WIN these LOOSE Masters of the Universe figures from the early 2000s in March's Contest !!!

Take a look at what's coming next month to whoever wins next month's contest. I'll be giving away these figures for FREE to the winner of the contest. Here are the Rules....

(1) YOU MUST BE A MEMBER OF THIS BLOG TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST . To join , do NOT click on the "Join this Site" button. Instead click on the two overlapping squares across from the "Join this Site" logo. There is a technical problem with that logo and I can't figure out what it is. The pic below shows you exactly where to click to join . Just follow the arrow.

(2) A Trivia question will be given right here on the blog . The answers to Trivia questions are to be posted in the comments section below. Whoever gives the FIRST CORRECT ANSWER is the winner. If two or more people have the same correct answer, the prize will be given to the one that answered the trivia question correctly first .
                                 NOW here's a look at the March 2014 FREE PRIZE GIVEAWAY.
( NOTE ) These figures are LOOSE and INCOMPLETE . However they will be given away for FREE to the Contest winner . A total of 15 loose incomplete figures in all. What you see in the pics below is what you'll get if you win.

TRIBUTE TO BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2014 - ACTION FIGURE STYLE . HIA Toys Bessie Coleman figure . Tribute to some other black notable action figures.

As we all know the month of February is not only known for Valentine's Day but the whole entire month is dedicated to African American history, better known as BLACK HISTORY MONTH. So how can an action figure website pay homage to Black History Month? By reviewing over black action figures that's how. This article is a two way review. The first portion of the article will review over an action figure based on a real life person . Bessie Coleman , the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license in America . The latter portion of this article is just strictly reminiscing over a few various notable black action figures over the years.  First up is a review of the Bessie Coleman action figure. The company that made her is called " History in Action Toys ", better known as hia toys. You can purchase this figure among others at www.hiatoys.com .

As you can see the figure comes in some neatly designed packaging. I've had this figure for a long while now so forgive me for not having a pic of her while she's still in the packaging. I've owned this figure long before I created this blog . The front of the packaging is actually a door stuck together until you pry it open to reveal the figure inside. Also there is a nice informative bio on the interior. Once you remove the figure from the packaging I think she is very well done. Nice sculpt, decent articulation. My only disappointment is that I was hoping that she was around six inches tall, however she is actually right at seven inches tall just about. A little bit to tall for me as I prefer mostly figures in 6 " scale.

Other than the height disappointment, I actually like this figure. She comes with some nice accessories. My favorites are her goggles and removable scarf. An alternate head is her pilot head , and she comes with a map and a flight booklet.

The above pic is from Hiatoys, not me. I've made note of this is because I either lost or can not find two of her accessories. The accessories that I lost are the map and booklet. Hopefully I'll find them someday. But as you can see I still have her alternate head, goggles, and scarf . The following pics are comparison shots of Bessie with and without the goggles, using both heads.

Besides Bessie, there are two other historical African American figures ready for purchase on the hiatoys website. They are the two men Benjamin Banneker and Mathew Henson. I don't remember why I purchased the Bessie figure first but I plan on buying the other two figures someday. For those of you whom may be wondering if Bessie's goggles can fit on the heads of smaller six inch figures , I've displayed a pic below of an Aqua-Man variant figure with the goggles. ( NOTE ) If you want a perfect fit with any smaller figure you may have to adjust the strap on the goggles just a bit. Even though the pic makes it look like a perfect fit they were very loose on Aqua-Man.

                                                  FINAL   THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - Bessie's articulation is excellent. She can move her arms up and down and outward. Elbows bend. Wrists rotate all the way around. Knees bend. Ankle pivots. Legs can move up and down and slightly outward. The only complaint about the articulation is there is somewhat of a strict tightness in the upper thigh near the crotch area . This minor flaw somewhat limits her sitting pose ability.
(2) STANDING  ABILITY - There are no balance issues. The figure stands very well when positioned correctly.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS FIGURE ? I like the sculpt, the jacket, the scarf and goggles the best.
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS FIGURE ? There is nothing that I dislike about this figure.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS FIGURE ? I just wish she was just a little shorter, so that she can fit in with many popular 6" scale toy lines.
(6) GRADING  SCALE - On a 1 to 10 scale I give this figure 9.5 . The minus is for my displeasure about the height scale. The other minor flaw such as limited sit posing does not merit a lower score.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - Other than the accessories, there is a lot to like about the Bessie Coleman action figure. The articulation is nice. Good facial sculpt. The figure is sturdy, made of hard plastic preventing breakage. The jacket is made of a hard rubbery plastic, and customizers can remove it and place it on another figure. But the biggest aspect of all with this figure is that the company HIA Toys took time out to honor Bessie's legacy by making an action figure of her. Not just with Bessie but the other figures as well. Kudos to HIA Toys for these figures.
                                         NOW ON TO PART TWO  OF THIS ARTICLE . 
A  LOOK BACK OVER THE YEARS OF SOME NOTABLE BLACK ACTION FIGURES FROM MAJOR TOY LINES . 
                  Two toy lines that this article will pay tribute to when discussing notable black action figures are Masters of the Universe and G. I . Joe . First let's discuss the black action figures from the world of He-Man, MOTU . Also I will pay homage to some black figures from DC and Marvel, along with some WWE Mattel black action figures.
                          NOTABLE  BLACK FIGURES FROM  MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
(1) CLAMP-CHAMP - Champ has the honor of being the first ever black Masters of the Universe action figure, way back to the vintage line in 1987 .
(2) NETOSSA - Although she's technically a Princess of Power figure, however the MOTU Classics toy line combines all aspects of the world of He-Man.
(3) DEKKER - Man-At -Arms mentor and trainer.
(4) GELDOR - From the vintage mini comic called the "Secret Liquid of Life", in the comic he looks black however when you purchase the figure he almost looks somewhat bi racial .
                    NOTABLE BLACK FIGURES FROM G.I. JOE
(1) ROAD BLOCK - Played by the Rock in G. I. Joe Retaliation . Since the Retaliation movie he is probably the most popular black Joe character because of the Rock's fame. Even though RIP-CORD was originally a caucasian character Rip was black in the first Joe live action motion picture film. RANGER is another notable black Joe character from the early days of the franchise in the 1980s.
                                         NOW TAKE A LOOK AT SOME DC BLACK ACTION FIGURES
FROM OVER THE YEARS. At this point, I've decided to not bore you anymore with words and just display pictures. ( NOTE ) Not all black figures will be displayed, just a select few to give you an idea of who's available. This is a mixture of some DCU Classics and DC Direct.

The last two are Black Manta and Natasha Irons. NOW TAKE A LOOK AT SOME MARVEL BLACK ACTION FIGURES OVER THE YEARS .

For those of you whom may not know, Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate Marvel universe. He is of bi racial descent of black and Latino.
                          NOW HERE'S A  LOOK AT SOME BLACK ACTION FIGURES
FROM THE WWE MATTEL TOY LINE .

These are just some of the black action figures that you can purchase from these above mentioned wonderful toy lines. There you have it folks. Action Figure Imagery Toy Reviews tribute to Black History Month 2014 - ACTION FIGURE STYLE .

VALENTINE'S DAY TRIBUTE 2014 - ACTION FIGURE STYLE .

Happy Valentine's day to everyone. Here's a look at some loving couples ( and not so loving ) couples of just a few super hero comic book characters that have been converted into action figures over the years. Marvel and DC figures / characters are represented here .

First up is Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards and Susan Storm aka The Invisible Woman. It is no secret  that these two would end up husband and wife. I've decided to add a tropical background to create a honeymoon like / vacation setting .

As for us Spider-Man fans that want to bring Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson together, there are currently two six inch scale figures of MJ at the time of this writing, and quite a few different variations of Peter.

Here's a look at the Avenger's famous on again off again couple Henry "Hank" Pym and Janet van Dyne, better known as The Wasp and whatever alias you want to use for Hank . In the comics Hank is one of the few super heroes with multiple aliases . For those of you whom may not know, he is known as Ant-Man, Giant-Man , Goliath and Yellow Jacket. In this pic he is in his Yellow Jacket guise .

Although the couple of Thanos and Mistress Death is not a normal couple, they are a couple non the less. This couple has more of a business relationship rather than pure love.

The Joker and Harley Quinn. Two of the most craziest characters in the DC universe and probably it's most craziest couple . I'm not sure if the Joker has the hots for Harley but she's wild about Mr. J, as she occasionally calls him . It seems to me that the Joker is just strictly using Harley as a business partner of his. But in Harley's eyes, she sees future wedding bells.

And finally , just like the first couple mentioned in this article, Big Barda and Mister Miracle would also go on to become husband and wife.
           There are many more couples out there that you can bring together as action figures. These are just a few pics I made in tribute to Valentine's Day, action figure style. Others you can bring together are Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Sea Hawk and Adora , etc. HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY EVERYONE !!!!GOD BLESS !!!!

CONTEST # 2 PRIZE - WIN a FREE DCU CLASSICS DOVE action figure from Series 20. TRIVIA QUESTION # 2 .

Win this figure for free when you give the correct answer to the Trivia question in the comments section below. You must be a member of the blog to win the figure.

This figure comes with a build a figure piece of the villain known as Nekron. She comes with his lower torso. The one negative about this figure is that if you look closely at her face she has some white scratches on it. I'm not sure how that happened .

You can see Nekron's lower body piece beneath her feet. The box you see is the actual box she'll be delivered in.
   Now on to the TRIVIA  QUESTION .

( NOTE ) I'm not looking for the name of the Toy line , but the name of the SERIES that this door comes from.
 To Join Action Figure Imagery Toy Reviews , click on the two overlapping squares across from the "Join this Site" logo. If two or more people have the same correct answer, the person with the FIRST correct answer wins the prize. Good luck to all .

WWE MATTEL - BATTLE PACK - Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman with Stretcher

I mainly purchased this toy to get Paul Heyman. Since there are not that many action figures of WWE managers in the Mattel line as of yet at the time of this writing. You get two figures and one accessory. I already had an Elite Brock Lesnar before purchasing this product. After all, both he and Paul are made in the basic style, not the elite style. There is no ab crunch for neither guy, nor do either figure's legs move outward. And just like the regular single figures the Battle Packs now too come in the newly designed blue and white packaging.

First I'm going to review over Paul, since he is the main reason I purchased this toy in the first place. Hopefully he is the start of more managers to come in this line. When you remove the Paul Heyman figure from the packaging, you'll notice that the figure is completely bald at the top. However when you glance at the picture of the real Paul Heyman on the packaging, you'll notice that he's not completely bald. He does have some peach fuzz on his head. It would have been nice if Mattel could have added these few hairs to his head. This is not a complaint from me however, just an observation .
Speaking of hair, Mattel did not forget Paul's ponytail as you can see.

I love Paul's tie since blue is one of my favorite colors. Also notice that Heyman's right hand is an open palm and his left hand is a closed fist. Since he has this variety in hand displays this gives the luxury of posing him in fight poses or attacking someone with a weapon. Also if you've watched pro wrestling over the years than you already know that most managers cheat, or at least try to, for their fighters.
Now on to Brock Lesnar. This figure is not the same as the elite version of the same character / person. Without paying much close attention to detail, when I first saw this toy at a local Wal-Mart I thought it was the same Brock Lesnar figure I already had, but it is not. All I noticed immediately was Paul Heyman and the stretcher, not paying much attention to Brock . The pics below are comparisons of the elite Brock Lesnar and the one that comes in this battle pack.

When comparing the two different versions of Lesnar, you'll notice that there are quite a few differences between the figures. The battle pack version has knee pads compared to none for the elite version. Also the battle pack Lesnar seems to have lost a little muscle definition compared to the elite version. The elite version has an ab crunch whereas the battle pack version does not . Also as you can see the ab crunch can make part of the belly tattoo disappear if you slightly bend it forward. Finally the battle pack version has writings on his gloves whereas the elite Lesnar does not. If you can not see clearly what the writings say they say " Lesnar -Fear The Fury ". As you can also see this version of Brock Lesnar stands at a little over six inches tall. Right at seven inches tall to be exact .

Now on to the accessory, the stretcher. The piece does not do anything on its own but it makes a nice display piece for injured WWE stars. When displaying it, you may want to have two action figures with good size to hold up the weight of another figure. Bigger figures have more weight for standing support whereas with smaller figures the display would probably topple over.

                                                     FINAL   THOUGHTS
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - Both of these figures have the basic style articulation . No ab crunch for either figure and the legs do not move outward to the side, just up and down, back and forth.
( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - Both of these figures stand well without balance issues.
( 3 ) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS SET ? The stretcher and Paul Heyman. The reasons why? Heyman is one of the few manager figures in the line, and the stretcher makes a good display piece for anyone that is supposed to be injured .
( 4 ) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS SET ? I don't know if all the packages are like this, but my Brock Lesnar figure's right wrist was loosely hanging and I could not shove it back into his wrist socket . However I think that this flaw is of my copy of the figures and not all of them.
( 5 ) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS SET ? Nothing. I think it is perfect the way it is.
( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of one to ten I give this whole set a perfect ten. Individually I give both of the figures a 9.5 . The minus being for lack of outward leg movement. However this does not bother me it would just be better if the feature was included. Love the stretcher I give it a ten .
( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS - You will not be disappointed when you purchase this set. If you're like me at first, only purchasing it for Paul Heyman and the stretcher because you already have a Brock Lesnar figure, then go ahead and purchase it anyway. When you remove the Brock Lesnar figure, I suggest you close your eyes while holding both it and the elite versions in your hands. You will notice that they do not feel like the same action figure, even though they consist of the same character / person . You customizers can always transform Brock into another character anyway . I say this Brock is worth keeping even if you already own the elite version, along with the whole set, Heyman and the stretcher .