She-Ra the Princess of Power - SHADOW WEAVER!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Fig #32 - Shadow Weaver - Altaya 2023/24

In my humble opinion, Shadow Weaver was the character that made She-Ra the Princess of Power (1985-1987) such a great show. The heroes in the Great Rebellion were all great. But, objectively, the were all pretty girly with pastel colors and toyetic (doll-like) features. The main antagonist was Hordak, who I really appreciated because he attracted the male He-Man audience. (If Hordak was more powerful that Skeletor, than She-Ra must be taken seriously, right?) But with such a female-centric show, the female villains were going to be the focus for the hardcore fans. Most of these villains were bumbling caricatures. The voices alone made them silly, let alone the many botched schemes throughout the series. But standing right by Hordak's side, and appearing in nearly every episode, was Shadow Weaver, the creepy and powerful spellcaster who provided a sharp contrast to all the pastel heroes and incompetent villains. She balanced the abundant stereotypes and leant a strong cool factor to the show. 

Masters of the Universe - SHOKOTI!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figures #50 - Shokoti - Altaya 2023/2024

One of my favorite things about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985) is that Filmation didn't shy away from having deep historical lore embedded into their storytelling. The fact that we learned about ancient Eternian civilizations on a regular basis was a powerful fuel for the fantasy genre. In the two-episode story arc "The House of Shokoti" (episodes 40 and 41), we meet the ancient sorceress Shokoti who once ruled over the dark half of Eternia but has been imprisoned for centuries in a magical pyramid until the events of this storyline release her. Ever since I first saw images of Skokoti a decade or so ago (I don't remember her episodes when they originally aired), I have been rather obsessed with her design. I view it as quintessentially Eternian with her relatively simple costume with headdress and cape, blue skin, and vampy demeanor (she has fangs!).  I would love for her history to be fleshed out more in the modern comics, she's too interesting to be so isolated. Let's check out Shakoti below!

She-Ra the Princess of Power - GRANITA!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figures #48 - Granita - Altaya 2023/2024

Granita has always been one of my favorite deep-dive MOTU/POP characters. She only appeared in two episode of She-Ra the Princess of Power as a member of the Rock People, but her otherworldly appearance and wonderful color scheme made a lasting impression on me. As a former art student, I was obsessed with Complimentary Colors and the way certain color pairings would "pop." But my least favorite was always red and green. I couldn't see the pair without thinking is was somethings related to Christmas. But I eventually realized that pastel versions of those same colors had the same effect without the connotations. So Granita with her two-hued green and two-hued pink opened up a whole new world of color theory for me. When I have a toy of her in a MOTU/POP lineup, eyes my instantly goes to her. It's interesting that she was included in this Altaya figurine line (of 77 pieces) over more popular characters like Frosta or Castaspella, but I'll take her gladly. Let's checkout Granita below!

Masters of the Universe - DREE-ELLE!

Masters of the Universe - 1:6 Orko (Timed Edition) - Mini Dree-Elle - Mondo 2024

This is the first Mondo figure I've ever opened. I also own She-Ra and Teela (and have Evil-Lyn and Goddess pre-ordered), but I don't know where to display those yet, so they are still nestled in their shipper boxes waiting patiently for me to make some decisions. But when I was photographing my Altaya Dree-Elle earlier this week, I knew I had to free this Mondo mini-Dree-Elle from her plastic prison and get her in my photo tent. It was very interesting that the 1:6 scale Orko came with two mini bonus figures. I don't believe any Mondo 1:6 figures have included anything like this before. It's also funny to call them "mini" - because they are almost twice as large as the MOTUC Trollans (So I would call these 1:8 or 1:6 scale). But I'm a sucker for the 80s animation of my youth so I couldn't resist splurging on her. I view Dree-Elle as one of the quirkiest recurring characters in MOTU. Now comes the the grand experiment to see if I can recoup my money by selling the Orkos. Let's check out Dree-Elle below!

Masters of the Universe - DREE-ELLE!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figures #28 - Dree-Elle - Altaya 2023/2024

A side-obsession of my action figure hobby has been European magazine figurines. In the United States, the only series to really gain popularity was the British Eaglemoss Figurine collection which gave us hundreds of Marvel and DC figurines between 2005 and 2021. The typical business model is for a monthly character-specific magazine (which read almost like illustrated hardcopy wikipedia page) plus a figurine of that character. This seems like a super popular format and multiple publishers from different countries have produced figurine and magazines. One of my lesser-known favorites are the Marvel and Go Nagai Robot Collection series from the Italian Centauria. But a few years ago I discovered this amazing MOTU Collection from the Spanish Altaya. To the best of my knowledge, they released 77 figurines in Spain and France. I managed to pick up 20. I would have bought several more, but the secondary market prices plus shipping added up fast. Luckily I got all the ladies. Let's check out Dree-Elle below!

Fantastic Four: First Steps - SILVER SURFER!

Marvel Legends - Fantastic Four: First Steps - Silver Surfer - Hasbro 2025

Shalla-Bal is a legacy character in Silver Surfer lore. She first appeared in Silver Surfer #1 back in 1968 as Norrin Radd's (the original Silver Surfer's) love interest on their homeworld of Zenn-La (where she also happens to rule as Empress). Like most unpowered (yet powerful) female love interests (ie Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson, Carol Ferris, Pepper Potts, Betty Ross, etc), Shalla has occasionally adopted the abilities and identity of her titular male counterpart. In Shalla's case, this has almost always happened in alternate-universe scenarios or issues of What If. Over the years, she has wielded the Infinity Gauntlet and become (at least) two different Heralds of Galactus. Her specific incarnation as Silver Surfer was in the Earth-X storyline from 2000. Shalla's surprise appearance in the Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer was very exciting for me, but her prescence is also a bit of a potential clue to the plot of the film (don't Google her before the movie if you don't want spoilers). Let's check out Silver Surfer below!

DC Comics - SUPERWOMAN!

DC Multiverse - Crime Syndicate - Superwoman - McFarlane Toys 2022

I've owned this figure for three years with little to no desire to open her. The majority of the female figures in the McFarlane DC Multiverse line have been great. I only consider there to be a few duds; Gotham Knights Batgirl, Punchline, and this Crime Syndicate Superwoman. In many ways I view this figure to be the most egregious because she is a very cool character who seems like and easy translation into toy form. But her uncharacteristic short haircut, bland face, and lack of her signature yellow cape just seemed like a confusing series of choices. I know this is representative of a very specific period in comics, the Infinite Frontier storyline to be exact, and that this is actually a multiverse version of Donna Troy (instead of Diana or Lois like all her previous incarnations) but the figure still seems off. Interestingly, the Donna Troy Wonder Girl figure looks more like an Earth-3 Superwoman than this one. But in its defense, this figure has a very impressive base sculpt. Let's check out Superwoman below!

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith - MON MOTHMA!

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith - Republic Senator Mon Mothma - Hasbro 2005

I recently watched Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) again specifically to see the Mon Mothma scenes which I didn't remember. I'm not a big fan of that movie, nor its two predecessors, but Genevieve O'Reilly's performance in Andor (I just finished season 2 last week) was so amazing that I wanted to see how she first played the character 20 years ago in Revenge of the Sith. Unfortunately, that was an effort in futility because I didn't realize all her scenes were cut. The footage and screengrabs I see on the internet are only from DVD bonus footage. And that is a shame because the scene I just watched on YouTube is great. Plus it gives a lot more depth to Padme Amidala. I suppose Hasbro didn't get the message of these scenes ending up on the cutting room floor, because we still got this great action figure representation of her non-appearance. I love that the character of Mon Mothma was such a major player in Andor. She's truly become an obsession of mine. Watch the show if you haven't!