Action Figures I Like: Spider-Girl

I wasn't really going out of my way to get a Spider-Girl; I was actually trying to get the rest of the pieces for the Abomination Build-a-Figure I had parts of.  A seller on eBay had a couple of the parts I needed.  He also had a special where if you bought 2 things you got a third free.  Since I was already buying 2 things, I might as well get the third thing for free, right?  I looked through his inventory and saw a loose Spider-Girl Marvel Legends figure and so for the hell of it got that for my 3rd item.  She might not technically have been the free one but whatever.

I've seen her in a few comics, both the Ultimate Marvel universe and the regular one.  She's a different character than Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman, though obviously they both have spider powers.  Spider-Girl has what looks like the 80s symbiote suit Spider-Man wore, only I don't think hers is a symbiont.   

I was Googling for a comic book picture and found someone's much more comprehensive review of the figure if you want to know more about it.

Other than a Build-a-Figure piece, I'm not sure what she was supposed to come with.  Just the figure is good enough for me.

Action Figures I Like: Green Lantern

Since green is my color, I always thought Green Lantern was pretty cool, even if I didn't read the comics or anything.  Though back in the 80s I'm pretty sure I had the Green Lantern Super Powers figure.  

So back in 2013 or so when I saw the DC Multiverse All Star Green Lantern figure, I thought he was pretty cool.  He didn't really have any accessories or anything except maybe a Build-a-Figure piece, but he's a good representation of the classic Hal Jordan Green Lantern--the comics version, not the Ryan Reynolds movie version.

He's pretty basic and isn't the easiest to stand, but otherwise if you want a Hal Jordan figure for not a lot of money, he was about as good as it gets.  I forget if I got him from the Sterling Heights Meijer or the Clinton Township KMart.  One of those.

Around the same time I also got the Sinestro Corps Sinestro.  He doesn't stand great either, but he did come with a yellow lantern, which I think is more than Green Lantern.  Just saying.

Action Figures I Like: Call of Duty Tunnel Rat Guy

Merry XMas!

I know this Call of Duty guy has a real name, but I just think he looks sort of like Tunnel Rat, the GI JOE character from back in 1987, who was based on comic book writer Larry Hama.  I just saw the Call of Duty guy in the clearance bin of my local Walmart as part of my usual rummaging--back when that was still possible.  The price had gone down to $5 so I decided to buy him.  YOLO!

Maybe it's not a really close resemblance, but whatever.  That's just what I thought of.

Since I never played Call of Duty I don't know how much he actually looks like the character in the game.  The articulation and stuff is decent for a video game figure--especially one I got for $5.

Action Figures I Like: Noxin (Lightseeker Bad Guy)

This is part of a failed toy line called Lightseekers.  I had never heard of it but they had plenty of them at Ollie's stores near me.

The gimmick for these toys was there was a phone app that the figure would connect to.  And you could buy upgrades to the figure to make it more powerful in the game.  For instance the sword Bat-guy wields was sold separately.  There was also a module to make him talk and light up.  And there was a bat backpack to make him fly or whatever.

If you bought all this stuff at regular price on Amazon it would be like $42, kind of a crass way to fleece kids, which apparently they didn't fall for.  Buying all that stuff from Ollie's, it was probably less than $20 altogether.  I didn't buy it all at once either; I bought the figure and then the other stuff at other times I was at Ollie's.  Except since I don't have the phone app game he doesn't really do much.  He did briefly light up and say shit, but then it stopped working.  I don't know what happened.

At Ollie's they had a couple of the good guys too.  One had a triceratops head and another was a fish or something stupid like that.  I didn't really like those.  The bad guy looked way more awesome.  I mean he's got the horns and sword and the bat.  Way better.  If you want to see the others you can look them up on Amazon.

As far as action figures go he doesn't do a whole lot.  The arms move in all directions and the head moves  a little but that's about it.  So long as you don't jostle him too much he stands pretty well; the bat backpack and voice module probably help for counterbalancing him.  He's more in the 7-8-inch range so he's bigger than most of my action figures; he's more Transformers Voyager-class size.

Since I haven't been to Ollie's in 9 months they might still have some of these lying around.  Or not.

Action Figures I Like: Fortnite Firefly Guy

I guess his real name is "Havoc" but when I saw him, I thought he really looked like the old GI JOE villain Firefly.  I mean the gray camouflage with the ski mask thing looks pretty much the same.  

Firefly--the GI JOE figure, not the TV show

The Fortnite guy is pretty cool, though his hands are really annoying.  The four fingers all move together, which can be annoying to get them to close around his weapons.  The other weird thing is instead of having completely different heads, you can take the front of the head off and change expressions or have his face without the mask.  It's kind of weird.

I think he is actually a recolor of another Fortnite guy who has a brown leather jacket and yellow mask.  That wouldn't really do all that much for me.  If they recolored this guy green he could be the GI JOE character Beachhead--just saying.  I have seen an actual Beachhead figure on Amazon but he's too expensive right now for me to buy to do a comapre/contrast with this guy.

Action Figures I Like: Marvel Goth Girl

 Seriously, I don't know her name.  I threw away the box a long time ago, though I could probably look it up online.  She was part of the Dr. Strange wave of figures I think.  I saw her in the clearance aisle of Walmart in Walled Lake for like $10 and just thought she looked neat.  I mean she looks sort of like some of the Goth girls I've had in some of my Eric Filler stories.  Except I guess she has some kind of magic powers.  I mean she has that big old wand with purple stuff on it.  So that's something.

The purple stuff actually falls off the staff thing pretty easily, so it's kind of annoying.  She isn't the easiest to stand, so another one who was a candidate to put in one of my new stands.  That's really all I can say about that.

Action Figures I Like: The Scarlet Knight

I already wrote an entry (or maybe more than one) about my creation of a Scarlet Knight action figure.  Back in 2013 I took a Marvel Legends Hope Summers figure and repainted her red with a yellow cape, hands, and boots.  The result isn't perfect, but to this point I haven't really found another figure to try to replicate the experiment.

The first version I made was the yellow cape, which is Emma Earl's costume from books 1-7.  Then for the hell of it I made a silver cape/hands/feet version that represents Emma's new costume in book 8.  

As far as the Hope Summers figure goes, it's not bad looking.  The raggedy cape isn't really what Emma would wear and she's not exactly wearing armor.  But whatever.  Close enough!

A side experiment I did was to take a 3.5-inch Black Widow figure and put her head on an old Dana Sterling Robotech figure.  Then I fashioned a cape out of an old sock.  Close enough!

Action Figures I Like: Scarlett

Hasbro already had six-inch Marvel figures and Star Wars figures, so six-inch GI JOE figures seems like something that was long overdue.  And since they were starting a new line, it made sense to do a lot of the classic characters:  Duke, Snake Eyes, Roadblock, and Scarlett.  Duke looked too much like Channing Tatum, Roadblock was the sort of lame second version of his costume, and Snake Eyes sold out too quick, so I wound up getting Scarlett.  Which is fine because I like Scarlett.

For the first batch of figures this isn't bad.  She doesn't have any really big problems with the face or costume or articulation.  Probably the most annoying thing is the crossbow can come apart really easily.  Her legs are kind of thick, which does help her stand.  For some reason they put a couple of bright yellow spots in her hair that I guess are supposed to be highlights.

I did eventually get Snake Eyes for a reasonable price, but I don't like him as much.  He's a good likeness and everything, but they didn't give him a wolf!  That seems like a huge oversight despite how well done the rest of him is.

Action Figures I Like: Batman (Legends of the Dark Knight Walmart Exclusive Version)

I have a bunch of Batman figures and there are literally hundreds more of them you can buy, but the first 6-7-inch figure I bought was the Legends of the Dark Knight Batman that was I think exclusive to Walmart.  As you can tell by looking at it, this figure is from the late 90s.  I mean it has that huge Spawn-style cape and those accentuated Kelley Jones-inspired horns on the head.  It's extreme, brah!

Compared to later figures he isn't that great as he doesn't have a lot of articulation; just the shoulders and upper legs move.  I think what drew me to this back in the 90s is that the rest of the line all had stupid gadgets and gizmos but this was pretty much just a normal Batman in the old blue-and-gray.  I think the Batarang is the one he came with, but it's been so long, who can really say?  

The good thing about that huge Spawn-style cape is it helps give him some counterbalance to stand him up.  And since I bought it like 23 years ago, it was probably a lot less than most figures that size today.

Action Figures I Like: Superman (McFarlane Action Comics #1000 Version)

When I first saw the new McFarlane DC Multiverse toys at Walmart, the one that really caught my eye was the Superman Action Comics #1000 figure.  I mean there are already enough Batman and Harley Quinn figures that you didn't need another one, but I didn't have a normal Superman.  It really captures the classic look of Superman as in issue #1000 they brought back the red trunks.  Not that I really missed them, but still they are part of the classic costume.

More than that the figure has great detail and is really poseable.  But the coolest thing to me is the stand that allows you to make it look like he's flying.  You can stand him up if you want, but I would much rather have him flying.  Other than a pair of hands and the stand he didn't come with anything else, but I still think he was worth the price.  He is a really super figure--pun intended.

Action Figures I Like: Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter Version)

I had a couple of Wonder Woman figures already.  One was the New 52 version and then from Five Below I got Wonder Woman and regular Diana from the 2017 movie.  But then one day on Amazon I saw they had the Lynda Carter TV show version on sale for pretty cheap so I bought it.

Back when it first started in the early 90s, FX used to show Wonder Woman along with the Adam West Batman show.  So I watched some of the reruns back then and I had probably watched some back in the 80s.  And since it took DC/WB so long to get their shit together for a Wonder Woman movie, Lynda Carter was the de facto Wonder Woman for about 30 years.

For what I paid this was a good buy.  The likeness is really great with the face and hair and star-spangled underoos.  The only criticism is the elbow joints are a little wonky; if you use too much pressure you could break her arm right off.  

It comes with a stand with a half-dozen different pegs to pose her different ways--or in my case I put a couple of Wonder Women on there.  She comes with a big red-white-and-blue cape but I find it too cumbersome.

Action Figures I Like: Captain America (WWII Version)

Captain America has always been one of the comic book characters I liked.  So when I saw the Marvel Legends Captain America World War II variant on clearance for $10 at Meijer in Wixom like five years ago, of course I bought it.  

There have been plenty of other Captain America figures since then but I still like this one.  I like the World War II costume; it doesn't look as goofy as the classic one with the scales or whatever they're called and the white feathers on the head and stuff.  This looks more realistic--except it being blue with a star and red-and-white stripes.  

I made a little addition to him by putting goggles from the Solo Chewbacca figure on his head.  He rides a motorcycle and stuff, so goggles would be a good thing for him to have, right?  Since it's an old figure it doesn't really look like Chris Evans but with most of his face covered it doesn't matter much.

I recently bought the more updated World War II version that came in a two-pack with Peggy Carter.  That one has the first shield he used and his original helmet and stuff.  The face looks a lot more like Chris Evans and there's a lot of good detail, but it's more a Steve Rogers figure than a Captain America figure with most of the costume covered.  So I like the other one better.

Action Figures I Like: Beta Ray Bill

I haven't read tons of Thor comics, so I don't know a lot about Beta Ray Bill.  I know he's an alien who got his own hammer and he's going to be in the upcoming movie and probably voiced by Christian Bale.  Still, I really like weird characters and there's not much weirder than a horse-looking guy with a Thor costume who also is named Beta Ray Bill.  So when they finally came out with a Marvel Legends figure, I watched it closely on Amazon for a while and finally pounced when it wasn't too expensive.

I'm not sure how comic book exact he is, but he seems like it to me.  The one thing I really like about him is that his mouth opens and closes, which isn't something that happens with most other figures.

His hammer is kind of unwieldy but with a little effort he can stand all right.  I keep him next to Thor and Loki on my shelf.