DC Universe Infinite Heroes - RAVEN!

DC Universe Infinite Heroes - Crisis Series - Raven (Teen Titan) - Mattel 2009

In 2003, the Teen Titans animated show premeired and exposed a whole new generation to thee characters. The influence was undeniable. The aisles were suddenly full of toys, the fast food chains had promotions, and school supplies were emblazoned with the characters. I personally wasn't the biggest fan of the slapstick nature of the show nor the cartoony redesigns. But within a few years, those same new costumes were incorporated into the mainstream comic titles, and they began to grow on me. I once thought the red ornamentation on Raven's costume was distracting, but now it seems pretty iconic. I just saw SDCC images of the new McFarlane Raven coming later in 2026 and it features a lot of these modern animated details (and looks pretty great). These DC Universe Infinite Heroes figures were all the rage 17 years ago, and this Raven was one of the more tricky figures to get. But I'm glad I eventually did because this was the gateway drug that got me to accept some change. Let's check her out below!

DC Universe Infinite Heroes - STARFIRE!

DC Universe Infinite Heroes - Crisis Series - Starfire (Teen Titans) - Mattel 2009

As SDCC approaches this week, I find myself remembering back to the late aughts when Mattel was regularly blowing our collective minds with new product. Both DC Universe Classics and Masters of the Universe Classics began in 2008 and revolutionized the toy industry (I know Marvel Legends had started way back in 2002, but I think their female sculpts were pretty terrible until 2013). With all the focus on Mattel's 6-7" scale back then, it's easy to forget that their 3.75" DC Universe Infinite Heroes line also launched in 2008. It only lasted two years, but it gave us an absolute flood of characters. I believe there were 67 individual figures and 17 multipacks. That's roughly 3 new characters each month for two years. I recently dug out my old Starfire and Raven in anticipation of their new Super Powers figures on Entertainment Earth. I find the Infinite Heroes to be a little weird, a little awkward, and sometimes they're downright hideous, but I still adore them. Let's check out Starfire below!

Digimon - SAKUYAMAN!

Digimon: Digital Monsters Season 3 - 6" Digi-Warriors - Sakuyaman - Bandai 2001

This figure has been a holy grail of mine for many years. She is one of the scarce female characters in the 6" line of original Digimon characters from Bandai. She's a popular character and it's almost impossible to find her complete for under $100. Technically, she is a genderless being, but the genders in this franchise aren't exactly subtle. My favorite thing about her is the fox/kitsune motif to her design. Beyond her fox armor and belt buckle, her characters has four tubes attached to her belt (unseen on this figure) that contain four Kuda-gitsune spirits (aka Tube Foxes) representing the elements of Fire, Water, Wind, and Thunder. These colorful fox spirits wrap around her from four directions and make the figure look super awesome. Coincidentally, these fox spirits are the missing culprits of the "incomplete" figures you see all over eBay. I picked up my Sakuyamon loose, and the fixes seem pretty firmly attached (except for the yellow one that pops off), but my previous owner might have glued them for safety.

New Teen Titans - STARFIRE!

DC Direct Action Figures - The New Teen Titans - Starfire - DC Direct 2000

Every time I get an old DC Direct figure into my photo tent I am blown away by the sculpt and attention to detail. I was very excitedly buying lots of toys back then. I loved all the Silver Age and Legion of Super-Heroes figures in particular. But in general, I was really taking this early-aughts toy renaissance for granted. I should have been buying ever single toy put out there. I think Starfire is a tricky character to get right. Especially when trying to replicate the early-80s George Pérez design. Honestly I've only seen it done right twice in toy form: the 2018 Funko mini figure, and this DC Direct figure from 2000. I desperately tried to find who sculpted this, but the information seems lost to time. My best guess is Tim Bruckner. But it could easily be Sam Greenwell as well. Both were very active with DC Direct at the time, but the sculptor names being featured on the packaging was inconsistent in those early years. Whoever the artist is knocked it out of the park though. Let's check out Starfire below!

DC Universe Classics - STARFIRE!

DC Universe Classics - Starfire & Adam Strange (Mattycollector Exc) - Mattel 2009

This figure stirs up a lot of old feelings for me. I remember the campaign for the first DC Universe Classics in the Mattycollector Exclusives program. The pictures online (and maybe in ToyFare?) looked great. But the reality of the figures were very different when they arrived. I felt a little ripped off. When the final product had such drastic differences from the preorder prototype images, the whole subscription process seemed unreliable and scammy. All these years later, I can appreciate her for what she is; scrawny limbs, limp hair, and anatomically bizarre cleavage and all. (Seriously though, she has more modest costume options that should have been used if they had to use this cloth-sculpted torso). In photos it doesn't look that bad, but in person there are a lot of sculptural details that just look off. The perfection of the Four Horsemen prototype compared to the sloppy Mattel tooling felt insulting to collectors who purchased these on good faith. 27 years later and I'm almost over it. Let's check out Starfire below!

DC x Sonic - BLAZE as STARFIRE!

DC x Sonic - 5" & 2.5" Hero Multipack - Starfire and Blaze - Jakks Pacific 2026

I am having a great sense of vindication about owning these figures. Back in November, I posted an image on social media featuring the lineups of the next few waves of DC x Sonic figures. The post was several blurry graphs of character renderings, but no actual figures. I knew this leak was authentic (and it was proven to me when I was officially asked to remove it). But the collector community (outside of my amazing network) jumped all over me in the few short hours the post was up. The majority consensus was that it was fake and I was lying. Comments like "Blaze and Starfire don't even make sense. And it's blurry. Fake" flooded my feed. I made sure to screenshot them for posterity (read:grudge holding) before removing the post. About five weeks after the post, the next series of DC x Sonic comics was announced with promo images of the exact characters I leaked. Flash forward six months and I have the first few figures in hand. It's a smug sense of satisfaction that I'm loving. Let's check out Blaze below!

Futurama - CLOBBERELLA!

Futurama - Basic Series Wave 6 - Leela as Clobberella - Toynami 2009

A couple months ago I randomly saw an episode of Futurama, Season 5, Episode 6 "Less than Hero", wherein the main characters don superhero outfits as the New Justice Team of New New York. This episode was notable for me because (1) as much as I'm a fan of (the vast majority of) Matt Groening's work, I've only seen about 10 episodes of Futurama in my entire life. And (2) I loved Leela's Clobberella design. I liked the obvious nod to Barbarella with the name, and I was drawn to the costume parallels to Electra Woman from the Electric Company. Even Clobberella's weird rolling pin emblem is bizarrely similar to Electra Woman's "EW" logo. I decided to check if there had ever been a toy made for this costume, fully expecting to find nothing, but surprise surprise, all three heroes (Captain Yesterday and Super King as well) got figures in the 2009 Toynami line. I snagged her on eBay before the episode was over. She's essentially a statue, but she's really fun. Let's check out Clobberella below!

Masters of the Universe - TEELA!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figures #6 - Teela - Altaya 2022/2023

I'm pretty sad that my reviews of these Masters of the Universe Altaya figurines are coming to a close. I discovered them shortly after they started being released back in 2022 and it became a major obsession of mine to get all my favorites. There were fifteen female characters released, which were all a requirement for me, and I cherry-picked an additional four male characters. Honestly if I could afford them I would get the whole series. But eBay markups and shipping from Europe were a major roadblock. Teela was the figure that got me hooked. She was the 6th figure in the series and looked just like the 2014 Pop Culture Shock statue I was so covetous of. But when I got her in hand, she was the most disappointing of all due to a mispositioned hairpiece and a stunned facial expression (I fixed the hairpiece that you see in these photos, but when I got her she had a gigantic forehead). It almost made me think the effort to acquire them was too great for the return, but I'm glad I continued. Let's check out Teela below!

Masters of the Universe - SORCERESS!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figures #HS1 - Sorceress - Altaya 2022

The Sorceress has always gotten the short end of the stick in the merchandising department. For such an iconic, powerful, and maternal figure that is in almost every episode of He-Man and whose mysterious origins are a major keystone in all of Eternian lore, she simply hasn't ever had a great piece of merchandise produced. There have been some close ones, like the Super7 Club Grayskull figure from 2018, but all her figures have been slightly off. Similar to the Evil-Lyn post from yesterday, this Altaya Sorceress figurine shares a lot of design similarities with the 2015 Pop Culture Shock statue, which I personally feel is the nicest-looking Sorceress product made. Of course that statue was always very expensive, and this newer figurine is much easier to display and (slightly) less expensive. This figurine is a bit of a mystery to me. I believe she was a subscription-exclusive figure unavailable in stores. She fetches about 8x the price of the other characters, but she's worth it. Let's check her out below!

Masters of the Universe - EVIL-LYN!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figures #9/10 - Evil-Lyn - Altaya 2022/23

Something I especially like about these French/Spanish Masters of the Universe figurines from Altaya is that they have very similar poses and styles to the Pop Culture Shock statue series (distributed by Sideshow). I always coveted these statues, but they were way out of my price range. These newer figurines are like miniature versions of those masterpieces. Despite all of Evil-Lyn's transformations over the year (thankfully almost always true to her signature design), I will always be most fond of her original 1983 Filmation design with pale yellow skin, purple and blue clothing, and a long black cape. Her scenes from the first (aired) episode, The Diamond Ray of Disappearance, are dynamic and amazing. The image of her standing atop a mountain with her cape billowing while Skeletor announces her, "Evil Lyn, Sorceress of Night!" was fused into my young brain. Having a new representation of her from that era to add to my collection thrills me. Let's check her out below!

The Golden Compass - MRS. COULTER!

The Golden Compass - Mrs. Marisa Coulter - Corgi/CardsInc/PopCo 2007

I remember when The Golden Compass film came out back in 2007, it was a very buzzworthy film. Between its intriguing trailers, strong cast (Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, among others), conservative group boycotts, and general appetite for YA fantasy at the time (Harry Potter and Narnia franchises were in full swing), this movie seemed like a slam dunk. But I remember watching it and being unimpressed. There were details I loved, like the cold arctic setting, the armored intelligent polar bears, and the characters' souls being represented by dæmons with the appearance of animals. But something about the movie just didn't capture the magic of the books (the His Dark Materials HBO series from 2019 did a better job). But still, I remember my 2007 anticipation well and when I stumbled across this Mrs. Coulter action figure in a collectible toy shop this Summer, I had to get her. This line is made by Cards, Inc (a subsidiary of Corgi - makers of car replicas and figurines), and distributed by PopCo

She-Ra the Princess of Power - HUNTARA!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figure #59 - Huntara - Altaya 2024

I'm typically not a huge fan of one-off brutish characters in 80s cartoons, but in Huntara's case I make an exception because I like her purple skin and her design origins. There is a adventure cartoon trope where a new character arrives on the scene and is duped by the bad guys into think the main hero is actually the enemy. The episodes always pan out the same.. with patience, reasoning, and communication winning the day (plus a new hard-won ally for the hero and a thwarted villain). I think this plot existed several times in She-Ra, but the episode "Huntara" from November 1985 definitely seems to have made the most lasting impression. Huntara comes from the warrior planet Silax and is greeted by the deceitful Hordak upon her arrival and convinced that She-Ra is a great scourge to Etheria. She appears very different from other Princess of Power characters with a punk Road Warrior vibe. My favorite tidbit is the writers described her as a "Grace Jones type" and she does indeed resemble the 80's icon.

She-Ra the Princess of Power - CATRA!

Masters of the Universe - Collectible Figure #61 - Catra - Altaya 2024

As much as I've been loving these Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power import figurines from Altaya, there always has to be a least favorite in the bunch. The prize-holder of of that esteemed position is Catra. I love this character. I love her design, I love her power, and I'm even quite fond of her incessant purring. This figurine, however, has a really odd pose. I feel like it's intended to look strong and impactful, but the position of her hands and her slightly stooped-forward position looks awkward. Also her face doesn't quite look right (it's definitely good, but all the other figures have been near perfection). And finally her angled placement on her stand is just odd and makes her stand out from the other figures in the series in a bad way. All the others are facing forward, but her staring off to the left screws up my display. It's such a first-world series of complaints I know, but I'm still happy to add another Filmation Catra to my collection, even with all her quirks. Let's check her out below!

Tron Kubrick - YORI!

Kubrick Disney's Tron - Set (A): Tron, Yori, & Orange Light Cycle - Medicom 2002

I've had this set for ages but finally got around to opening it last week. I frankly don't remember purchasing this, but when I was moving house four years ago, I found it buried in a closet encased up in bubble wrap with zero recollection of how I got it. I probably paid a fortune and blocked out the memory over guilt. It was funny to mark it off my "must have" checklist by accidentally discovering that I already owned it. I also found multiple Planet of the Apes Kubrick sets in the same box so it was a thrilling discovery. This figure is notable for being the first toy of Yori ever. As the token female of Tron (1982), and a pretty significant character, she was criminally neglected in the merchandise department. So far I have three Yori items, but hopefully there will be momentum for more in the future, but I definitely would love to see more. I think a company like NECA should take the reigns and give us a full vintage line (hopefully with characters unmade in the DST line). Let's check out Yori 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!

Kamen Rider - CRANE ORPHNOCH!

Kamen Rider 555 - Rider Kaijin Series #05 - Crane Orphnoch - Bandai 2004

Kamen Rider 555 is the 13th installment in the Kamen Rider series from 2003. The villains of this series are the Orphnoch, a mutated evolution of zombie-like human monsters with animal or plant characteristics. Several of these Orphnochs retain their human morality and work to protect humanity. The Wolf, Horse, and Wildcat Orphnochs are the main characters of the series, but Crane is a major recurring "good" character with a seemingly massive fanbase (if the merchandise and subsequent CCG and videogame appearances is any indication). I've always been really drawn to the Kamen Rider monster aesthetic... especially when there is a strong animal theme. I bought this figure blindly back in 2004 and only worked to learn about her later. The Orphnochs have an added appeal of being a monochromatic gray/stone palette which looks awesome in group scenes. There are quite a few females represented, but Crane was always the standout to me. Let's check her out below!

DC Direct Maquette - LOIS LANE!

DC Classic Animation Maquettes - Fleischer (1941) Lois Lane - DC Direct 2004

I am very selective with my statue purchases. For reasons of limited display space and high price points, I simply can't purchase all the statues that catch my eye. This Lois Lane from the DC Direct Classic Animation Maquettes line was my forth statue purchase ever (not counting mini-busts). And interestingly, the BTAS Catwoman and Harley Quinn from the same line were my first and second purchases. I just love a classically-posed character in an iconic design. Lois Lane has had a lot of different looks over the years, but this 1940's brown skirtsuit will always be my favorite. I remember getting this maquette years after her release for a very discounted price of 20 bucks because of a few easy-to-fix scuffs. She's been a focal point of my collection ever since. Which is unique because I rarely buy non-costumed characters. But my love for classic animation gave her a pass. And there is almost no animation quite as "classic" as the 1941 Superman theatrical shorts from Fleischer Studios. Let's check out Lois below!

DC Direct Silver Age - LOIS LANE!

Classic Silver Age Deluxe Box Set - Superman & Lois Lane - DC Direct 2001

When I first started collecting action figures as an adult in the early 2000s, it coincided with me starting to collect comics again after a 5 year hiatus. I was in a new city with several comic shops (all my hometown ones had closed in the 90s), and those new stores were teeming with action figures from DC Direct. DCD had started just a few years earlier so I had never before seen the merging of toys and comics in one store like that. I bought a lot of these toys over the next few years. But these Silver Age Deluxe Box Sets were just too pricey for me at the time. I favored Batman over Superman and I preferred costumed heroes over civilians, so it took me twenty years to finally pick up this Lois set. Which is a shame because because this figure is gorgeous. Despite being a bit pre-posed and having sculpted-in accessories, the Tim Bruckner sculpt perfectly captures that Silver Age aesthetic. I know most people love her modern purple blazer, but these vintage browns will always be my favorite. Let's check out Lois below!

Transformers Busts - ARCEE!

Transformers Busts - Arcee (Limited Edition of 1000)  - Diamond Select 2008

With all the great G1 Arcee products we've seen in the last two decades, it's amazing to look back and see one of the first official pieces to capture the token Transformers female in all her glory. The Heroes of Cybertron PVC figure was released at least five years earlier, but this DST sculpt celebrated her in a whole new way. It's still shocking to think they they only made 1000 of this mini-bust (and only 600 of Elita One). Back in the early 2000s, mini-busts were all the rage. So many different companies were producing them and every comic specialty store had display cases full of beautiful little statues. I avoided them for as long as I could (purely for budgetary reasons). But just a few months earlier I had purchased my first (Firestar). Arcee and Elita One were my next two purchases. Now I can't even count how many I have. But even through those multitudes, these Transformers busts stand out as perfect collectibles from a time when these characters had almost no representation. Let's check out Arcee below!

Transformers Busts - ELITA ONE!

Transformers Busts - Elita One (BBTS Exclusive LE 600) - Diamond Select 2008

For roughly seven years, this was the only Elita One piece in my collection (I now have over twenty). As much as I've always embraced her as a key character in Transformers lore, the tragic truth is that she had only appeared in a single G1 episode (that most diehard Transformers bros hated). And my handful of Transformers friends had never even heard of her. So this bust was a dream come true for me. She has a perfect classic sculpt from Mark Wong and I didn't hesitate at all to buy her. She was actually my second ever order from BBTS and also my second ever mini-bust purchase (after the 2007 Firestar Bust that opened the floodgates). The only downside to this purchase was my overinflated expectations. I either heard a rumor of a Chromia or just imagined it, but either way I was a little deflated they only made two fembots. But I'm so glad Diamond Select Toys made the first official classically-inspired female Transformers products. Let's check out Elita One below!