Funko's Vinyl Vixens HARLEY QUINN Released!

Vinyl Vixens - Harley Quinn - Hot Topic Exc Pre-Release - Funko/Vinyl Sugar 2015

This figure was a surprise to see in stores before Toy Fair  A few months ago, I noticed a pinned post on a Funko forum asking people not to discuss or post pictures of the Vinyl Vixens before they were officially announced. I was clueless so of course I googled it and found these really cool glam shots of Catwoman, Harley, and Ivy in a new style from Funko. Then I hadn't heard anything until this morning when one popped up in my eBay feed with that little telltale "Hot Topic Exclusive Pre-Release" sticker. I hopped over to my local Hot Topic and sure enough they had three right on top of the new Harley display. I'm a little shocked at myself because I left the store empty-handed after some serious mental anguish. I love Harley. I love Harley even more when she's with Catwoman and Ivy. However, there were a couple aspects of this figure I was unprepared for (which turned me off). I'm still amazed that I overcame my temptation and made a rational collecting decision. I guess I'm growing up (a little).

Minecraft Overworld - ALEX!

Minecraft: Series 03 - Overworld Alex - Mojang/Jazwares 2015

I don't know a single thing about Minecraft.  Of course, the past few Christmases, Thanksgivings and Beach vacations I've lied and pretended I knew all about it to impress my nieces and nephews.  They're obsessed.  Every second of the day they're hunting, digging, and building with their adorable little noses pressed up against one electronic device or another.  I kind of hate the trend, but I try my best to be the cool uncle.  At least now I have a toy so I can speak with a little authenticity.  From what I've read right now, Alex is a female skin that appeared in Minecraft Version 1.8.  She is available to replace the main character, Steve.  These toys are simple and definitely not likely to appeal to the collector crowd.  They are, however, pretty darn popular with the kiddies.  More and more real estate in the toy aisles is dedicated to Minecraft (and its rival, Terraria) lately.  I don't think the trend will be going away any time soon either.  I think this figure is pretty cute and will definitely have a place on my hodgepodge videogame shelf (alongside diverse figures like Halo and Sonic).  Let's check out Alex below!

LEGO Mini-figures UNICORN GIRL!

Lego Minifigures Series 13 (71008) - Unicorn Girl - LEGO 2015

These LEGO Mini-Figure blind bags are getting pretty intense.  The sheer amount of new tooling that goes in to each new series is growing at an exponential rate.  Where previous waves seemed to take random existing pieces and use them in creative new ways, the more recent waves are seemingly doing the opposite.  Hopefully that holds true and we somehow get a slew of unicorn figures in the future.  I want a whole herd.  Pinto ones!  Palomino! Appaloosa!  As much as I find this Unicorn Girl the most adorable little thing in the universe, my aesthetics pull me towards more natural hues on my animals.  The purple mane and tail and the pink and blue stars on her chest wouldn't exactly be my first choice, but I'm still giddy over the girliness of it all.  The trend of having an animal-costumed character in nearly every wave is going strong and I couldn't be happier.  I predict a shark boy and a leopard girl in future waves.  Mark my words.  In the meantime, let's check out Unicorn Girl below!

Funko POP! DC Super Heroes ROLLER HARLEY!

POP! Heroes #66 - DC Super Heroes New 52 Harley Quinn - Funko 2015

Funko has a bit of a Harley Quinn addiction. Aside from the headline SuperBats characters, Harley seems to get the most love from Funko.  I now have seven different Harley Pops, one Harley Minipop, a Harley Magnetic Block figure, and there are upcoming Harley Mystery Minis and Wacky Wobbers.  For all intents and purposes, Catwoman is a more iconic character than Harley, but she's received only two Pops, a plushie Pop, and a Wobbler.  (I think we desperately need a comic style Catwoman Pop).  This Roller Harley Pop is awesome.  I think she's the best of the seven so far.  She's currently only available at Hot Topic as an Exclusive Pre-Release (exactly like the Arkham Asylum Harley).  My store didn't have them this past Monday, but they did get a massive shipment in Wednesday.  The only QC problem I've seen is the Hammer Mallet tends to droop on most of the figures.  I picked the best one and it's still a little saggy.  Let's check out Roller Harley below!

Transformers Legion Class - STRONGARM!

Transformers: Robots in Disguise - Legion Class - Strongarm - Hasbro 2014

I resisted this mini figure for a while.  I'm not quite sure why because now that I have her I think she's pretty great.  Strongarm is Bumblebee's second-in-command in the upcoming Transformers: Robots in Disguise show on the Cartoon Network.  I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of her in the toy aisles in the coming years.  The show hasn't even started yet and there are already four versions of her out there: the full-size  Deluxe Class, the blocky "1 Step Changer", a tiny PVC Tiny Titans blind bag, and this Cyberverse-scaled Legion Class figure.  I'm personally looking forward to the Kre-O figure.  She's already rolling out with the fervor of Prime Arcee and I expect it to keep coming.  There's even already a repainted Deluxe mold named Gurujibi solicited by TakaraTomy. These Legion Class figures have suddenly evolved into a bonafide little sub-collection for me.  The addition of Windshear and Strongarm to my shelves in a few short weeks makes for an impressive looking group of mini fembots!

POP Universal Monsters BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

POP! Movies #113 - Universal Monsters - Hot Topic Exc GITD - Funko 2014

The Bride of Frankenstein is easily the most iconic female monster of all time. She isn't exactly scary like her male counterparts, but she is definitely a very original looking character. That said, there are surprisingly few action figures made of her. In fact, if you discount dolls and bendies, there wasn't a true action figure of her released until 1998 (that's 67 years after her silver screen debut). Early Universal Monsters lines left her out in favor of characters like the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame (both of which seem lesser on the cult-favorite scale than the Monster's Bride). I always struggle with what to call her, technically she should be "Frankenstein's Monster's Bride" but that just sounds silly. From what I remember of the film, I think they just refer to her as the Bride. I tend to get tied up in semantics. Funko released two version of this POP! figure in 2014: the standard release and this Hot Topic exclusive version which has a glow-in-the-dark face. Let's check out this beauty below!

Funko ReAction BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

ReAction Figures: Universal Monsters 1 - Bride of Frankenstein - Funko 2014

Funko's ReAction line is one of my favorite new lines of 2014.  When I first started becoming a serious toy collector back in the early 2000s, one of my favorite reference websites was Kevin Lentz's 3 3/4-Inch Archives.  The site hasn't been updated in about 7 years at this point, but I'm sure if it were, it would be brimming with excitement over these new figures.  There's something extremely charming and nostalgic about action figures from the late 70s and early 80s that gets lost on modern toys.  Funko's ReAction line is doing a great job of bringing that feeling back. While many of the (modern) ReAction properties don't appeal to me (Buffy, Nightmare Before Christmas, etc), most of the retro properties have me giddy.  For example, this Bride of Frankenstein figure finally fills the void left by her absence in Remco's 1979 Universal Studio's Mini Monster line.  As someone who was combing through those archives realizing the lack of women over the years, this line is a godsend.  Let's check her out below!

Transformers Mini-Con WINDSHEAR!

Transformers: Generations Series 02 #13 - Mini-Con Assault Team - Hasbro 2014

This little lady snuck right by me this past year. I feel like I impatiently flipped by this figure a thousand times this year while frantically seeking Windblade, Arcee, and Chromia. Then while searching for a picture of Flamewar, Flareup, and Transmutate for my Year-End Review, I found the *ahem* fuckyeahwarriorwomen tumblr which had a group photo of all of 2014's fembots including this mysterious little green lady. I was immediately on the hunt. I soon discovered that Windshear is a part of the Mini-Con Assault Team alongside Heavytread and Runway. Mini-cons are small human-sized Transformers that combine to form a standard-size Transformer. These three mini-cons combine to form Centuritron. The great thing about discovering her in the 11th hour is that the Assault Team pack was on clearance in almost every store I went to. It was a no-brainer.  I wish all my purchases could be so obviously pre-ordained.  Let's check out Windshear below!

Halo SprüKits - COMMANDER SARAH PALMER!

SprüKits - Poseable Figural Model Kit - Halo: Sarah Palmer - Bandai 2014

I never would have guessed an action figure could spark the reaction in me that this figure did.  I bought this kit at Toys'r'us to appease myself after a fruitless day of searching for the X-Men Legends Wave (Storm in particular) back in December.  I kind of forgot about the purchase until after the holidays when I dedicated an evening to clearing off the coffee table, popping in a movie, and hunkering down for a very nostalgic few hours.  Just the muscle memories that were triggered from twisting all the little pieces off their sprues was euphoric.  I spent many hours in my youth building model planes, submarines, and dinosaurs, and this figure just brought that all flooding back.  For those unaware, Bandai's SprüKits line are snap-together model kits that build highly-articulated action figures.  This figure had 113 pieces and it's only a level 2 (of 3).  Aside from the nostalgic element, the fact that I've assembled all the little pieces of a double-hinged knee makes me respect the engineering of action figures so much more.  I highly suggest picking one of these sets up.  Let's check out Halo's Commander Sarah Palmer below!

Decool BootLEGO - Dark Knight Rises CATWOMAN!

Decool Super Heroes - DKR Catwoman Brick Figure - Decool 2014

I've had an interesting change of heart in the past six months or so.  When I started collecting LEGOs a few years ago, I was instantly frustrated by the questions of authenticity when purchasing figures on eBay.  I started my collection with the second round of DC Superheroes in 2011.  I quickly bought up Harley, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy in stores.  Then tried to hunt down the old 2008 releases only to consistently confronted with fake versions.  I hated it.  I vowed never to buy a fake LEGO.  But that was before a few very interesting 3rd Party manufacturers started to produce characters we would likely never see in an official LEGO set.  My first cave-in purchase was the Fantastic Four, quickly followed by Stargirl.  Then about a month ago this little Catwoman started appearing on eBay.  This is the first BootLEGO character that was a definite must-have for me.  I must say that she is of excellent quality and I will now be keeping my eye out for future figures like this.  Let's check out DKR Catwoman!

WWE Elite - Class of 2013 - TRISH STRATUS!

WWE Elite - Hall of Fame - Class of 2013 - Target Exc Trish Stratus - Mattel 2014

2014 was a quite a year for re-released characters in Mattel's WWE line.  Of the handful of female wrestling figures we get in an average year, this year had repeat figures of Vickie Guerrero, Natalya, Amy Lee, Alicia Fox, and now Trish Stratus.  I usually avoid these because they are typically simple redecos of the original figures.  But this year most of these figures were different enough to convince me to take the plunge.  This Trish Stratus figure has the same head as her 2013 figure, but the change in hair color and more streamlined outfit made her look like an improved figure to me.  Still, I'd much prefer some brand new figures in 2015 (in addition to the Paige and Emma figures we're already slated to get).  Trish is now retired after 7 years in the WWE during which time she was named Babe of the Year three times, WWE Hardcore Champion and Diva of the Decade.  She also won seven WWE Women's Championships, the most in WWE history.  Let's check out Trish (version 2) below!

The Walking Dead - CLEMENTINE!

The Walking Dead (Video Game) - Skybound Exc - McFarlane Toys 2014

The Walking Dead is a pretty amazing property.  A few years ago you never could have convinced me that I would be obsessed with a zombie television series.  I don't like gore or horror and honestly I don't watch much TV.  Then I bought the Michonne comic-styled action figure and that convinced me to start watching the show.  Now a few years later I find myself inexplicably drawn to the show every season.  I never even considered additional characters in the video game franchise until I saw this Clementine figure solicited.  Clementine is the 11 year old protagonist of the Season Two game.  She is in the Season One game as well, but not as a playable character.  She's known as a smart and capable character peppered with the understandable naivety of an 11 year old.  The toy is cool.  She's so much smaller than any other figure in the line, but she looks like she has the gritty determination to hold her own alongside the other figures.  Let's check her out below!

Power Rangers Dino Charge PINK RANGER!

Power Rangers: Dino Charge - Basic Figures Series 1 - Pink Ranger - Bandai 2014

Power Rangers: Dino Charge is the latest iteration of the long-running American Power Rangers series.  This is based off the 37th Sentai series Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.  As far as I can tell, this is the third Ranger series with a dinosaur theme (after 1993's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and 2004's Dino Thunder).  What I really like about this current series, though, is that there is representation of some very cool dinosaurs outside of the obvious bunch. The Black Ranger is a Parasaurolophus, the Purple Ranger is a Plesiosaur, and the Gray Ranger is a Pachycephalosaurus.  Fellow dino-nerds will really appreciate the selection.  The other great thing about this series is the prolific number of rangers.  There are 6 main Rangers, 5 additional "independant" Rangers, 1 evil Ranger, and a team of 6 Future Rangers.  The females are the Violet Ranger from the independent group and the Cyan Ranger from the future team.  I hope we get figures of them all.  But for now, let's check out Pink Ranger below!

DC Collectibles Greg Capullo BATGIRL!

DC Comics Designer Series: Greg Capullo - #12 Batgirl - DC Collectibles 2014

I was just having a conversation the other day about how Batgirl figures seem to arrive in bursts. The last great example was back in 2008 when we got Showcase, Alex Ross, and All-Star Batgirls between June and September. We are currently in the middle of another such wave.  Beginning with the New 52 Batgirl at the end of Sept, followed by this Capullo figure in December, and culminating in the animated figure in February.  I'm also expecting to see a burnside Batgirl in the next year.  Figures of her, Batwoman, and Black Orchid are my biggest DC hopes for Toy Fair next month. As I mentioned back in the Capullo Catwoman review, I have no real connection to Capullo's art, but that doesn't stop me from totally digging these figures! I think they're fantastic. Artist-stylized figures like these are what separates DC Collectibles from the other action figure brands. Unless there was a blockbuster movie backing her, there's no way any other company would release so many Batgirls.  Let's check her out!

Happy New Year!! - YEAR-END REVIEW!

This Year's Most Amazing Ladies - Hasbro, Mattel, Bandai, etc 2014

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you had a great (and safe) time celebrating.  I had these grand plans to take a gigantic photo of all the great action figures we've received this year.  I would have probably had to do this in my living room or maybe on the stairs just because of sheer space requirements; there were a lot of ladies this year! Unfortunately I got a cold and therefore was very sluggish wrapping up my end-of-the-year work duties and just ran out of time.  Instead I'm compiling a post full of photos and links highlighting one of the most prolific years for female action figure collectors yet.  Seriously, I'm highlighting 94 figures here - and that's by no means a complete list.  I hope to make this an annual tradition.  If nothing else than to remind me of the ridiculous amount of money I spend on toys in any given year.  I really need to start soliciting for free samples!  Anyway, onward to the first annual She's Fantastic year-end review!