It's always fun hunting down vintage action figures on market stalls or in thrift shops, but this snap-together Gundam model kit proved more of a challenge than most. I spotted the limbless and headless torso first, in a box of mostly broken toys and it took a lot of painstaking rummaging around before I managed to gather and assemble all his parts! With hands and feet and even shoulder pads detached, I was incredibly satisfied to have at least found all his body parts, if not all his … [Read more...]
Hasta la vista, baby! Hidden Power Terminator
Way before he became the 38th Governor of California and acquired the scary power to actually terminate people in real life, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a humble body-builder turned Hollywood actor, who made some great action movies like Terminator and had the kind of jaw-line, body sculpt and dramatic delivery that made him already seem like a 1:1 scale talking action figure!In recent years, NECA has issued some awesome T2 action figures for the adult collectibles market, but the 5½-inch … [Read more...]
Harry Potter and the Mattel Mini Collection Figures!
The countdown to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is well under way with Part 1 of the film about to hit cinema screens across the globe in just over a week's time! Harry is all grown up now in this grand finale, so I thought it might be fun to take a look back at an action figure when Harry was younger, and quite literally, in the case of this figure, much smaller! Small, but nevertheless, perfectly formed with an excellent movie-likeness of Daniel Radcliffe and six points of … [Read more...]
Two-Face from Batman: The Animated Series
After our look at the Super Powers Robin last week, let's stick with the Batman theme, but this time take a look at one of his greatest enemies – the crime boss and terrifyingly insane Two-Face. As fans of DC Comics will know, once upon a time Two-Face was Harvey Dent, the District Attorney of Gotham City, and fought crime alongside Batman. The horrible disfigurement he suffered during a trial when acid was thrown over the left side of his face, however, pushed him over the edge, his … [Read more...]
It’s Showtime with Kenner and Beetlejuice!
There are some action figures that seem to divide collectors straight down the middle – you either love them or hate them – and the 5 inch Kenner Beetlejuice action figures from 1989 seem to fall into that group. I personally adore these figures and have no idea why some collectors gripe about them, as they look good, feel good and have some fun interactive extras. The most eagle-eyed readers have probably already spotted the most obvious interactive element with these figures – the heads on the … [Read more...]
Jurassic Park by Kenner: Alan Grant
One of the things that becomes patently clear when one looks at action figures of as recently ago as the mid 1990s, is that kids were clearly far less demanding about having their spin-off toys actually look like the actor in the film. This 5 inch Jurassic Park action figure with the standard five points of articulation was issued by Kenner in 1993 at the height of Jurassic Park movie mania and was an enormously popular figure in a line that leaped off toy store shelves as fast as you can say … [Read more...]
Shrek and McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys
With the final chapter in the Shrek movie series Shrek Forever After hitting cinemas worldwide tomorrow I thought it might be fun to take a look at one of the action figure gimmicks that was released in 2007 to coincide with the last Shrek film.When Disney and the McDonald's restaurant chain finally parted ways in 2007 the Disney gap was quickly filled by a major merchandise marketing deal with DreamWorks Animation tied to the launch of Shrek the Third. In a move that presumably addressed … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday Johnny Cash!
I couldn't let today go by without mentioning the Man in Black himself – Johnny Cash! Born on this day, 26 February, in 1932, he went on to become an iconic figure in the world of American Country and Western music recording in excess of a staggering 1500 songs, broadening both the musical scope of the genre and its impact. He died on 12 September, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee.This Sota Toys Johnny Cash action figure has been enormously popular with both collectors and music fans ever since … [Read more...]