Boar Predator (NECA)

NECA Boar Predator

So here it is- a Predator action figure (finally) from NECA, and this is the first action figure from this toyline ever being posted in this blog. I'm not really into collecting NECA figures but I guess there is that little exception, especially if it's something you've always been a fan of... like the Predator! If you've never had any figures from McFarlane Toys or NECA, then you should know that in the sculpt and paint app department, they are unbeatable; not even my Marvel Selects could come any near to the enormous amount of details these figures have.














Though basically all these Predators looked almost the same, and perhaps use the same type of gadgets and weaponry, this Boar Predator (and I honestly don't know which Predator movie he came from) is my least favourite maybe because of the design on his mask and the way these spots around his skin are being placed. It's kinda funny how we can identify each Predators basing from their masks, and skin pigmentations or spots somewhat like fingerprints. Every Predator should wear mask different from one another; guess that's just part of their "Predator culture".

To start with, we always want to zero in right away on the mask 'cause this is what the Predator is famous for along with that Whoopi Goldberg-hairstyle. On its wide forehead, you see this bronze paint being applied on top of these two indented domes, which gives the Boar Predator his unique feature. Then you have these hair clips hanging all over his hair each painted with either silver, bronze or copper. His back is all covered with crimson down to the butt, but when you look at the front, this is where you see a variety of pigmentations. The Boar Predator has his armour and weapon (has only one), of course, all painted with metallic silver.

The sculpt is equally amazing as the paint! Holes, dimples and scratch marks can be seen all over this Predator's mask, shoulder guards, wrist bands and shin guards; looking like he has gone through rough hunting. That epic hair is made of a softer plastic, so it actually wiggles everytime you shake his head and it doesn't hinder with head movement. Like most Predators, he has this fish net molded and indented around his torso and legs. And with a well-proportioned body mold, this Predator can easily become one of those head turners on my display.

Moving on to accessories, some of these gadgets and paraphernalias are just less exciting and less playable, and I'm just bummed knowing that you can't remove the mask... and there's no shoulder cannon! Predators should have shoulder cannons- these are their bread and butter in every hunting field they're in. This dude only comes with the disc, which is, in my opinion, one of the coolest weapons ever created in Hollywood. Then, of course, you got the disc holster glued at the thigh, which holds his weapon as you latch it in. With an awesome weapon, comes "trophies" and this Predator is actually wearing them around his chest.

Surprisingly, the articulation on this guy is not as bad as I've thought. I must admit that I'm always geared to thinking that the more detailed an action figure is, the less they become poseable, and I was eating my words the moment I played with its articulation. This action figure got ankle pivots- ankle pivots that Diamond Select can't incorporate with some of their own action figures. To give a complete count, the Boar Predator has ball-jointed neck, ball-hinged shoulders, single-jointed elbows, ball-hinged wrists, waist swivel, ball-jointed hips, double-jointed knees and ball-hinged ankles.

So standing next to an average Marvel Legends figure, this guy is a little on the larger scale and neither Legends or Select would be compatible with this guy. But probably with other NECA toys, he'll be in perfect scale with them. Now should I recommend? Why yes, of course! With some decent articulation and a huge huge amount aesthetic details, I say grab this one and the rest of these NECA Predators.

Green Arrow & Deathstroke: Injustice (DC Collectibles)

Injustice Green Arrow & Deathstroke

"Dear Deathstroke, you're the only reason why I bought this two-pack of you and Mr. Queen here, but how come you're small... like really small?" Anyways, here it is folks, the 3.75-inch Green Arrow and Deathstroke action figure sporting their Injustice outfit, and dammit... this "Injustice-style" makes me wanna wish they're bigger like our New 52 figures. When I first saw this though, I knew it's going to be small but I never expected these guys to be so small. They're not even 3.75 small and you'll see it when I size compare it to a Marvel Universe figure.













As you've already knew, Deathstroke is my favourite DC bad boy and from the looks of this package, it seems Deathstroke looks way more amazing than Green Arrow. However, Green Arrow is actually the "better man" between the two. Although they both have the same articulation but later you'll know why Green Arrow has the upper hand once we'll get into the details. I'm going to begin with each of their sculpt and paint details then head down to their similarities.

Starting with Green Arrow, right away, you'll see that he's not your regular Robin Hood-like archer like you see him in the comic books. While still maintaining his green and yellow colour scheme, this action figure is laced with a little bit of modernity. He got this arm protectors sculpted around half of his right arm. Also, he has "hip guards" at the side of his thighs connecting to his utility belt. Basically, what this toyline did is they sort of going through that Add-Remove-Preserve Process just like when Marvel-Hasbro revolutionized Hawkeye. One thing that really blew my mind about this action figure is the modern bow! Real elastic strings!

Deathstroke, on the other hand, is decorated with a few of his gears and paraphernalias. He has these ala-Batman arm and shin guards painted in orange. He got two handguns plus holsters molded at the front of his thighs, and my complain about these ones is that I can't remove either one of them. Deathstroke got these orange shoulder pads; the one shoulder pad has this big fat ammo pack molded on top of it while the rest goes right around his chest and back. Like his ammo pack, Deathstroke's assault rifle looks pretty much on a larger scale- he's like holding a bazooka! But other than that, his head sculpt and body mold are totally rad.

The paint application on both these figures are flat and solid yet neat and almost precise. I like how they used the appropriate type of paint for each. For example, Green Arrow's bow is painted with a glossier green contrary to his matted uniform, and Deathstroke's bulletproof vest is brushed with a silver gray paint. There are obviously no colour shading or any complex colour details on these guys just like in the case of those other brands of 3.75 inch action figures.

Both Green Arrow and Deathstroke have articulations that are completely the same. Their body molds may be different and deceive you to thinking that the other one is more articulated than the other, but they're all alike. Deathstroke's articulation, however, is being hindered by his "stuff"- he can't raise his arms way high because of these shoulder guards and neither his ab crunch can move to its full potential because of this ammo pack! But with Green Arrow, you can almost utilize every single parts of his articulation given to them.

Green Arrow and Deathstroke have heads that can rotate 360. They got ball-hinged shoulders, bicep swivels, single-jointed elbows, wrist twists, diaphragm swivel, ab crunch, ball-jointed hips, lower thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, mid-calf swivels, and ankle hinges with no ankle pivots. I think it's a fairly good amount of articulation.

Now, the moment we've been waiting for- size comparison! ...With special guest, Marvel Universe Classic Iron Man! If you're thinking of getting these figures just to have them displayed together with your Marvel Universe collection, then just forget it, man! These two midgets just looked like their lost. What I mean is they're not compatible with any MU figures, and what's more surprising is that Deathstroke here is smaller compared to Green Arrow, and I know this guy stands a hell alot taller than the green archer. Like I've said, I purchased this two-pack set because of this one guy here but other than that, I usually tend to ignore those 3.75-inch action figures whenever I see them around. But if you're someone unlike me, I would recommend these two action figures just cause they look well-detailed and modern with some decent articulation.

Hulkbuster - Iron Man (Marvel Legends)

There's just alot of things I love about that movie and alot of interesting turn of events as well, so definitely you gotta check out Iron Man 3 if you haven't seen it yet. In the mean time, I got someone here I'd like to sign up for a football tryout and this guy is from Toy Biz Marvel Legends: Legendary Rider Series. It's the Hulkbuster! This guy just looks kick-ass! Massive from head from head to toe! A monster of a machine!

Marvel Legends Hulkbuster (Iron Man)

Again with the red and yellow Iron Man colour scheme, obviously, the only difference is Hulkbuster's height, body mass, and feature that made him stand out from the many versions of Tony Stark's Iron Man suits. This suit is, of course, designed to take on the Hulk just like every single means and methods out there which seem to underestimate the power of the Green Goliath. I personally think Hulk could still beat Iron Man even with this suit.

There is little much to talk about the paint detail on this figure but the fact that it's glossy, shiny and everything, and this is why I have to move forth towards the details around his sculpt and special features.

I don't blame you if you think he's like the Juggernaut (another muscle-freak) in a different costume, but it's actually just the head that determined Hulkbuster's likeness to the guy. Try replace it with a "regular Iron Man-head" and maybe you'll have a different opinion. An interesting feature I'd like to point out is the sculpt on Hulkbuster's shoulder guards that have these tiny "power cells", which I believe gives him added power besides his arc reactor. Hulkbuster further enhances his defenses with these huge arm guards and mighty mechanical hands that got some great details on it. While these added robot-like aesthetics make him look cooler, the contours and the size of his muscles are merely just an upscale or a "bulking up" to give it a much more intimidating look.

Hulkbuster comes with this power glider, which is probably inspired from Green Goblin's glider but has a Tony Stark touch in it. The glider has a total of three pegs- two little pegs that goes right under his feet and a big one in the middle that goes right into his spine. This is the only accessory I've seen so far that can be used as a base stand as well as a carry-around item. With his glider attached behind him along with the right camera angle, it's easy to get the illusion of looking at it as being one.

The articulation on this action figure is a bit of a pain in the ass, and this is probably the result of having all these added features and extra muscle mass around him that kept me from getting some desired action poses! In no such huge deal, I still like the fact that Toy Biz maintained its trademark individual finger articulation and ankle pivots. Besides, we don't need a Hulkbuster that is as poseable as an acrobat or something. Take note that you cannot turn his head or move it side to side, however, you can flip this head up and... behold, Mr. Stark himself!

Truly, I'm amazed by how Tony's head got some pretty decent articulation along with these details inside his Hulkbuster armour. The torso got both diaphragm and waist swivel, which lets him rotate and lean forward. With his shoulder guards on the way, it's hard to raise his arms up but both these arms got single-jointed elbows and wrist twists. The legs can twist and turn to the sides with the help of its ball-jointed hips and upper thigh swivel. He got double-jointed knees but are rendered almost non-functional because of all these "muscles" around the area. Sadly, Hulkbuster doesn't have that lower-calf swivel.












To compare him with his arch-nemesis, Hulkbuster stands a little shorter than the Face-off Hulk. However, the Hulkbuster is still the bigger guy because, generally, he got a much wider girth.

The Hulkbuster Iron Man is probably one of those action figures out there that rarely show up inside your stores and I would totally grab him if I were you, especially if you're someone who's crazy about collecting Iron Man stuff.

Nightcrawler (Marvel Select)

Marvel Select Nightcrawler

Teleportation is all I'd like to think about in those days where everything just sucks and where I am desperately wanting to go find a place to settle me down. Then suddenly my thoughts are aimed on this guy who's probably the most envied being in all fiction not because of his otherly world feature but with his ability to hoard some Hawaiian sand under his feet in a matter of seconds! Nobody has delivered this impressive display of teleportation powers better than Nightcrawler. With Diamond Select Toys having already released and action figure of him, I guess that amplifies my yearning.












Taking a glimpse at his physical features, my attention immediately got glued to this sinister look over his face, and it's actually not bad. Maybe some people would find it a little weird looking but for me, this brings some "adult-ness" on the character. Tough and ugly.

Now looking at the entire sculpt, I almost fell under the impression that the body mold is from that of a Marvel Select Spider-Man since both these nimbly superheroes have leaner physique, but it is not what I thought it is. What truly bothers me is his wide crotch, these big big big ball-hinged hips and very lean thighs! This physical deformity may not look obvious once I put Nightcrawler in a crouching stance but once I have him standing with his legs straight, I think I just wanna murder my eyes looking at this debauchery!

Nonetheless, Diamond Select maintained its excellence with paint application. As I had expected, they combined two or three different colours with shading and highlighting and not just plain solid colours like that of a MOTUC and Marvel Legends action figure. By looking at the arms and legs, you could see some darker blue areas following the contours or curves of his muscles, and even the tail has some colour variation around it. The red areas seem to be solidly painted but still I gotta give credit to the overall paintbrush skills.

In addition, the accessory (he only got one) has these beautiful touch of dark colours in the middle of this "teleportation cloud" made of translucent purple plastic. The accessory can be used as a background prop like you've seen on that photo at the very top (I just stick it right unto a wall) or use it simply as a figure stand as it's suppose to.
















Articulation-wise, I gotta give this one an average score. Although I like that they gave him a highly poseable tail and the fact that it's even more bendable than the arms of Plastic Man, but I rather want to see poseability around the arms, legs and torso that can match the Marvel Select Ultron. One flaw on this figure is that it got these shoulder pads that hinders the shoulders from moving all the way up. Another flaw is this diaphragm swivel that doesn't really function like a swivel. Nightcrawler got no swivel to the mid-calves and no ankle pivots.

But anyways, let's round them up! Nightcrawler got a ball-jointed neck that rotates his head but barely lets it move up and down. It got ball-hinged shoulders, swivel to the biceps, single-jointed elbows, wrist twists with no hinges that let them move up and down. Diaphragm joint/swivel allows him to hyperextend his spine to the back but hardly to the front and sides. His waist rotates 360 as well as with his upper thigh swivel along with those hip ball-joints I was just talking about. He got double-hinged knees and hinges at the ankles. So there are just parts here and there that needs improvement, but this is Marvel Select... this is what you'll expect.

In comparison with the rest of his teammates, the Select Nightcrawler is in perfect scale standing just about 7.2 inches tall. Being a great addition to an X-men collection, I'd say pick him up but just don't make those sculpt issues look too obvious once he's up on the shelf. Believe me, it's not easy on the eyes.

Plastic Man: Justice Series (DC Direct)

DC Direct Justice Series Plastic Man

Nothing can beat Plastic Man; he got style, charisma and a tremendous level of adaptability whichever or whatever situation you'd want him to be. I could hire him as my sales representative for selling a 15-year used car in my garage. Obviously, his beaming personality extends outward, and you can see how this figure of him looks fun and inviting and, in some aspects, interesting. Like the Hush Huntress, Plastic Man is not your typical poseable DC action figure. He is something you want to enjoy just being on the shelf like every Justice Series action figures out there. But I like this figure and it actually got some good areas I'd like to point out!












The articulation department may be upsetting and like I've said, this action figure is for display and somewhat closely related to a statue. His head can rotate 360, and moves a little up and a little down. He got ball-hinged shoulders that lets you spread his arms sideward and rotate it 360 degrees. The elbows and the knees are single-jointed, and he got waist swivel. No joints to the wrists and ankles, however, he got a T-joint to the hips which serves useless.

Regardless of all that, the details and the accessories he comes with are those areas that made this figure a real stunner. How can you not gaze upon his face with awe once you see his groovy sunglasses/goggles along with his S-shaped ala-Superman front curl? In addition, the contours and the shape of his muscles are well proportioned with enough details on it. Also, one real surprise is that those laces crisscrossing across his chest are indented, which looked as though separate from the body.

Taking a glimpse at the paint job, you can't really see any paint defect or strays that indicate imperfections. Looking closely, the way the paint had been applied is very precise and "geometric" but the colours are very flat with no shading that supports contrasts, so he looks pretty much like a cartoon.

Moving on with the accessories, you might (or might not) come into an expectation and start looking for an elongated neck, but that version is from a different toyline; this Plastic Man here comes with two different types of interchangeable arms, a spiraling lower torso, and this Justice Series base stand. This long "grappling arm" with an oversized hand goes only to his left shoulder, and the other arm- the "punching arm" fits to his right shoulder. Furthermore, these arms are super flexible so you can just bend them in a variety of ways! Same thing with his "spiraling torso", which can go right below his belt after you have already removed his hips along with the legs.

Having a comical action figure like this Plastic Man is kind of refreshing in a way that he's hilariously unique. So far, this is the only action figure standing on my "collection shelf" that lacks seriousness and could get anyone's attention. If you're collecting DC action figures, this Plastic Man is a must get.

Iron Fist (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Iron Fist (Toy Biz)

I feel there's like a "yin-yang energy" surrounding this action figure when I had examined the sculpt, paint detail and articulation. These are mostly positive though but then these negative features just surface right before my eyes and I say, whoaa, what's wrong with that! This Marvel Legends Iron Fist is part of the Apocalypse BAF Series by Toy Biz. He comes in two different types- the original type where he wears the yellow and green colour scheme, and the flaming-Iron Fist type (this one here), which I like better!













However, this guy is not immune to my ever judging stare. First, his shoulders are exaggeratingly swollen and round! It just looked odd and unnatural but viewing from the side, these shoulders may not look obviously silly. Though satisfied with the sculpt of his angry face, I am not very happy with these little "flaming stuffs" on top of his head. Toy Biz could have used that red glowy plastic like the one used to create his accessories, or better yet not have them there! It look some kind of bump on the head or some bird poop.

The paint detail is actually not bad. I see some dark shading between each muscle areas to help with the contrast. This flaming Iron Fist got this dragon symbol tattooed nicely over his chest. He is one of those superheroes I find having the strangest outfit, and I'm just glad Marvel redesigned his uniform into a more appealing one (should I say).

Now the best part- articulation. This, in my opinion, is probably one of Toy Biz's highly poseable action figure. You can really see those hinges and joints around the knuckles and toes. Iron Fist got a ball-hinged neck, ball-hinged shoulders and he got this armpit joints that let him extend his arms further sidewards. He got swivel to the biceps and mid-forearms. The fingers are also poseable and lets you get his right hand into a punching pose while a judo chop on the left hand. He got the ab crunch, swivel to the waist, ball-hinged hips, double-jointed knees, hinges to the ankles as well as on the toes and got ankle rockers that doesn't really do a nice job.

He comes with couple of these red-orange glowy plastic shaped like flames, which you can latch unto his fist or at the tip of his toes. Don't hesitate to use it with your other action figures or with any kind of props you have.

Despite all the issues I have with this figure, for a Toy Biz Marvel Legends collector, it is a great figure to have. Nowadays, it's very cheap if you buy it on your local comic book stores or even on eBay.

Archangel (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Archangel

If you're not on a mission of completing all series of the Marvel Legends action figures by Toy Biz, don't bother getting the Archangel they had over there. Hasbro's Archangel definitely nailed a quite accurate rendition of the angel of death. I'm not much of a huge fan of this character just cause I felt he needs to do something prominently extraordinary, but for me, he is one of the cool looking guys of the Marvel Universe with those metallic wings that make me wish he were in those X-men movies, and that I'm sure we will soon see. When Wave 4 Return of Marvel Legends was being announced to be released, I was highly anticipating for this guy along with the X-Force Wolverine, which are my top 2 favourite guys in this wave.











Totally, I am very much tempted to paint Archangel's wings with a silver metallic paint just to make it look glossier like the SDCC exclusive and one day I'm gonna do it, but as you can see, the wings here are made of just gray plastic. But I like how the wings are sculpted and made to look like feather-like knives layering on top of each other. Moreover, Hasbro didn't miss out on giving Archangel these smaller wings sitting just in between the two big ones. This is how Archangel's wings should look.

The paint job on his Classic X-men uniform is pretty decent. Some people say it's too pink while others say it's shiny but that for me isn't a big deal as long as the result on the camera looks nice. There are no colour shadings and contrasts on this action figure and those are the things you need to expect on a Marvel Legends. It's simply the dark blue and pink flatly being applied around his body. However when we zoom in to his blue face, we'll see all sorts of different colours but still lacked the shadings.

The body mold on Archangel is believed to be Bucky Cap's and that is why we see his right hand kinda like holding a pistol, and if you're someone like me who has been collecting these figures for almost a year, it just bugs you! Hasbro could have used a different hand that doesn't look nonsensical. But the rest of the sculpt, especially the head and the face, looks B.A.- a rendition of the evil Archangel he used to be.

Moving on to the articulation, both the wings and the action figure itself had good amounts of joints and hinges. Doing a "flying pose" with Archangel is very easy to accomplish with this ab crunch and ball-jointed neck being incorporated in this figure.

Each big wings has two hinges located at different areas; one near the spine while the other one is right in the middle so you can either extend or clip his wings together. In addition, the big wings can move up and across; able to meet in the middle for a more dynamic flying pose, while the small ones basically have single hinges that lets it flap back and forward. And by the way, these wings are removable and latches on to a peg hole at his back, so in this light, I can customize the wings without the figure on my way.

Like the Bucky Cap, Archangel has ball-hinged shoulders, swivel around the biceps, double-jointed elbows, wrist rotation and hinges that lets it move up and down. He got waist swivel, a T-joint on the hips that lets his legs move forward and back, and swivel to the upper thighs and mid-calves. Ankles can move up and down, and got the ankle rockers. It's a very poseable figure!

With the wings, he stands about 8 inches tall, but without it, he stands as tall as the X-Force Wolverine which I am sure not the accurate scale as you see them in the comics.

But then this is an awesome figure and probably the best Archangel ever yet created by a toyline, and I definitely would recommend picking this guy up especially now that Hasbro will be releasing some classic X-men superheroes with Jean Grey to be released later this year.