The Girls of Power Rangers SUPER MEGAFORCE!

Pink and Yellow Rangers - Power Rangers Super Megaforce - BanDai 2014

I love the Power Rangers.  I'm not sure why.  I rarely, if ever, watch the show.  I don't know half the themes or plotlines.  What I do love is the stylized thematic costumes, the color patterns, and the cool action figures.  The most recent series of Super Mega Force toys hit the shelves in the past couple weeks.  Aside from the general fact that I was unaware these figures were coming out, I was more taken aback by the new 5" scale.  Since the MMPR rebooted toyline in 2010, the toy aisles have seen the constant presence of a (seemingly successful) 4" action figure line.  I have most of the figures from MMPR, Samurai, Super Samurai, and Megaforce, so I am mildly disappointed in the style change with Super Megaforce (just for the sake of collecting continuity).  But the figures themselves are very high quality as I've come to expect with Bandai.  Fun note:  the gimmick of the Super Megaforce show is that the characters can become any past ranger of their color.  Maybe that will be a gateway to a plethora of retro rangers??  We'll have to wait and see...

Marvel Legends BLACK CAT!

Marvel Legends Spider-Man Infinite Series - Skyline Sirens - Hasbro 2014

I'm officially declaring 2014 the comeback year for Hasbro.  The production quality and sculpts of all their upcoming figures blow their past efforts out of the water.  Of course my attention is focused on the female characters.  2013's Emma Frost and Jean Grey were definitely decent figures, but so far Black Cat and the upcoming Black Widow and Spider-Girl are phenomenal.  Black Cat was originally created in the late 1970s as an enemy for Spider-Woman in her solo series.  That plan never panned out, but the character was luckily recycled into the pages of Amazing Spider-Man a year later.  That was a fateful move which has proven very successful.  Black Cat has been a staple in the Marvel Universe ever since;  acting as a villain, a love interest, and an anti-hero in a rotating succession.  One thing I'm always impressed by is how she has basically kept the same costume the whole time (if you ignore her brief foray into horrible fashion in the late eighties.)  Let's check out this long-awaiting and amazing figure below!

Funko POP ThunderCats CHEETARA!

POP! Television #103 - ThunderCats Classic Cheetara - Funko 2013

Funko POPs are probably the most popular collectible I can think of right now.  I have friends who would never think of buying an action figure suddenly shelling out crazy dough for POPs of Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The Beatles, Disney, Rankin & Bass Christmas, etc etc.  I personally couldn't be happier, especially when it means that I keep getting awesome ladies like Cheetara to add to my collection.  I was just debating whether or not I would try to go to ToyFair this year and was actually leaning toward "No" (it was more awkward and frustrating than exciting last year if I want to be truly honest), but then I remembered the Funko booth and how fun and exciting that part of the event was.  Now I totally plan on applying for a press pass in the next couple days.  I was looking at the ThunderCats lineup so far and I realize we're definitely due for more figures since the core team isn't even made yet.  Here's hoping for a Pumyra!  But for now let's check out Cheetara below!

DC Direct's Brightest Day JADE!

Brightest Day: Series 3 - Jade - DC Direct 2011

Jade always seemed to be a highly requested character from DC Direct.  She and Mera were on almost everyone's top 10 lists back in the day.  Luckily for us, the 2011 Brightest Day storyline (an aftermath to the big Blackest Night Green Lantern event) proved to be a great vehicle for getting some long-awaited characters in plastic.  Jade is a very interesting character.  For starters, she is the daughter of Alan Scott (the Golden Age Green Lantern) and Rose (aka Thorn: the Jekyl & Hyde-type villain).  She has very Green Lantern-like metahuman abilities due to exposure to her father's magical powers.  Coincidentally, her skin is green because of her mother's plant-based powers.  At some point, Jade lost her natural powers and was given a Power Ring by Kyle Raynor (with whom she had a long on-again-off-again relationship with).  She was killed while fighting Alexander Luthor Jr (son of Earth 3's Lex Luthor) in 2005's Rann-Thanagar War storyline.  Years later, during Blackest Night, she was resurrected as an evil Black Lantern, which luckily led to her being reinstated to her true form- and finally an action figure!

Marvel Select SPIDER-WOMEN!

Jessica Drew & Julia Carpenter as Spider-Woman & Arachne - DST 2006-2009

In honor of my giddy excitement for the Marvel Legends Spider-Girl reveal earlier this week, I decided to review three variations of my favorite Spider-Lady sculpt to date.  Jessica Drew was a hasty creation by Marvel Comics in the late 1970s in order to secure the copyrights for a female spider-powered superhero.  (I read once that word of Filmation's Web Woman cartoon reached the Marvel camp and they quickly created and published the first Jessica Drew story before her first episode aired).   I was never a huge fan of Spider-Woman as a kid.  I saw the cartoon a few times, but preferred Firestar from the Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends series.  It wasn't until 2006 in the pages of New Avengers where Frank Cho drew two amazing Jessica Drew-centric issues (#14 and #15).  Coincidentally, Diamond Select Toys released their fantastic Spider-Woman action figure that same year in their Marvel Select line.  There have been multiple variations released since, and I've purchased almost all of them.  Let's check them out below!

Women of SKYLANDERS MEGA BLOKS!

Hex, Chill, Stealth Elf, & Sprocket - Various Skylanders Sets - Mega Bloks 2013

Skylanders is a property that is hard to ignore in the toy world.  All my local Toys R Us stores have had their showcase area dedicated to the collectible video game figurines.  I have always been attracted to the designs of these characters.  They're colorful, fun, and very diverse.. for lack of a better word.  What I am not a fan of is the stationary PVC-on-a-base format of the figures.  Basically I think they're cool character but boring toys.  Luckily Mega Bloks has the license to produce their Lego-like building sets in Skylanders themes.  Amazingly, there have been four female characters released already (excluding the multiple variations of the dragon Cynder).  And I'm hoping there will be many more because I really dig these toys and there are many more amazing characters ready for the Mega Bloks treatment.  I'll be keeping my eyes out for future releases.  Let's check out the current four below!

Marvel Legends SPIDER-GIRL Revealed!

Marvel Legends Spider-Man Infinite Series - Skyline Sirens - Hasbro 2014

This reveal is my most anticipated retail figure of 2014 so far!  Anya Corazon is the current Spider-Girl in the Marvel Universe (she's the former Araña from Amazing Fantasy).  I love this character.  Her solo title from 2010 only lasted 8 short issues but I loved it.  The art was fantastic, the character development was interesting, and the overall feel was fun.  I considered it to be Marvel's version of the Stephanie Brown Batgirl series.  I was very excited recently when Spider-Girl reappeared in the pages of Avengers Assemble (alongside Spider-Woman and Black Widow.. a Spider-Lady trio!), and now I'm even more stoked that she's getting an action figure - and an amazing-looking one at that.  Marvel Legends seems to have rebranded all their lines "Infinite Series" this year (with a focus on Movie themes), and Anya is a variant in the Skyline Sirens slot (partnered with Black Cat) in the Spider-Man themed Green Goblin Build-a-Figure series.  These variant slots are notorious for never appearing (Moonstar and Lyra anyone?), but these in-package shots are giving me a lot of confidence.  I can't wait to get my hands on her!

Classic Comic Character - DRAGON LADY Statue!

Classic Comic Character #16 - Dragon Lady - Dark Horse Comics 2000

Terry and the Pirates was an extremely popular newspaper comic strip that was created in 1934 by Milton Caniff.  The strip featured two young adventuring boys, Terry Lee and Pat Ryan, who lived in China and hunted treasure.  Kind of like Hardy Boys meets Jonny Quest meets Indiana Jones.  The comic strip lasted until 1973 and kept growing in popularity - spawning a radio serial, a film serial, a television series, and numerous comic books in the process.  Aside from the main two protagonists, the widely-accepted star of the comic was the femme fatale Dragon Lady.  She was introduced in the very first Sunday strip storyline in 1934 as a beautiful and seductive pirate queen.  However, over the years her character grew more complex and even ended up being an ally to Terry and Pat.  Dragon Lady maybe be one of the first villainesses in comics.  I can't prove it exactly, but she pre-dates every other vixen I can think of by at least six years.  Fun fact: the "dragon lady" stereotype is derived from this very character.. vampy, evil seductress (often of Asian descent).  Let's check out this mini-statue below!