Action Figure Imagery Toy Reviews ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY IS TODAY !!!

On July 23, 2013 I created this blog . Today marks the one year anniversary of Action Figure Imagery Toy Reviews . The very first figure I reviewed is Masters of the Universe Classics Man-E-Faces .

In case you missed the review , you can see it by visiting the archives . Since I was at the time a beginner at reviewing , Man-E was an easy choice because of his extra faces . If I ran out of information to discuss about an action figure, I could easily discuss all of Man-E's faces individually .
 Since this is an Anniversary post, I'm going to use this post to make a special announcement . I have a copyright of a franchise that I created called " Hero-Force,INC . " The "INC" is short for incorporated. In the coming weeks, days, and months I will be posting information about every character and asking people the huge question of rather they want to see some of these characters as articulated 6" scaled ACTION FIGURES . There are over 100 characters. Here's a short preview of some of the characters .

The last character posted goes by the code name" Harpoon " . I made up all of these characters and hope to see them along with others as action figures someday . Information about every character along with bios will be posted in the upcoming days, months , and weeks .
In other news , I see that the SAN DIEGO 2014 COMIC CON is finally here. When the SDCC is over , I will write an article about what excites me the most from the convention . And later this weekend, be prepared to have a correct answer to the trivia question for this month's free toy .

Marvel Legends Infinite Series Spider-Man - SPIDER-GIRL REVIEW !!!

Remember that old saying "good things come to those who wait" ? Well I've patiently waited for Spider-Girl to arrive at retail rather than paying those outrageous prices people were charging on Ebay when she first came out . I purchased her at a local Walmart for $ 19.99. If I had purchased this figure about four months earlier from Ebay I probably would've paid twice as much . However now the prices on Ebay are starting to drop on her. So if you still don't have this figure, if you still can't find her at retail then it is now okay to go to Ebay or Amazon as the prices on her are now dropping . As for Spider-Girl the character, she is of an alternate future universe, the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane . You can read more about Spider-Girl the character on Wikipedia . As for the action figure, it is already one of my most favorite Marvel Legend female figures .

Spider-Girl is the variant or chase figure of this series Black Cat figure, which I reviewed earlier this year. Hasbro gave variant / chase figures a new name however, labeled "running change". There is a lot to like about Spider-Girl once you remove her from the packaging . Instead of being given the basic female body sculpt, she is given the body sculpt of a teenage female. This is very neat because of her age. I love how her hair is sculpted , the pony tail is soft plastic. Nice facial details for a change with pink lipstick instead of the basic red . She has nice articulation , her head can move in all directions . Plus her hands are made as if she's ready for battle. Her left is a closed fist and her right is an open palm displaying a web shooting type pose . I love the silvery white streaks of the spider on her costume.
Also I prefer this look of hers over the original . The original looks as if someone took Spider-Man's head and displayed it onto a woman's body . This version of Spider-Girl is way better than the original in my opinion .

As for accessories, Spider-Girl does not come with none of her own, although she does come with the torso of this series build a figure piece Ultimate Green Goblin . You can also get this exact same piece from the Black Cat figure for those whom may not know. Even though this series is in the six inch height scale, as you can see in the pic below Spider-Girl stands exactly right at five inches tall. I love this concept, since she is a teenager of course she is not going to be six inches tall like the Black Cat figure, whom is a grown woman whereas Spider-Girl is still somewhat of a kid .

Speaking of height , in the pic below you can see there is not much height difference between Spider-Girl and the Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales figure , whom is also a teenager but is a male . Hasbro is really coming along nicely with Peter Parker's successors .

                                                         FINAL   THOUGHTS
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - Excellent articulation . Even without an ab crunch she is still a cool figure. Does not really need an ab crunch because of her diminutive stature .
( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - Not sure if it's just only my Spider-Girl figure or all of them, her right foot is bent just a little, sort of interfering with proper balance. However with some posing adjustments you can make her stand very well without falling .
( 3 ) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS SPIDER-GIRL FIGURE ? It's hard to pick just one feature that stands out above everything else in particular . But if I must say, probably the look and feel of the figure is what mostly stands out. The feel of her being 100% accurate to a teenage female body frame to which she is.
( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THIS  FIGURE ? The only thing that bothered me was the issue I mentioned with her right foot in the Standing Ability category . Everything else is just fine .
( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THIS  FIGURE ? The issue I have with the right foot . This is nearly a perfect action figure in my opinion .
( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of 1 to 10 I give this figure a 9.8 . The minus is for the right foot issue.
( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS - I'm glad I waited for Spider-Girl to come to retail . She is definitely worth the wait . Plus for those of us that love both the Spider-Man comics and these Marvel Legend figures, it feels good to add another one of Peter Parker's successors to my collection . For those of you that still do not have this figure, you may want to purchase her ASAP while she's at retail price before she is gone from retail, then you'll have to revert back to the internet probably paying higher prices .

Guardians of the Galaxy - GAMORA REVIEW !!!

With the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming up, I purchased this figure of Gamora at a local Walmart . I bought her for $19.99 . Sigh . I miss the old days when action figures were cheaper . However I wanted her and I always want to add a new character / figure to my collection . In the movie Gamora is portrayed by the beautiful actress Zoe Saldana . As for Gamora the character, she has undergone several different looks since her existence . She has always had the green skin , but her facial features and outfits / costumes have been altered by Marvel's comic book artists over the years . Hasbro has decided to go with this new look of hers based on the upcoming movie with this Marvel Legends Gamora .

The back of the packaging displays Gamora with her sword in her right hand . This holds true , because if you try to make her hold the sword with her left hand, it feels loose and feels like it could fall out of her hand. Her right hand has a better grip on the sword . Speaking of the sword here's a closer look at it .

It kind of reminds me of Skeletor 's swords from the Masters of the Universe early 2000s line . With the split at the top looking like its holding two blades together . Even though Gamora is in a 6" scaled line , as you can see in the pic below she is slightly under six inches however she is well over 5 inches tall . I love how the Marvel Legends franchise is almost always accurate with every character / figure's height .

Gamora has some distinguishing facial features that are very noticeable . She has what appears are four eyebrows, two over each eye . Plus two scars which is probably warrior makeup on her facial cheeks . And probably the most noticeable feature of all , her hair is a mixture of black and a shiny reddish hue . Her hair is not just one color. I like how the colors blend together this looks really cool .

Besides her sword as an accessory, Gamora also comes with the left leg of this series build a figure character known as Groot . And also instructions on who you need to purchase to put Groot together . As you can see Groot's left leg alone is almost as tall as Gamora herself , but not quite .

Back to Gamora as a character and not a figure for a moment . For those of us that have been reading Marvel Comics for a long time , many of us know that the Guardians of the Galaxy is not Gamora's first team . She was originally a member of the Infinity Watch , led by Adam Warlock . Hence the comic book series known as Warlock and the Infinity Watch . Marvel Legends already had two members of the Infinity Watch, Warlock himself and Drax the Destroyer . Gamora makes the third member to become a figure, however she is not the last Infinity Watch character .

                                                            FINAL   THOUGHTS  
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - My only complaint about Gamora's articulation is with her head . The rest of her articulation I am pleased with . Her head movement however is somewhat restricted from looking up and down just a little. Even though her hair is hard plastic I don't think her hair is the cause. I think it's more to do with lack of an extra ball joint in the neck .
( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - Despite the fact she has no heels, you have to pose Gamora a certain way to get her to stand properly without falling . Once you get her in a proper stance, balance is no longer an issue .
( 3 ) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS GAMORA FIGURE ? A little bit of everything . A nice new black leather outfit with blue trim  , the mixed hair colors , and the option of adding a Marvel character of two Marvel teams to my collection . She flat out looks great .
( 4 ) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS GAMORA FIGURE ? The somewhat restricted head movement . It's a little tricky to get her to stand properly without falling .
( 5 ) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THIS FIGURE ? More sturdy knee joints to balance her better when standing . A ball riveted joint for the neck so that her head could move in all directions .
( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of 1 to 10 I give Gamora a 9.5 . The minus is for the tough times I have getting her to stand . Other than that she is perfect, despite the fact that I complained about her limited head movement . However I am not bothered by this , I only give minuses only if a lack of a certain feature bothers me . And the only  thing that bothers me about Gamora is getting her to stand properly .
( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS  - Overall I love this figure . Although we are still a long way from completing The Infinity Watch, Gamora's addition helps fill a gap in that team . Rather you want to pose her with her old team like I did or her new current team is up to you . We have the options and this Gamora figure gives us fans those options . Not just comic book fans but action figure fans as well . Or if you're a fan of both Marvel Comics and action figures like I am , you will be pleased to add Gamora to your collection .

GIANT COMPARISONS - Part One - Comparing MOTU Classics Megator to other GIANT figures .

Ever display figures from different toy lines and see how they compare in size to each other ? In this post I am comparing the Masters of the Universe Classics Megator to other giant figures from other toy lines . The real reason for this post is to give fans an idea the size of a figure that they do not have by comparing it to the size of a figure that they do have. For example , you may have Megator, but do not own a giant Marvel Legend build a figure Apocalypse , or vice versa . These are just a few giant figures I'm comparing Megator against . I will be making more posts like this in the future with other figures as well, but for now I'll start off with GIANTS .

As you can see Megator dwarfs the DCU Classics Collect & Connect Atom Smasher figure .

And look at how they both dwarf regular 6 " scaled figures below. 

Megator standing next to Marvel Legends Toybiz build a figure Onslaught . 

As you can see Megator is dwarfed by Marvel Legends Toybiz build a figure Apocalypse .

Many of you may not know that this Stone Cold Steve Austin figure even existed . I did not know myself as he came as a bonus figure from a wrestling figure lot I won off of Ebay . Press a button and he speaks some of his famous phrases. 

As you can see Megator is slightly bigger in both height and size to the Marvel Universe Goliath figure . 

That's it for now I hope you enjoyed the post . 

BACKGROUNDS FOR YOUR ACTION FIGURES !!! - Part One

Would you like to have some background scenery to pose your figures in front of , rather than in front of  a blank wall ? I'm sure you would . Here are a few backgrounds I've discovered on the web and some I custom made from movies and television . These are mostly backgrounds for Marvel and DC characters / figures . The first few pics are pics of my figures blended in with the scenery , and the last few pics are shots of the backgrounds themselves . Feel free to download the backgrounds and use them for your figures .

In this pic Bat-Man is standing in front of the Batcave from the 1966 Bat-Man series starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo . This is not the original image, but a cropped image that I cropped myself. The original pic includes a shot of the barricade in front of the entrance . Just Google "batcave" or something similar and you may bump into the pic . Without Bat-Man of course .

Martian Manhunter on Mars . This pic is one of a variety of pics I've googled of Mars' surface .

Google "Baxter Building" or "Fantastic Four Movie" and you may bump into this background like I did . This is a real pic of the Baxter Building computer room from the first two motion picture Fantastic Four movies of the mid 2000s . 

Just go to Google and type in "outer space" for a variety of space backgrounds that you can pose space characters such as the Silver Surfer , among others , in front of .  I really like this pic because the flash from my camera gives the illusion that the bright stars are shining off of the Surfer's metallic skin texture . 

Now on to some pics from Marvel and DC television shows and movies . 

( NOTE ) These pics were made by pressing the pause button of my DVR unit , and using my digital camera to carefully take a still photograph of the pause image . I then uploaded the images to my computer cropping and editing them . 

This pic is from an episode of "Smallville" that I took of . Ma and Paw Kent's farm . Make your Clark Kent action figure feel at home by standing him in front of this pic . 

The above two pics of the Daily Planet entrance way are also from an episode of Smallville . I made two shots of this scene, one from a distance and the second shot is a closer view . Make your DC Direct Jimmy Olsen, Perry White and Lois Lane action figures feel at home by standing them in front of these Daily Planet pics. Along with your DC Superheroes Clark Kent figure . You can pretend that the woman in the pic/pics is their co-worker . 

I'm sure everyone knows where these are from . Shots of the Danger Room from one of the X-Men motion picture movies. I don't remember which X-men movie I snapped these pics from . I did however cropped it from a scene from one of the X-movies and edited it making it a little brighter . Make all of your Marvel Legend good guy X-Men figures feel right at home. 

More backgrounds for your X-men figures . Professor Charles Xavier's mansion . Also taken from the X-men movies . 

A night time shot of Aunt May's house from the first Spider-Man movie starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man . Feel free to display your Mary Jane and Peter Parker figures in front of this scene . 

Also from the first Spidey movie with Maguire , a shot of Oscorp. The company owned by Norman Osborn AKA Green Goblin . Pose any one of your Green Goblin figures in front of this scene . 

Shot of a New York City street also from the first Spider-Man film with Tobey Maguire . This shot is from the scene were Peter and his Uncle Ben were in the car together. Right before they got into that small argument they had with each other . 

If you do not know this is Fisk Corporations , and it belongs to Wilson Fisk AKA the Kingpin of crime. Enemy of both Spider-Man and Daredevil . This shot comes from the Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck as the lead character . This pic is good for aerial shots, such as Spidey swinging on his web . 

That's it for now folks . I'll have more posts like this in the future, as I do plan on making more backgrounds. Before I go let me give you some tips on making your own backgrounds or for downloading the ones you see here . 

BACKGROUND SCENERY  TIPS FOR ACTION FIGURES

(1) When downloading pics off the computer, after you save a pic print the scene out with your printer . You may have to use the whole page, especially if you plan on posing or displaying 6" scale or larger figures in front of your scene . Edit your printer settings to make the image larger . 

(2) After you print the picture, use a hard piece of cardboard to lay it upon . Then it's up to you to decide rather you want to use glue, tape , or staples  to adhere the image to the cardboard. After this step you can now display any figure in front of the scene . 

(3) When taking pictures of a paused scene from a television set or monitor , make sure the flash on your camera is off . Then upload the pics to your computer and repeat the above steps of 1 and 2 . ( NOTE ) You may have to edit pics from television and movies unlike pics from the web . The reason for this is because the pics off of a screen may be dark since flash is not used . So you may have to brighten the pics using picture editing software . 

(4) I also just noticed a mistake I made . In that pic of the Silver Surfer , if you look closely you can see the shadow of both of his left and right hands . Now this would be okay if he was standing in front of a solid surface such as a wall, building , etc . However he's standing in front of thin air, so there is no need for shadows . You can see Bat-Man's shadow as he stands in front of the Batcave, but this is okay since he's in front of a solid surface, whereas the Surfer is not . No problem , I just figured out how to fix my own mistake. All I had to do was use better lighting , or some extra lamps/ lights to eliminate the shadows . Either that or display the figure in a pose where shadows can not be seen . 

Now I'm finally finished with this article. I hope my tips are helpful to those of you who plan on making your own backgrounds for your action figures. Also you do not want to make the same mistake I made with the shadows. If you do not plan on using these pics I hope you enjoyed the article . 

HAPPY 4th of JULY !!! A look at some PATRIOTIC action figures .

On this Independence Day , Action Figure Imagery pays tribute to the holiday by pointing out a few figures with a patriotic background . Just four figures, I know that's not many, but there are not that many patriotic figures out there . Even though there are not that many, I just had to pay tribute to the holiday anyway via action figure style . All four of these characters started off as comic book characters before becoming action figures .

I love this Star-Girl action figure from the DC Universe Classics line . I like the fact that she has a teenage body sculpt, demonstrating her young age, plus for details she has braces on her teeth . Neat . Even though she does not have much of a patriotic background, other than being called the "Star Spangled Kid" if you read her profile on Wikipedia , she still has a patriotic look . The red,white,and blue in her outfit along with the white stars illustrate her patriotic look. I still have her weapon but could not find it on time for this particular post .

What would a 4th of July action figure tribute be like without the most patriotic fictional character/action figure of all ? He even has "America" in his name . Of course this is one of many Captain America figures from the Marvel Legends franchise . This one came in a Toybiz two pack with a variant of the Red Skull .

There are two figures of this guy . This is the unmasked version of the Super Patriot of the Legendary Comic Book Super Heroes toy line. I hate that this line was prematurely canceled, it had so much potential to be a big hit . Anyway if you read his bio Super Patriot is like a cybernetic version of Captain America. Also like Cap he is a World War II veteran .
Now here's a link to a figure I do not have in my collection but I do plan on buying him someday, just not in a hurry to get him . DC Infinite Earth's Uncle Sam via Amazon.com
UNCLE SAM   . You can read more about this fictional DC comics super hero on Wikipedia . From what I make of this figure, the only drawback in my opinion is that neither one of his hands are in the famous " I WANT YOU " finger pointing pose that is famously known on Uncle Sam posters . Originally a mascot for the United States government , DC Comics decided to turn him into a super hero .
There you have it folks. Action Figure Imagery's tribute to Independence Day action figure style . Enjoy your day off from work, enjoy the barbecue and fireworks , be safe and God bless . Happy 4th !!!