Action Figure Review: Brook from Anime Heroes: One Piece by Bandai Namco

 

   No, I'm not going full on otaku or anything, but I do have another One Piece review for you today. This time it's Brook, the swordsman, musician, and senior officer of the Straw Hat Pirates. Having eaten the Revive-Revive Fruit, Brook came back from his death and is now Soul King Brook, a skeletal musician. I don't actually know as much about Brook as I do some of the other characters, but my wife thinks he's hilarious (though he's a bit of a perv, from what I hear), and he's a funky soul musician who dresses a bit like Jimmy Hendrix. This version is from after the time skip in the show, so he goes along with the other post-time skip pirates. I've never reviewed any figures from Bandai Namco's Anime Heroes line but I have seen them and admired them simply because they seem pretty affordable, I always see new characters from multiple different licenses, and they seem to actually get restocked at Walmart quite frequently. They're still available at retail for the $19.99 price point which is pretty darn impressive these days. It doesn't seem to me that Brook has been released in either the S.H. Figuarts or Megahouse Variable Action Heroes lines yet, so for $20 bucks I decided to snag him. Ready to see what this figure delivers? Then let's groove on in to this review after the break...

Action Figure Review: Husk from Marvel Legends Series: X-Men by Hasbro

 

   I was not expecting the newest Build-a-Figure series of X-Men Marvel Legends to hit stores until late spring but Hasbro surprised us by dropping them early. So far Husk is the only one I've picked up (I also saw Wolverine, but I'm slowing down on Wolverines for a bit and that design isn't one of my favorites or anything) and I've seen her at multiple GameStops. Weird, right? I like Generation X and I'm always excited to add more members of the team to my X-Men shelves. Husk is a very cool figure and it's especially nice to have her since Toy Biz didn't release her back in the day as part of their Generation X line. They didn't release a lot of the main cast, though, like Husk, Monet St. Croix, Leech, Artie, and Synch (though Synch did get a ToyFare exclusive release in 1998). Husk was planned for a third series of figures, but that never came to fruition. I do wish Hasbro would move a bit faster on Generation X, but they're working on so many X-teams right now that at least there is always something exciting to be found. Ready to take a look at Husk, the Kentucky born mutant (Sam Guthrie/ Cannonball is her big brother)? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Ardath Bey from Universal Monsters/ Classic Monsters by NECA

   While Imhotep wrapped in his bandages is the more iconic look for the titular mummy in the 1932 Universal Studios film The Mummy, it's definitely not the way Boris Karloff appears throughout most of the film. Instead, we mostly see the resurrected Imhotep in the guise of Ardath Bey, a Turkish historian with a tremendous knowledge of ancient Egypt. Ardath Bey has definitely been one of my most wanted Universal Monsters figures after NECA has completed the main roster of the usual suspects and it's nice to see they're continuing. The Invisible Man in his robe/ smoking jacket is set to show up any day now and at Toy Fair 2025 last week NECA also showed the Masque of the Red Death Phantom and the Metaluna Mutant. I'm still hoping for Henry Hull from Werewolf of London, Countess Marya Zaleska from Dracula's Daughter, Rondo Hatton as the Creeper, Bela Lugosi as Ygor, Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, Abbott & Costello, Kharis, and Acquanetta from the Wild Woman/ Jungle Woman series, so this line, but the Toy Fair showing was a nice start. Ready for NECA's newest figure based on the legendary Boris Karloff? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Tony Tony Chopper (Reissue) from One Piece Variable Action Heroes by Megahouse

 

   Hey, don't leave! You're in the right place. You're probably surprised by the fact that I'm reviewing something from One Piece or an anime in general. I'm really trying to think if I've reviewed anything else from an anime before as I don't really watch anime all that much. Maybe something from Pokemon? Well, on this one I'm going to have to blame my wife. Over the past couple years my wife has gotten really into One Piece, having watched  through the anime series at least once and the live action Netflix show. Me? I'm just picking up pieces of the show as I go. So I know very little about it, but I do like the characters for how expressive they are and their designs. There are multiple companies who have put out One Piece merchandise, and it seems the presence of the Netflix live-action show really catapulted the popularity of the show even higher. My wife has quite a few little knickknacks that we've bought her as gifts or that she's picked up, but at some point in the last couple months I purchased a S.H. Figuarts Luffy at a GameStop sale and decided to add a few more characters to my shelf. I've seen the Bandai Anime Heroes Chopper a few times in Walmart's collectibles section but I ended up ordering this figure of Tony Tony Chopper from Megahouse's One Piece Variable Heroes line. This is actually a reissue figure, as the original version came out in 2016 while this one was released sometime in 2024. It seems like Megahouse (they're a company under Bandai) is really cranking out rereleases of this line due to the increased popularity of the show. So, who is Tony Tony Chopper? He's a reindeer who was rejected by his tribe because of his blue nose and is now the doctor for the Straw Hat Pirates. He's a humorous character (we like to reverse hide like Chopper at our house) and kind of a mascot for the series at this point. He's naturally a smaller character, too, so this figure is noticeable than the other One Piece Variable Action Heroes. Ready to check out the reissue of Tony Tony Chopper? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Zandar from G.I. Joe Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   The wave of the Classified Series gives us yet another 1986 figure and another Dreadnok: Make way for Zandar, a Dreadnok who is supposed to be such a master of camouflage and blending in that folks just tend to forget he's there. Honestly, that's a bit how I always felt about Zandar, at least as a kid. Back then I didn't know what to do with him. Not getting into G.I. Joe until late 1986 or early 1987, I never had Zartan or the early Dreadnoks and I never really had a huge use for them until later figures started coming out like Road Pig and Gnawgahyde who just kind of mixed in with my general Cobra figures. Zandar just always seemed odd to me and was definitely one of my least favorite figures. While he and Zarana always get brought up because people love Dreadnoks and they have a connection to Zartan, oddly enough Zandar only ever had two figures prior to this release: The 1986 vintage and the 2011 figure from the 30th Anniversary era Dreadnoks Battle Set. Like Zarana (and most other Dreadnoks in the Classified Series), this dude is pretty awesome and might be the stand out figure in this series for me (I don't have Dial-Tone yet, so we'll have to see). The Classified Series version just hits different than the prior figures of Zandar. Ready to check out Zandar? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Panthor from Masterverse: Masters of the Universe New Eternia by Mattel

 

   Just a couple weeks ago Mattel offered up a New Eternia version of Panthor on Mattel Creations and I decided to go ahead and snag him. I have a ton of different Battle Cat items, but Panthor doesn't always get the love that good ol' Cringer does. The Masterverse Battlecat (from Masters of the Universe: Revelation) was released in the summer of 2021, so it took almost 4 years between getting a Masterverse Battle Cat and the Masterverse Panthor. Like you might have guessed, there is some parts of this figure shared with Battle Cat but Mattel did give Panthor new paws, a new head, and all new armor and accessories. There really is a lot unique here. Panthor isn't flocked, but he does have an incredible metallic sheen to him. For the same price as Battle Cat in 2021 (and coming with a bit more stuff) this guy is definitely worth checking out (he is still on sale as of my writing this). Ready to ride with Panthor? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: S.A.W.-Viper (Semi-Automatic Weapon) from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   It's time for another G.I. Joe: Classified Series review and this time we get another Cobra trooper: The S.A.W.-Viper (Semi-Automatic Weapon). A 1990 original, the S.A.W.-Viper is infamous for both the massive weapon included with the figure (it was at least as long as the figure is tall) and because of its connection to the S.A.W.-Viper named Robert Skelton, a S.A.W.-Viper from the Marvel Comics series who executed Doc, Thunder, Crankcase, and Heavy Metal (and later became the character Overkill). The S.A.W.-Viper is overall quite nicely updated here, though Hasbro has retained the mistake of the vintage line in asserting that S.A.W. stands for "Semi-Automatic Weapon" instead of "Squad Automatic Weapon." Unless referring to the fact that this guy comes with an autoloader, or automatic, pistol, this was surely a goof as he clearly is using a light machine gun of some sort (or maybe a medium or general purpose machine gun), which would be classified as a Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Semantics aside, this guy is pretty cool though I do have a few issues. Ready to check him out? Then join me after the break...