Action Figure Reviews

So after butchering his wife he shoves her into a pumpkin. This was an interesting take on the nursery rhyme and although expected from the 'Twisted' collection, I can't say that I'm all too pleased. The detail is lacking a bit, and actually the best piece is the pumpkin that poor Mrs. Peter is resting in. Peter looks a little too much like letherface without the mask and he just seems too corny of a figure, like he was rushed. Not the best in the collection by far. It's much more durable than some of the others, mostly because of it's simplicity. I'd skip over this one in favor of the more intricate and detailed work.

The first series of McFarlane's Monsters presented new versions of such iconic creatures as Frankenstein, Dracula, the Werewolf and the Mummy. The second series took us to the Twisted Land of Oz, that turned the beloved figures of the L. Frank Baum stories into scary creatures (Toto too). Series three provided a look at some of the bloodiest figures of history such as Attila the Hun, Vlad the Impaler, and Jack the Ripper. So for the fourth series of McFarlane's Monsters we are back to the basic again, this time looking at such Twisted Fairy Tales creations as the cutting figure of Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. You remember him:

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater
Had a wife but couldn't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.

Well, Peter has gone off the deep end at this point and his wife is most definitely being kept in a pumpkin shell. There are some nice details on the pumpkin on this one (it appears to be winking, does it not?) and when Halloween comes I am sure you can put this someplace within sight of the kiddies on the street to ensure that you get to keep all of the candy or whatever goodies you have bought for the trick or treaters all to yourself. Having provided his wife with what he considers her just deserts, it seems Peter wants to go back for more. There is some limited articulation with this 6" inch figure (well six inches if he was not crouching low) so you can arrange the arms to your taste. The basic color scheme is black, orange, and pale skin, which works well together.

The rest of the menagerie for series four consists of Red Riding Hood, Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, and the tag team of Hansel and Gretel (separately). These are twisted figures, which means they are sick and warped, and therefore intended for only mature audiences. That is because only us older folk know that most nursery rhymes have their origins in fun things like the Black Death and that reading the original fairy tales told by the likes of the Brothers Grimm means discovering how much darker these stories were originally (how many children in the past decade were shaken by reading Hans Christian Andersen's original tale of "The Little Mermaid" after being enraptured by the Disney film? I rest my case).

In the Star Wars universe, the concept of being a general tends to differ greatly from our concept of generals in the United States. In this galaxy, generals are humorless, medal-bedecked lifelong military bureaucrats who may or may not pursue future "retirement" careers as television military analysts or politicians. During peacetime, they stay up late drafting, revising, and re-revising various plans and making "surprise" inspections of the troops, learning that everything is just fine, sir, just fine, things are working well, and everyone's morale is high. During war time, they do essentially the same thing, far, far away from the grunts on the front lines. It's dangerous out there, after all.

In Star Wars, this is simply not the case. As typified by General Veers, generals are cold and ruthless men leading armored charges into the very teeth of enemy defenses, taking wicked pleasure in the destruction and chaos, and leaving their personal stamp of power on the battle. In short, General Veers knows where you live, and he's coming in his AT-AT to stomp on your house.

The most recent incarnation of General Veers in toy form is a versatile model, allowing you the freedom to display Veers how you wish - as a cold, calculating officer inspecting the troops, or a battle-crazed lunatic leading a company of stormtroopers into a Rebel stronghold.

Visually, Veers looks about as much like the Veers from Empire as you might expect. His Imperial Navy dress uniform is spot-on, and his dispassionate, expressionless face conveys his icy mettle. The figure is highly detailed, with his belt, holster and military rank all looking especially fantastic. The only complaint here is that his add-on helmet and blaster armor are a shade or two of gray too light, and don't exactly match his dress uniform.

Veers himself is well-articulated, putting the old Mattel version of him to considerable shame. His head is ball-mounted, allowing full 3D movement. His unique arms rotate in the middle, allowing a number of imperious-looking poses in addition to a perfect two handed blaster hold, for when he's kicking down the doors to an Ewok house and blasting the place to smithereens. His hands, torso, and legs rotate, as well.

Veers comes with a nice plastic stand with his name, an attachable helmet, an attachable blaster armor breast-plate, a standard imperial blaster (which tucks neatly into his holster), and for reasons unknown, a small translucent blue figurine of Darth Maul.

Go ahead and pick him up. If you don't, don't come crying to him when your power generator explodes.

While Hasbro could have just used the same old mold from their AT-AT version of this figure (and many would argue that they should have made that sculpt available in something other than a (...) vehicle,) they went back and made a figure that looks authentic whether it's in it's "standard" Imerial Navy uniform or his "Action" armor. It's little improvements like this that might keep fan buying these old Star Wars character figures for the next few years until the new cartoon series finally starts.

This figure is awesome because you can play as if it was 1977 again. I guess that would be the way to put it. Anyway,this figure is good. I say "that this figure is cool be cause it has super cool armor". I suggest;to any star wars fan out there, to buy this!

Mudflap has an impressive construction vehicle mode, with a much further reaching extending crane arm than I expected. He's one of the few Cybertron figures with 2 Cyber Key features, a missile launcher which pops out over his cab, and a giant sawblade which pops out of his fully extended crane. The only problem is both of these items have very weak springs on them after release. The saw sags in vehicle mode, and so does the launcher in robot mode, being on the underside of Mudflap's right arm. He's also not too stable in robot mode, as having the crane solely on his left arm makes him obviously lean to that side, if not fall over completely. He does have large feet to try to compensate, but sometimes they just aren't enough depending on the pose he's in. Overall, he looks nice and probably plays well, but those sagging weapons really distract from his appearance as a whole.

I Like how he looks I don't have him But his real name is Mudflap not Mega N03!

Like many of the reveiwers mentioned, there is no Zurg included in this set. My son bought this toy with some of his birthday money from Toys R Us. Before we even left the store I read on the box that Zurg is not included, so we searched the entire store for a small zurg to go with the center. None was found, since then we have went to Kmart and Target, no Zurg to be found. IF you buy this toy be aware that you may not ever find your villian.

I got this for my 5 year-old for his b'day. He has been a huge Buzz Lighyear fan since he was 2. He loves playing with this set! I know some reviews complained that the set does not come with a Zurg, but that is not a problem in our house. Over the years we have bought several Toy story figure sets so we already had some Zurg's for him to use. The only thing I cannot figure out is that is says Buzz's back has a hole where you can plug in a backpack (not included), but I don't know where you can get the backpack from. Overall a great toy for any Toy Story fan!

I purchased this toy (11/12/05) for my sons 3rd b-day and he and his brother play with it non stop. This toy does require assembly as stated in other reviews, however this does not deter from their play. The "jail cell" seperates from the main base and attaches to the spaceship so Buzz can fly his prisoner around. The Headquarters has many interchangeable pieces so it can be assembly however your child wants. As for no Zorg figure, my kids could have cared less. I just found another small toy from their collection and they have fun arresting all their different toys.
This is a great interactive toy that requires a childs imaingation rather then pre programed play that electronic toys offer. I definatly recommend.

The item was impossible to find in stores, so it was nice to finally find it on Amazon. The shipping was way too expensive, though. I bought three different dinosaurs at one time, and the shipping was as expensive as the items themselves. If it hadn't been for a special gift, I would not have purchased them.

I'm not too surprised that they are not the same care bears of the past, but they could have at least tried. These bears are smaller than the original and are made of a hard plastic. The feel of them is not enticing to my 3 yr old. Their arms and legs do not move, and I'm still trying to figure out the point of the stars on the clouds. The cloud that moves with the bear on it squeaks as it rolls and the umbrella doesn't move unless you move it with your hand. It has gone straight to the "I don't want to play with it bucket."

My 2 year old loves this and all care bear toys. I also don't quite get the point of the stars, but then, I'm not 2. She has fun fixing up her care bear village and pretending with them. We will be buying more care bear toys.

My 2-year-old received this when she was about 20 months old. She loves Care Bears, and prefers these over her stuffed Care Bears. The bears are small enough to take for travel too, but not small enough to choke on. She has 10 bears in all, and is getting the castle for Christmas! We love Care Bears!!