No winner for July 2019 Contest .

Unfortunately no one won the July 2019 Contest . Below is what was shown .

And below is the answer .

WWE Mattel Howard Finkel . GOOD LUCK TO ALL IN THE AUGUST CONTEST !!!

August 2019 Contest !!! Win 10 Dollars via Paypal !!!

Give the names of the two characters and the toy line .

Contest expires September 30, 2019 . GOOD LUCK TO ALL !!!

Looks like Alpha Flight will finally be complete .

The pics are courtesy of the Fwoosh , they are not mine . Sasquatch has been in the Marvel Legends toy line for so long without his buddies , in both Toybiz and Hasbro . But now it's starting to look like this team will be complete, or near complete at the end portion of this year .

 Puck was done before as a build-a-figure . The rest of the figures pictured above will be Marvel Legends for the first time ever . Plus all of the figures you see above are a part of the upcoming Alpha Flight set . I'm definitely looking forward to buying this !!!

Marvel Legends - Blink Review !!!

I see there are quite a few X-Men characters that never made the Marvel Legends line during the Toybiz era . Blink is one of them . This is her first time in the Marvel Legends line and I purchased Blink at around the $19.99 price range at a local Walmart .

The bio states that " Clarice Ferguson uses her mutant ability of teleportation to disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye ".

As you can see Blink comes with quite a few accessories . Two pink daggers , I'm not sure rather those are solid weapons or energy beams . The left leg of the Caliban build-a-figure and the pink circular item is a special effect piece , her teleportation portal .

As you can see she stands right at six inches tall .

Thanks to Blink , the colors purple and green are a good match . Plus her purple like hair matches perfectly with her pink skin . I do not know much about this character but the action figure looks great . Her skirt piece is movable and if you look closely you'll see that she has a neck collar that is the same color as her belt on the skirt piece . Her green boots kind of remind me of Robin's green shoes from the Bat-Man franchise . The original look of Dick Grayson , the original Robin . Look closely at Blink's upper arms and you can see that she has an athletic build, as I noticed she has a little muscle striations in those arms .

Also I've never noticed until now that Blink kind of looks like a pink skinned version of Mystique . Imagine if Blink was blue skinned . They both have similar colored hair and no pupils in their eyes . It kind of makes you wonder have the artists been using the looks of one character to modify the looks of another character ? Blink and Mystique are also dressed alike with similar attire . Similar attire with different colors however , all green compared to all white . We have seen this strategy before with toys, but not too often with comic book characters . A perfect example of the point I'm making , Mer-Man and Stinkor from the Masters of the Universe . Stinkor is basically a Mer-Man re-paint and the same goes for Beast-Man and Moss-Man, etc . So could Blink be a modified re-paint of Mystique ? She could be because the debut of Mystique was 1978 compared to Blink debuting in 1994 , so Mystique is the older character as far as comic book appearances go .

                                                FINAL     THOUGHTS    

( 1 )  ARTICULATION  LIMITS  -  Only the hard plastic hair prevents her from looking all the way upwards .

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY  - Once in a proper stance she stands well . Being flat footed with no heels helps also .

( 3 )  WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE  ? -   I like how the colors of green and pink match along with the purple hair . A nice blend of colors . The daggers look great and she holds them well. You can display her in some pretty good attack poses with the daggers . I also like the special effect look of the green skirt piece , molded as if it is being blown in the wind .

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? -  No dislikes .

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THIS  FIGURE ? -  No improvements needed .

( 6 )  GRADING  SCALE  -  A Perfect 10 no flaws .

( 7 )  FINAL  ANALYSIS  -   It's always great to get " first time in the line " characters . Although I am not a big fan of the Blink character , because her power is too similar to that of Night Crawler . However I love this action figure and her accessories .

Star Wars Black Series Archive - Darth Maul Review !!!

I missed out on Darth Maul the first time around back in 2013 . So thanks to Hasbro for these reissues in this series known as the Archive .  I purchased this figure of Darth Maul at a local Game Stop for $ 22. 99 .

I like how the back of the packaging is giving reference to the original figure , letting everyone know that this current Maul figure is indeed a reissue . The dialogue under his name states " The evil Sith apprentice Darth Maul engages in a fierce light saber duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi ".

As you can see Maul comes with the exact same accessories as his original release . Two light sabers that connect together to form the double bladed saber , binoculars and the extra head . Notice that the extra head is hidden until you open the packaging , unlike the original packaging where it could already be seen . Unless you view this current Maul figure in the packaging from the sides, other than that the extra head is somewhat hidden .

In the famous words of the Gomer Pyle character - " Surprise , surprise, surprise ". I myself did not see the extra head until I opened up the packaging .

 I really like this Darth Maul figure and think that he is very cool looking and fun to have in the collection . The multiple display options are quite a few. Do you want to display him with or without the hood ? With one light saber or both ?  With a light saber in each hand or combine the light sabers to form the double bladed weapon ?  Do you want him to hold the double blade with one hand or two ? I love the multiple display options with this guy . I also love how shiny his boots , belt and gloves are . As a matter of fact , his boots look as if they have been doused in black shoe polish . I love how the different shades of black stand out in his outfit .

Unfortunately the cloak and hood are attached to the default head . Plus the added weight of the plastic sort of makes him a little top heavy . I prefer displaying Maul without the cloak and with the extra head because of those reasons . The hood and cloak probably should of been made of cloth instead of plastic .

If you are a figure customizer you may can figure out a way to remove Maul's head from the cloak , and put the cloak onto another figure . Good luck in trying .

Up close mug shot of Maul without the hood . One of the scariest looking villains in the Star Wars franchise . Well at least he is from a distance . Once you get up close to him those human looking eyes kind of make him less scary in my opinion .

 Maul with his binoculars .

As you can see Darth Maul is one of the shorter Star Wars characters . The figure is barely six inches tall .

As you can see in the two pics above , Maul can easily hold both light sabers put together either with two hands or one hand .
                                                  FINAL    THOUGHTS  

( 1 )  ARTICULATION  LIMITS  - Although downward head movement is hindered just a little you can still make Maul look downward by bending his hidden ab crunch .

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY  - trying to get Maul to stand without falling is a challenge . However once you position him in the proper stance he stands nicely . A trick I use is that I may bend his knees slightly along with pushing his left foot back just a little to get him to stand properly .

( 3 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? -  The luxury of having one of the best Star Wars villains in the collection . I love the different shades of black in his outfit and the shine of the gloves , boots and belt . It's fun posing him with his double bladed light saber , or with both sabers in each hand . The multiple display options are great  !!!

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? -  No dislikes .

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THE  FIGURE  ? - Make it easier for him to stand and the handles on the light sabers could have been made of a harder plastic to keep them from bending . Also the hood / cloak should have been made out of cloth and not plastic .

( 6 )  GRADING  SCALE  -  Despite my few complaints I still give this figure a Perfect 10 !!! Because the gripes can be fixed .

( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS  -  I wish other toy companies would follow in Hasbro's footsteps with the Archive strategy . A perfect way to get a hold of old figures you've missed out on in the past without resorting to the internet , visiting places such as E-bay and Amazon , etc . Not only is it a luxury to obtain a reissued figure you've missed out on before , but the reissues are also cheaper than the original figures , thus saving you money .

Toy News Post August 2019 !!!

The Masters of the Universe franchise has been on a roll lately . Lots of good stuff coming out for MOTU in the near future . A motion picture film in the works, a new comic book series due later in the year titled Masters of the Multiverse , new toys that are not MOTU Classics , the new Origins line and the mini figures along with Kevin Smith's Netflix adaptation called MOTU Revelation!!! Pixel Dan interviewed Kevin about the project and here's the link to that fun interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUPxr2fhLAk . 

In other toy news the company known as Boss Fight Studio are working on six inch scaled figures of Lucha Libre wrestlers  . Now it looks like us collectors will have some extra figures from another line to display with our WWE Mattel figures . I definitely plan on buying these whenever they come out . Here's a link to the article courtesy of Toy News International - https://toynewsi.com/384-34233 .

And finally , is there hope for a Toys R Us comeback ? This article also courtesy of Toynewsi.com mentions the opening of two stores along with re-opening their website - https://toynewsi.com/1-34204 .

Marvel Legends - Jubilee Review !!!

Many of you already know that this particular Jubilee figure is NOT the first Jubilee figure in the Marvel Legends line . That the first Jubilee was a build-a-figure, compared to this version being a normal figure . ( NOTE ) I do not have the Jubilee build-a-figure in my collection , so no comparison shots because of this situation so far. Sorry about that. I plan on getting the Jubilee ( BAF ) build-a-figure someday though . I purchased this version of Jubilee at a local Walmart for around the $ 19.99 price range .

The writing of the Bio states - " The mutant Jubilee generates pyrotechnic energy blasts that she calls fireworks capable of blinding enemies or causing serious damage . "

As you can see she comes with quite a few accessories. The torso of the Caliban build-a-figure , an extra head blowing bubble gum , and a couple pair of shades/glasses .

What this Jubilee figure does have in common with the original figure in the line is that they both wear that yellow rain coat . Other than that the two figures are very much different . I like this figure a lot. While I'm not a fan of her fashion taste , I love the bright vivid colors . The light blue of her shoes and gloves. The yellow jacket and pink shirt are all done beautifully from a color standpoint . Also if I'm not mistaken , this is Jubilee's most famous look and not the build-a-figure look . When you google " Jubilee/ Marvel " , it seems that most of the pics have her in the multi-color attire and not the all black costume . The coat is made of a nice soft rubbery plastic.

Very nice face sculpt . It has some realism to it. Ignore the small black spec just below her right eye next to her nose. That is not a mole it is just a spec of dust . I did not notice it until I posted this pic online . Nice job on her ear rings and hair too. As for the shades you can easily move them up and down on her face, allowing you multiple display options . I myself prefer the look that you see above, with her glasses above her eyes . If you wish to remove the glasses completely it seems that it can be done, however you'll have to rip them out of their sockets .

As you can clearly see Jubilee does not reach the six inch mark , she is just a little over five inches tall . This is great because she is a young teenage character anyway . I'm glad Hasbro did not make her too tall .

The alternate head with the bubble blowing out of her mouth . Nice job on the bubble too, as it looks like a real bubble-gum bubble from a good distance .

As you can see she comes with two extra pairs of her clear pink shades / glasses . Look closely and you'll notice that they are of different sizes .

A comparison shot of Jubilee standing next to another figure that is a part of this Caliban Wave, the character known as Blink .
                                              FINAL   THOUGHTS  

( 1 )  ARTICULATION  LIMITS  - Jubilee has the typical excellent all around Marvel Legend articulation .

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY  - She stands well once the ankles are properly positioned .

( 3 )  WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? - I love the bright vivid colors in her attire . Along with the luxury of displaying her in different ways with the glasses. I love the glasses themselves , plus the alternate bubble gum blowing head .

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? - No dislikes .

( 5 )  WHAT  COULD  BE  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THIS  FIGURE ? -  No improvements needed .

( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE  -  A PERFECT 10 . Could find no flaws .

( 7 )  FINAL  ANALYSIS -  It's nice to see lesser known X-Men characters such as Jubilee make an appearance in the Legends line .