Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech) from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   Last year Hasbro released Crystal Ball into the G.I. Joe: Classified Series and he ended up being my October 31st review for last year's 31 Days of Toy Terror. With his introduction, Hasbro introduced something of a new Cobra sub-team into G.I. Joe as an adversary for Night Force: Cobra troops augmented with D.I.R.E. tech, or Dread-Inducing Responsive Energy. The D.I.R.E. tech is a mystical energy that can be used to both induce fear in adversaries and to create tangible constructs and it's a rather cool new concept for the G.I. Joe universe. Today I'm looking at the third figure released in this unofficial sub-team, the Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech). Like all of the D.I.R.E. tech figures released thus far, he's exclusive to Walmart. This guy showed up earlier this summer in rather limited numbers before showing up in September in greater numbers as part of Walmart's fall reset (there's also a new troop, the Cobra D.I.R.E. Hawk who actually started showing up in stores before he was officially announced on October 1st, but as of this writing I haven't procured one yet. Ready to check out the Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech) figure? Does anyone else, upon picking up a Night-Creeper, find themselves singing "Night-Creeper, Night-Creeper" to the tune of the BeeGee's "Night Fever?" All this and more will be discussed after the break...

Action Figure Review: Blackbeard from The Black by Valaverse

 

   Valaverse launched a new toy line this year that is connected to Action Force: The Black. The Black features a group of modern day "pirates" who are made up of former Navy Seals. Blackbeard is the moniker taken by Austin Moore, the commanding officer of the group known as The Black. The Black don't seem to be straight up good guys or bad guys in the Action Force/ Valaverse lore; instead, they're just kind of their own faction.. Yes, they're protecting the coast of the now divided US from outside forces but they're also controlling trade and seemingly engaging in piracy. They're connected to and loyal to each other, rather than the warring factions of the Citadel, Action Force, or the SWARM. Modern day pirates? Cool stuff and not something you see that much in modern day action figures. Blackbeard shipped over the summer along with a few other new releases from The Black and Action Force and I've had him for a few months now. He's a solid figure and definitely one of the most interesting releases from Valaverse this year. Ready to check out the leader of the Black? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Perfect Pairs from Peanuts by Just Play

 

   It just isn't Halloween without a visit from the Peanuts gang, is it? The first Halloween strip for Peanuts ran on October 31st, 1956 and they've ever since been key ambassadors of Halloween nostalgia. Five Below has had quite a few Peanuts themed Halloween items over the past few years and this year they have this little set from Just Play called Perfect Pairs. Who is the titular Perfect Pair? Why Charlie Brown and Snoopy, of course! They're both decked out for trick or treating with costumes, candy pails, and even some treats. Snoopy showed up earlier this month but I don't think there's anything wrong with giving him some more attention. Ready to check these two out? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Sylvester #1675 from POP! Animation: Looney Tunes by Funko

 "Sufferin' succotash!" Halloween is getting nearer and nothing goes together better than jack o' lanterns and black cats. So how about one for today's spooky review? Well, at least we've got a jack o' lantern and a tuxedo cat. Yes, today we're taking a look at Sylvester J. Pussycat Sr. and a fantastic Halloween jack o' lantern that he's been using as a hiding place. Perhaps he was curled up in here waiting for Tweety? Sylvester is from a Halloween series of Looney Tunes from the Funko POP! Animation line and he's just such a fun toy that I had to pick him up. He's from 2024 (and was released alongside of a ghostly version of Bugs Bunny, a mummy Marvin the Martian, and a witch version of Tweety) but I actually found him at regular retail this year despite being listed as "vaulted" on Funko's website. Looney Tunes has had a great year in 2026 with the popularity of Coyote Vs. Acme and while Sylvester only had a small cameo, it was still nice to see this classic brand have an incredibly fun and well receive film. Of course, I bought this guy because he's coming out of a pumpkin. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. Let's check out Sylvester after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Tauraton from Masters of the Universe Origins: The Powers of Grayskull by Mattel

 

So today's review might not fit this year's theme perfectly but I've really been wanting to review Tauraton and I usually have at least one Masters of the Universe toy on the countdown. If you don't keep up to the minute with Masters of the Universe, you might be wondering who this guy is. Fret not; he's actually a new character that's part of the Power of Grayskull subset being sold exclusively through Mattel Creations. Tauraton was created by Axel Gimenez and Roy Juarez for the packaging of the Mattel Creations exclusive He-Ro and then was developed into a figure this year. He's a mighty minotaur inspired by Greek myth and Ray Harryhausen's "The Minoton" from "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger." It's a cool design for a MOTU villain, especially one from the Preternian era (many years before the time of He-Man/ Prince Adam). For so many of us, our first experiences with the horror genre and horror toys were through toylines with creepy characters, so it's fun to check out one that feels like it could have existed during my childhood. I know I owned the old The Real Ghostbusters: Monsters long before I ever saw any of the classic Universal Studios horror films and I'm sure many others had similar experiences. Ready to check out a classic monster reimagined for MOTU? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Bride of Frankenstein Glow-In-The-Dark Character Spoon from Universal Monsters by Sonic/ C3

   It wasn't until the first week of October that I realized that Sonic is running a Universal Monsters October promotion in their Wacky Pack kids meals. A quick trip to sonic and one milkshake later, I was the proud owner of the full set of all seven toys from the series. Five of the the prizes are more traditional toys while two are spoons. I've previously reviewed items from Sonic's He-Man and She-Ra promotions from a few years back and those included some spoons and straw caddies as well, which I guess is fitting for a place that sells various ice cream shakes, sundaes, and other sweet beverages. The Bride of Frankenstein is represented here as a glow in the dark spoon. It's not the most exciting prize on its own but, at the same time, it's pretty thrilling to pull in to a Sonic drive-in and get a glow in the dark spoon based on a film that's 91 years old. Burger King and Jack in the Box are famous for having Universal Monsters themed kids meals in the past (I've reviewed of them on this site) but now Sonic is stepping in. Ready to dig in with the Bride of Frankenstein? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Moss Man & Ram Man from Masters of the Universe Origins: Masters of the Universe (2026) by Mattel

 

   While Masters of the Universe has been out of theaters for sometime now and wasn't a hit, it's apparently been quite successful on Amazon Prime and the physical media versions (Blu-Ray, DVD, and 4K Blu-Ray) just came out last week and seem to be strong sellers. I really liked the movie and I'm still holding out hope that the numbers for streaming and toy sales are strong enough that Amazon wants to visit Eternia again. There was a fairly strong toy presence at retail but one issue that I think is worth talking about was the number of different scales and styles of figures available. These days it seems like most toylines for major media try to release a smaller number of characters in multiple scales and styles (so hitting multiple price points) rather than having one standard line with a wide selection of characters. The mainline figures seemed to have a decent number of releases and went fairly deep (with more figures apparently coming, though likely as Amazon exclusives) while Chronicles and the Movie-based Origins lines were a bit more limited. I like Origins for some things but I'm not sure they made a ton of sense for the new movie. Still, when I found out there was a Moss Man for the movie Origins line (who, to the best of my knowledge, is the only movie Moss Man yet released) I had to jump in. You all know that Moss Man is my dude and while I was maybe a 7/10 on his portrayal in the film with such limited screen time, I was absolutely devastated that he died so quickly. What? Why? Still, a Moss Man is a Moss Man and he can join my flock of Moss Men in my collection. I'm also a pretty big Ram Man fan as well, so I wasn't upset about getting him as the other figure in this two-pack which I believe is exclusive to Target. Ready to check out two of Eternia's most powerful warriors? Then join me after the break...