I love the trend of holiday repaints in all the Hasbro toylines. The Christmas and Halloween Star Wars figures have been a fun annual gimmick to hunt down in various stores. The unfortunate thing for me is that they've rarely involved female characters. I was theorizing with some friends this winter that the 250th Anniversary of the United States this year would likely prompt some patriotic repaints. And by Toy Fair time in February, I was proven right. We learned of Hasbro G.I.Joe and Transformers Walmart Exclusives in Red, White, and Blue, and also a Walmart exclusive wave of Super7 Reaction+ G.I.Joe figures. I was thrilled with this announcement because the Super7 set featured a never-before-seen Lady Jaye sculpt. Of course, as of today's announcement we now have seen images of a traditionally-hued Lady Jaye coming in the next Reaction+ wave, which is very exciting because I desperately want an O-Ring hatless cartoon Lady Jaye. Let's check out the 250th Anniversary Lady Jaye below!
UNITING ALL WOMEN OF PLASTIC
Showing posts with label Walmart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walmart. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Super7 Reaction+ O-Ring - LADY JAYE!
Monday, December 9, 2024
G.I.Joe Classified - QUARREL!
Hot on the heels of the Glenda post from yesterday is Quarrel, another early Scarlett variation that became a solid character in her own right. In Europe, the early G.I.Joe molds were used for the Action Force toyline by Palitoy. This produced a lot of well-loved character variations like Red Laser, Jammer and Skip. But my favorite was always the blonde Quarrel with her green and black outfit and her motorcycle. These original figures were not as rare as most of the foreign G.I.Joe variations and pretty easy to get cheaply on eBay. I still love the simple redeco though and I'm glad Hasbro commemorated Quarrel with a figure in the Classified line. It's surprising that this figure isn't also a simple Scarlett repaint, but I appreciate her differentiation as a wholly independent character. She was released in a Walmart Collector Con 2-Pack with Falcon under the Night Force theme. (The Night Force theme applies more to Falcon's specialized dark redeco, as opposed to this rather tradition Quarrel deco). Let's check out Quarrel below!
Friday, September 6, 2024
Transformers - FILCH!
In 2015, a single appearance-character named Filch was introduced in the Robots in Disguise episode S1:E7 "Collect 'em All!" Filch is a gigantic robotic magpie who is single-mindedly obsessed with all things shiny to collect for her nest. The situation gets serious when she steals a conductor from an electrical tower and a metal beam supporting a bridge. I will state again that she is big.. roughly three times the size of the Autobots she encounters.. and animalistic, exhibiting almost no human-like traits. She reminds me of a blend of the G1 Insecticons with their all-consuming hunger and Nightbird with her single-episode fame. She is also monosyllabic, only uttering the phrases "Shiny!", "Mine!", and "Not shiny." I think she's amazing. This action figure is a fantastic retooling of the Kingdom Airazor figure. I never expected to see a one-off character like this get the full action figure treatment, but she is glorious. It gives me hope that other blink-and-you-miss-them characters could get toys someday.
Friday, March 31, 2023
Transformers - CRASHER!
Someday somebody is going to make a great Crasher toy. When I try to conjure my earlier childhood memories of this character, they are all terrifying. I remember her being tall and blocky with an expressively sinister face and a maniacal laugh. And an additional level of fright was her favorite mode of destruction - stomping. Other cartoon villains of the 80's utilized weird ray guns or elaborate traps with nets and cages. They always seemed (intentionally?) laughable and non-threatening. But stomping was a palpable and universal threat. So, to take a character with a handful of simple and iconic characteristics and repeatedly miss the mark is baffling. I was excited at the news of an official Crasher figure in the Transformers universe (as opposed to a simple homage figure). Especially since there are so many female bucks to choose from these days. But no, they focus 100% on presenting an accurate racecar mode and give us a robot form that is Crasher in palette only. Sigh.
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Transformers - OVERRIDE!
I've been waiting a long time for this figure. The character Override first appeared to US audiences in 2005's Transformers: Cybertron. She was the leader of Velocitron, the Speed Planet, a world singularly focused on racing (fyi this collection, Speedia 500, is named after a big annual race on Velocitron). Of course, like a lot of female Transformers, she has some dissappointing development origins. Mainly that in Japan she was first introduced as the male character, Nitro, both in the cartoon and in the toyline. The US production wanted some diversity, so they made her female. And honestly, I always thought her animated design looked very feminine, so I was surprised that she was the result of a gender swap. However this also explains why I never liked the original 2005 toy, which was designed as male. Override is unavoidably a big blocky character, but that original sculpt seemed exaggerated in all the wrong ways for me. Finally this new Walmart figure nails it and I'm stoked. Let's check her out below!
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Transformers - ROAD ROCKET!
Velocitron is a planet in the Transformers Universe that is completely focused on racing. It has been featured in comics, cartoons, and toys for years. I always appreciated the Velocitron stories because they coincided with a time when female transformers were finally becoming a consistent part of the storyline... not just a token pink character here and there. My mind associates Velocitron with Nautica, Chromia, Windblade, Override, and others - and I ate those stories up. Speedia 500 is a big ceremonial race that takes place on the planet and is the focus of this Walmart-exclusive sub-line. Road Rocket was introduced in 1995 and was traditionally a male character. I tried to figure out when the gender-swap took place and I honestly can't figure it out. At some point near the end of the Road Rocket wiki page, the pronouns change to "she" without explanation. This figure uses the Legacy Arcee mold with a new head. I read a blurb that the Takara designers wanted a "female ninja" and Road Rocket fit the bill.
Sunday, May 8, 2022
POP Funko - BLACK ORCHID!
I don't think I've ever been so excited for a Funko Pop as I was for this new Black Orchid exclusive. Other Pops have been great but it's really rare when one of my favorite comic characters gets made in plastic for the very first time. Back in the day when there were official DC Direct message boards, I was the nerd constantly begging for an action figure of her. Black Orchid first appeared in Adventure Comics in 1973 followed by several years of solo backup stories in Phantom Stranger. A typical early story involved some evil businessmen being horrible for several pages, then in the final few panels, the quiet unassuming secretary would reveal herself to be Susan Linden-Thorne aka the Black Orchid and the story would be over. It was pure camp with an amazing costume. In the late 80s she became a member of the Suicide Squad before getting a Vertigo revamp for most of the 90s, then a reimagining in the New52. She's been a consistently wonderful C-lister who finally gets a toy. Let's check her out below!
Saturday, January 29, 2022
POP Rides - SHE-RA on SWIFTWIND!
Sometimes I'm just a sucker for a vintage-themed product. Do I love this Funko Rides She-Ra on Swiftwind? No. Do I have any nostalgic connection to the vintage She-Ra toy deisgns? No. But can a resist a retro toy of fabulous warrior woman riding a pink flying unicorn? Of course not. There were a lot of design differences between the vintage She-Ra toys and the Filmation cartoon. I never owned any of the toys and my memories of them in stores are a pink blur. I actually have fond memories of them from various Christmas Catalogs, but that was during the era when all the horses were translucent. My most potent memories are from the cartoon. Swiftwind had a very stark difference. In the cartoon he was a white horse with a reddish mane and tail, pink armor, and rainbow-like wings with blue, yellow, and pink. The vintage toy design was a pink horse with pink mane and tail, gold armor, and wings that were gold, pink, and white. I like the pink, but all my fond memories are tied to the animated version.
Friday, November 5, 2021
The Eternals - AJAK!
I'm seeing the Eternals movie in about 16 hours and I'm very excited. Of all MCU movies, or any comic-related movies in general for that matter, this is the one I've known the least about ahead of time. I've always been aware of The Eternals in comics, and I've always been a fan of Jack Kirby, but I've just never read any of the comics. But I find the trailers and toys very intriguing. Plus the gender, race, and age diversity among the main cast is very impressive. In researching the toys, I've learned that several characters, including Ajak, are being portrayed as female for the first time. In fact, it seems a lot of liberties have been taken with this movie, so in that case I'm grateful that it's all new material to me. Despite the various groanings from the fandom, I think this figure is gorgeous. The likeness to Salma Hayek is great and her costume looks like a fantastic combination of stately, maternal, and otherworldly. I can't wait to see how she is portrayed on screen. Let's check out Ajak below!
Saturday, December 19, 2020
War for Cybertron - ELITA-1!
When I first saw the solicit photos for this Elita-1 figure, I must admit I was unimpressed. I had been following the rumors of a deluxe-scale Elita for a while and considering the awesome G1 designs of Moonracer, Firestar, and others in the past few years, I was excited to get a super classic Elita. But the eventual pictures were very far from that version I predicted. It was clearly an Arcee redeco, her color was more red than pink, and her head shape looked more like Optimus Prime than Elita-1. But then this Summer I watched the Netflix War for Cybertron series and instantly fell in love with this new version of my Elita-1. She had so much presence and authority that I couldn't take my eyes off her. Suddenly this figure I was sneering at a few months prior was my most desired figure of the year. Then came the long wait. She was originally supposed to be released in September as a Walmart Exclusive. But she didn't hit shelves until December. But she was well worth the wait. Let's check out Elita-1 below!
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Marvel Legends - BLACK WIDOW (Gray)!
One of the first times I appreciated Black Widow was when she appeared in the Jim Lee run of Uncanny X-Men in the early 90s. I was very picky about the hairdos on my heroines back then. And I had a strong (illogical) aversion to big, chunky red hair like Starfire, Red Sonja, and Black Widow were always sporting. I would regularly see her in Marvel Fanfare but just had no interest. But then when I saw her in X-Men, she suddenly had a modern haircut, and a costume that (although still pretty simple) was infinitely more exciting than a plain black catsuit. I also love that this costume incorporated a lot more use of the spider motif. With a name like Black Widow, I would have expected a lot more arachnid references than just a small red hourglass on her belt buckle. Although often covered by her jacket, this gray jumpsuit has a huge spider logo on the back that I always thought was kickass. This is the perfect fan figure to release with all the MCU versions. I was hoping for a blue first appearance figure, but this is a close second!
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Marvel Legends - TIGRA!
I had a conversation with a friend the other week and he started scoffing at this old Tigra figure. I agreed that it wasn't terrific, but that it's also not that bad. The sculpt is decent and I have no complaint about the paint application. The only problems are a bland facial expression and the awkward articulation (this was about 5 years before Hasbro perfected the female Marvel Legends buck). So I thought I would dig out my figure and give her a little love with a photo shoot. Especially since I have a hunch we'll be getting an updated figure very soon. She's definitely one of the Marvel characters most deserving of an update, and the recent Tigra: The Complete Collection TPB (that was released today!) is a definite sign that the character has something brewing. It would be especially interesting to see her get some attention at the same time that Cheetah has a starring role in Wonder Woman 1984. It could be a clash of the felinoid women, and I would love every second of it. Let's check out this 2009 Tigra below!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Marvel Legends - CAPTAIN MARVEL (BINARY)!
It's been a really long time since I've been completely underwhelmed by a Marvel Legends release. I wasn't a huge fan of the unmasked Carol head from the the standard Captain Marvel from earlier this year. (For some reason it missed the mark and looked almost nothing like Brie Larson). Then this Walmart exclusive Binary version comes along and really features that unmasked head sculpt. Plus I normally love translucent effects (especially fiery orange ones), but I honestly feel the final result of this figure is just weak. The translucent effects don't read as that dynamic (and are just re-purposed effects from other figures) and her exposed neck is completely distracting to me. It doesn't help that the comic version of Binary is insanely awesome. This figure would be amazing if she were entirely translucent, or at least had some crazy (original) power effects.. trailing from her eyes.. a figure stand of energy flowing from her hands and feet (to be re-used on FireStar of course).. I have so many ideas. Let's check her out!
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