Collectible Reviews

I got invited to a Kings game a short time ago and before hand I had to kill some time at the LA Convention Center where the NBA was having an event, the Jamb Session or some such thing. Anyway, not being all that excited about trying to slam dunk with a bunk of crazy ten year olds, I checked out the collectables.

I used to collect baseball cards and other assorted items, so it was with interest that I struck up a conversation with one of the higher ups in the McFarlane Toy company. He explained to me the difficult process of obtaining licenses from the MLBA and NBA, but because of the quality of their product they eventually won the right to make figures. I think the fact that another company, I think Hasbro, but I'm not sure, was dropping their line of figures helped out.

In any case, the McFarlane company uses real artists to sculpt the figures, much like what is done when the famous wax museum makes a character. They really try to be true to life, right down to getting tattos and such correct.

While I no longer collect myself, I can attest to the fact that the figures are very well made and authentic. If you're looking for a gift for the sports fan in your life, they'll most likely appreciate one of their favorite players in a McFarlane collectable.

Given that the MLB Series 8 from McFarlane toys is already out of date because Texas Ranger Alex Rodriguez was traded last month for New York Yankee Alfonso Soriano and Kevin Brown is no longer a Los Angeles Dodgers, it is nice to have a new action figure of a current Yankee player who is actually in a Yankee uniform (even if he is now a left fielder instead of a right fielder). I heard today that Tojo Studio announced that the upcoming and 28th Godzilla movie was going to be the last one, which means Hideki Matsui now gets the moniker all to himself. After a successful first season in the major leagues in which enough members of the Baseball Writers Association decided that players from Japan no longer deserve to qualify as rookies, it is not surprising that McFarlane has rushed out an action figure.

Matsui is shown before he gets into his batting stance, pointing his bat in the general direction of the right field stands where he would like to drive the baseball. The articulation on this 6-inch figure consists of the neck and the two arms, which allow a minimal amount of flexibility when it comes to posing Matsui. I do have a couple of minor concerns with this figure. First, the left foot peg does not fit all the way down, so that the foot is not flush with the batters box base plate (the umpire needs to clean off home plate). Second, while the good news is that you no longer need to cut apart a player's hands to get the bat into position because now the knob comes off, if you play with the figure the knob tends to pop out (I am looking for mine right now; it has to be right around here someplace). But the idea that durability is linked to not playing with the action figure is not exactly news. Still, you have to admit that once again McFarlane has come up with a unique and signature pose for another major league baseball player.

The pale Wendell is Springfield's most motion-sick child - never far from a barf bag. Poor Wendell. He comes with a pile of books, a banana, an apple, an orange and a barf bag with barf stains.

Like his cartoon counterpart, he looks very pale, but not quite pale enough. I'm not sure I'd recognize him without the barf bag - a well done action figure, but not up to the same "realism" as the other Simpson figures produced by Playmates.

My best friend and I share a passion for simpsons interactive figurines, so we were both quite pleased when we saw that Wendell was on the market. Sadly, he was something of a disapointment. Though colectively we own the courthouse environment, main street, the springfield elementary cafiteria, the bowling alley, the retirement castle, the police station, the DMV, and one other that I am clearly not going to remember right now, the only environment in which we could coerce Wendell into speaking was main street. Even then all he had to say for himself was "You better belive it." He did, however, come with his own barf-bag, and in that I suppose the toy has redeemed itself for its disapointing showing.

Dood BUY IT NOW BY;Connor Gray (Christine GraysSON)

This MODEL is so fun to BUILD and play with,I collect both action figures,and models such as,Deathsithe.H,Rising Gun...,Burning gun...,and Shadow Gun...,those are just my favorits(To tell the truth I have like a HUNDRED.

My son has bought this toy it is fun to build pieces fall off sometimes if you have little childre keep out off reach if you drop it on the ground it will brake in pieces this is not for playing with but simply to admire

With the scanning technology these figures actually turned out better than the film. Ron Perlman can be proud of his figure. Articulation is good and the large rubbery cloak & staff help the figure stand up [which is needed when it comes to AA figures].

But that's okay. The figure pictured above is actually the main "villain" from the movie, named Shinzon.

After being blown away by the movie, I had had a passing thought of collecting the action figures, but I never really said "I'm going to do it" because from my experience, movie action figures never really look much like the actors they're supposed to portray.

However, as I was doing Christmas shopping for my older sister who is an avid Star Trek fan, I came across the Shinzon figure and what immediately grabbed me was the how closely the action figure resembled the actor! As a result, I ended up buying Jean-Luc Picard for my sister and Shinzon for myself.

Here's my yays! :

1) They DO look like the actors - very much so!
2) Their bodies are jointed so you can pose them quite a bit
3) They are sturdy-made

And nays! :

1) The paint job for the most part is really meticulous and detailed, however, the manufacturer could have been a little more careful with the hands...
2) The figures are sturdy, but I'd still be careful of the hands

And if you let your imagination fly, this toy can be quite educational! ^_^

Overall, 5 stars all around!

This awesome "Unleashed" action figure of Chewie (Chewbacca) from Star Wars is awesome!
It catches Chewie's essence while he is in the middle of one of his classic howls, as he points his Bowcaster at the dark forces that are trying to take over the Universe.
Chewbacca has his hair blowing in the wind as he takes aim, as sculpted in this fun action figure.
I highly recommend it for any Star Wars fan.
I love looking at this action figure, because its Chewbacca, depicted in an action figure like never before!

Chewbacca finally gets Unleashed, but it's not the best sculpt that Hasbro could have done to really do justice to everyone's favorite Wookie. The pose is slightly awkward and the display stand representing the green Endor forest tundra is fairly dull compared to others from this incredible Unleashed line. I would much rather have seen them include a display stand as exciting as the Millenium Falcon ramp that came with Han Solo Unleashed, or perhaps part of the Death Star Detention Block when the "captive" Chewbacca breaks out of his shackles and "unleashes" on the Imperial officers, or when Chewie "unleahes" his wrath on Lando for selling out Han and choking him to his knees. Even a Trash Compactor base would have been more exciting then this, but then again, the latest wave of Unleashed figures is not exactly the best they've done to date. I'm much more looking forward to the upcoming Bossk Unleashed wave, but for now, I'm just glad to see this big Walking Carpet finally get Unleashed.

Disregard other reviews that say this isn't the best Luke Unleashed. This Unleashed version of Luke captures the very essence of the Hoth snowspeeder/AT-AT battle, just before Luke ascends to slash the underbelly of the transport and toss in a grenade! The display stand is PERFECT. It is not "steps" from Echo Base, but rather the footprint of the AT-AT that has just stomped Luke's Snowspeeder. There is even a black cable from the speeder crushed into the snow beneath the footprint area. Excellent. The look on the face of the figure is great as you know what is about to happen next!! Any true SW fan will love this Unleashed Luke, especially if ESB is your favorite episode (as it is clearly the best!). Enjoy!

Being the completist that I am and a big fan of the Unleashed series, I was compelled to buy this figure though I would much rather have seen several other characters get "Unleashed" before getting another Luke Skywalker in his bright orange pilot gear. First of all, the Hoth display stand is just completely wrong. The carved ice steps and power cables suggest that Luke is standing in Echo Base. What they should have done was make the display base look like part of the twisted metal of Luke's crashed Snowspeeder with Luke preparing to fire his grappling gun against the oncoming AT-AT as depicted in Ralph McQuarrie's beautifully illustrated conceptual painting for The Empire Strikes Back. There's really not much to the sculpt that can been dramatically exaggerated here. Luke is poised with his lightsaber ignited. That's it. Not quite as exciting as the big lime green saber "swoosh" that came with the superb Unleashed Jedi Luke but then again I'm still wondering why Hasbro decided to release another Unleashed Luke figure already. Personally, I would have done Luke Bespin Duel with his torn jacket, sweaty hair and bludgeoned scratches as he fearlessly stands to face Vader in the Cloud City Gantry, but if they wanted to go with the Hoth theme, then why not have Luke in his Hoth gear as he prepares to "unleash" his lightsaber against the Wampa in his cave. If Hasbro's design team is running short of ideas, then I'd like a job please.

We already got Wolverine, which means we already got Logan. Why do we need another? Oh yeah, because Wolverine is the most popular character in comics so Toy Biz had to grab a few extra bucks. I like the wolf they included. It was in the movie, too, so it works. There's no reason to own Logan and Battle Attack Wolverine, though. Pick one.

This toy is so realistic to the movie. I wish I had bought one of all the characters from the movie, then I'd could make my own movie!

My daughter is 3 years old and she loves this doll. She refers to her as her butterfly baby! Its the most beautiful doll I've ever seen and every since I purchased it for her we have collected the bumble bee doll and the squirrel doll. They make for wonderful collector's items. I've since purchased these dolls for my niece and cousin. They also get a thrill out of these beautiful dolls.

I really do not consider this "Forces Of Valor" M4A3 Sherman Tank A toy for children. What can be said. is that this is a fantastic Die-Cast metal replica of the famed WW-2 Americam medium tank, that makes a great display piece. If your modeling talents are limited, and you would like a true realistic, and highly detailed model of this tank, I would highly recommend this to you. However, make sure you get the Enthusiast Edition, which runs just a few more dollars. The enthusiast edition, comes ready with a battle worn look, that gives it that much more realism. The enthusiast edition can be found in your hobby shops or on e-bay for about $21.00. There is also a German Tiger-1 available from this series as well, which makes a nice companion piece, if you are serious student of WW-2 armor. The M4 Sherman tank was without question, the most famous tank ever built, with over 50,000 produced during the WW-2,The Sherman was used by every allied country in some shape or form, to help defeat the axis countries. The longevity of the tank goes unmatched in the circles of modern warfare. The Israeli ground forces were still using a variation of the tank as late as the early 70's. Again, you can't beat the quality and price of this model, and I highly recommend this as gift for that military historian or that grandfather who actually waged battle during WW-2, along side the Sherman tank.

Not the most popular of characters, Aquaman is still cool. Those who prefer the classic Aquaman, should enjoy this sculpt. The third and 6th or 7th in a series of snowglobes.
A nice design, this is a near flawless snwglobe.
Actually, there's really only one flaw in this entire snowglobe. It's a limited edition snowglobe. However, DC Direct decided to increase the production number, by rereleasing this snowglobe.
Thanks for nothing, DC.D.
Bottome Line. If you like Aquaman, you'll love this globe. If youre looking to buy it "for later on", forget it.
The Good: Classic Aquaman, on his throne. Nice design.
The Bad: A rereleasing of the same snowglobe just increased the number made, and, unless there's a good distinctive marking, it will be difficult to demonstrate which version it is.
Thanks a lot, DC. D