Daryl Dixon: The Walking Dead (McFarlane Toys)

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

In just 4 days, Daryl, Michonne and Rick will take us once again to the land of the dead. That's right! The Walking Dead's big three will be bashing, stomping and blowing up some zombie brains on October 13, and when I say "big three" that means they're my top three tough characters of the show that made this all fun and exciting. You gotta agree with me on that. I know this may sound uncomfortable to all Walking Dead fans out there but if Daryl dies, then there will be nerd rage all over the place! He is like the Wolverine in the group. With his interesting personality, he will totally make your day once he let everyone talk to his crossbow.














This Daryl Dixon action figure comes with Merle in this 2-Pack Dixon Brothers special by McFarlane Toys. Taking a look at this 11x8-inch box, you can find an artwork inspired from that of Season 3 and a portrait of Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker respectively as Daryl and Merle. Moreover, Daryl is the exact duplicate of the Daryl we had in series one released awhile ago from this toyline.

Once again, I am blown away from the tremendous amount of details on this figure. The paint job nearly matches that of Daryl in the TV series with his dirt covered T-shirt and somewhat baggy pants. His beard and mustache are decently painted and designed but I wish McFarlane could have put a little bit of dirt over his face for an even more scruffier look. Same goes with his arms, it needs more colour shading than this. Like the action figure Rick Grimes, his eyes are looking at a certain direction.

As far as the sculpting goes, I'm satisfied with how the head and face sculpt is done. However by looking at the body mold, Daryl looked like he got fractured with one leg (right leg) misaligned; hoping that this is only a factory defect. Nevertheless, I like how the arms are curved and how it helped him hold his crossbow. Daryl also got a knife sheath and a squirrel fur attached around his waist.

He comes with three different accessories; all of which are weapons. Getting an axe and a gardening tool is a nice thing to have with this figure, but I still think that the crossbow alone would have been fine without the other ones. Daryl's Bowie knife adds some badassery in him, which can be held around his grip using tape!

You can't really do a lot of dynamic pose on this guy or any of The Walking Dead action figures. They are only intended strictly for show. The articulation is as follows- ball-jointed neck that lets his head rotate 360 and lean to any direction. Ball-hinged shoulders along with swivels at the mid-shoulder. Single-jointed elbow, hinged wrists and wrist rotation. He got a waist swivel but doesn't do its full potential and he got no ab crunch or diaphragm swivel. He got a T-joint that lets his legs move forward and back but doesn't allow it to move to the sides. He got single-jointed knees with rotation, and no ankle pivot.

Daryl stands at exactly 5 inches tall and he's perfectly well scaled when compared to Rick and Michonne. Even though I'm completely impressed with the detail of this figure, it just irks me to see that leg being deviated, but then it is what it is. Hopefully, other TWD figures won't have the same problem.

Rick Grimes: The Walking Dead (McFarlane Toys)

The Walking Dead: Rick Grimes

...Or should I say "the exclusive" Walking Dead Rick Grimes action figure from The Walking Dead TV series. This is the third Rick Grimes released by McFarlane; the first one was in Series 1 (Deputy Rick Grimes in his uniform), followed by the one in Series 2 and now this one which just came this week. I am sure there are still some Series 1 and 2 Rick Grimes out there sold at some local comic/toy stores but this is way better and I have to pick this one over the others. Although he looked considerably like a variant of Series 2, but with the added scruffiness over his face and minus the hat (apparently given to Carl), I think he is much cooler that way but that is just my opinion.













The packaging here is the same as with the Series 3 Michonne and her pet zombies. Inspired from the show's third season, an artwork of the prison can be seen throughout the package with, of course, a portrait of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes

When it comes to paint job and sculpting, McFarlane Toys never fails to give you such a huge amount of it; making this figure very highly detailed. Rick's white T-shirt looked as though he's been collecting dirt, blood and sweat out from dealing with walkers. Likewise, his arms and face looks messed up and dirty. The paint shadings around his pants and boots made it look worn and "battle damaged". I like the paint apps and all... but the one minor complain I have with this figure is the eyes, which I think it would have been better if it is looking straight rather than having his eyeballs rolled towards the left.

The sculpting on this figure is absolutely phenomenal. The head and face sculpt may not had captured the looks of the actor but it is clean and well sculpted. All these wrinkles and folds around his pants and shirt looks very real.

Likewise, the accessories that he comes with are painted and sculpted beautifully. Rick's weapon of choice, the revolver is painted with metallic silver and got all the details you need to see, but the most amazing accessory he has with him is the scoped rifle that looks as though it's made out of wood with its long barrel and trigger that Rick can carry well with his "trigger hand". Other than his favourite guns, he also comes with this 5-inch long "catchpole" he used in one episode of the season that has two loops at each ends and can be held using a pair of extra hands, which are also nicely sculpted.

But the articulation on this figure is not as impressive as the details. If you look at all human action figures of The Walking Dead, you'll notice that they don't have something standard in terms of articulation. In Rick's case, he doesn't have any articulation at all around his knees; not like Michonne. His neck is on a ball-joint and so he can look up and down at a decent angle and turn his head 360. Rick got ball-hinged shoulders but no bicep swivel, single-jointed elbows with rotation and a ball-hinged wrists that lets his hands move up and down and twist to the sides. He got a waist swivel and doesn't have any articulation around the hips! However, he got these swivels at the upper thigh that cuts somewhere from the side of his hips down to his crotch forming like a "V". He got hinges to his ankles and ankle rotation. So this is what you need to expect from a McFarlane toy.

In comparison to The Walking Dead Michonne figure, Rick Grimes stands a little bit tall at about 5.2 inches. I say he is probably in perfect scale with his crew. As far as recommendation goes, if you're not an articulation junkie and if you're diehard fan of The Walking Dead, then this figure might be for you.

Iron Patriot: Iron Man 3 (Marvel Select)

Marvel Select Iron Patriot: Iron Man 3

If you haven't visited your local Disney Store yet, check out all their toys and you'll see this exclusive Marvel Select Iron Patriot from the Iron Man 3 movie. I gotta say I just like how this 7-inch scale action figure turned out to be amazingly accurate based off from the movie. Basically, the Iron Patriot is just a repaint of the Marvel Select War Machine (IM3 Version); baring colours of the first Avenger, Captain America. His body mold is different to the Marvel Select Mark 42 Iron Man, and so there are no re-uses and reconstructions here. You only got features that are entirely unique on this guy.














As far as the movie is concerned, I was actually surprised Iron Patriot came out a lot cooler than the Mark 42 probably because he is more intimidating and had this all-for-business type of persona dealing no issues within himself. However, I was a little bothered about that scene where the President somehow got into the Iron Patriot suit but couldn't even free himself with his arms being tied in chains- doesn't make any sense. But overall, I think the movie was great but not as awesome as the first two movies.

Looking at the paint job, a lot of people wanted the Iron Patriot to have that shinny metallic look like most Iron Man figures we've come across. While I think that this type of look may as well work with this figure, I believe the matted finish on his paint gives a better result on cameras. Also, one thing I like about the paint are the decals over his shoulders, arms and hips that are perfectly printed/painted without smearing. He got this red, white and blue colour scheme with the blue that kinda lean towards being indigo and white that is rather silver.

The sculpt on this figure is done from the interior mechanical part to the exterior protective shell of his body. Taking a closer at the ball-joints over his shoulders and hips, you can see lines and all sorts of details that are noticeable every time you lift his arms or move his legs. Iron Patriot has that housing for his missiles sculpted over his forearms, which is the same with that of War Machine. Like the Mark 42, the hinges and joints on this figure blend seamlessly as though it seem to have not existed.

And just like the Mark 42, Iron Patriot comes with a base stand (or a prop) which is very nice to have for your Iron Man display. Get like maybe 5 or 6 of these and you can have your very own Hall of Armor right on your shelf. Most importantly, he comes with this nicely sculpted shoulder turret that is removable and got some decent articulation in it. He also has an interchangeable head which has the exposed face of Don Cheadle as Col. Rhodes; sculpted perfectly to look almost close as the actor.

Now for the articulation on this figure, he is not as articulated as his Marvel Legends counterpart. I didn't even bother do that Iron Man flying pose because it is just not achievable. However, poses like aiming to shoot repulsors or preparing for a take off can be done easily. The shoulder turret is highly articulated which can turn and point at any direction except probably when you have it turned where his head is on its way.

Iron Patriot has a ball-jointed neck that lets his head move side to side, and move up and down but very limited. The shoulder guards are hinged and, although it helped quite a bit with the articulation on his shoulder, it only goes at a certain point and so you can't really raise his arms way up high even with the ball-hinged shoulders. He's got swivel to the biceps and forearms, single-jointed elbows, hinged wrists that flexes and rotates. There is no waist swivel but he got a diaphragm joint that lets him turn towards the sides as well as get him to lean at any direction. The hips are T-jointed and ball-hinged, and the legs got upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, and ankles that flex, rotate and pivot.

Again, compared to Iron Man Mark 42, Iron Patriot is a little heftier and a centimeter taller which is good... the fact that I think Rhodes probably has a much larger physique than Tony Stark. If you haven't had an Iron Patriot within the 7-inch scale, I would recommend getting this one because of all its detail and neat feature. Definitely, a must-have figure.

Rocket Raccoon (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon

So I finally got my fingers around this small Build-A-Figure by Hasbro. Looking at yet another one of these small yet nicely sculpted figures, I personally think that it's nice to see something new... but a 2nd, 3rd (Puck) and a 4th (Jubilee) one? C'mon Hasbro! What happened to those good ol' BAF days? If this wasn't Rocket Raccoon, I would have just saved my money and pass with this Wave like that Hit Monkey. But it's him and being an essential part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, it is a must have action figure and I definitely gonna get the rest of them as soon as they're released.














Here is Rocket Raccoon compared to his much older fellow Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure, the Sentinel! Standing at just 3 inches, no doubt this figure is in perfect scale with the rest of Marvel Legends figures, no doubt this is an awesome figure, and no doubt Hasbro has saved some spray paints and hard plastics.

But for such a small figure, I gotta give Hasbro some credit for doing a fine job on sculpting his tiny little hands and feet, and those tiny little teeth once you open his mouth. You probably couldn't get any better Rocket Raccoon than this one right here. I have to say that the sculpting and texturing over his uniform, all his furry skin and tail is excellent. He comes with this one little assault rifle with a blade at the tip and a red rocket that is well sculpted and fits just right into either of his hands. It would have been much cooler if he had two of these guns albeit the fact that both his hands are sculpted to hold guns but... it is what it is.

No shading or any kind of variety on the details when we talk about the paint. However, I do like how they did the paint job inside his mouth with that raccoon teeth, gums and tongue coming out perfectly without any runs or bleeds. The eyes could have been your standard regular eyes but it's painted with gold/brown, which is still good. And just as what we see on an average raccoon, this rodent from outer space got all that features but with, of course, his red and blue Guardians uniform.

Just by looking at this figure, you can easily count the amount of articulation he has. As you can see, he doesn't have any joints on his hips, legs and feet so you can't really do any dynamic pose with him. Rocket Raccoon though got a pretty nice articulation on his neck that lets his head lean towards the sides and rotate 360. He got ball-hinged shoulders, single-jointed elbows, elbow rotation, wrist rotation and swivel around the waist. You can open or close his jaw and turn his tail at any angle but they're just minor features that doesn't really help with poseability.

For you to complete the Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon, you just need to get the Black Panther, Jean Grey and Wrecker from this Wave. I would recommend and suggest that you get this figure if you're planning to assemble your Guardians of the Galaxy team.

Spawn - Image 10th Anniversary (McFarlane Toys)

Image 10th Anniversary Spawn

To all you articulation junkies, here's a Spawn action figure that's going to suit your cup of tea. He's no Hasbro figure (obviously, since when did they make Spawn), but from the guys that brought us statue-like action figures that barely has any articulation in it- McFarlane! This time, they totally made one hell of a step into offering us not only a Spawn with McFarlane-style sculpting but also with a wide range of movement made possible through his 25-point articulation, and that doesn't even includes the articulation over his cape! This Spawn is special; so special that McFarlane released this super-articulated figure to honour Image's 10 years of comic book awesomeness, which is kinda nice for them and a little bothersome. I mean, why do it only for this "special occasion" when these guys could have done this a long time ago? There is no question McFarlane Toys can do it.









I will begin this toy review with articulation since I'm obviously excited with it. So Spawn's demonic cape is articulated which are simply swivel-type of joints that allows you to cover or uncover his entire body like curtains around a window. He got a ball-hinged neck that lets his head look up, down and to the sides. Surprisingly, Spawn got this scapular/shoulder blade joints like the ones on the X-Force Wolverine, which allows him to move his shoulders forward or back. Like those Marvel Legends or Marvel Select figures, he got bicep swivel-joints, single-jointed elbows, mid-arm swivel and hinges on the wrists. His torso is complete with all three major "torsal" joints namely; diaphragm swivel, ab crunch and waist swivel. He got a T-joint that lets his entire legs raise up and forward or to the sides. His legs have mid-thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, lower calf swivel, hinged ankles, ankle swivel and ankle pivot... and toe joints!

Now the ankle pivot on this one is a little tricky. You have to rotate the ankle swivel around until the joint marks are aligned at the front before you can pivot it to the sides. So I think that's very damn cool.

The paint application on this 10th Anniversary Spawn is consistent with any McFarlane Spawn figures you've seen. Starting with his big red cape, you can see some black paint shading done between its folds as well as its surface to make it look worn and battle damaged. Spawn's body is mostly covered in black with a few gray shadings to define his muscles, and the spikes around his arms and ankles are painted with a silvery metallic type of gray; making it more realistic. The colour designs comprising of red and white over his arms and torso are painted perfectly without any runs or bleeds.

If you've been collecting Spawn figures and figures with highly complex details, this one won't disappoint you even with the added amount of hinges. As you can see on these photos, the hinges are barely noticeable and blending well with the sculpt of this figure. And of course, one shouldn't ignore McFarlane's trademark design on the cape which has been, as well, consistent all throughout like the one on The Art of Spawn - Spawn on my last year's review. In addition, attached under his belt buckle is a 14-inch long metal chain that is almost twice longer than Kratos' chained weapons.

And with all these great detail, comes a base stand that is also greatly detailed. Obviously, this is the dome of a cathedral where there is a cross and where there are pegs (in pairs) in two different areas that give you that option of having Spawn either stand in front of the cross or have him perch on top of it. I prefer having him perch on this 12.5-inch base stand, and it is surprisingly very stable. Even with some weight on the figure, you wouldn't think this could fall or collapse.

I couldn't stop myself from comparing this Spawn to a Marvel figure and I want to see which toyline this figure is more likely compatible with. Marvel Legends or Marvel Select? As you can see here, Spawn's overall girth has to be a little wider to be able mix well with the Selects. I think he leans more towards Marvel Legends even with this height of 7 inches. Such iconic figure with great amount of detail and poseability is pretty hard to come by. And if there is one Spawn figure I would recommend to any collector, it is this one right here.

Big Red Predator (NECA)

NECA Big Red Predator

When you're big and wearing red, you'd probably get spotted easily by your prey as you hunt her around in a thick jungle. But if you're a Predator, that won't matter as long as you got your cloaking device with you to use at anytime. Combining killing precision and style is what the Big Red Predator is all about. Right away, you can tell that this Predator is not your average Predator. What's phenomenal about it is that the fans love Big Red more than any Predator figures. Unlike most NECA Predators, which are based off from those major movies, Big Red, with its interestingly unique outfit, is based from a fan-made movie on YouTube entitled, Batman: Dead End. With its ornamental belt and two katana blades, this Predator is ready to show you the way of the Samurai... in its own fashion.











Compared to our very own classic Predator, Big Red's sculpt and body mold is basically the same with few tweaks here and there to give it its own feature. The body armour; gauntlets, leg guards and shoulder guards are as same as the classic except that the Wrist Blades are housed unto Big Red's left gauntlet instead of the right. Moreover, its Bio-Mask has these two yellow pebble-like indentions likely for aesthetic purposes, also with all these black streaks painted over its big red mask.

And around the waist, is a well detailed belt inspired from that ancient Samurai culture together with a couple of these sheaths for its swords hanging at the right hip, while still preserving that Predator loin cloth. Also, it has all these trophy skulls held together with a string which goes down diagonally across its torso. The only thing that this Predator is missing though is its infamous Plasma Cannon, which probably not gonna fit in with Big Red's theme.

Big Red's name comes from its chosen colour scheme- RED. It is all painted red as you can see here, but gold to its Wrist Blade and hair clips. Its skin colour is kind of brown-yellow at the front with dark pigmentations dominating the back area. Why it has this jaundice skin?- it's probably because of "colour compatibility". The red goes well with the yellow on Big Red's case.

Gladly, I am pleased that this Predator has a pair of interchangeable hands. You can change its open palmed hands into these "sword-gripping" hands to wield its katanas. Like a true Samurai, Big Red carries the long katana and the short katana, which fits perfectly in each of its hands. Unfortunately, it's impossible for this Predator to do a two-hander with one single sword.

Like the articulation of the Boar Predator or any standard NECA Predator figures, Big Red's neck are ball-socketed so it can lean towards its sides and rotate 360. It got ball-hinged shoulders with no bicep swivel, single-jointed elbows with elbow rotations, and ball-hinged wrists. No diaphragm swivel; wishing they'll incorporate it soon, but Big Red has waist swivel to do the function. It got a T-joint and a ball-hinged hips, upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, ball-hinged ankles with ankle rotations and ankle pivots.

This action figure stands at about 8 inches tall and I really wish they could have scaled him up a bit to literally define the "big" in Big Red, but I totally think this is a really good purchase the fact that it's one of a kind and that I'm a huge fan of the Predators.

Black Panther (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Black Panther

Some people might tell you that greatness and beauty depends on how complex the details are picked up by your own naked eyes. That's not always true. We are always amazed by the amounts of paint shading and sculpt on figures created by McFarlane and NECA, but the Marvel Legends Black Panther figure begs to differ. Like the real panther itself, the blackness made this Black Panther figure majestic despite the overall simplicity. Combined with some shades of blue, it's easy to appreciate the definition of his athletic body type. This figure may be an instant favourite to any collector.














Rebranded as the "Blue Panther" by some ML collectors, the amounts of blue shading on this figure would likely surprise you by the time you lay your eyes on it, but then you would realize that it's actually part of getting the Black Panther to stand out once he is on the shelf and to be comic book accurate at the same time.

The paint application is basically the blacks and blues blending in and fading out over each other. Strikingly, Panther's pair of gloves and boots are painted with a solid colour of blue while these evenly arranged dark lines are drawn through it that made this figure more bound from the comics. In addition, his eyes are painted with silver over his traditional mask.

Then again, the body mold is from the Marvel Legends Wave 2 Bucky Cap (which I haven't done a review on yet, surprisingly) like the one they also used on the Marvel Legends Modern Hawkeye. The only difference is, obviously, the head sculpt which is thought by others to be on a larger scale. But for me, I don't see anything wrong with it and he actually looks well proportioned. Also, Panther's hands are both in "claw attack" mode and so it's nice to see him having hands specifically designed for him.

If you've already read my review on the ML Modern Hawkeye, there is no need for you to read this part because the articulation is entirely the same. No added joints but I wished Hasbro could have added the shoulder blades articulation like those on the X-Force Wolverine just to give Panther a more pronounced claw attack. So the head turns up, down and sidewards and he got ball-hinged shoulder, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows and hinged wrist that lets you aim his claw forward. He got waist swivel, ab crunch, T-jointed hips, upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, mid-calf swivel and the Hasbro ankle pivot.

Same with the Modern Hawkeye, he stands at an ideal height of about 6.2 inches tall. In my opinion, I think Black Panther is more rightful to be in this body mold than Bucky Cap or Archangel. With no accessories or other stuff glued unto it and with less paint app, it's easy to visualize what type of body mold we're talking about. So I better start calling it the Black Panther body mold! I highly recommend this figure and choose it over the Toy Biz version. It is in perfect scale with the rest of my 6-inch Avengers display... and he comes with the Rocket Racoon BAF part, which I am trying to complete.