#53: LEGO Minifigures The Simpsons series 2 - Bartman

The second series of Simpsons minifigures showed up locally a couple months later than they did everywhere else, and a couple months after that I'm finally getting around to posting about them. I already have the first series Bart, but his superhero persona of Bartman was irresistible. The mask doesn't appear to be sculpted on, so it's just paint. Also, he has a cape and a slingshot. Finding him by touch is pretty easy. He's got the short legs that only a few figures in the series have, and his head is fairly distinctive, although feeling it through the packaging does muddy things up. I mostly felt for the slingshot as a way to identify him.

#52: Pop! Movies Trick 'r Treat - Sam

If you're a horror movie fan and/or a Halloween fan, but you haven't seen Trick 'r Treat, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Go out and watch it, right now. It's an anthology movie that's centered around one Halloween night in a small town, and it's basically the Halloween-iest movie you could imagine. Sam (short for Samhain, of course) is the living embodiment of Halloween, and is the face of the movie. NECA made a figure of him, which I missed out on and is now stupid expensive. Funko has made a ReAction Sam and this Pop version. My preference is definitely for stylized chibi cute over faux retro, so I got this version. Sam is child sized, and this Pop is slightly shorter than the standard. His head is normally round, but the transition to Pop form has given it a more squared shape. But he looks like he ought to, a kid in a homemade costume. He's even holding the lollipop that he memorably wields in the movie.

#51: Pop! Movies Hellraiser III - Pinhead

Thanks to somewhat lax parental supervision while visiting friend's homes, I saw the first two Hellraiser movies at an age when I was perhaps a bit too young for it. Thanks to memorable gore and all around weirdness, the series has stuck with me, despite most of the later entries in the franchise being somewhere in the forgettable to terrible range. I missed out on the McFarlane Hellraiser toyline, and they're a bit hard to find for reasonable prices these days. Fortunately, Funko has continued its march of making Pops of any license they can get their hands on. According to the packaging, this is Pinhead from Hellraiser III specifically. I don't know if there is some subtle costume variation, or Funko was only able to license the third movie or what, but it's Pinhead. He even includes a little Lament Configuration that he holds, although it doesn't have the distinctive detailing on the sides. Which is understandable given the small size.

#50: Batman v Superman Hot Wheels - Batmobile (230/250)

I was surprised recently to find the Batman V Superman version of the Batmobile on the pegs, since the movie won't be released for a while. So I guess that makes this the first piece of merchandise for the movie that is available at retail. The cardback says it's "new! for 2016," but they're out on the streets already. This offers one of the better looks at the new design for the Batmobile, and it looks pretty cool. It's definitely sleeker than the Tumbler, making it look more like a traditional Batmobile. Its body is all matte black, aside from a small marking on the top that looks like it's meant to be some sort of hatch.

#49: Transformers Generations Combiner Wars - Mirage

Mirage was on the pegs when I picked up Sunstreaker, so I decided to buy him as well. Like Sunstreaker, Mirage is a G1 figure that I've never had in toy form, so it's a nice addition to the ranks. Mirage is, as usual, a fancy F1 style race car. Mostly it's cool looking, but the spoiler in the back seems way too narrow. That turns into his feet, but they could have had some sort of folding panels to make the spoiler wider in car mode.

Getting him into bot mode is pretty easy, mostly just folding in his limbs and rotating a couple parts. This picture makes it looks like his arms and legs have funky proportions, but it's much better looking in person. He's armed with a similar foot/hand/gun to Sunstreaker's, and also has a sword.

#48: Transformers Generations Combiner Wars - Sunstreaker

I've never had a Sunstreaker toy in any form. Lately I've been seeing reviews of the Masterpiece version of him (and the various others that share the same mold), which got me interested in possibly picking up a more reasonably priced version of the character. Plus, when I was a kid, I thought that the Lamborghini was the epitome of badass sports car. So I decided to pick up the Combiner Wars version when I saw it in the store, although I'm not planning to do any of the combiners that aren't Devastator. So yeah, vehicle mode is a yellow Lamborghini, and if not specifically licensed to look like a real model, it's close enough looking to me.

Transformation is pretty easy, nothing too crazy involved. When I think of G1 car Transformers, I think of the car's front bumper forming the chest, but Sunstreaker doesn't follow that trend. It's a cool looking bot. He's armed with a sword and a big gun that can turn into either a hand or foot for combiner purposes. It can rest on top of the car mode roof, but that's a little too much for me.

#47 Marvel Legends Age of Ultron - Hulkbuster

Finally, after assembling all the pieces from seven different figures (yeah, I'm only keeping three of them), here is the completed Hulkbuster. It's impressively weighty and pretty massive. The legs feel like they're solid plastic, so it won't have any problems standing up, although its big feet would probably have done a good job of that without any help. It's even a couple of inches or so taller than the Marvel Legends Hulk figures, so it's definitely conceivable that Tony Stark could take on the Hulk in this armor. The Hulkbuster even has a good amount of paint apps, featuring paint on the back side, which is more than some Iron Man figures can boast. Unless they come up with some really cool variation in the future, I don't think I'll need another Iron Man figure after this.

#46: Marvel Legends - Valkyrie

I bought Valkyrie solely for the Hulkbuster piece she's packaged with, but when I had the figure in hand, I liked it and decided to keep it rather than sell it off. A badass Asgardian lady with a sword, what's not to like? Also, she's surprisingly tall. If that average Marvel Legends figure is about six inches tall, Valkyrie is about an inch taller than that. It's times like this that I wish I'd bought the pegasus from Mattel's MOTUC She-Ra sub-line, because I think that Valkyrie would look really cool mounted on its back.

#45: Marvel Legends - Marvel Heroes (Vision)

For whatever reason, Hasbro opted not to make Marvel Legends figures for most of the new characters appearing in Age of Ultron. Quicksilver was completely left out, but at least Scarlet Witch and Vision got new comic based figures. Maybe they will eventually get around to releasing them, but until then I figured that this Vision is close enough to fill in until a movie version gets made. Vision is labeled as "Marvel Heroes" on the packaging, because he's a swap figure with Doctor Strange. They come with different Hulkbuster parts, so I don't know why they aren't just completely separate figures. I'm guessing there is some bean counting going on that this is the better financial option for Hasbro, but from the outside it is somewhat mystifying. Vision includes no accessories, unless you count his cape. It is packaged separately, and it is removable, so maybe it does count. The cape itself makes him a bit back heavy, but fortunately it is long enough that it can be used to prop him up.

#44: Marvel Legends Age of Ultron - War Machine

The last figure from Age of Ultron to get the Marvel Legends treatment and released to retail is War Machine, part of the Hulkbuster build a figure series. It's basically a repaint of the War Machine figure from Iron Man 3. There's a different left hand, but more importantly, there is an alternate head with the faceplate up, leaving Don Cheadle's face exposed. If nothing else, at least Age of Ultron gave us figures of Iron Man and War Machine with open faceplates. He's still got the same posable cannon that can be positioned on either shoulder. Even though it's basically a repaint of a figure I already have, I figured it was worth picking up for the alternate head, and it doesn't hurt that I didn't have War Machine in the standard grey/silver color scheme.