Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Best of 2021 (So Far) Featuring J Hernandez
426 Plays4 years ago
On this episode, Dave and Erik are joined by the jawn posing wizard himself, J Hernandez to list out their favorite figures of 2021 - so far! Tune in to hear about more than 30 figures in the longest episode of Adventures in Collecting yet!
Follow J on Twitter @toyjawn1, Instagram @justjhernandez, and on YouTube @jhernandez!
Follow us @aic_podcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Format
00:00:02
Speaker
Are you ready, kids? Get your parents' permission, check your mailbox, and grab your shopping cart. It's time for the Adventures in Collecting podcast. I'm Eric. And I'm Dave. Welcome to Adventures in Collecting, where we talk toy news, culture, and halls, along with our journeys as collectors. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Adventures in Collecting.
00:00:31
Speaker
As was requested by the voice of the intro, Joe. Aye.
00:00:39
Speaker
We're back and if you have if you read the the description of this episode, you know that this is a special one Today we are not doing news. We are not doing halls. Aren't they all special at this point? Well, no cuz now this is this one is actually a new format We haven't done this yet like just this we did a top 10 but we but we did a top 10 like as kind of like the special subject after we did like news and and
00:01:06
Speaker
and halls. But this time we are just going to focus on top 10 figures from the first half of 2021 because oh my god we're already halfway through 2021 which is insane given the year we all just went
Special Guest: Jay Hernandez
00:01:21
Speaker
through. But we have a special guest joining us today Dave.
00:01:26
Speaker
Eric, do not, I repeat, do not bury that lead. You got it. Not going to do it. Joining us today from the streets of Philadelphia, the posing guru himself joining us tonight on This Here John is just Jay Hernandez. Dave, Eric, thank you so much for having me this evening.
00:01:51
Speaker
The pleasure is all ours. But before we get into toy stuff, I have a Philadelphia question to ask you. Oh, sure. Patrogenos. Neither. Neither. You want gyms? Yep, that's the answer. That's pretty much what it is that you want right there. Granted, you're going to be in line
00:02:15
Speaker
probably for about a good hour and a half, depending on what time of day you go there. But yeah, pats and genos like that, as far as just saying that you went there, just to say that you went there, sure, you know, everyone likes to make that venture out to South Philly. But uh, but no, if you want yourself a good stay, go out to gyms. There you have it. He did not agree. He did not fall for it. He of course he passed. I 1000% agree.
00:02:47
Speaker
So yeah, so welcome to the show. As you heard, and as you're very well aware of, because we prepped you beforehand, because we're going to just spring this on you, we're going to go over our collective top 10. I'm thinking there might be some crossover here or there between our lists, but we're going to present to you, the listener, 30 or so action figures that we think
00:03:14
Speaker
were really cool from the first from the first half of 2021. And I think in terms of
00:03:24
Speaker
process here, I think we should let our guest kick us off with the first figure. So Jay, what do you have at the, let's start at the bottom of our lists. Yeah, I'll go ahead and start with a couple of honorable mentions right now. One of them comes just from straight out preference, just because I just like it so much.
00:03:46
Speaker
is probably the white skull agent from mezco 112's rumble society.
Marvel Legends and Instagram Suggestions
00:03:54
Speaker
Only because he's just he's such a straight up basic figure yet he looks really really freaking rad. I mean we're talking about a dude who's top to toe black gear
00:04:05
Speaker
with a skull mask so for that like for really all intents and purposes that kind of just does it for me right there as far as just what it is that i want out of an action figure uh and then the other one seeing that i and i'll go ahead and just just put out the spoilers already
00:04:25
Speaker
is that there's going to be absolutely no Marvel Legends in my top 10, seeing that I hate to say it because I love the Legends team that much, but I haven't been impressed by any of the Legends that have come out so far in 2021. Now, I do know that we have a bevy of good stuff that's coming later on from what it is that we have seen from reveals, from what it is that we have seen
00:04:49
Speaker
from this huge MCU drop or drops that they've had these last couple of weeks. But for me, I think the only one that's really scratched my itch is that new classic Thanos. I think that's a gorgeous figure. Yet at the same time, what's keeping it from being in the actual top 10
00:05:11
Speaker
is the lack of really, really good articulation. Now granted for a big guy, he can still move a little bit, but not as well as I'd like it to, but
00:05:22
Speaker
I'm not going to take away the fact that they were able to make a really good looking figure, you know, a good classic figure that just, you know, just screams, just, just starling all over it, man. So those are two right there that didn't make that top 10 list, but it would be a crime not to mention.
00:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, that Thanos figure is really, really nice in hand. So I typically don't go for the... I'm pretty much an MCU only collector when it comes to the Marvel Legends. I have a very few exceptions that I make. Mostly are like 90s Spider-Man.
00:06:02
Speaker
associated exceptions to that rule, but that Thanos figure is Absolutely gorgeous in hand. I actually really like the the how they handled the gold paint apps on it Yeah, how kind of has like the armor kind of has that like a little bit of like a metallic swirl to it They did a really really nice job with that figure and he almost Pete almost made my list too, which would have been
00:06:23
Speaker
Insane given the fact that I don't really collect the comic figures. Yeah Yeah, and like I said, it would have been a crime just not to mention just at least one Marvel Legends figure So so, you know what since we're since we're talking about honorable mentions before we get into into our actual Lists here. We have a we have um, you know what? Let's see
00:06:49
Speaker
I'm gonna go with, we have six figures here from our Instagram followers that were submitted. We put out a little story. We had a couple of repeats, but we have six on here. And I don't think any of these are going to be on our list. So I'm gonna go through these pretty quickly here.
00:07:09
Speaker
So from good friend of the pod, Creepy N.J., Dave, co-host of Calling All Creeps and Daycare Dittos, he wanted to include the Super 7 Bebop Ultimate figure. Okay.
00:07:24
Speaker
Um, I've seen that a lot that I've seen, I've seen a lot of people say that that's like one of the best figures of the year. It's a massive figure. It's massive. I just, I couldn't with between the neck of stuff and they're like, I had, I got to, we always talk about a guard rails. Yeah. No, that makes total sense. So down that road. Yeah. Um, Dave, this, this one, uh, we have an, uh, a geek, uh, at a geek of nature suggested the ultimate macho man. Okay.
00:07:55
Speaker
Do you have that one on your list by any chance? I do not. Ultimate Macho Man did not make it. I just don't love the coat. The leather jacket. I was going to say, he's got the zebra stripe coat, right? Yeah, Mattel still really has a lot to learn about soft goods, but they're trying. They really are trying.
00:08:20
Speaker
Well, I'm just glad that they're packing the soft good robes and stuff separate from the figure to avoid the staining that was happening with some of those elites. That was a really
Growing Appreciation for Figures
00:08:32
Speaker
good reactive running change that they did. All right, so at Sean to the max, McFarlane Bizarro.
00:08:43
Speaker
That's a really good one. That came really close to being on mine. I wouldn't go so far as to call it an honorable mention, I guess. But it's something that could move around. And that's going to be the weird thing with my list, is that some of this may move. Some of this may change. But a lot of it needs to be unseated in some form or fashion. But that bizarro is awesome.
00:09:10
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, that's always the case with these lists, right? Because especially, too, like, I remember putting together the list from last year. There were figures that I initially had gotten and was kind of disappointed in. But the more time I spent with them and the more time that I, like, used them in photography and, you know, just kind of had them on my desk and, you know, got to look at them at different angles and everything, sometimes a figure does grow on you. So I don't think that's too far out of reach there. Who's the example on that?
00:09:40
Speaker
The example of one that grew on me? Yeah. So a really good example of that for me was actually the diamond select Bruce Lee. The one in the, specifically the one in the yellow. I have both of them, but the game of death, Bruce Lee. You know, that outfit is just so iconic. Oh, the game of death, yeah.
00:10:04
Speaker
Wanted the I wanted the figure, you know, like I wanted a representation of that initially like I was playing with it and you know Diamond select I love them their detail their paint They're usually they're always really tight But the problem is they don't have a scale that they adhere to which is you know, that's that's kind of the deal with them Yeah, it's all about perspective
00:10:31
Speaker
So you know I had him on my desk and he comes with he comes with rad accessories. He's got he's got a bow staff He's got different types of nunchucks. He's got like the nunchuck with the spinning effect. He's got two different head sculps He's got a bunch of hands and after a while like just kind of looking at it and really getting like looking at the the profile and the face from different angles and and
00:10:53
Speaker
Really, you know, getting him in some good lighting and playing with the camera. I really just kind of really started to he grew on me. And now like it's a permanent staple on my desk and part of my display.
00:11:08
Speaker
It's just one of those figures. I can't explain exactly why. It's not just one specific thing. It's just a combination of a bunch of little things and getting that right pose. Once you have him kind of locked in, it really is a good figure, even if it's tough to scale him with stuff. Yeah, that's totally fair. I mean, as far as just the way that that figure articulated, I thought that it was gorgeous. The only thing that kept me away from it was the actual likeness to Bruce Lee.
00:11:36
Speaker
Now, if you look at that figure straight up as just a generic martial arts figure, oh, it was pretty terrific. Of the two heads, the neutral head, I think is amiss. I don't think the neutral head looks like Bruce Lee in any shape of the imagination. I think it just kind of, like you said, looks like standard generic martial arts guy.
00:12:04
Speaker
But the battle cry face, I think that face actually really does. Again, like once you have him in the right pose and you have the right hands on him, like I have him kind of permanently with the nunchuck tucked underneath his his right arm and then the left arm has kind of like the.
00:12:22
Speaker
Um, almost like the, the, the relaxed rock and roll hand, uh, you know, extended out in front of them. And like I said, I love it. It's just the right, the right combination of stuff, the right angle, the right pose really kind of brings that, that figure to life. Yeah.
00:12:40
Speaker
Alright, let's see, next one. So we have from action figure Avenger Zack, the new Bucky, so the new Winter Soldier from that Disney Plus wave.
Highlighting AEW Figures
00:12:55
Speaker
I don't, I have that figure
00:13:01
Speaker
in hand I have that one and I will say the the face print on that is ridiculous like it is import quality
00:13:13
Speaker
face printing for a $20 figure, like the five o'clock shadow, the likeness to Sebastian Stan. It's just that figure doesn't come with, he comes with no accessories. No accessories, yeah. Are the build a figure? That, and is it me or are the thigh cuts a little low? They are. It is not a perfect figure.
00:13:41
Speaker
It has some really great sculpting work on the chest piece, like his uniform for lack of a better word. The Wakandan arm looks fantastic.
00:13:55
Speaker
But the legs are a little funny. And again, no accessories. Now, they did give him pistol hands. So if you do, you can very easily give him a firearm from another character. The firearm issue with action figures that
00:14:15
Speaker
use firearms in their source material and not having them in toys. Obviously, it's a thing that's happening across the board. It's not just something that's specific to Marvel. But at least kudos to them not being allowed to pack in a firearm, but still giving him the hands to use one to swap in one was really smart. But the head sculpt alone on that figure is remarkable. So I could see why somebody would put that high on their list.
00:14:45
Speaker
I actually have. I see absolutely no legends in Philly, man. It's so bad. It really is. Really? I see none around here. The vultures pick them like just clean before morning, man. Yeah, that one was one of those ones where I actually
00:15:06
Speaker
ToyShas had posted the barcode and I was at an unfamiliar target. I had to go, actually needed to rent a piece of yard equipment and it took me near a target that I don't frequent. And I went in and they happened to be stocking the shelves. I asked them to scan the barcode and they came out with the entire wave for me. Oh, fantastic. Pure dumb luck. Pure, pure dumb luck. And it was before street date too, so.
00:15:35
Speaker
You know, nothing was register locked. Oh, double trouble right there. Oh, that's great. Yeah, it was awesome. And let's see. So the last one we have on our list here is, OK. So this one is from at Craig stuff. This is the Aniplex BuzzMod Tangiero. So I think that's the Demon Slayer main character.
00:15:59
Speaker
I am actually wholly unfamiliar with Aniplex Buzzmod as a toy maker. Oh, right on. Okay, yeah, this is something that I'm not wholly familiar with in my old age here.
00:16:15
Speaker
So I know, I have not seen Demon Slayer. I know that it is kind of like lighting the anime world on fire. I've heard many talk about it. I've heard it's excellent. I know the film that they put out broke tons of records for anime films at the box office. I've heard a lot of positive buzz about Demon Slayer. But this looks like a really rad figure, really great accessories. I love that like,
00:16:41
Speaker
It looks like it comes with a cool flame ring accessory for the sword. That's a cool motion accessory. Yeah, looks like it has tons of articulation. I have to see if, so Craig, at Craig's stuff, he does unboxings as well and videos. I gotta see if he did a review of this one and go back and watch it, because it looks
Anime Figure Intricacies
00:17:02
Speaker
really cool. Just from the pictures here, I mean, it looks,
00:17:05
Speaker
Pretty pretty sweet. I mean it really is a crime that I just don't take the time to watch too much anime like these days Like I'm still saying hey fellow kids. Do you watch try gun the planet gun smoke isn't that fantastic? Remember Akita? Ninja scroll was always great you guys I love I have to say looking at these at these pictures. I love when
00:17:34
Speaker
when import figures, when they have these kind of traditional Japanese, like those big wide flowing pants with the big chunky knee joints and stuff. I love the articulation on those, how they hide it in the creases of the pants. It's such good engineering. It's almost like Transformers level engineering on some of these import joints.
00:18:01
Speaker
So cool. Yeah, it's great because like I'm looking at like some of these some of these articulated poses and I'm like, wow, man, like, it really is great. Like it is no lie, like they hide the articulation pretty well.
00:18:15
Speaker
So yeah, we'll definitely post pictures of this one after this episode comes out. We'll see if Craig has a review and I'll link to it. So that is the submissions from Instagram for the honorable mentions. Dave, would you like to take us into your first official pick?
00:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, I'll, uh, I'll start. Um, so, um, where I said the ultimate macho man, Randy Savage was not in my list. The other figure from that series of ultimates is, um, and that's edge. So WWE Mattel ultimate, um, series eight edge.
00:19:03
Speaker
Nice. Yeah, that has one of my favorite head sculpts that I've ever seen on a WWE figure period ever. The like blown back hair one. Yeah. Yeah. It really kind of captures a cool moment when he came back for the 2020 Royal Rumble before, you know, kind of everything stopped. And, you know, it was kind of like this, this really cool thing where you never thought you'd see Edge back and
00:19:34
Speaker
There he was and it was really cool. That's really the one thing that I will give Mattel as far as these ultimate figures are concerned is that they really are ultimate as far as the amount of options that you get when it comes to just clothing, when it comes to separate heads, when it comes to hands, things like that. It's something that I wish a lot more companies would do, at least mass market companies would do. Yeah, so I can totally see why you'd put one of these guys in your top 10 here.
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, I love, too, because there's always that thing, right? We talked about it already with soft goods, but sometimes soft goods just doesn't cut it. You just need a soft rubber to really kind of make that leather look. And I love when they do that, they give you the swappable arms. So that way, you have a soft rubber trench coat in Edges' case, and then you have
00:20:32
Speaker
you know, the sleeved arms to go with it. It's just a cool, I love when they do stuff like that. It makes for kind of easier removal because then you're, you know, you're pretty much just popping the arms off and removing like a cloak at that point. I'm gonna, I'll go on with mine. This is my GI Joe entry. So I have GI Joe classified Lady J. Nice. Is my first pick.
00:21:01
Speaker
And it's not my favorite Jejo classified figure of the year so far, but it's definitely, I think, the best. They did some things with this figure that Hasbro as a manufacturer has not done in any other line. I love the swappable hair and hat situation, the double-jointed elbows on a female figure, finally.
00:21:29
Speaker
And they're not gummy, which is awesome. I was worried that because of how small the joints were that they were gonna have kind of that gummy feeling that some of the pinless, smaller, pinless joints have, but they're nice and tight and they move the way that I need them to. I love her storage system, the fact that you can change the heads on the javelins. It's just, for me, it's a very,
00:21:56
Speaker
It's a it's a figure that really kind of showcases the engineering of of action figures and and that's why it made the list for me So lady J from from from lady J to just J Let's let's uh, let's hear your your your first pick for your your official list cool. So number 10 goes to NECA's Guardians, let's see. What was it? No defenders of the earth
00:22:22
Speaker
Merciless Ming. Seeing that, I think that really is the star of the three. What it is that we are looking at, if you did pick up some of those New York Comic Con or SDCC packs of those old DC figures with aliens, predators, we're looking
00:22:41
Speaker
At the exact same body, however, with what it is that NECA was able to give us, they were able to give us just a really nice blank body that they could use for anything.
Praised Figures and Packaging
00:22:53
Speaker
So we're looking at a good NECA figure, superhero proportions, that moves incredibly, incredibly well. And the thing that puts this particular figure over the edge from his counterparts, seeing his wave mates, as it were, when we're looking at
00:23:10
Speaker
at phantom when we're looking at flash gordon is this guy has something that a lot of other companies have yet to do as far as mass market is concerned and that is a wired cape a beautiful freaking wired cape uh you top that off with a really nice paint deco the dude just pops on on any shelf um so that's one
00:23:36
Speaker
that really did make an impact on me and which is why I wanted to have it on my list. You know, QC issues be darned. This one actually did it for me quite, quite a bit. And especially seeing that, you know, it is NECA and I don't go out of my way to pick up a lot of other stuff outside of, you know, the odd TMNT figure here and there. But when they came out with these guys and seeing that it's so off the beaten path,
00:24:03
Speaker
And of course you know us being peers as far as just how old we are you know it was something that i didn't even think they would ever make you know like as far as this.
00:24:13
Speaker
You know, it's kind of, I don't want to necessarily say scrape in the bottom of the barrel, but it is a deep cut, especially for those of us who are on that earlier side of millennial-dom, as it were, because not a lot of folks remember this. Like, they really don't. So to see an updated version of this and just seeing it done well, yeah, it really floats my boat.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, it was awesome too when they announced those to see the callback art to like the Gloob toys and even, you know, on the finished product, the NECA logo in the Gloob font was a, yeah, it was a really nice touch. Yeah, that's one thing that NECA really excels at is just getting straight in, like not just the figure.
00:25:00
Speaker
But whoever's doing the graphic design for them, I'm remembering them doing the throwbacks to the Toy Biz 1989 Batman stuff, which is fantastic.
00:25:16
Speaker
Yeah, and even the stuff that they do for the Kenner aliens that they continue to keep churning out. Just yesterday, I saw the Rhino alien in store, and it took a lot of self-control not to buy it. Just because A, it's a gorgeous figure. It's a crazy monster alien figure. But the artwork on the box just immediately brought me back to my childhood. And I was like, do I need this?
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah, but I have the Phantom from that wave. That was the only one I was able to find and that was the one that I really wanted because I have a thing for old pulpy superhero kind of guys. So like him, the Rocketeer, I would love a shadow figure for somebody to make a shadow figure. That'd be awesome.
00:26:07
Speaker
But yeah, it's definitely a cool series. And to your point, that body mold is so reusable. I hope they keep just recycling it and recycling it and churning out guys with it. Yeah, because it moves. It moves just great. Dave, I think we're back to you.
00:26:27
Speaker
Alright, so I'm going to combine two figures into this one. It's not the first combination of figures on the list, but it's the first. And this one is one of those ones where I didn't really
00:26:46
Speaker
think the design of these could be better until a new version of them were announced recently. But, you know, between just, again, another instance of a company capturing a moment and capturing like an event and including just some fantastic accessories that really kind of
00:27:14
Speaker
accentuates the characters, talking about jazzwares, AW Unrivaled, Series 4, Santana, and Ortiz. Yeah.
00:27:28
Speaker
We talked about this when they came out, right Dave? We talked about this with magic, yeah. Two wrestlers that you don't necessarily think are toyetic, right? They're just kind of like, they're like old school, like, you know, brawler style wrestlers, right? That, you know, yeah, they have like, you know, they have amazing- They're great to watch. Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker
super talented amazing personas but like they're one of those ones where you're kind of worried that they won't trans you know uh translate well the toy but boy yeah just fantastic figures um yeah and and again you know the accessories with those i love the multiple heads on it's uh on orteez right orteez has the two different heads i believe they both have two heads
00:28:12
Speaker
But yeah, great figures. Jazzwares is just crushing it. It's true, man. You really got to give it up to Jazzwares. They have upped their stock, even within these last two years. I think that this all started pretty much with their Fortnite stuff. And then from there, with that recipe, they just started to just use it everywhere. So what it is that they're doing with these wrestling figures is just fantastic.
00:28:41
Speaker
I really like the exclusives that they've come out with. Only because, A, the packaging on them has been ridiculous. We both have a little bit of the bubbly Jericho, which is one of the coolest packaged toys ever. But it's also readily available. I don't have to go crazy trying to find it. I went on Ringside. I ordered it. It was at my house two days later. I can't complain.
00:29:11
Speaker
They really are doing an incredible job with that. So you have a tag team on your list. You're already finding loopholes. Yeah, I did it. I'm going to go. I have my only Marvel legend on the list.
00:29:32
Speaker
And this is not because I have been unhappy with the MCU legends that have come out. I forced myself to only pick one for this slot. And I ended up going with the Disney Plus wave Scarlet Witch figure.
Disney Plus Scarlet Witch
00:29:53
Speaker
I am really impressed with the likeness on it. I love the translucent hands that really kind of help sell those magic effects that we've seen a million times, those little corkscrew soft rubber effects. I love the detailing on her costume. It's mostly new sculpting. I think there might be a little bit of reuse from
00:30:18
Speaker
from hella on there but I it's it is gorgeous figure the likeness to Elizabeth Olson again like these likenesses that they're turning out are our import quality likenesses at a twenty dollar price point which I'm never gonna hate on that.
00:30:36
Speaker
I love the paint wash and her hair. Her mobility is a little bit stiff because of the type of plastic that they used for the lower half of her costume, so like the skirt. But I'm really happy with the fact that they didn't give her those
00:30:57
Speaker
They're like those like wedged heels that they put on a lot of the female heroes. They are a nightmare to like get them into like a decent pose with those feet. It's almost like it's like trying to pose like a Jack Skellington figure.
00:31:14
Speaker
It's just those feet are rough. Somebody asked me one time, what's my least favorite figure to pose? And it's Marvel Legends' Maria Hill. I love that figure, but she does not stand. Those feet, she has the worst center of gravity ever.
00:31:33
Speaker
You know, but but again like they're they're improving so like they're not giving You know, it's not just like an assumption that because it's a female superhero. She's got to be in like weird wedge teals She has normal feet which make her you know, easy enough to pose. So yeah, that's my that's my Marvel Legends
00:31:50
Speaker
It's a good pick, man. That really is a good pick. If I was going with more MCU stuff, I probably would have picked that up. That one is actually... That's all new pieces. That's top-to-toe May Shelf right there. Okay. And you know that whatever it is that May Shelf turns out, he's gonna frickin' rip it, dude.
00:32:10
Speaker
He's the same guy who sculpted the new Deadpool, top to toe, the MCU Deadpool now, as it were, not so much Fox anymore. So you can see that with his stuff, especially when you compare it to something like that, to where they give him free reign on whatever it is that he wants to do as far as sculpting is concerned, you will find, more often than not,
00:32:35
Speaker
that his stuff leans more toward kind of like that, that importy type of quality to where it's like, damn, you're like, this actually looks really good for a legend. It really does.
00:32:48
Speaker
Yeah, the motion, like I normally don't care for figures that have aspects of them that are like frozen in motion. So like, you know, if there's like blown back hair or like, you know, a tie blowing in the wind, that stuff kind of gets to me sometimes, but her hair blown back the way that it is, like she's kind of always in this like magic aura wind anyway. So I think it works really well for her, but it's a stunning figure.
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great one. Jay, you're up. Let's see. So let's see. We got number nine, number nine right now. So we're going to go ahead and kick it to one of the ladies right now. And this was my second to last video.
00:33:35
Speaker
that I had put up. This is for Executive Replica's Lady Death Figure, which was produced by Loose Collector. Now this is one, I mean of course, and this all just comes down to preference and this comes down to a big old frickin' whopping nostalgia factor here.
00:33:56
Speaker
Because back in the day, like I did explain in my video, is that I used to collect all of those more action collectible figures. And the one thing that really just sucked about them, and of course not necessarily sucked, it's just that they were products of their time, is that they really did lack an articulation. And these were characters who I really dug on.
00:34:21
Speaker
Back back in the in the early millennium you know as far as the other zeros the ninety nine zero zeros these these upstart companies like.
00:34:31
Speaker
like Chaos Comics, they were just coming out with these really subversive storylines. So of course, something like Evil Ernie, which really goes far and away from your typical Batman and Spider-Man titles, you started to get into some really murky waters as far as characters are concerned.
00:34:54
Speaker
And I'd always wanted just plastic versions of these characters that stood toe-to-toe with Spawn figures, that stood toe-to-toe with Marvel Legends figures. And finally in 2021, we had a company to finally step up to the plate there.
00:35:14
Speaker
So we're looking at at executive replicas who does a lot of these these Fison bodies You know like those soft rubbery type of of bods But they just so happen to have the licenses to a lot of great care like Red Sonia purgatory La Muerta just basically a lot of these
00:35:37
Speaker
great great great characters that just haven't gotten a lot of love in plastic form so you have loose collector come along who's who's been around for the longest freaking time one of the greatest greatest greatest customizers who's out there i mean back then and now
00:35:55
Speaker
And it's just so fantastic just to see this dude just come into his own and just swing in his own lines now, which is great. So the reason why I love this Lady Death figure, of course, just getting back to it is preference character in and of itself. But you get it in hand and the thing just feels, it feels like a really spendy upscale Marvel Legends figure.
00:36:18
Speaker
where you know you're looking at almost the same exact type of articulation a little better the same exact type of aesthetic but when you feel it when you start to pose it around it just it just feels so much better as far as the plastic as far as just the strength of the joints as far as the paint application.
00:36:37
Speaker
So when it comes to something like that, you know, it just really excites me and especially when it comes from a smaller company, especially smaller companies that you really just want to see succeed, you know, you're rooting for them and you just want to see more. So yeah, Lady Death is one that I'm just really excited about right now and I can't wait for more from these guys.
00:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, that one for me, I didn't know anything about that IP actually until you had posted the pictures of the figure and I was like, wow, this is, look at the hand holding the figure in this picture. No, but I looked into the property and the company and everything and yet it looks incredible. Dave, are you at all familiar with that, with Lady Death?
00:37:27
Speaker
Is that a comic that you were in? Because I know you kind of got into some of like the, you know, more of like the offbeat stuff, but like the hack slash and that kind of stuff. I definitely remember it. Remember the chaos stuff from back.
00:37:43
Speaker
way long ago. Yeah, I'm definitely familiar with Lady Death, so when I saw, I just looked at the figure and I'm like, oh yeah, I know who that is. Really fantastic looking figure. I mean, what's cool too is it looks like, and I'll have a lot of wrestling stuff on there just because that's kind of where I lean.
00:38:06
Speaker
You know, what's really cool is even like the shoulder joint on it looks kind of, I don't want to say hidden, but blended in. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:18
Speaker
Yeah, it is it is a gorgeous looking figure and and I think you made you made I don't want to steal your thunder because I know you're probably gonna bring up the figure that I'm gonna quote you from so I'm not gonna say the name of the figure but You made a point in one of your videos about Like minimalism in paint. Yeah, how it's yeah, it's tough to accomplish that and when it's done, right? It looks great and that this looks like a good example of that like just really subtle and
00:38:44
Speaker
to where you look at something that's just that's just super duper frickin like just super duper like simplicity is just so difficult to do well. But when it's done well, it looks so true to the source material. Whereas like I said in my video, when it comes to just basic applications done badly, it just looks cheap. And you look at this particular figure, it does not look cheap at all.
00:39:11
Speaker
All right, who's who's next who's up who's up next is it me is it Dave? I think it's me. All right, go ahead Dave So we're we're heading back to Mattel WWE land This one a very recent figure Legends 10 Big Van Vader what I really like about this figure is that it captures WCW Vader and in in a way
00:39:37
Speaker
You know early pre wcw japan vader with the big kind of vader mask that he would wear with like the horns and the
00:39:49
Speaker
the shoulder pads, but also you get both kind of Vader masks, just the regular kind of black mask and then the red mask that everyone's familiar with. But for WWE figures, they rarely kind of tread into that WCW category or that WCW territory, but when they do, they do it well. So just a well-designed figure, very cool figure.
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah. And Makena actually, uh, Bill Makena posted about this and clearly this was a figure that was, that was, uh, that meant a lot to him, you know, to put out, uh, just because of his, you know, his kind of history with wrestling and everything. Um, and, and as the, uh, the folks at the major wrestling figure podcast, I like to say it's a, it's a Makena mashup. Um, you know, getting that kind of two in one with the figure, but it, yeah, I, I, I happened to come across that one in,
00:40:43
Speaker
in Target recently and I gave it a good once over and it is a really cool figure, really, really cool figure. There's actually been a lot of Mythic Legion's collectors who have been picking that big Van Vader up just strictly for the accessories. I mean, because they're that good. Yeah, that helmet totally fits right in with Mythic Legion's, 100%.
00:41:11
Speaker
All right, so I'm gonna move into my first Star Wars pick, one of two Star Wars picks on this list. It's the new vintage collection Return of the Jedi Boba Fett. I have a lot of Boba Fett, three and three quarter inch Boba Fett figures. And some of them are dreadful, but they were just the best at the time.
00:41:38
Speaker
This is officially like, this is the new benchmark for, for a Boba Fett figure for the scale for the, for the three and three quarter in scale. It's gorgeous. The soft goods are amazing on it. It has, you can get every single famous silhouette. Like if you, if you picture him, you know, sulking in the background or skulking in the background, excuse me, of, uh, of Java's palace, like in the shadows, like you can get that like perfect, like shoulders up, head down.
00:42:06
Speaker
kind of vibe out of him. He can get into action poses. He's all new sculpting for the vintage collection. Every piece is new on him. The paint and detail on him is fantastic. I love the paint and detail on the blaster. It's his only accessory, but it's what else does he need? Yeah, it is a great figure. I know a lot of people have been really happy with the Black Series when they came out around the same time as this.
00:42:33
Speaker
But for me as a three and three quarter inch collector. I finally have like a Boba Fett I can I can be proud to display And in some ways like I've seen that that that three and three quarter that that four inch Boba Fett in some ways is better than Then than the black series and that's because the black series is is pretty sweet as is
00:42:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he doesn't suffer from the helmet squish because his helmet isn't removable. So the way that he's packaged and the fact that the helmet is just all kind of one piece, he doesn't get that shipping squish that are happening with some of the Black Series ones where people are having to heat it up and kind of remold it.
00:43:21
Speaker
But yeah, it is amazing. I'm super impressed. The new stuff that they've been putting out for the vintage collection, and we'll get to one of those as we get a little bit higher up on the list here, but it really is incredible, the new stuff that they're doing with the vintage collection. I'm super, super impressed.
00:43:41
Speaker
Jay, back to you. Right on. So we will go ahead and go to another smaller toy company here. And the only reason why I'm putting these in 2021 is because I didn't land them in 2020. And I am talking about everyone's little favorite desk
Plunderlings and Design Versatility
00:44:01
Speaker
buddy. I'm talking about plunderlings. Hey. These things really are a lot of fun.
00:44:08
Speaker
And for me, I went ahead and picked out Zombone, saying that he's my favorite character. But we are pretty much looking at the exact same buck for a good portion of them, give or take, a few different sculpting, a few different...
00:44:23
Speaker
sculpting differentiations in the head sculpts. But for the size of these things and for the way that they move and the way that you can just put them in all sorts of just crazy poses, given their large hands and feet, they're so easy to balance. And as far as just with the way that they mix in with a good majority of 12 scale stuff,
00:44:52
Speaker
Like I've been saying in a lot of my live streams, they're just so much fun to have around. I mean, they really are just so much fun to have around. And not only that, with where my collecting tendencies are going, I find that I'm picking up a lot more stuff from indie companies than I am from a lot of mass market stuff right now. Granted, I still love my mass market stuff, but I'm starting to appreciate
00:45:23
Speaker
all of the more, the more indie stuff, just that much, that much more. So I find that plunderlings right now, like they're really just scratching that itch of just, of just really, really good craftsmanship. But, you know, just like getting back into why we started collecting these things when we were kids, which, you know, is, you know, the F word right there, which is fine. So yeah, these guys, you know, like, like I said, in the video that I put up, I think like back in,
00:45:53
Speaker
I can't even remember now, like January, February, somewhere around there. Like it seems that we've been going through 2021, like through about a good year now. And it's only been half. Yeah, really, it's like those little guys really are doing it for me.
00:46:09
Speaker
So here's our first crossover. So they were also, Plunderlings was also on my list. Noice! Yeah, I had them up a little bit higher than you. I had them up a little bit closer to that number one spot. But I had, specifically I had Grotto on my list. I had the Fawn. Oh, that's a great one. I had that one too, yeah.
00:46:30
Speaker
I love that little red guy, man. That little red bastard, he gets everywhere. You know, my favorite thing to do with them so far is I'm starting this little 112 scale video game collection. So I had messaged you about the Pikachu that you had, because I wanted a little...
00:46:47
Speaker
I wanted a little Pikachu, I have the Jax Mario, I have the Jax Classic Sonic, the Hedgehog, I just picked up Figma Link. Those, the Plunderlings, look so good with those video game characters. Yeah, they miss right in.
00:47:02
Speaker
It's so like I can picture them like like imagine one day like a little you know a lone coconut indie toy company like becoming like a DLC character and Super Smash Brothers or something Would be amazing But yeah They are they are absolutely fantastic figures and and to your point like some of the stuff that I have pre-ordered that I'm most excited for Is indie stuff so like I have two of those animal warriors of the kingdom. Oh, yeah, same
00:47:31
Speaker
I needed that giant that giant gorilla And and the the folks over at the valaverse I have the the sergeant slaughter same I have that pre-ordered like I'm so excited to get both of those are all three of those figures Yeah, the indie stuff has been a lot of fun lately and and and lone coconut They are they're absolutely talk about lightning in a bottle, man. They they have
00:48:01
Speaker
They have god level lightning in a bottle with the plunderlings line. Dave, I think that takes us back to you.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yeah, so this will be the first appearance of something not wrestling on the list. Certainly not the last just from looking at the list, but first appearance of non-wrestling. And we talked about Bizarro before. There were some fantastic DC multiverse figures and some that might even find their way into the top 10 later on as I kind of
00:48:38
Speaker
think about everything more and look at everything and the year goes on. But right now this is the only one there. And it is part of a two-pack, but I am taking one half of that out. And it is, since it was also available as a single,
00:49:00
Speaker
Just an awesome figure and a figure that I didn't know I needed until I saw it. I'm kind of like where I had Cyborg and Flash last year. And that's Red Hood. Oh, yeah. Such a good figure. I love her. I love that Red Hood figure. Yeah, he just looks so menacing, like. And the paint on the hood is really cool, too.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah, they did a really great job with that metallic finish on the on the actual helmet mask hood part. Yeah, it is. That might be one of the best DC multiverse figures that McFarland has done to date. It's like right up there with with Azrael. Yeah, that Azrael is incredible. That's one of those ones. If I got it last year, it would have been higher high up on last year's list. But I didn't realize they needed it until this year.
00:49:55
Speaker
Yeah. It's basically Comic Book Asriel, not just from White Knight.
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah, and the thing is, other than, I think DC Direct did a Red Hood, like a similarly styled, just kind of modern comic book Red Hood a few years ago, but it didn't have as much articulation as this one does. Yeah, it is one of the, I'm there with you, it's one of the best DC multiverse ones out there so far.
00:50:29
Speaker
Jay, I think we're back to you. Right on. So we're at number seven, are we? Yes. Right on. So let's go ahead and revisit Boba Fett, but this time we're going to go ahead and revisit Black Series Boba Fett. So we'll be looking at the six inch counterpart here.
00:50:45
Speaker
And yeah, I will admit that I geeked. I geeked a little bit when I got this thing in hand. And for me, this was something that I had been low-key hoping for. Because it was summer 2020, I had gotten my hands on that best car mando. And one of the things that I had mentioned in the video itself, I was like, you know what, for as many
00:51:15
Speaker
for as many renditions of Boba Fett that we get, you know, metallic Boba Fett, you know, breaking prototype Boba Fett, reissue vintage Boba Fett. It's like, can we just get a new, like just a new Boba Fett, top to toe, new sculpt, pinless tech, some more accessories. And wouldn't you know, you know, a couple months later, we get one announced, which is fantastic. So even as soon as I saw those renders, I was like, I cannot wait to have this in hand.
00:51:43
Speaker
And just getting it, and just getting it, it did not disappoint. Now, for me, I'm very selective, incredibly selective when it comes to when it comes to Black Series. I mean, it's to the point now I just collect Mandalorian figures, and really just just the odd bounty hunter and or, you know, and our member of the Sith. And Boba Fett, when I got this one in hand, I was like, you know what,
00:52:10
Speaker
I mean, this actually might be one of the best, if not the best black series figures I've ever had the privilege of handling. I think with Bo-Katan coming in at a good second right there, I think they've really gone up, up, up and away when it comes to the quality of their Mandalorian figures. And I wish that that could,
00:52:36
Speaker
that kind of love, that kind of magic could be put on some of their Jedi and Sith figures as well. But yeah, dude, even for me having to just shape the helmet myself, just with the way that this guy moves, it's just so damn fluid. It really is. And a lot of folks can say, well, you know, the Mayfax is better. I'm like, well, yeah, but the Mayfax is going to cost you 80 bucks, whereas this is just a good 25.
00:53:02
Speaker
Some around there. So yeah, when you look at sculpt, when you look at poseability, when you look at accessories, yeah, man, it's like, for me, it's fairly bulletproof as far as a Boba Fett figure is concerned. Six inch anyway.
00:53:14
Speaker
he does come with one of the one accessory I wish the three and three quarter one came with that the black series one came with this I love because it's a return of the Jedi Boba Fett you know it's that that color scheme I love the the the lightsaber didn't have a blaster yeah that is and the thing is like they didn't have to give us them they're like you know be fun putting that in my job
00:53:38
Speaker
That's pretty great. And here's the crazy thing, right? So they gave the Black Series figure that accessory. And you have a series of other, like you have a Luke that you could pose with him, making him cut the blaster in half. But in the vintage collection, I have the skiff. I have the skiff guards. I have the skiff driver.
00:53:59
Speaker
I have the whole setup to literally recreate that scene and I didn't get that accessory. And it's like, damn it. What really sold it for me, I think, was the flame effect. Yeah. That thing is just awesome.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah, the couple of flame effects that they've done in that six-inch scale, so the one that came with the incinerator trooper. Incinerator trooper, yeah. Even the flame, I use it all the time. From that deluxe Black Widow, the little flame explosion that plugged into the base that came with the Black Widow figure, also a great flame effect. Whatever color and plastic they're using for that
00:54:43
Speaker
It works really well with lighting and it looks really great. Yeah, I always feel like I, you know, I'm anytime I see black series figures, I always kind of like I'm like, I wish I had jumped into these at some point, but then I'm kind of happy I didn't because it's just. Well, you have they're all really good. You have your first ever black series figure coming to you. Yeah, at some point. I ordered it for you as part of as part of the extension of your wrestling figure collection.
00:55:15
Speaker
Yeah, Koska. Oh, the Sasha Banks figure? Yeah, Sasha Banks. Just like you're on the hook for the McFarland Peacemaker, because of John Cena. Judging from the looks of that movie, I have a feeling I was going to get that anyway, but yes. I think that's an awesome way to extend the wrestling collection, to be perfectly honest with you. I think that's a super fun way of looking at it.
00:55:42
Speaker
Yeah, I just gotta hope Dune's good and then maybe find that build a figure, Batista. Yeah, those figures are, I mean, at least- Far around clearance. Yeah, the target by me has them all on clearance, so you might want to preemptively pull the trigger and just kind of, you know, cross your fingers and hope that Dune is good. Yeah. All right, my turn, right?
00:56:09
Speaker
Well, did you? I actually don't know. I'm because you know what? I'm just going to go and then we'll go. We'll go to you. I think I think I might have skipped myself. I think you did. Assigning people said that's fine. It works anyway because Jay already covered plundering, plunderlings. So, you know, we're good. I thought you skipped that one. That's why. My next one is is Diamond Select the Crow action figure.
00:56:36
Speaker
Now, Jay, you got a 1.6 scale crow recently, right? That is correct. I got the hot toys. The hot toys one, yeah. So I don't know what it is. So I know Diamond Select specifically. We had Zach on the show recently. And we found out that the reason why they were able to produce Brandon Lee crow figures, there's actually three now. There was a Walgreens exclusive, and then there's a Comic Con exclusive with a really cool wingback chair that's coming out.
00:57:05
Speaker
They actually got the license to make the Brandon Lee figure through the Bruce Lee estate. So when they got the licenses to make the Bruce Lee figures, they were, they were granted the license as well to make, to make the Brandon Lee figures the pro. I actually had no idea that was a thing.
00:57:19
Speaker
Yeah, because what ended up happening was we had gotten some questions for that episode if they were going to be producing more figures from the Crow film. And when we started talking about it, you know, Zach had basically let us know that, you know, on the show that the license was really just for the Lee name, which is why they were able to make the Crow figures, which is
00:57:42
Speaker
and use Brandon Lee's license. So I have the standard release one, which is the one in the trench coat with the, he's got the cool hole in the hand, and the really nice guitar and everything, and he's got the tombstone, and he's got the two different crows that come with him. Really great accessory set. Really great likeness, really great paint and detail. Moves really well. He doesn't suffer from any kind of articulation hang up.
00:58:09
Speaker
And he doesn't feel like he's like eight feet tall, which is, again, something that tends to happen with the Diamond Select figures. He actually scales well with NECA stuff, which in terms of movie pop culture display type things, that actually works out really well.
00:58:29
Speaker
The thing that I have come to enjoy a lot about action figures that are kind of these one off things. I love when they come with a ton of accessories because those accessories you can use for other stuff. So like I now have like I have a really cool guitar. I have a really cool tombstone. I have a really cool crow like like a bird. You know, like it's.
00:58:52
Speaker
It's just a really great package, all in all. A great figure that represents a film that I adore and a great set of accessories. For me, you can't beat that.
00:59:10
Speaker
Yeah, so it's definitely up there with the old McFarland one as far as the annals of Crow figures go and at least this one's not in that permanent like I think of that one. He had like the arms out, right? Yeah, this one, you know, he is he has good pose ability and you know, it's it's a great likeness So it makes you wonder which license mezco has that?
00:59:36
Speaker
Yeah, unless they unless they're sitting on a Bruce Lee figure that they haven't announced yet. Right? I mean, because like, even like when you look at Gomez of death, I'm like, Come on, guys, who's getting who here? I mean, that's one of those things, right? Where it's like,
00:59:55
Speaker
You know, maybe because, you know, let's say they don't have the Bruce Lee license. You know, again, pure speculation. None of us know anything. But like if you make a costume that's that's clearly in the spirit of something, but you're a giant. Yeah. But you put a giant cockroach head on it. Does that then cover you under like the law of parody?
01:00:17
Speaker
You know? Like, I don't know. But that's their thing with Gomez, right? It's so murky, man. Licensing is so frickin' murky. Yep. But yeah, so if the question ever comes up, will you expect to see any other characters from the Crow film?
Marvel Select Immortal Hulk
01:00:37
Speaker
The answer is probably not, because they don't have that. No top dollar. No top dollar. Not happening.
01:00:44
Speaker
Yeah, so Jay back to you. Actually, this is this is a perfect segue. So we go from from diamond select straight to Marvel select. So my next pick for number six is is the behemoth himself. We are looking at the the the ravaging slash immortal Hulk.
01:01:07
Speaker
I have no idea if any of you guys picked this one up, but just from sheer size this thing is just, it's just outstanding. And just the way that it moves for a big fella, I mean because like I said in my video,
01:01:25
Speaker
It's pretty much almost the exact same sculpt that we did find with the Marvel Legends comic Hulk, but done big, just big, big, big. So of course, that's the one thing that just turned me on about this thing, is that it just towers over the rest of your stuff. And not only that, I love a big, huge, imposing Hulk, just to go along with the rest of your heroes.
01:01:53
Speaker
You know, I've always just been of the mind to where, you know, the angrier that Hulk gets, you know, the bigger he becomes. And you look at even just like the scale problems that Marvel Select has, Diamond Select has sometimes with their stuff. When it comes to some of their bigger figures, it works out. I think it works out great. So I've always just had a thing just for their larger scale stuff, especially when it comes to these larger than life characters.
01:02:21
Speaker
Uh, so Hulk is one, you know, that just, he has good figure bingo just written all over him to where, you know, the sculpt is outstanding because from what I believe, the dudes at Gentle Giant handled this one as well because they handled the, uh, the Marvel Legends help before. You look at paint, which is even better than the Marvel Legends. You look at articulation, which is pretty much on par with the Marvel Legends. So you look even from the, even from,
01:02:50
Speaker
from the angle of a Marvel select figure, usually most of the time they don't move as well as their Marvel Legends counterparts. And it's great to see that these two move pretty much exactly the same. So just to have a figure of that size that moves well and looks good and is of course of a figure, a figure and a character that I just love, yeah man, for me like this one actually just, it would have been a crime just not to mention this one in my list.
01:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's one that is high on my list. I haven't been able to come across it yet in stock. Every time I've tried to get it, it has not panned out for me. So I'm hoping Diamond just announced that, because they're completely sold out everywhere, but Diamond just announced that they're re-issuing it, and they're re-issuing a larger run of it this time due to the popularity of it the first time around. Hulk is my favorite superhero, so I am hoping to,
01:03:48
Speaker
To to pick him up. Oh, dude, you're gonna love it. You're just you're gonna freaking love it
01:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's like it's the Hulk you see when you close your eyes. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know if if you guys have been reading The Immortal Hulk, which is I'm a little bit behind, but I think it's either just ended or it's coming to an end very soon. The run of The Immortal Hulk that's that's happening now. It's amazing. It's like it's like if the whole comics married like EC Comics, like horror books, it's
01:04:19
Speaker
It's a fantastic story and it's just, it's gory and awesome and yeah, love it, love it, love it, love it. Dave, back to you. So this next one I will say is really I'll say the technological wonder of the year thus far. Ooh.
01:04:46
Speaker
I know it's a figure, Eric, you also really like. And it's just one of those things when, you know, back early on,
01:04:57
Speaker
when we were talking to Jeremy and they had just really kind of, he had announced that he wanted to do this and said, like, we need to make this happen. I know you're going with us. And it was just one of those things where it was going to be like, how? How? And they did it. You know, Jazzwares absolutely knocked it out of the park and made
01:05:19
Speaker
An outstanding likeness, probably one of the best likenesses in the unrivaled line. And of course, I am talking about unrivaled Series 3 Orange Cassidy. He can put his hands in his damn pockets. He can put his hands in his pocket. It is just, it is remarkable. I just remember seeing that tweet. We need to make him put his hands in his pockets. And it was like Magic's drawing, like a sketch of literally just a hand in a pocket.
01:05:50
Speaker
And they did it, they did not lose articulation by doing it. You can make him be a perfect Orange Cassidy. He comes with the unenthusiastic thumbs up. It's spot on. He oozes the fact that he's nonchalant.
01:06:10
Speaker
Just whose is it? I don't know if you're familiar with with Orange Cassidy or like the wrestler. Oh, yeah, this is this is the figure that's wearing the Canadian tuxedo, right? He's got the denim, the denim shirt. He's got the denim, the denim jeans and I've seen this figure. It's pretty great.
01:06:30
Speaker
Yeah, it is. And the other thing, too, is like so. So not only just the pockets, but I think, Dave, you have to give some credit to to the way that his shirt and jacket combination works. Yeah, because it's not a full like, you know, usually if you have something like.
01:06:51
Speaker
Best one I can think of is like the best of the attitude era Triple H where it's like a jacket and a shirt and it's just like this weird bulky thing. Yeah. But they figured out how to not make it be bulky, but you can kind of have Orange wear when he comes out and he's wearing the shirt and the denim jacket or no shirt in the denim jacket and it kind of velcros in almost like a Dickie.
01:07:14
Speaker
Yeah, he's got like a cousin Eddie Dickey on with the way that the t-shirt is. But it's perfect because like you're talking about soft goods, right? So you have like a faux denim jacket, which is, you know, already kind of has like a bulky kind of feel to it as a denim jacket would.
01:07:33
Speaker
But you can't really get a t-shirt to fit skin tight the way that an athlete would wear a t-shirt. So instead of giving him a full t-shirt, it's just a Velcro in Dickey. And it adheres perfectly to his, it rests perfectly on his chest. And it doesn't gunk up his arms or his shoulder articulation. I didn't know that that's what it was until I saw it. And I was like, wow, that's brilliant. And you start taking it apart, and you're like, wow.
01:08:02
Speaker
Yeah, that was actually my first AEW figure. And I think I played with that thing for like two hours after I got it. Like I just sat there and I couldn't put it down. It was a fantastic figure.
01:08:18
Speaker
Alright, next one on my list, this is gonna check off my import category, is the SH Figuarts first form Frieza with Frieza Pod. This literally just came out as of the recording of this, it is brand new.
01:08:37
Speaker
Dragon Ball Z is my favorite anime, it's one of my favorite stories, one of my favorite cartoons of all time, however you want to put it. And I always loved, even though it's technically his weakest form, I always loved the first form, Frieza, because he's got the big horns, he's cruising around in his little super evil pod with his tail hanging out the back of it.
01:09:01
Speaker
And this figure captures all of that. It's got all the interchangeable face plates you could ever want. It's got interchangeable ears so that way you can put his radar on his face or off his face.
01:09:14
Speaker
Uh, he, he can go sit in his pod, which is amazing. You just kind of pull his lower half off and he pegs right into the pod. Same with his tail and you can have his weird rat tail hanging out the back of the pod. Um, the thing that I really appreciated about this figure, you know,
01:09:33
Speaker
all of the function and fashion of it aside was the fact that they realized that the inside of Frieza's pod had never been shown in either the manga or the anime, had never been shown. So they actually went back to Akira Toriyama, the artist who did Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z,
01:09:55
Speaker
And they said hey we're making a figure of Frieza and his pod, what does the inside of his pod look like? Akira Toriyama drew the inside of the pod for them specifically to be able to make this figure and make something that would be accurate to his vision.
01:10:10
Speaker
After he drew it for them, he also included that he always envisioned that the gold, the yellow parts of Freeze's pod were actually like a metallic gold. So for the first time, we really have something that is a representation of the way that the artist actually envisioned this super heinous villain and their villain floating pod to look like. So it's just a thing that's like packed with
01:10:36
Speaker
All these fun goodies and Easter eggs and prettiness. And I love it. And I think that'll take us back to Jay, right?
01:10:50
Speaker
Cool. Let's see, so coming back to smaller toy companies, we'll go ahead and swing it to the Mythic Legion's Arithyr and Aethon set. Now, if you guys aren't familiar with this one, pretty much all I can say is friggin' awesome heavy metal demon with his demon frickin' horse who has frickin' horns and is on fire.
01:11:20
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, that guy. Oh, that one. That one. Yes. And the and the one thing that that I am digging about this is of course, like I look at this thing, it's just it's it's a piece of toy art. Because for those of us who do collect mythic legions,
01:11:39
Speaker
We all know they're reused top to toe. They're all reused. Because they're all the same body type. We're basically looking at the exact same thing that Marvel Legends does with their stuff. You have your Buckycat buck. You have your Sunfire body. You have your Captain Universe freaking body. Just things like that. They have their own things that they do, and they just add on to it. And this guy,
01:12:09
Speaker
is just so, and I will always just keep coming back to this adjective, he's just so damn metal. He's the embodiment of death metal in plastic form. I mean, because we're talking about big fricking on fire demon head with two demon head fricking shoulders with a demon head on his fricking chest, with more demon heads just on his knees. He just has demon armor everywhere.
01:12:39
Speaker
He's like a living black light poster. Pretty much. You look at basically everything that your parents warned you about with the evils of Dungeons and Dragons back in the 80s. This is the embodiment of that. Right there.
01:12:59
Speaker
And not only that, it's like, you know, you'd think that, and it's bad because like, even like when I saw, when I first saw the promo pics for this guy, I was like, well, that's a big garish. And then I saw it, I saw it in hand for the first time, I was like, I'm a stupid, stupid jerk for not pre ordering this in the first place. I was like, are you kidding me? Like, how frickin cool is this thing? So that's that's what I made the schlep for. And of course, I wanted to hang with some folks, but
01:13:30
Speaker
I needed to get that Aerithor, so I made that schlep up to Wayne New Jersey to get that thing along with his freakin' rock and roll pony.
01:13:40
Speaker
because this thing is, it's just massive. Like it really is just freaking massive. And it sucks because like you can see pictures of it and it looks great. But once you have it in hand, like you see just what, just really like what all the, what all the commotion is about. Because for some odd reason, but then again, it's not really odd. This is the way that's just, that's just going up like freaking hotcakes right now.
01:14:07
Speaker
BBTS cannot stock it fast enough. Like every time they get a little bit, you know, a little bit more of a preorder, they're just gone. Like they're gone. So I would imagine that with the in stock sale, that mythic is about to have these guys are going to go fast because this like this, like this is just like the wave to have and this is this is the B figure, you know, because what it is that they did have in mind, and I'm a dummy,
01:14:35
Speaker
for not realizing this is that the four horsemen are actually making the four horsemen. Four horsemen. Yeah. So this is the embodiment of war. Like this is their war offering right here. And you look at it, it's like, oh yeah, because like the next one it's like
01:14:52
Speaker
pestilence or something like that. It's like the vampire wave. And this one, when you look at it, and when you look at it in that context, it's like, this makes so much sense, man. So yeah, that's the one right there. And I've never really gone like that gaga over a mythic legions figure before. But this dude is just too gnarly. He's just way too frickin gnarly.
01:15:15
Speaker
What I keep waiting for is, I haven't seen anybody take the picture of it yet. I want somebody to put that Mezco Hellboy on that horse. Oh yeah, that looked pretty sweet. So, I don't know if you have, I don't, do you have the Mezco Hellboy? I do, so I'll go, I'll take a picture of that just for you. You might have to, I'm gonna request a hand pick on that one.
01:15:37
Speaker
That can be arranged. Nice, nice, I'm pulling strings. I think it's back to me, right? No, to Dave. Yes, to Dave. Okay. Back to you. So my number five is, I have an indie on here too, and it's something that was pre-ordered in 2020, but by the time it crossed oceans,
01:16:07
Speaker
It was 2021. Actually, you know what? This is still a 2020 thing, but it was so close to the holidays that I'm calling it 2021 and I don't care. And I'm putting it on my list for this year because I think we had already made the list for last year. And so that was my excuse for getting it on this year. I don't think anyone else is going to have this on there.
01:16:31
Speaker
friend of the show and somebody who's going to have two more figures coming out and actually four more figures coming out this year. Junk Shot Dog. Oh, okay. And it is his Sofubi Pro Wrestling Series 2 Bruiser Brody figure. This is not your articulation special. There are two points of articulation. But it's just like a really cool figure because it
01:17:01
Speaker
encapsulates a style, the popey style of figures, which for a lot of pro wrestling collectors, that's kind of rarefied air. They are very expensive.
01:17:14
Speaker
you know, not very attainable. But if you're into like the Chara pros and things like that, it's still a little bit of a different style because it's more geared towards those older original figures. So it's just, you know, it's really cool. You're not getting like, you know, an incredible likeness, but it's, you know who it is when you look at it. And he's announced two others so far, right? We have Bull Nikano.
01:17:41
Speaker
was coming and- Dynamite kid and didn't he also announced Legion of Doom? Or Road Warriors? Yes, that's right. And Road Warriors. Yep. So yeah, those are the other four. Yeah, super cool figures. Super cool. Yeah, I think those popy style figures go back to like the early 80s, right? 81, 82? They were coming out? Late 70s, early 80s, I think. Yeah.
01:18:05
Speaker
All right, so I'm gonna throw down my other Star Wars pick for my list, and we're going back to the vintage collection, and we're going to the Walmart-exclusive Din de Jaren and Grogu two-pack of the vintage collection. So again, this is another vintage collection release that had a Black Series counterpart. This was the Mandalorian Din de Jaren.
01:18:31
Speaker
that had the swappable heads. So I think the, I'm not sure if the Black Series one had just a removable helmet. This was actually, we have a head for no helmet and then a helmeted head. So actual swappable heads. He comes with the, so far, well no, actually now the single carded Grogu, the child, is out. But this was the first way to get the child in the vintage collection.
01:19:01
Speaker
and even that little scamp is articulated. But the paint and detail on this figure is crazy. It's modeled after, I guess it's the episode with basically the showdown in the cantina when he's all battle damaged and IG-11 fixes him up. But he's got the jet pack, he's got the rifle, he's got the canister with the best guard in it, he's all
01:19:30
Speaker
dinged up and everything um great figure great accessories great articulation comes with the child what more could you ask for from a uh a vintage collection figure so and and i alluded to this earlier but the new vintage collection figures so like what they're doing in terms of engineering and paint and detail and everything these new ones are incredible
01:19:51
Speaker
Um, the likeness to Pedro Pascal is striking given the fact that his head is like smaller than a dime. Um, yeah, it's just, it is, it's absolutely wonderful. It's, it really is amazing that this, and again, it really is amazing that in some respects their three and three quarter offering is better than their black series offering, especially when it comes to the likeness of, of Din Djarin himself.
01:20:21
Speaker
Yeah, not that the Black Series one is atrocious. I think people were, I mean, he looks a little bloated in it, fine. But it does, it's obvious that it's Pedro Pascal, but I will agree with you that in this case, the three and three quarter inch likeness is very much so more Pedro Pascal than the six inch one was. Yeah, it's better, for sure.
01:20:47
Speaker
And you know what that kind of makes me feel better because like the three and three quarter inch figures that's that's what will put Star Wars figures on the map. So like put a put a win in in the column for us on that one. And you know I mean you're going to be getting more with the razor crest eventually. And yeah I can't wait for that man. That's going to be super cool. Yeah.
01:21:08
Speaker
That's why I actually skipped the single card vintage collection child release. He comes with the original pram, the off-white one that he didn't pick some up in in the first episode.
01:21:23
Speaker
He's not in that for super long, he's in the chromed out one more, and that's the one that comes with the Razorcrest anyway, so I saved myself the 13 bucks and skipped the single card release, knowing that I'll be getting one with the Razorcrest. You gotta pick and choose sometimes.
01:21:42
Speaker
Jay, we're back to you. Sure. I would hate to retread old territory, but only because I need to reiterate everything that was said about it. This Lady Jay figure is, I think is probably one of the best, if not the best classified figures that's out there. And in my opinion, only because of the versatility of the accessories and of course,
01:22:06
Speaker
You know, we do have something that is is legendary because not since, you know, and I will say that proximal proximal midnight, you know, is the exception to the rule when it comes to double jointed elbows only because, you know, she's a she's a huge like it was a it was a very large figure. So, of course, they had that space, you know, to put to put those double jointed elbows. But when we're looking at something that's practically the size of a Power Rangers figure,
01:22:35
Speaker
and just done that well as far as articulation is concerned.
GI Joe Lady J and Female Figures
01:22:40
Speaker
And like I said, legendary when it comes to a female figure, one would hope that this is the future from now on. And it sucks just knowing that we're getting those scarlet and barrenness figures from the Snake Eyes movie line, which just goes straight back to what it was that they were doing. And I'm really hoping that the only reason because that's happening is because they had these figures waiting in the wing and then boom, pandemic happened.
01:23:11
Speaker
But I'm hoping now, seeing that they're starting to put in Marvel Legends with these pinless double-jointed elbows, when we're looking at Domino, when we're looking at a few of the other gals that they just revealed. Not these other reveals, but the ones like last week or a week before last. They're starting to look so, so good.
01:23:39
Speaker
So this Lady J figure, man, like she really like you look at it, like this really is the future of the female figure for Hasbro. And just seeing that this was, you know, their first time around, you know, in doing something, you know, this this size, with with this many moving parts and just
01:23:58
Speaker
When you look at the accessories themselves, that's just the bonus on top. So yeah, I apologize right now for repeating what it was that we said about the Lady J figure, but I think it's a figure that's worthy of gushing over here. So yeah, that's my number four right there. Could not agree with you more. Yeah, she could have easily fallen anywhere on my list.
01:24:27
Speaker
you know, aside from my number one spot, which for me is a very clear number one, and I will get there, but yeah, pretty much everyone else on my list is tied for number two. You know, the direction of the wind or position of the moon could very easily have changed any of the order of mine, but yeah, she is the future. That's the perfect way to put it. She is the future of the female action figure. Hands down. Dave, back to you.
01:24:59
Speaker
So this one I'm putting up there for, or like complete package more so than anything. You know, the figure itself isn't earth shattering. But the presentation of the figure is off the charts good. And this is Ringside Collectibles exclusive, Jazzwares AEW Unrivaled, Double or Nothing Cody.
01:25:28
Speaker
No, it's the first belt or it's the first AW Unrivaled figure to come with the TNT title, the original TNT title. But if you look at this package, it's it's an amazing figure. You have basically like a translucent background that represents the screen from this stage at Double or Nothing last year.
01:25:54
Speaker
And you have basically it's a figure that comes with a lot of accessories, but the accessories aren't obstructing the work of art that is the front of the package. The accessories, the extra heads, the extra hands, the shirt are all on the side of the package.
01:26:13
Speaker
So it's just you know a well presented figure and kind of sort of like the a little bit of the bubbly from last year The package is really what kind of makes this figure Same here for the Cody Yeah, some of those special packaging for those ringside figures. I recently discovered the
01:26:37
Speaker
the artist behind them, actually. I think he's new to Instagram. We're gonna give him a quick shout out here. Chris Medsker of Jazzwares. If you wanna give him a follow, he's C underscore M underscore Medsker, M-E-T-Z-G-E-R.
01:26:57
Speaker
He does the specialty packaging for jazzwares and prior to that he actually did packaging for Marvel and ToyBiz. He even going back to like the ToyBiz era like WCW and TNA figures. So he's been doing packaging.
01:27:16
Speaker
for a long time, and some really iconic lines, including the Spider-Man film figures. He designed the packaging for those back in the day. But what he's doing at Jazzwares with the AEW line right now is wild, whether it's the set you just mentioned, the little bit of the bubbly, the Jurassic Express two-pack. He's having a lot of fun with the packaging design, and it's great. It's absolutely great.
01:27:44
Speaker
Alright, so my next one, I have a sinking suspicion that this is going to at least be on my brother's list, but it might be on yours too, Jay. This was a figure that we all ordered, I know we all have it. We all ordered this figure last year, actually about a year from where we are now, so last May we all ordered this figure.
01:28:07
Speaker
Um, and through some trials and tribulations and, and some Kickstarter issues, eventually we got the figure in early 2021. Um, it is the Kickstarter spawn figure. Uh, that's bold. So I'm putting it on here and this
Nostalgia and the Spawn Figure
01:28:29
Speaker
is why. All right. So.
01:28:31
Speaker
That spawn figure the first the one that this is modeled after to say that this is like a modern version of that original spawn figure and the giant clamshell with the comic book in the back If you want to talk about like iconic action figures from the 90s, I think it's one of the most iconic
01:28:49
Speaker
from soup to nuts, like the big cape with the living hinges that lasted about two years before they fell apart and you ended up with like half a cape, you know, to his weapon being a wooden board with a nail in it, you know, it was just, it was an iconic figure, it was a new character, you know, it was a new line, it was just all new and it doesn't get more 90s than Spawn.
01:29:15
Speaker
When we first saw the mock-up model of this at Toy Fair last year, before it had any articulation lines, when it was literally just a statue standing there.
01:29:28
Speaker
Todd was, and the rest of the McFarland team were telling us, like, this is going to be a Kickstarter, this is what it's going to be, yada, yada, yada. By the way, here's the Mortal Kombat 11 spawn that we're debuting. Look, a new spawn figure. It was just kind of like everything was, was spawn-tastic. So is this the best articulated figure that has ever existed? Hell no. Did Todd make some promises for this figure that it was going to do certain things and it ended up not doing them?
01:29:58
Speaker
Yes, like we were told the cape was going to be removable and it wasn't we were told there was going to be you know an ab crunch and there isn't like There there were things that were were promised that were not delivered, but I think overall from
01:30:14
Speaker
the unboxing of this figure, the way that it's shipped, the way that the experience you have of actually opening it, the fun accessories that it comes with, the necro energy, the giant sword. Once you have this thing actually standing on the desk next to you and he's got this massive cape and it's just this big old hunk of plastic that's like,
01:30:39
Speaker
Exactly what McFarland toys is known for when I have it in my hands and makes me feel like I'm a kid again and it makes me feel like I'm opening that original spawn figure and it like Immediately just brings me back to like more innocent times of when you know It didn't matter how an action figure moved. It just looked cool and it you know, it looked cool on my desk and or it looked cool, you know, I
01:31:04
Speaker
with my other action figures and for me that's what the spawn figure does it is it is an updated version of that was in 1994 1995 uh spawn figure um
01:31:19
Speaker
And it does everything that I need it to do. I wish it did more. I wish the cape came off. I wish, you know, I was all for your, Jay, your petition to make it a soft goods cape, a wired cape. I mean, that would have been incredible. But at the same time, it having a big chunky cape that has two hinges on it. I mean, as an updated version of the one that we had when we were kids, so.
01:31:45
Speaker
I can't be terribly mad at it. Ultimately, I still haven't figured out a place where I'm going to permanently display it because it takes up so much room. So it was out for a while and it carefully went back in the box and that's where it is currently being stored. But I do love the figure. It is not my favorite figure of the first half of the year, but it is one that means a lot to me. So that's why I put it on my list.
01:32:14
Speaker
I think that's a pretty fair assessment right there. You've pretty much listed off everything that is just great about this figure. Of course, a lot of that does come from preference. It's the reason why I have two of them and the reason why I won't give them up, even though spawn is not on my list at all.
01:32:36
Speaker
There's no way that I'm selling these guys or getting rid of them or anything like that, because of the exact same reasons that you just detailed here. Because, you know, I think of like me, like, saving my, you know, saving my per diems from school trips, just so I could go out and buy, you know, spawn figures. And like, and just and these are them. And these are the figures that just that they really do take me back as as well. Granted,
01:33:06
Speaker
those ones were a little bit easier to pose because I find that even trying to pose these things like now, like I have been saying, they literally hurt. Yeah, and they will mess up your light box and your display and everything is sharp. Oh yeah, which is why these things, they're not coming near my dioramas at all. They will ruin
01:33:34
Speaker
I just like I don't know I don't know where to put him so like I have I have a like a little McFarland display that has some of my DC multiverse it has some of the my hero academia and then it has my you know some of my classic McFarland stuff and then and then the Mortal Kombat 11 spawn who's actually holding the giant space gun that uh that the the Kickstarter spawn came with
01:33:57
Speaker
I just, I would love to have him on display somewhere. I just don't have the, the display real estate for him to take up an entire cube. Yeah. And I was going to say it almost needs to like his own cube and you know, and then here we are. Like, you know, you can go to game stop and pre-order a clown and a violator. Like.
01:34:19
Speaker
And the violator looks enormous, which is what it's supposed to. So it almost kind of got me thinking about how much I enjoyed the figure again, which yes, that will be getting mentioned a little bit later on mine. And for all the same reasons. For me, it was one of those things where I didn't care about what it didn't do, but more so about everything else that it did do.
01:34:50
Speaker
I think that's, I think that's, that's in summation it, right? So like this figure is either, I mean, just like anything else. I mean, this figure is either for you or it's not. And, you know, I think anybody that truly believed that they were going to be getting this like, like ideal articulated spawn out of this,
01:35:15
Speaker
must not have been familiar enough with Todd McFarlane and how McFarlane Toys works. And I don't mean that as a knock to anybody, I don't mean that as a knock to Todd. He does what he does, and that's what he does, and that's what he's always done, and he's never gonna change. What was his documentary on sci-fi called? Like, hell, I won't.
01:35:36
Speaker
You know like I it that's just you know that's that's who he is and and you know as he was making these promises with the figure like I had to like you know I kept reminding like the people in in in our orbit you know like
01:35:52
Speaker
Great assault guys, great assault. If that cape, if he's making a hard cape and it's going on there, it's gonna be on there. That ain't coming off. It really does suck though because the articulation actually it's not half bad. It really isn't half bad. The cape...
01:36:10
Speaker
kneecaps it it absolutely kneecaps a lot of what you can do with with the figure and I know you Did you ever finish the mod on yours with the soft goods? Oh, yeah Yeah, the soft goods cape is fan frickin tastic man like if you saw the picture that I put up on Twitter yesterday as far as like my My new desk buddy arrangement frickin spot that spawn has the place of honor now. Yep That's right. I was just gonna say that I did see a soft goods cape on your I'm looking at it. Yep. There is yeah
01:36:40
Speaker
Right, right, right by that cygor that can't move very well, but it looks great. Yes, a cygor. Yeah, another. If there's one thing that you can you can always bank a McFarland toy is doing, it's giving you a lot of plastic, a lot of plastic for very little money, which is freaking fantastic. Yep. And I mean, you know, he said it back when we interviewed him at toy fair like it was like I am here to give you plastic. Yeah.
01:37:08
Speaker
Yup, and boy has he this year. I mean, I don't know how they're producing the amount of figures that they're doing, but they're doing it and they're selling it. It's insane, dude. Like, it really is insane. For a company that small, they're cranking out stuff and taking up peg space on its stores. It's just remarkable. And all of it, Batman.
01:37:36
Speaker
I don't know what you're talking about. I saw Wonder Woman the other day. And I keep seeing Green Lantern. There's more than just Batman, Jay. Yeah, dare we say it goes beyond.
01:37:56
Speaker
No shway, no shway. All right. Which is another fantastic figure, but that's... All right, so Dave, you also had spawn on your list. Is there anything else you wanted to add about spawn before we move on to go back to Jay?
01:38:13
Speaker
No, nothing. Basically, you know, I mean, I would echo what you said. It's the it hit me in the in the fields. And it just was kind of even down to like, yes, it's the reopenable clamshell or the resealable clamshell. But that's what it looked like. Only enormous, like. You know, you got metal chains, they were cool. Bingo. It was cool. Jay, back to you.
01:38:42
Speaker
Sure. Let's see. So we'll go ahead and go to my number three spot. And this is a figure that is in my latest video right now. We're looking at the Sentinel SV action. What SV stands for? I have no idea. Miles Morales. And this figure was a hard sell for me, especially after toying around with the Mayfax Miles Morales, which I was not a fan of.
01:39:11
Speaker
And after playing with that one, I was just powered on the Spider-Verse as a whole when it came to merchandising. And then, a couple months back, I had seen a couple, well, maybe like a month back, a month back, I lied. A month back, I had seen some in-hand picks from an overseas seller.
01:39:30
Speaker
And I was like, wow, this actually does not look half bad. So I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna take that $90 plunge. Let's just see how it turns out. Worst comes to worst, I'll sell it the exact same way that I sold my Mafex miles. Just sell it for cost and just get it out of there. And what did you know, man? I got this thing in hand. And number one, it's a joy to pose. And then number two, the thing that I hated
01:39:59
Speaker
about that Miles Morales figure, about Mafex as it were, was taking off the soft goods and hoping that you weren't gonna break this thing.
01:40:09
Speaker
And just swapping back and forth, just like this piece that was meant to be modular, you know, they just made it so easy for you.
Marvel Legends Retro Line
01:40:20
Speaker
I mean, and then you couple that with how much fun a Spider-Man figure can be, because of course, when it comes to Spider-Man, like these figures were made to be played with. So you couple those two things together, plus just this overall
01:40:36
Speaker
import quality that Sentinel is known for because these guys are known for just making these really high-end Iron Man pieces. So when they focused all of that energy into a Spider-Man figure, it just became over-the-top. It became bulletproof. It became freaking amazing. So yeah, man, I've been having a lot of fun with this one. Granted, it's new.
01:41:00
Speaker
But at the same time, it's just one of those gut things to where you just start playing with something and you just say, I love this thing. I just freaking love this thing. And that Miles, man, is just doing it for me. Yeah, based on your pictures, I think the only thing that would have bummed me out about it is the, again, the frozen in motion jacket. Yeah. That's on it. But I mean, if that's literally the one knit that you picked. The one little knit pick, yeah.
01:41:28
Speaker
That figure does look incredible and you actually have me, I normally don't venture outside of the Marvel Legends stuff just out of fear of opening cans of worms or letting toothpaste out of tubes I can't put it back into but I'm very, very itchy for that figure because I love the Spider-Verse film and while the Marvel Legends Miles is fine,
01:41:53
Speaker
You know, that that looks like it's it's the one. Yeah, it definitely is. Dave. So for my number three, we're going to stay in the land of Marvel. And this was kind of one of those ones where I don't I wasn't quite sure what to pick because there wasn't just one figure of this that I liked.
01:42:20
Speaker
More than any other but I do think the whole thing is just a The whole line thus far has just been fantastic And you know repaints aside, but it's another one that kind of hits you. It's in the fields and hearkens back to things that you collected as as a kid and this takes me back to the secret wars days I of course I'm talking about the three and three-quarter Marvel Legends and
01:42:48
Speaker
by Hasbro under the Kenner label. Now granted, I don't think, you know, we don't have Silver Surfer yet. If I were to pick one eventually, that would probably be it, but I have to get it first. So, but right now, I mean, like every figure is cool. Like, you know, you have the
01:43:09
Speaker
translucent Ice Man figure. You have, you know, old-school Daredevil, Electra, and everybody's, there are some, you know, really fun accessories in there. You know, Bullseye, you have Electra, and it kind of runs the gamut of Marvel characters, and you know, you're eventually gonna get into like that deep cut territory, and I'm here for it.
01:43:36
Speaker
The thing that continually blows my mind about that line is their dedication to the fact that the line exists in 1982.
01:43:53
Speaker
You know, people who are asking for things like red, like, oh, you know, you did a green Hulk and a gray Hulk. How about a red Hulk? Or like, you know, asking for, like, will there be a Deadpool? Probably not, because that's not what this line is.
Fortnite and Lucha Libre Figures
01:44:06
Speaker
Like, it's representing and they're like steadfastly dedicated to the fact that this line exists in that very small time period. And you're only going to see superheroes, at least, you know, presumably for the time being unless they are getting you as agent.
01:44:23
Speaker
U.S. agent, which is like late 80s. Yeah, but but but still like you're you're you're getting you're getting figures from that time period aesthetic, right? So I love I love the fact that they're they're kind of sticking to that with with the line and that there's so many possibilities of figures. I just I hope they with that scale, they need to get into like some like wacky vehicles like
01:44:47
Speaker
make like the fantastic car and make the spider buggy. Oh yeah, that'd be great. Like do stuff like that with those figures because, I mean, ultimately they've said several times, like as collectible as these are, they are geared towards kids. Like they're hoping that kids are playing with them. And I know like the inner child in me would want vehicles and playsets and stuff. If that was the case. We need more villains too. We have Loki coming, right? Mm-hmm. So.
01:45:17
Speaker
finish up some of the teams but like there's there's definitely a lot of room to grow on this. I mean really the big disappointment for me was that we're already getting like stealth suit Iron Man.
01:45:31
Speaker
Well, they're gonna repaint these. Yeah, they're gonna get you for that reuse. That's the only way that this line is gonna succeed, is if they... I mean, Spider-Man I get, because you do need the symbiote Spider-Man, but like... Congratulations, Jay. You got a new Black Suit Spider-Man. Oh yeah, I'm definitely getting that. I wonder how his balance will be, though. I don't think it's gonna be on point.
01:45:59
Speaker
All right, so back to me so I have two left so this is yeah, this is on my number two here This is my jazzwares entry and we're going to the fortnight line and a figure that I actually picked up on I checked my my Instagram feed I picked this up on January 2nd, so just made the cut jazzwares meowsels
01:46:21
Speaker
Um, this is my, my favorite character in Fortnite. It is the character that I play as the most. It is a Swole Cat. Um, and I just, there's nothing else that you could say. I mean, he's a big, big ass, beefy cat with, um, work boots and cuff jeans and dual pistols. And he just is a big, beefy cat and I love him to death. And yeah, so that's my number two jazzwares, legendary series meowsles.
01:46:49
Speaker
I would have loved that one a lot more if I didn't have to do surgery to his belt and holsters. Yeah, mine are a little loosey goosey. I haven't done that yet. But it is a great figure though. It is a great figure. I'm pretty much going to be selling a good portion of my Fortnite figures with Hasbro coming in, but I will probably hang on to that guy because I like him that much.
01:47:16
Speaker
Yes, I'm considering, I gotta see what Hasbro starts to do with the line. I gotta actually get them in hand first. I gotta see how they look with the Jazzwares ones. I also wanna see, there's been no official announcement yet that Jazzwares will not be producing Six Inch Figures. Six Inch Figures.
01:47:36
Speaker
They just have not said whether or not they will be. They just said that they have an exclusivity deal for the four inch figures and the new micro figures, like the two inch figures that are coming out. Yeah, so it's yet to be seen what will happen with that, but yeah, that meowsal's figure, minor surgery aside, is wonderful.
01:48:02
Speaker
Jay, over to you. All right, we're gonna go and take a tangent here from, you know, the typical superhero comic book spiel that I've been I've been going with, you know, or even animated and whatnot. And we're going to be going in the world of wrestling for the first time. Now,
01:48:23
Speaker
The figures that I am talking about, I am talking about the boss fight studios, legends of Lucha Libre. The Ray Phoenix is fantastic, but for me, Penta.
01:48:34
Speaker
El Cerro Miego has got to be one of the best figures I've played with in a bit, man. This thing is so good. This thing is so good that it got me back into wrestling. That's how good this figure is. Because I'm not going to lie, man. I haven't had that urge to watch wrestling in so freaking long. I am a product of the NWO Attitude Era.
01:49:02
Speaker
And after that, I was like, yeah, you know, it's like I think I'm kind of outgrowing this. And when I saw these figures, and of course, I'd seen my friends go on and on about Penta.
01:49:14
Speaker
and doing his catchphrase and whatnot. I had no idea what the hell they were talking about. I just knew it was like, oh, his outfit's cool. There you go. But once boss fight made these figures and I got them in hand and really started to play and pose and just seeing that these things
01:49:35
Speaker
with just how well that they moved, with just how well they were sculpted, with just how well the application was on these guys, and then just going back to the source material itself, these things are probably the best wrestling figures that I've played with. And I've played with jazzwares, you know, I have played with, I have plenty of Mattel stuff, but these are the ones that really do scratch my itch there. And not only that, they just, they mix in
01:50:02
Speaker
with a whole lot of your other stuff, seeing that I look at Ray Phoenix and I look at Bento, I mean, these guys, you know, they're freaking Mexicans just like me. So we're not, we're not very tall. So it works out, you know, as far as just going toe to toe with these six foot plus superheroes and whatnot.
01:50:18
Speaker
So yeah man I am loving the the just what it is that boss fight studios is doing with these wrestling figures and I'm hoping that you know that they start doing doing some more characters because you just feel the quality of the plastic you feel the quality of the articulation in the joints as far as just like the extra heads the hands the accessories things like that there they're just out of this world man.
01:50:45
Speaker
So, full disclosure, like, when we were going to, say, like, get into the honorable mention, just because I wasn't sure where I wanted to put these yet. Like, I haven't made my final decision on where these live, but these were two figures that I was very much looking forward to from Toy Fair on. Like, especially with, you know, the fact that there was going to be a Penta and there was going to be a Ray Phoenix from
01:51:14
Speaker
Jazzwares as well, and now there's going to be second Penta and Ray Phoenix from Jazzwares. But, you know, just seeing the deco on it and just how well they nailed the tattoos to the extra, you know, accessories that come with it. Like, you know, Penta's been in a couple death matches. He came with a light tube. Like, it's borderline, they're borderline perfect in the execution of them.
01:51:44
Speaker
There's a couple things like, yes, you have the reused legs on both of them. But still, even with that, they are so good. And yeah, it does have me looking very much forward to wave 2 and wave 3, which wave 2 I think we're getting
01:52:04
Speaker
like early 90s, late 80s Conan, and we're getting Lady Maravilla, which is awesome. And then we're getting the Fanaticos, which is going to be kind of the... It's almost like their basic line. But the articulation in it is like not basic, but it's just kind of like more of a lower price point, I guess.
01:52:29
Speaker
fewer accessories, et cetera. But yeah, these are fantastic. They were my honorable mention if I were to have one, just because I'm not quite sure where I've landed on where they live in this list yet.
AEW Unrivaled Luchasaurus
01:52:45
Speaker
But yeah, they're awesome.
01:52:50
Speaker
Yeah. And, and, and Jay, same for me. So like I fell out of wrestling, you know, back in the nineties as well. Um, the pandemic is actually the pandemic and paying attention to, you know, the stuff that like jazzwares was doing with the AEW line. That's really what drew me back into wrestling too, was, was the AEW stuff. And then like, I'd finish up watching AEW and be like, what other new wrestling is there this week? Start watching, you know, some of the WWE again. And, um, you know, it was just kind of like,
01:53:17
Speaker
It has sucked me back in. What I've been doing, I've been going back to pretty much just to YouTube and just, you know, going on the recommendations of friends and saying, oh, dude, if you're into, you know, Cerro Miedo now, it's like, you need to check out this match, this match, this match. And it's kind of insane. What's that?
01:53:38
Speaker
the stuff from like Lucha Underground. Oh, yeah. Yeah, a lot of that stuff. Yeah. So so pretty much just like spending a lot of time just looking just like looking at that stuff like but you know, like between between meetings and gigs on zoom and whatnot. I'm like, man, like this is just intense. I mean, because like these guys, like when I compare them to just like, you know, the logs, you know, who, you know, who I liked, you know, back in the the old WCW days and whatnot.
01:54:06
Speaker
Just the sheer acrobatics that these guys do, man. It's amazing. It really is. So if you want to see something... Ray Phoenix is unreal, yeah. If you want to see something incredible, if you have Hulu, the David Arquette documentary, I think it's called You Can't Kill David Arquette. Highly recommend it. He goes to Mexico for some training, and there is an entire sequence of
01:54:35
Speaker
What I could only describe as many wrestling matches that happen on the street in Mexico at stoplights, like while the light is red, they have many short wrestling matches and then basically walk up the line of cars and ask for money for watching the wrestling matches. The stuff that they pull off.
01:55:00
Speaker
these pro wrestlers, they're just doing this on the side, is some of the most incredible athletic feats I think I've seen ever on a TV. It is unbelievable. And then of course they get into the ring and it's even cooler, but just the athleticism is absurd. It's absolutely absurd. It's nothing like it was in the 90s. At least mainstream 90s.
01:55:29
Speaker
But yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely check that out. And there was a documentary on Vampiro as well. There's been a couple of really cool wrestling documentaries. There's one about, I think it's called Lucha Mexico about a lot of the CMLL guys. Perro Guayo Jr. I think is in that one. Yeah, lots of really cool stuff. Spotlighting.
01:55:58
Speaker
Great, great wrestling. And Dave, I think this goes over to you now. So we're gonna stay in wrestling. Shocker. And there's, you know, it's not often when you announce a figure and it's supposed to be like good.
01:56:21
Speaker
And it's just supposed to be the best figure, like our best deco in the lion and like, yeah, you should hit a home run with this one. But, you know, sometimes when you're supposed to hit a home run and you do, it should still be rewarded. Um, and that's, uh, a W unrivaled series five Luchasaurus. Um,
01:56:44
Speaker
You know, like basically like almost a seven foot tall dinosaur. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of, speaking of luchadores, a lucha dinosaur. And you know, like everything from the mask, the detail in the mask to like, you know, his, what's visible of his face to the costume that he wears, like his gear, like it's just,
01:57:13
Speaker
you know, his tattoos, like it's just a great figure. Like, yes, it's supposed to be like, and I know, Eric, we've discussed this before, like it should be a home run and it is like, you know, jazzwares has been unbelievable so far with this, with the unrivaled line. They have hit some absolute home runs with
01:57:36
Speaker
some of the figures in the line thus far and I feel like they're continuing to get better as they've moved on and as they've moved through the line. Like we're past the series one and series two growing pains and now we're starting to hit strides.
NECA McCready and Mafex Superman
01:57:52
Speaker
Yeah, and Jay, I mean, if you haven't seen this Luchasaurus figure, if you're talking about a figure that just kind of, like, can fit in with everything else, like a 112 scale, like, fun figure, he is literally, his gimmick is...
01:58:09
Speaker
He's a tag team wrestler. He wrestles with Luke Perry's son, who goes by the name of Jungle Boy. His face looks exactly like Luke Perry, but he's got massive amounts of hair.
01:58:24
Speaker
and he wrestles with a near seven foot tall luchador dinosaur that has like a bright, he paints his tongue bright green, he's got like a dinosaur headgear, he's covered in long beard ponytail, he's covered in tattoos, and he is the most toyetic wrestler there is right now, period. The luchasaurus. Yes, yes.
01:58:51
Speaker
They they actually just announced that they're relaunching wrestling buddies like the the plush Wrestling buddies from back in the day And he is one of the first ones that they're making which is the best move they could possibly no brainer
01:59:03
Speaker
And I think, too, the other thing that's awesome about him, I may have this wrong. I don't know if he's professor level, but I know he's a history teacher. He's a US history teacher when he's not a wrestler. That's what he studied. So he's just a big ol' seven foot tall, ripped, tattooed nerd that is way more athletic than a near seven foot tall man, a man his size should be, and he's just,
01:59:32
Speaker
He seems like he's like the super nicest guy and. And it's just this larger than life character. Yeah. And it's. It's amazing. You would think like this shouldn't be good, but it's great. Yeah, the tag team is called the Jurassic Express. Yes, hilarious. On the Indies, it was a boy and his dinosaur. Was it really?
01:59:55
Speaker
That's even better. They should go back to that. That's fun. Yeah, so definitely keep an eye out for that figure. I think you'd be very happy with him if you come across him. So I'm gonna close out my list here with my number one.
02:00:16
Speaker
My number one is also a very recent pickup. It is the NECA Ultimate McCready from The Thing, from John Carpenter's The Thing. One of my favorite horror films, sci-fi horror films, whatever you wanna say, some of the greatest practical effect work that I think has ever been done in horror films was done in this with the monster creation and everything. But McCready, right, so Kurt Russell, a lot of people,
02:00:43
Speaker
When they think of the iconic role for Kurt Russell, it's Escape from New York. For me, it's the thing. When I think of him, I think of him on that Antarctic outpost. And this figure is awesome. So the head sculpt is great. The likeness of Kurt Russell is there, depending on the way that you look at it. If you're looking at it head-on, some people say it looks more like
02:01:10
Speaker
Charles Bronson which I do see that but I think enough of Kurt is in these head sculpts but again like the accessories and the detail so you can pretty much do every single iconic look from the film with him you know the additional head sculpts have like that
02:01:29
Speaker
the light blue hood up and you could put the cowboy hat on, you could put the sunglasses on, you could put the safety goggles on, whatever you wanna do with that. He comes with extra hands and the hands actually, because the gloves come up past the coat on the figure, when you pull the hands out, the glove cuffs actually come off the jacket. So that way when you put his ungloved hand on,
02:01:57
Speaker
You can see the end of the coat on the wrist so that it's not like a weird like his piece of his glove is left over like very clever engineering on that by NECA.
02:02:09
Speaker
Again, great accessory said, he comes with a bottle of whiskey, he comes with a rocks glass that has a pour in it already. He's got a lantern, he's got a shotgun. He actually is, he's new articulation. So he has a new hip joint system for NECA, so I didn't need to heat up anything. I didn't need to put him in hot water, I didn't need to apply
02:02:35
Speaker
apply a hairdryer to him straight out of the box, everything moved without a problem. Not a single hiccup in any of the joints. The detail throughout him is fantastic.
02:02:51
Speaker
It's just, it is an absolutely wonderful figure for like, somebody commented on one of our posts and said like, you're right for like just a guy. It's a really good figure. But it's true, he kind of is like, there's nothing like, he's just a guy. But it is an absolutely wonderful figure. I hope they continue to use this articulation system because it's nice and smooth. He moves from me, unlike any other like,
02:03:21
Speaker
regular clothed, necked figure that I've had so far. So yeah, he's my number one for the first half of 2021. And I'm happy to have him.
02:03:33
Speaker
Nice, man. That's actually a pretty good number one pick, man, especially seeing that you were able to score that because, like, I know, like, there's a few folks who've been scouring targets and just trying to figure out the schedules of their local NECA representatives so that they're there to just get one of those frickin' McCree's.
02:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, I was not out looking for him. I happened to just be out actually with... I had a Friday that ended early. And I took my infant out with me actually. And the goal was to drive around and try to get her to go to sleep because she was being a little fussy. So I decided to take her into a couple stores with me.
02:04:16
Speaker
And the first story I went into, they had the new Doc Brown, the Back to the Future Part 2 Doc Brown, which I also was looking for, and I was like, oh, damn, that's awesome. And I saw the new King Kong, and there was no McCready, and I was like, ah, whatever. I'll eventually find it. It's early anyway. These aren't supposed to be out till Father's Day.
02:04:33
Speaker
And on my way home, she still was not asleep, so I picked another store to go into. And sure enough, there he was, fully stocked. There was like eight of them there. Did not think I'd be coming home with either of those that day, but I'm...
02:04:49
Speaker
Very very happy that I that I got McCready. I have not opened doc yet He's he's in the to open pile, you know, such as the the bane of filming unboxing videos. I try to Make sure I don't do it all at once so I can enjoy it a little bit But but yeah, that's my uh, that's my number one so uh Jay to you all right, man, so the number one spot is going to be going to an import and
02:05:19
Speaker
And we are looking at Mafex Superman. And one of the biggest reasons here is because, number one, you know, it's been so long since I've had a good Superman figure. Because for as much as I do like McFarlane's Spawn stuff,
02:05:41
Speaker
You know like Painful articulation aside literally painful articulation it hurts you physically every time you want to Every time you want to pose these guys You know, I'm not a fan. I wish I was a fan of their DC stuff and I just haven't been able to get into it
02:05:58
Speaker
So when it comes to Mafex and what it is that they're doing with the DC license, they're pretty much doing everything right, in my opinion. So it was fun for me to play around with a Superman figure that looked good, that moved well, great soft goods cape. And as far as just the aesthetic that they went with, which was Jim Lee, who I think just does a tremendous service to any
02:06:28
Speaker
any DC character that he's rendering. This Superman figure is just gorgeous. It's freaking beautiful. And I think it pretty much remedies everything that was wrong with the anatomy on the Mafex hush Batman.
02:06:48
Speaker
So when it comes to just posing around this Superman, I mean, it really just has that, for lack of a better word, that Jim Lee muscular girth, you know, just, you know, how he just like kind of just like makes his superheroes just a bit more thick. So when it comes to just getting the Superman figure in hand, and just what it is that I wanted to do, even when it came to taking pictures, like I hadn't, I hadn't been, I hadn't been playing with my Photoshop.
02:07:17
Speaker
probably in about a good two and a half years, possibly even three. And when I said, you know what, I want to make this guy fly. Of course, it's breaking out the wire stands and the fishing line. I'm like, all right, let's make this guy fly. There was just so much fun in that and just simply making
02:07:40
Speaker
making a toy fly, making a toy, you know, pick up, you know, a Batmobile with one hand. Yeah, that was cool. I like that one. That one was a lot of fun. I mean, that really just comes down to it to where I'm like, what you know, what figure have I had the most fun with, you know, when it comes to video, when it comes to photography, when it comes to just all around playing, I'm like, yeah, it has to be it has to be this damn Superman. This this damn Superman is so much fun.
02:08:09
Speaker
So yeah, it has to be number one, at least for now, the Mafex hush Superman. Yeah. Yeah. I love when you posted that Batmobile picture. This goes to show how good you are, like how well known you are for your posing prowess. How many people commented like, how did this guy get him to hold the Batmobile up?
02:08:36
Speaker
You know and I I think I might have shared the picture knowing that you know cuz obviously I read Fred the copy that you that you posed with the picture, but uh You know cuz Photoshop was in there. Yeah, I think I I think I posted the pictures like what? This is dark magic Just Jay Hernandez sorcerer supreme it's like yeah, you know and
02:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, but that figure almost made me buy, was almost my first Mayfax figure. Almost. Very close. I was very, very close to pulling the trigger on that figure. It's a good, and unbeknownst to me, it's become incredibly sought after now. I had no idea that was gonna happen at all. Yeah, yep. And they have a new one coming out. They have the Dark Knight Returns Superman. Yeah, the Dark Knight Returns Superman, which is fantastic too. Yeah.
02:09:30
Speaker
See, the problem for me is, and I think Dave might fall into this category too, we've invested in the McFarlane line, you know, the good and the bad. So like for me now, like I have Superman, I have Batman, I have the Joker, I have Robin, Nightwing, like I have like a lot of the core characters. If I get the May effects
02:09:55
Speaker
Superman, I'll need a Batman to go with it. The Batman, yeah. I know where that goes. And it's like, OK, the McFarlane figures, while they're not perfect and the scale is a little wonky on them sometimes, I think ultimately, if you cherry pick the line, there are some figures that are, I will say, good enough. And I've had a lot of fun with them so far. And they are getting better. Some of the newer ones are. I even love that first Superman.
02:10:25
Speaker
I actually do too. I do love that wave one Superman. You can't do a whole lot with him because of his articulation, you know, the single jointed elbows and his cape is very hard. Like a very hard plastic cape, so there's really no give with it. But like, you can get him in a flying pose, you can get him punching stuff, he can walk. That's all I want. I want him, you know, one arm out, one arm on his head.
02:10:51
Speaker
And I want him just looking like he's flying yeah, and and for those purposes the figure works, but uh yeah, I'm I that that has kept me away from the has really been what's the been the thing that has kept me away from the the Mayfect stuff especially watching your damn videos and You you with that uh that uh those poses and everything it's just I watch them like damn it
02:11:16
Speaker
Every time I see another may fix, I'm like, yeah, that's really cool. But yeah, it's really cool. But it's kind of like why I don't have any NECA figures. It's just like I can't. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, other than like the Toony Terrors, like I can't just I can't get one Jason.
02:11:33
Speaker
I opened up that can of worms, man. And I keep telling you, I'm like, stay away. Don't do it. Don't be tempted. Yeah, every Jason is different. You need each one. Don't be tempted. So Dave, you technically don't have a number one now, because we talked about it, right? It's spawn, yeah. It's spawn. All right. Yeah, that was. Yay. Yay. Anti-climactic end of the episode.
02:11:56
Speaker
Yeah, so that's it. So there is a 30 of what we think are some of the best figures that have come out in the first half of 2021. This will officially have been our longest episode, so that's kind of cool.
02:12:13
Speaker
Jay, before we let you go, where can we find you on the interwebs? All right. Well, you can find me at Jay Hernandez on YouTube. It's actually as simple as that. You type in Jay Hernandez on YouTube. Jay, like the letter, Hernandez. And I'm the first dude who pops up. I'm like, wow, I actually thought this name would have been a lot more common. So you can find me there on YouTube. You can find me at just Jay Hernandez on Instagram.
02:12:39
Speaker
And I have recently joined Twitter, so you can find me on Twitter at Toy John 1. That's Toy J-A-W-N 1 at Twitter. And yeah, for those of you all who don't know what John is to filleism, I'm sure my Jersey boys here know exactly what it is that I'm talking about.
02:13:03
Speaker
Oh yeah. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us this evening and for running down your list. And we're going to let you go back to cranking away on those amazing videos that you make. Right on. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. And I'm so happy that our lists were as incredibly diverse as they were. There wasn't a lot of overlap, so that was great.
02:13:28
Speaker
With that, do you want to sign us off with your sign off? All right. We'll go ahead and do that. So with that said, respect yourself, respect those around you, and we will go ahead and check you later. And as always, stay frosty.
02:13:57
Speaker
Thank you, dear listener, for hanging out with us today. Subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen, and then tell your friends to do it. Thanks also to Joe Azari, the golden voice behind our intro. Our music is Game Boy Horror by the Zombie Dandies. Find more about them both on our show notes.
02:14:13
Speaker
Follow us on social media at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. Stop by and say hi. Show us your toy hauls and share your toy stories. Maybe we'll talk about it in a future episode.
02:14:37
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Franca Blaui. This program and many others like it on the non-productive network is distributed under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.
02:15:06
Speaker
you