Scotland Forever

While briefly taking a break from playing Castlevania, I've decided to add to my collection of old man action figures.



The current line of Indiana Jones toys has probably had more misses than hits, but I'd be willing to call this figure of Professor Henry Jones Senior a hit.





For something this small, it comes with a pretty surprising amount of detail, and given the fact that the head is about the size of a pea, I'm a little shocked by how much it looks like Sean Connery.

Of coarse it's not perfect, as the paint tends to be a little loose on the few that I've seen (and for some reason Hasbro needed to give him a gun), but other than that it's a cool little toy.

Here's What I'm Playing -- Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

I've been on a Castlevania jag lately, which actually means that I've been switching between Castlevania (the first one) and this one.



As much as I love the old NES, I'll admit that very few games hold my attention for more than a short while before I move on to something else. Castlevania III is one of those that I always rotate back to in time, and though it seems to suffer from the same kind mind-numbing repetition as a lot of other games, I'm fascinated by the idea of whipping skeletons and zombies to death.





The best thing about having an NES system now, and having access to the internet as well, is that I can compensate for how bad I am at Castlevania III by finding all of the game codes.





I'm happy that back in 1990 when I was in college, I didn't have a Nintendo, because with games like this to distract me, I never would have graduated at all. Playing as vampire hunter Trevor Belmont isn't doing me much good today either I suppose, but someone needs to defeat Dracula and save the people of Transylvania... so it may as well be me.

Pocket Size Hellboy

Mezco won me over as a fan back when they released the figures from the first Hellboy film in 2004. They were detailed, sturdy, and as heavy on play value as you could want from any 7-inch line of action figures.

The new bunch of figures from the sequel film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, are very good also, but what's been the biggest surprise, is the line of 3-3/4-inch figures that Mezco put out as well. They've been on the pegs for a little while, and I've had a chance to play around with two of the four figures from the first series that includes: Red, Wink, Liz Sherman, and Johann Krauss.



The 3-3/4-inch Hellboy ("Red" on the package front, because the "H" word is probably a no-no on the pegs at Toys-R-Us) figure is every bit as detailed, sturdy, and fun to play with as the similar 7-inch figure. Perhaps even more fun, because of the 3-3/4-inch novelty factor.





I haven't been able to find the larger figure of Wink, but would imagine it to be a heavy chunk of plastic, given the weight and sturdiness of this smaller scale version. Wink has as good a sculpt as you could want from a figure this size, and the build quality is perfect. What I'm most impressed with though, is the paint detail. Little things, like how they've painted Wink's eye with a glossy paint, are what justify the price of these compared to other figures done in this size.





I'm still looking for the other two figures from this group, and I can't help but think about possible future waves that could include all of the great creatures from this film... and the first film... or the comics.

The Dark Knight and Friends

The interesting thing about Mattel's new Batman Movie Masters line, is how it almost seems to be their way of admitting that the rest of the Batman product they've put out is less than special. This line is made up of some very basic, but very detailed and well built figures. They don't come equipped with jet-packs, or obnoxious weapons like many of the other Batman toys. And more importantly, they have the same if not better play value as all of those albatross equipped bat-figures.



I haven't seen any of the "chase" figures that have come out with these, and as hard as some of the villains had been to find at first, I suppose I'm just happy to have found what I have.

The Batman figure from The Dark Knight is a favorite of mine for the year. It's well sculpted, solid, and fun to pose or play with. It's everything that a kid or collector could want.



The Joker is a good figure. He suffers somewhat from an overly simplistic sculpt, but what we're given is done very well. Paint application is good, but the quality of paint detail to the face varies from figure to figure.



I didn't expect much from the Gotham Thug figure, and was surprised to find that it's probably a slightly better figure than The Joker. He has better articulation, which counts for a lot, but he also happens to stand and pose somewhat easier as well.



The Scarecrow is a weird figure that's honestly sort of boring given the film's design, but Mattel did a good job of rendering texture detail in the sculpt.



There is also a Batman Begins version of Batman out there, and though I was more than happy to have a version of this batsuit, the toy itself broke almost instantly. One (or maybe it was both) of the Batman's hands fell off as I pulled him from the packaging... which is honestly a serious disappointment.



In all it's a great line at a fair price, with most figures retailing for around ten dollars. I'd love to see a few more secondary characters like Alfred and Commissioner Gordon made before they decide to call it quits with this one, but as is, I'm more than happy with what they've given us so far.

All Hail Galactus!

I can clearly remember a time (as a kid), when I would sit around with all of my comic book nerd friends, and wonder what it would be like to have some really great action figures of Marvel characters. Oh sure, these days it almost sounds funny to wish for something like that, but in the late '70s or early '80s, there wasn't much to choose from.

Fast forward to today, and we're seeing even the most obscure Marvel characters released in plastic form. They come in a variety of sizes, and they all feature detail and articulation that we'd never have imagined thirty years ago.

Probably the largest, most amazing figure that I've had the pleasure to collect in the last few years, is the 2005 "build-a-figure" of Galactus, from the Toy Biz Marvel Legends line.





Both Toy Biz, and now Hasbro, have done some extremely fun things with this line, but this 14-inch monster is my very favorite. I love any figure made of something Jack Kirby designed, and given all of the choices, Galactus is simply as good as it gets.