoth, and he blew up the second Death Star. He appeared in all three films of the classic trilogy and survived to fill a larger role in the expanded universe, yet he doesn't get the action figure love he deserves. In recent years, he appeared in a comic pack, but he wasn't wearing a flight suit, so I skipped it. Then he was in a Target exclusive with an X-Wing, and I couldn't justify the price (besides, I've already got one X-Wing) so I skipped that. Finally, Hasbro released him as a Vintage figure, but of course it has been impossible to find, although they thankfully re-released him in a later wave. I haven't seen any new figures on the pegs of my local Target in months, so I was stuck with hoping to find a decent deal online. Recently Amazon has been carrying some of the harder to find Vintage figures for prices that are barely above retail. With the free shipping option, they are not the worst deals, so I went for it.

Wedge's body is a re-used body from Luke, and even includes a hole to plug in a lightsaber hilt. So, nothing new there. The head is a decent likeness, which I think is improved by leaving the helmet on. He has a blaster but no holster, and that's it for accessories. It's not a mind blowing figure, but as a fan of the character, I'm glad I finally got one for my collection.

Red Squadron reunion. "What's with the dead guy?"

#41: The Dark Knight Rises - Movie Masters Bane

Okay, now that The Avengers has been in theaters for almost a month, it is time to focus on the movie I am most looking forward to this year: The Dark Knight Rises. The figure I'm most looking forward to from the toy line is Alfred, so of course I haven't been able to find one yet. I've seen a few Batman figures, and today I found this solitary Bane. I have all the main antagonists from the Movie Masters line so far (Scarecrow, Joker, Two-Face), so naturally I wanted to get Bane as well. For the movie, Bane traded in his traditional luchador mask for whatever he is wearing in the movie, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he translates to the Nolan-verse. It's a pretty well done figure, and as far as I can tell is a completely new sculpt, something of a rarity for Mattel. He's got the standard Mattel Movie Masters articulation with the exception of a bicep swivel. It would have been nice to have that too, but it's not the most important point of articulation on a figure. The new thing for the DKR Movie Masters is that instead of coming with a ridiculously sized accessory, the figures come with a piece of the Batsignal, which when assembled will light up. I'm still torn on whether I want to build it. I probably will want to. I've already got Bane. I definitely want Catwoman and Alfred. I don't have a movie Batman yet, so I don't mind getting one. I'm iffy on the Joseph-Gordon Levitt figure. Then the sixth figure has yet to be revealed. There are rumors that I shan't repeat here, but I'm guessing it will be a figure I will be cool with getting. So, maybe I will try to collect them all.

Will Bane break the Bat? Less than two months to find out!

#40: Transformers Prime - Bulkhead

The other new figure in the second wave of Transformers Prime voyagers is Bulkhead, who I unfortunately never got a toy of from the Animated line. I was glad to see he was back for Prime, and looking forward to picking up his toy slightly more than Starscream's (hey, I already have a few Starscreams already). This is actually the second version of Bulkhead to be released based on Prime, but I never saw any of the First Edition toys. I still don't understand why they decided to release a line of new figures, but barely anywhere, then a few months later, release completely new versions of the same characters. This version of Bulkhead seems to be less show accurate, so who knows. Either way, Bulkhead is pretty cool in robot mode, and I'm glad to finally have him. Like Starscream, there's a big light up extending accessory that doesn't fit in anywhere in either mode, so I've left it out of the pictures. His other accessory is a battering ram thing that can fit on either his arms or on his back as a robot, or on top of his roof in his altmode.

Bulkhead folds up into a surprisingly small altmode. It looks pretty good but is unfortunately a little too busy underneath, so much that the wheels don't all touch the ground at the same time. Possibly I just didn't fold up his limbs entirely the right way, so your mileage may vary with that problem.

#39: Transformers Prime - Starscream

Lately I've been haunting the toy aisles mostly looking for new Dark Knight Rises, Spider-Man, and GI Joe toys to appear. But yesterday the second wave of Transformers Prime voyagers showed up, which is something else I've also been looking forward to. I may have missed out on the Movie Masters Alfred figure, but this trip I was there at the right time. It is one of the small joys of toy collecting to find two figures at the same time that you expect will be hard to find.

Naturally, Starscream is one of the toys I've been looking forward to, as he is one of my favorite Decepticons. Robot mode is pretty great. It looks pretty accurate to the show's model, and is appropriately tall and lanky. Without the rest of the other voyager class toys from Prime to compare, I would guess that he is probably the tallest. So he may be too tall. But I can deal with him being too tall because it offsets how lightweight he is. There is an accessory included, which I have left out of the pictures because I think it looks bad. It's a big, bulky null cannon. When you press the lever on it, it folds out and lights up. It can plug into Starscream's arm or back in robot mode, or under his wing or right above the cockpit in altmode.  It doesn't look good in any of those positions. One of the cool things about the Transformers in the Prime cartoon is that when they need a weapon, they just transform their hand into it, so it looks sleek and built in, and not like a giant piece of added on junk like the toy version. Overall, Starscream is pretty cool in robot mode, with plenty of articulation. He can even bow forward for when he needs to suck up to Megatron. Oddly, the head has light piped eyes, but the eyes are painted over with red.

Starscream's altmode, some sort of jet, is definitely the less cool mode. Getting him between modes is kind of annoying when dealing with the shoulder/chest parts. The instructions aren't as clear as I would hope, so I had to kind of experiment and look at the picture on the box to figure out how to get it done. I'm mostly going to leave him in robot mode anyway, so it's not too big a deal.

#38: LEGO Minifigures Series 7 - Viking Woman

In most series, there has been at least one minifigure that I passed on or was unable to find that I afterwards regret not being able to get my hands on. Recently, that was the Viking. Fortunately, LEGO has a tendency to do male and female versions of certain minifigures. I wasn't expecting the Viking to be one of those, so this was a pleasant surprise. As one of two women wearing a dress in series 7, the Viking woman is pretty easy to find, especially with her really long braids.

The bump codes for finding the Viking woman.

#37: LEGO Minifigures Series 7 - Bagpiper

While not quite on the level of the bunny suit guy, the Bagpiper was one of the minifigures from series seven that I wanted to be sure to get. C'mon, it's a guy with bagpipes and a kilt. Totally cool. The kilt is one of those stiff 'fabric' pieces that capes are made out of, and it must be folded up properly to fit on the minifigure. Yes, the piper is wearing something under the kilt. The easiest way to find this guy is by feeling for the bagpipes, which have a very distinctive shape.

The bagpiper bump code, for those who trust their eyes more than their fingers.

#36: LEGO Minfigures Series 7 - Ocean King

The Ocean King was another must have from series 7, and was the first minifigure I found during my round of package squeezing. The tail piece is so large and distinctive that it is perhaps the easiest of the lot to find by the braille method. I assumed he was meant to be Poseidon/Neptune, but based on the official name of Ocean King, I suppose he is just a mermaid leader. A cursory glance at actual mythology shows that despite being an ocean oriented deity, Poseidon and Neptune were generally depicted as having had legs rather than fins. Oh well! The trident is a cool accessory that is exactly what one would expect for an oceanic monarch. I don't know if LEGO will be making an Aquaman minifigure, but if they don't, the trident would be a good addition for an Aquaman custom. Also, I think this is perhaps the best beard that has been made for minifigures so far.

The bump code for finding the Ocean King, if you're not up for squeezing packages.

#35: LEGO Minifigures Series 7 - Bunny Suit Guy

If I could only get one minifigure from this series, the bunny suit guy is the one I would pick. It's just that awesome. He makes a nice companion for gorilla suit guy and lizard suit guy. Also, he's in a bunny suit, and bunnies are cute, so this minifigure has a high cuteness factor going for him. Dig that carrot that's almost as big as him. It's a pretty minimal paint job, but they did include a painted tail on his back side. He's pretty easy to find either by his bunny hood or his carrot.

Here's the bump code, for your bunny hunting.