Wrapping Up 2024: Storm Shadow from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   The 1988 Storm Shadow V2 was my first Storm Shadow as a kid. Actually, he might have been my only Storm Shadow until I got into G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 during my senior year of college (I was married by that point) and got back into G.I. Joe pretty heavily. I loved the version 2 Storm Shadow as he just looked incredibly cool and has an very impressive array of accessories. I'm impressed that Hasbro has managed to stay conservative with variants in the Classified Series and it's been a bit since the more classic Storm Shadow and the Retro Series Storm Shadow. During the 2000s Storm Shadow variants came in the 1/18th scaled lines quite often. This is a great update of the vintage figure with a few new details. Interestingly, this entire series seems to have a lot of reused accessories. The Iron Grenadier, Storm Shadow, Alpine, and the Iron Grenadier all have a lot of accessory reuse from other figures. That's not the end of the world or anything, but it does make me wonder if that was a way of offsetting some costs or something without doing a series full of repaints? Ready to check out Tommy Arashikage as part of the G.I. Joe team? Then join me after the break...

Toy Review: Dracula from Vinyl SODA by Funko

 

   With the release of Robert Eggers' Nosferatu last month, I've been thinking a lot about Dracula films. There have been quite a few retellings of Bram Stoker's classic story and while the name is different, Nosferatu definitely counts in my book.  I loved the 2024 Nosferatu but I think my favorite Dracula film is still Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 masterpiece Bram Stoker's Dracula. While there are elements of Nosferatu that made me think of this film, the vampire is completely different as he's just downright evil, uncharismatic, and utterly irredeemable with a demonic origin. Coppola's film, while still giving us an evil, corrupted Count Dracula, also does give the Count some humanity and a tragic backstory. I don't want every take on Dracula to have that, but it works really well in this film. I wanted to talk about the movie and while I desperately hope that someday NECA releases figures from the film, the most recent company I can think of who did release some versions of Dracula and Van Helsing is Funko. I really liked the Vinyl SODA figures overall and this was a simple but nifty take on Count Dracula/ Prince Vlad in his super cool red armor. Ready to chitchat about this figure, Gary Oldman, and Bram Stoker's Dracula for a bit? Then join me after the break...

Wrapping Up 2024: Albert "Alpine" Pine from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   Now that I've finished off reviews of the entire HasLab Dragonfly crew it's time to jump into the.... well, not the most recent series, as Letherneck, Zandar, Dial-Tone, and the S.A.W. Viper are currently out. Most of the set is on the way to me as I'm writing this, but I guess I should cover the set that came out at the end of 2024, huh? Let's start by checking out Albert "Alpine" Pine. And, yes, that's his real name and always has been. On the original figure, his real name was only visible on the file card on the back, though, but in the Classified Series Hasbro has his real name and code name together, front and center. Alpine is another figure that came out before I was collecting Joes as a kid and who I don't ever remember seeing in stores. He had a pretty solid presence in the Joe media, particularly animation, but he was never released in one of the repaint subsets nor was he given a second figure in the vintage line. I'm pretty sure my first Alpine was one of the Valor Vs. Venom versions from 2004, though I also did later have the 25th Anniversary figure, too. Alpine ought to be a pretty popular figure as he's a well liked character, clad in a more traditional military color scheme, and has a nice assortment of weapons. He's also the star of one of the popular Fensler films, so if you need a guy too harass lost kids at a carnival, Alpine is your dude. Huh. Maybe the whole review should just be me typing "memememememememe." Kind of like if Beaker from the Muppets wrote the whole thing. And then instead of saying the figure is Crap, Eh, Good, Great, or Epic, I'll just end with a video of a fart. But I'm not going to subject you to that. Instead, I'm giving Alpine the respect he deserves. Let's check this guy out after the break...

Action Figure Review: Imhotep #1082 from POP! Movies: The Mummy by Funko

   There have been a handful of "modern" updates of the classic Universal Monsters horror films and while I like quite a few of them, I still think the best of the lot is 1999's The Mummy. It's been one of my favorites since seeing it when it was released in May of 1999 back when I was in 9th grade and I still love it today. I like the entire series of The Mummy films, even if the two sequels aren't as strong as the original (I barely remember The Scorpion King, though, and I never saw any of the sequels to that). It's as much an adventure film as it is a horror movie, but it works so well. The 2017 The Mummy with Sofia Boutella and Tom Cruise that was meant to launch the Dark Universe just didn't hit quite right, but Lee Kronin's The Mummy is scheduled for next year as part of the Blumhouse Universal Studios collaborations. I'm excited to see what happens there. Lee Whannell's Wolf Man was OK, but his The Invisible Man was really quite good. For right now, though, I thought it would be fun to check out this Funko POP! of the Arnold Vosloo version of Imhotep from the 1999 The Mummy film. Vosloo was a very intimidating presence in a different way than Boris Karloff was and the film made great use of special effects to really showcase Imhotep's sorcery. Ready to check out Imhotep? Then join me after the break...

Wrapping Up 2024: William "Wild Bill" Hardy from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   While he's no Duke or Snake Eyes, Wild Bill has had 15 figures in the classic 1/18th scale G.I. Joe toylines. That's a lot! Wild Bill was one of the 1983 characters and was packed with the vintage Dragonfly Assault Copter XH-1, so it's no surprise that he's both quite popular and the figure Hasbro selected to include with the base HasLab Classified Series Dragonfly (XH-1). Thus far, I think Wild Bill is definitely the highest profile figure to only be included with a HasLab vehicle, so this guy is selling for mucho dinero on the aftermarket. The Dragonfly is a fantastic vehicle but it's so large that my photography space just couldn't hold it and I didn't feel like doing a video review of it. Wild Bill, though? I definitely wanted to check him out. I never had him as a kid; not the original nor even the Battle Corps versions. My first Wild Bill was either the Valor Vs. Venom version or one of the G.I. Joe: Vs Cobra releases after they'd been on the market for a couple years. I was married by that point! Still, I appreciate the character and always liked his appearances in the cartoons and comics. His file card gives him a lot of personality and that spills over into the figure and the Classified Series Dragonfly with lots of cool little details like the names "Chips" and "Salsa" being given to two of the rocket launchers on the helicopter. Ready to check out Wild Bill? Then join me after the break...

Wrapping Up 2024: The Mummy from Toony Terrors by NECA

   The Toony Terrors Frankenstein and Mummy were both Christmas gifts from my parents for Christmas of 2024 which, along with the standard NECA Frankenstein and the graphic novel featuring Mary Shelly's story and Boris Karloff's likeness, led me to proclaim it as "A Very Karloff Christmas." That sounds like an old 60s novelty song, doesn't it? Today I'm checking out the Toony Terrors Mummy, leaving us now 3/4th of the way through the set. Out of the classic Universal main crew, I do think the Mummy is my least favorite of the films. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's not as good as Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, or The Wolf Man. Now, when it comes to post 1960 Universal Monsters films? 1999's The Mummy sits at the top and reigns supreme. I really hope we see a resurgence of merchandise for that film someday. It's tough to beat the iconic look of Karloff, though, and that's what we get here. Just more animated. ready to unwrap this Mummy? Then join me after the break...

Prepare for the Wolf Man: Wolfman from Universal Pictures Classic Movie Monsters by Imperial Toy Corporation

 

   Prepare for the Wolf Man? Well, the 2025 Wolf Man film has been released and I had the chance to go and watch it with my dad on Friday, January 17th. My wife and I originally planned on taking my daughter and a friend of hers to a showing of the film on Friday evening but Thursday night I learned the movie was rated R. I actually had missed that and really thought it was PG-13. It turns out that it was a very mild R (honestly not sure why it wasn't PG-13) and I'll probably take her another time, but  by that point we'd already made alternate plans and took her and her friend to see Sonic the Hedgehog 3. That was excellent, by the way, and as someone who grew up with Jim Carrey being such a big deal it was definitely his film. It was fun, charming, and I loved it. The Wolf Man? Eh...it was OK. Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man was excellent and I thought it managed to do a lot with it's premise, plus Elizabeth Moss was excellent. Wolf Man tried. It's a decent movie with some cool new ideas, though it doesn't realize it's full potential and some of the decisions to "ground" the film really end up defanging it. I'll probably end up writing a review of the film at the end of the month but today's focus isn't on the film Wolf Man at all; It's actually on the 1986 Wolfman toy from the Imperial Toy Corporation's Universal Pictures Classic Movie Monsters toyline. 

   This (along with a couple of the other Universal Pictures Classic Movie Monsters) are currently the oldest Universal Monsters items in my collection. I don't want to say that 1986 is that old (I turned two in 1986), but it is close to 40 years old. Of course, the 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. film is 84 years old, so the distance between the original film and this toy is comparable between the distance between this toy and now. Crazy, right? I'm planning to start getting into some of the Remco Universal Monsters at some point soon, but these were much easier to acquire. And much less expensive. I haven't had these since childhood but only acquired them last year. Ready to take a look at Imperial's Wolfman? And, yes, they called him Wolfman with no space between Wolf and Man. Let's see how he howls after the break...