#67: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - The Doctor

I have never played an Assassin's Creed game, so judging by the text on the packaging, I guess this guy is an assassin. An evil one, not a good one. Really, the important thing is that he is a plague doctor, and wears one of those really cool looking masks. I always kind of wanted to buy one of these, but never enough to pay regular price. But when I saw it on clearance for less than 3 bucks, I was sold. I kind of wish he had a better color scheme, though. That is a particularly unattractive shade of brown that makes up most of the figure. Alas. Articulation is pretty good. Even the legs are fully articulated, although the robes do get in the way of putting him in many different positions. The syringe is a permanent part of the figure, as it is sculpted into the hand. I might have been somewhat disappointed if I had paid full price, but for such a cheap price, this was a great deal.

#66: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Donatello (Classic Collection)

Here we are at the final turtle, Donatello. Like the others, he is differentiated by his head, belt, and weapon (which can stow on his back, of course). I think his skin tone is slightly different as well.

Normally I don't bother talking about the packaging because I open all my toys, but it's something to talk about, and I do like the design here. This isn't an exact copy of the original packaging design from back in the 80s, but it is strongly reminiscent of it. Very nice work. The top of the bubble is textured like a sewer cover, which is a cool touch.

Group shot!

#65: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Michelangelo (Classic Collection)

When I was a kid, Michaelangelo was my favorite. On the show, he was the character most obviously designed for character identification to the kids in the audience, what with his general immaturity and his catchphrases and whatnot. But when it came to video games, Donatello was my favorite because he had the longest reach with his weapon. These days, his name has been slightly altered to Michelangelo. Judging by the look on his face, he's not quite as goofy. He shares most of his body with his brothers, but his head, belt, and weapons set him apart. Also, he is a different shade of green, which is good to see.

Mikey's nunchucks stow away on the back side of his belt.

#64: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Raphael (Classic Collection)

After yesterday's post about Leonardo, here's Raphael. He's exactly the same, but with a different head, a different belt, and different weapons. Raph's sai can be stowed away in his belt.

Staring contest

The NECA Raph with the new classics version. Quite a diference in styles! The NECA version has articulation at both ends of the neck. Crazy!

#63: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Leonardo (Classic Collection)

In recent years, we've had various action figure lines hearkening back to the original golden age of action figure collecting, the 80s. GI Joe had its 25th anniversary collection, Transformers has had various throwback sub-lines, there have been many direct remakes of Super Powers figures in DCUC, and perhaps the most notorious has been Masters of the Universe Classics. Now in conjunction with the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, Playmates is getting in on the classics action with a subline of figures based on the original animated turtles. I never got around to buying any TMNT figures from the early 2000s cartoon series, or the later animated movie, but these just looked way too cool to pass up. These have apparently been showing up at Toys R Us stores, but I haven't seen them in the wild yet. I pre-ordered mine online and they recently arrived.

Basically they have taken the old cartoon designs, upsized them, and thrown in all the articulation they could think of, and come up with awesomeness. These are ostensibly six inch figures, but they don't exactly fit in with other six inch scale figures.

See? Here's Leo standing toe to toe with Mattel's Catman figure, and he's almost the same height. But because he's got proportions more suiting a cartoon character, he doesn't look to be in the same scale. I think they would be a better fit with 7 or 8 inch scale figures. I'm not complaining about the size, I dig that they are a good size. And about the articulation? They have gone all out and come up with Toy Biz Marvel Legends style super articulation. Each finger is articulated, and so is each toe! Granted, the turtles only have two toes on each foot, but I think that a figure having all its toes articulated is a pretty unusual thing. Let's run it down: a ball shoulder for the head, a swivel/hinge for the shoulders, a bicep swivel, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinges for each finger, a torso joint, ball hips, a thigh swivel, double hinged knees, swivel/hinge ankles, and hinges for each toe. The package advertises 34 points of articulation. There's not a whole lot of paint, but what there is looks good on mine.

For accessories, there's not a whole lot, but the turtles come with what's necessary. Leo has his twin katana blades with a detachable scabbard on his back. Unlike the original figures which had weapons made of brown plastic, the new figures have weapons that are more appropriately colored. The other accessory is a display stand that looks like a manhole cover.

I think these classics style ninja turtles are some of the coolest figures to come out in a while. Since they're all basically the same figure, you might not feel the need to collect all four, but I think it would be a good idea to get at least one of them. These are really cool looking figures, and fun to play with. 

#62: K'Nex Mario Kart Wii - Toad

For a while now, K'Nex has had the minifigures for Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Bowser available and labeled as such on the packaging. Now they've started blindpacking figures and have expanded the character selection to include Toad, Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong. I was hoping to get Toad and Donkey Kong, but ended up with Toad and Yoshi. So here's Toad! He's easy to find because of his big round hat. Also, printed on the back of the figures is a series of numbers with one underlined, which seems to correspond to which figure is inside. Toad's underlined number is 6. This is based on a sample size of two, so your mileage may vary. He's like the other figures, but has the same size arms, so they look oversized for him.

Here's a cheery idea for you. What if the Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants buried their dead in ? blocks? Kind of like the Egyptians buried their dead with their wealth, so that's why a lot of ? blocks have coins in them. So when Mario gets a power mushroom, maybe it's the mummified remains of one of Toad's ancestors? How that confers super powers, I don't know. Super Mario: grave robber?

#61: Bioshock 2 - Brute Splicer

Bioshock 2 came out 2 years ago, and the next Bioshock game is coming out next year. So here's a brand new figure from Bioshock 2! I think the Brute Splicer was revealed at last year's SDCC, but I guess they had problems getting out because it took nearly a year, and it's a Toys R Us exclusive. One of the first things I noticed about this figure is how massive it is. It's huge, and solid. It's really heavy. I'm surprised it doesn't cost like 5 bucks more than it is being sold for. This is the high standard of work I expect from NECA, with a highly detailed sculpt and a great paint job. If it wasn't such a hideous character, you might say it was a thing of beauty. Articulation is somewhat limited, which I think is due both to the bulk of the figure (too much leg articulation, and it might not stand on its own), and preserving the aesthetics of the sculpt. Generally I prefer more articulation, but I don't mind as much for figures like this. The only accessory is the hat, which is removable.

"What's that noise behind me?"

#60: The Avengers - Grapple Blast Black Widow

Based on her appearance in Iron Man 2, Hasbro was supposed to release a Black Widow figure, but as far as I know, it never made it into production at all. I was looking forward to it, but I had to wait two years longer than I was expecting. My local Target hasn't had any new stock of Avengers figures in for months, and has in fact been using those pegs for Iron Man 2 figures that still haven't sold. Fortunately, friend of the blog James was able to find this figure for me.

One of the complaints about the Avengers figures is that they feature decreased articulation and are providing less value for the increased prices. The Black Widow figures bucks this trend by having basically all the articulation that you could hope for in a figure this size. So naturally, she is only packed one per case. Similarly to the other Avengers figures, she comes with a big weapon. I think it's a re-use of a weapon that came with one of the Warriors Three. In the area of non-ridiculous accessories, Black Widow has her dual pistols which have holsters. I think the face is a little too narrow for a likeness of Scarlett Johansson, but from the side it does look better. It's a really good figure, though, and it's too bad that she's so hard to find.

"Bring Your Tiny Clone To Work Day on the helicarrier"

#59: Metroid: Other M - Samus

I pre-ordered Figma Samus months ago, and it finally arrived! This is my second Figma, after Big O's Dorothy. There haven't been a whole lot of toy options for Nintendo games other than Mario Kart, so as soon as I saw the announcement for a really cool looking Samus, I knew I'd have to get one. Metroid was one of the first games we got for the NES, and it has been one of my favorite series since. As one of the earliest female video game protagonists, Samus is an iconic badass. This figure is specifically based on the game Metroid: Other M, which I have not played. Fortunately, the design of her famous Varia suit is largely unchanged, so it's instantly recognizable as Samus.

As I mentioned, this is my second Figma, and it continues to impress. It's a great looking figure with very good articulation, a bunch of accessories, and a stand. It's probably good that these figures are so expensive and that the character choice tends towards anime characters I've never heard of, because I'd want more (there's a Link coming out in a few months that I have already pre-ordered).

Perhaps the coolest accessory that Samus comes with is herself: Samus in Morph Ball mode. Neat! If you've never played a Metroid game, Samus's suit has the ability to form a ball for easier travel in small spaces. Also pictured here is the stand, which it can plug onto.

There are two different blast effects which can plug into her arm cannon. I think they're similar enough that I would have preferred to have a launching missile instead of one of these.

Speaking of missiles, the tip of her cannon can be replaced with this pronged version, which is what the cannon looks like in missile launching mode. The blast effects can plug into this tip as well.

One of the fun things about Figma is the inclusion of interchangeable pieces like faces with different expressions and hands in various positions. Since Samus's face is covered by a helmet, she doesn't come with different expressions, and her suit only has one hand, so she gets a few extra left hands. She's got a fist, a fingers splayed hand, an open hand, a gripping hand, and a thumb's up hand.

You know what would have been a great accessory? A Metroid. Even a baby Metroid would have been cool. Oh well! Figma Samus is pretty damn cool, I'm glad we finally have a figure that does her justice.

"And the winner of the Best Space Bounty Hunter title is..."

#58: Batman Returns - Penguin Commandos

To continue the celebration of The Dark Knight Rises, here is yet another toy from a previous Batman movie. This time we're going all the way back to the 90s for the Batman Returns toy line. The Penguin Commandos are actually something I had back then, and I have always fondly remembered them as a bit of an oddity, so recently I decided to take the plunge and find them on Ebay. I just love the concept of an army of mind controlled penguins with rockets strapped to their backs. They're like Dino Riders, but with penguins! As much as I love the Christopher Nolan trilogy, that is one aspect that the Tim Burton films have as a clear advantage. One of the great things about early 90s toy technology is that the rocket launcher has a nice kick to it. The rocket went all the way across the room, while it seems like modern rocket launching toys are lucky if they go a foot. It's too bad that Kenner only made this one set. If they had made a few different designs, it would be cool to organize a proper army of penguins.

"WHERE'S THE DETONATOR??!!!"