#37: Jurassic World - Tyrannosaurus Rex

When it came out, I saw Jurassic Park way too many times in the theater. So of course I was pretty excited to see Jurassic World. During most of the movie, I was wondering why the T Rex got so little screen time, but by the end I could understand why. Something that I really liked is that the T Rex in Jurassic World is the same one from the first movie. This T Rex isn't as large as the first movies T Rex toy, but is more akin in size (and color!) to the juvenile T Rex toy. This time around, the skin is made of a harder plastic, and there's no "dino damage." She has an action feature, where by pushing a button on the back, the jaws open.

#36: Batman The Animated Series - The Joker

Another birthday gift, it's the Animated Series version of the Joker. I've been meaning to pick this figure up, as Mark Hamill's Joker is the one I consider the most iconic. Fortunately, there weren't any breakage issues with my figure. Based on looking at pictures of it beforehand, I was worried about how terribly the knee articulation would interrupt the flow of the figure when used, but that turned out to not be a problem. Joker comes with a stand and several episode specific accessories that I don't recall the significance of off the top of my head. There's a necklace, a comb, an ice pick, and a cool 50's style bubble space helmet, as well as a couple of alternate hands.

#35: Total Heroes - Bizarro

My birthday was a couple days ago, and one of my gifts was the Total Heroes Bizarro figure. Total Heroes is the weird DCUC quasi followup line that Mattel came up with that had more simplified/stylized sculpts and reduced articulation for a lower price. I think the only physical retail locations they ended up at were Toys R Us stores. I'm not particularly keen on re-buying many characters again in a slightly different style so soon after the demise of a previous line, but I'm usually down for a Bizarro. Especially when he's in my favorite purple costume. And he has a soft cape!

#34: Marvel Select - Hulkbuster

So hey, this is my first Marvel Select figure. When I saw the promo pictures, it just looked too cool to pass up. And hey, it'll be way cheaper than getting the Marvel Legends build-a-figure version. Which I'll probably get anyway, because I'm a sucker. Plus, there was a free shipping offer from the Marvel shop online, so I pre-ordered it. Originally scheduled to ship in early July, it came out a bit earlier than that. Marvel Select is generally held as being higher quality than Marvel Legends, and the heft of Hulkbuster is an immediate indication of this difference. This is a solid figure, while a similarly sized one by Hasbro would be noticeably lighter weight. Marvel Select figures are also in a somewhat larger scale, and Hulkbuster is pretty tall. Probably a good 8 or 9 inches. Some of the joints are hard to move, but that is probably a good thing with such a heavy figure. One of the neat things is that the shoulder pads are on ball joints, so they can be positioned pretty easily. There are no accessories, Tony is ready to smash without any assistance.

#33: Transformers Combiner Wars - Ultra Magnus

I've been waiting for a G1-styled Ultra Magnus for a while now. I was even considering the Masterpiece version, but then Hasbro came out with this new leader class version. I have the classics Ultra Magnus from a few years ago, but it's just a white Optimus Prime repaint, lacking the giant armor that really makes Ultra Magnus stand out. Fortunately, Hasbro has been going to the well of the current comics for release inspiration, even if this is a weirder version of Ultra Magnus than I'm used to. I don't read the comics, but going by the scant information on the packaging bio, it sounds like Ultra Magnus himself is dead, and this other Autobot is using his body like a mecha suit? Whatever is going on, it means I finally get a cool Ultra Magnus, so I'm okay with that. As a robot, Ultra Magnus is very cool looking and has decent articulation. He has a giant hammer that can also split into a couple cannons. Minimus Ambus is also included, and is one of the smallest Transformers figures.

See, Minimus Ambus fits inside the chest of Ultra Magnus. In vehicle mode, that's the cab of the truck. Minimus won't fit there in vehicle mode because Ultra Magnus's head goes there.

Ultra Magnus's vehicle mode is his original car carrier. He stays in one piece during the entire transformation process, aside from the piece that form the hammer for robot mode. So, good engineering job there. Minimus Ambus turns into a hover car. It doesn't have wheels, so I'm going with hover car. The back of Ultra Magnus's trailer can fold down into a ramp, and there is room for a few cars back there.

#32: Batman Arkham Knight - Harley Quinn

It got delayed several times, but as of two days ago, Arkham Knight is finally out. Because of the delays, the merchandise was able to beat the game itself to retail. Mattel put out a few figures in their 4 inch multiverse line, as well as the Hot Wheels version of the Batmobile, while DC Collectibles' toys were a bit closer to the game's launch. One of the selling points from the promotional materials is that Harley is a playable character for the first time in the series. Also, I think this is Harley's best redesign from the series, so the hype of the game's then imminent release got me to buy this figure. This design has a certain amount of whimsy that I think Harley benefits from. Harley is armed with the same bat she had during Arkham City, as well as a handgun. She has a couple of alternate hands, as well as a creepy/cute jack in the box that features a real spring. Overall, it's a good figure, one of the few from DC Collectibles in my collection. If only she had her mallet like the Mattel version...

#31: Hot Wheels - Batman Arkham Knight Batmobile (HW City 61/250)

Hey, did you know there's a new video game coming out in the Batman Arkham series? Although it's the fourth game in the series, for the first time you'll be able to drive the Batmobile. I didn't even know that Hot Wheels was making it until I saw that Eric had found one. I've been keeping an eye out ever since, and saw at least two in the store on the day when I found it. Mattel already made the earlier Batmobile from Arkham Asylum, but the Arkham Knight version is a different beast altogether. This one is more of a tank, a la Dark Knight Returns. It's not really the most bat-like of Batmobile designs, but that can be attributed to the game designers.

#30: Star Wars The Black Series - TIE Pilot

Hasbro made the TIE pilot in the six inch line before they made the Snowtrooper. Hopefully they'll still keep releasing classic characters after the new movies start coming out, because Snowtroopers are the coolest (no pun intended) Imperial troopers. The TIE pilot is a pretty basic figure. It's got all the typical articulation of the line. It's almost entirely black, so there's very little paint. His sole accessory is the typical Stormtrooper blaster, which has a holster on the left hip that it fits into. I seriously doubt that Hasbro will make a six inch scale TIE Fighter, but the pilot is cool enough.

#29: Hot Wheels - The Jetsons Capsule Car

Mattel originally released the Jetsons car a couple years ago, but I never saw one. They do seem to be pretty good about re-releasing hard to find Hot Wheels cars, and I happened to see one at the grocery store recently, long after I had given up on finding one. This is a pretty decent adaptation of the cartoon design to a wheeled toy. The wheels in this case are clear plastic, and the two propulsion tail things are sculpted into the underside of the car. It could perhaps be more rounded on the bottom, but that probably wouldn't be feasible with the wheels in place.

#28: Transformers Generations Combiner Wars - Decepticon Viper

There were two reasons I wanted to get Viper. One: it's a Transformer with a G.I. Joe altmode, the Cobra Rattler, which is one of my favorite G.I. Joe vehicles. Two: it's basically the only G.I. Joe toy available from Hasbro at mass retail this year. It's not exactly a Rattler, but it's got the right colors and if you squint, it's hard to tell them apart. There's also a cool Cobra/Decepticon mashed up logo.

This is one of the smaller Transformers toys, so going between robot and jet is pretty simple. Another cool touch is that Viper's head looks like the Rattler pilot helmet. Viper doesn't include any weapons, but has a third mode that serves as a weapon for other figures. There have been several G.I. Joe/Transformers mashup toys available as SDCC exclusives, but I believe this is the first one available at retail. I'm not sure if this is just a one-off type of thing, but it would be cool to see more G.I. Joe influenced Transformers toys, especially since the Joe line is currently cooling its heels.