Imaginext MORGANA LE FEY!

Imaginext: King Arthur Adventure - Wizard's Duel 2-Pack - Fisher-Price 2005

A second amazing female in the early Imaginext line!  The King Arthur line featured many of the standard Arthurian characters: Lancelot, Mordred, Sir Galahad, etc.  Luckily no Arthurian setting can be complete without the magical element.  That's where Imaginext's Wizard's Duel 2-Pack comes into play.  This pack contained Merlin the Magician and Morgana le Fey the Sorceress.  Sometimes Morgana is portrayed as being a non-partisan magical character, but more often than not, she's presented as an antagonist against Arthur and Gwinevere (and of course their magician Merlin).  Amazing that almost all of the Imaginext females so far are villainesses (not that I mind).  I think the only two "good guys" are Wonder Woman and Jessie from Toy Story.  Morgana is essentially the same sculpt as yesterday's Enchantra figure, with the exception of long hair and a tiara.  A wholly new sculpt would have been nice, but beggars can't be choosers.  Let's check out the famed fairy witch below!

Imaginext ENCHANTRA the SNAKEWITCH!

Imaginext: The Dragon Adventure - Enchantra - Fisher-Price 2004

With all my high hopes about potential females in the future of the Imaginext line, I thought it would be fun to skip back in time and visit the very first lady produced.  Back in 2004, Imaginext was entering its third year and released the third wave of their Medieval theme: The Dragon Adventure (after The Castle Adventure (2002) and The Forest Adventure (2003).  This Dragon Adventure series introduced the very first female after 4 waves of exclusion (there were 2 pirate waves released prior to this series as well).  Enchantra (not to be confused with She-Ra's giant swan Enchanta) is similar to a stereotypical Medusa character, but with additional shape-changing abilities.  The figures back in 2004 were smaller in scale than modern Imaginext, but her giant head of snakes adds a lot of bulk to the figure and closes that scale gap quite a bit.  I love this figure.  I have a soft spot for villains, I love animal themes, and I'm a mythology nut.  She's basically perfect for me.  Let's check out Enchantra below!

The Walking Dead's MAGGIE GREENE!

AMC's The Walking Dead: Series 05 - Maggie Greene - McFarlane Toys 2014

In honor of new episodes starting up again this past Sunday, I wanted to review the third amazing lady in the McFarlane Toys The Walking Dead (TV Series) line so far.  This show has a surprising amount of fantastic female characters.  My future wants are Carol and Sasha.  And judging by the momentum that show and toy line is currently holding, I think there's a very good chance we'll see both of them in the next few years.  Maggie Greene is the tomboyish farmer's daughter (of Hershel) introduced early in Season 2.  I was instantly intrigued by her character.  She was strong, self-sufficient, a bit rebellious, and smart.  Over the course of the next few seasons we've seen her grow into one of the most formidable characters on the show.  If I had to pick a crew for a supply run into walker territory, Maggie would definitely be on my list.  McFarlane has hit yet another figure out of the park.  While the likeness isn't perfect, she's still instantly recognizable to any fan of the show.  Let's check out Maggie below!

DC Super Friends Imaginext POISON IVY!

Imaginext DC Super Friends - Scarecrow & Poison Ivy - Fisher-Price 2014

Fisher-Price and their parent company Mattel are amazing.  The Imaginext line is going to soar to new levels in 2014 with a commitment to second-tier superheroes and even cool collector-friendly (non-superhero) blind bags.  I think all fans of this line were nervous about the limited presence of female characters.  For the longest time it seemed like Catwoman would be the only lady produced.  Then a year later we were all surprised by Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman figures.  Now yet another year goes by and we get this green-skinned beauty to balance out the Gotham City Sirens trio.  Now I'm holding my breath for future announcements.  I suspect we'll see Batgirl, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna eventually.  Cheetah would be awesome, too.  I'm excited for the future of this line and it seems like the designers are, too.  The variety of the characters released so far and in the future is nothing short of inspiring.  Let's check out this latest addition to the line below!

DC All-Stars Jim Lee BATGIRL!

DC All Star Action Figures: Series 01 - Batgirl - DC Direct 2008

I think one of the hardest aspects to portray in an action figure is youth.  It never seems to come across quite right.  More often than not these figures feature inaccurately scaled-down adult features.  It's not just the toy design either; youthful characters in comics are often cringe-worthy.  2005's All Star Batman and Robin: The Boy Wonder was the long-awaited return of Jim Lee to the Bat Universe since his wildly successful Batman: Hush run in 2002.  The new series was written by the infamous Frank Miller.  Miller's rather warped sense of these characters became a point of ridicule across the internet;  Batman cursing at Robin, Wonder Woman as a man-hating tyrant, and Batgirl as a silly ineffective hero (with lots of vulgarities thrown at her.. so much so that DC officially redacted the words on the pages.  Jim Lee actually did a great job portraying this version the character, as did sculptor Karen Palinko, but this version of the character on her own is just underwhelming (In my humble opinion).  Let's check her out below!

DC Direct's Alpha Lantern BOODIKKA!

Blackest Night: Series 01 - Alpha Lantern Boodikka - DC Direct 2009

I always felt that the Green Lantern family didn't have enough female characters.  For years the only females I was aware of were Jade and Star Sapphire.  Little did I know there were a ton of great characters who have been around for decades.  The Green Lantern-centric Blackest Night storyline of 2009 really made me take notice of the Corps for the first time.  And luckily DC Direct seemed to take notice, too.  There were an impressive 8 females released across their multiple Blackest Night waves.  Boodikka is an alien warrior from the planet Bellatrix who first appeared in 1992.  Her bio is very confusing.  But in general, I gather that she could never quite separate her fierce warrior past with her heroic peacekeeping role in the Corps, which led to a lot of character-building conflict.  This action figure is very striking.  I had no clue who the character was when I first saw her, but I knew I had to have her.  She was actually the first of all my lady lanterns.  Let's check her out in detail below!

The Women of THUNDERCATS Mini-Mates!

Your Favorite Lady Thundarians - Icon Heroes / DST / Art Asylum 2012-2013

I've know ranted about this before, but Mini-Mates have definitely earned the #1 spot for team completion in modern pop collectibles.  Traditional action figures always fall a few figures short, Funko Pop shows crazy potential but needs more time, and HeroClix does a fantastic job, but all too often there's one modern costume in a retro lineup or vice versa - plus they're really tiny with varying degrees of detail.  Mini-Mates, however, having been proving their commitment to collectors for years.  I've completed New Mutants, Alpha Flight, Excalibur, the original X-Men, the 90's X-Men, and the original X-Factor with ease.  And, no, it's not only Marvel that gets this treatment.  In a few short years, they have created an extremely complete ThunderCats lineup.  I love every single cat they've produced, but I'm only focusing on the three ladies here.  Cheetara, WilyKit, and Pumyra are representative of one of the greatest 80s properties out there.  Let's check them out in detail below!

Power Rangers Samurai - RED RANGER LAUREN!

Power Rangers Samurai - Mystery Ranger (New Red Ranger) - BanDai 2012
 
I honestly never ever expected there to be a female Red Ranger.  I have an ocean of Pink and Yellow Rangers, with a smattering of Blues and Whites, but I always expected the head Red spot to remain a boys club.  Power Rangers Samurai was the 18th season of the show that aired in the US in 2012.  The Red Ranger for the majority of the season was Jayden Shiba, but by the end of the season, it was revealed that the true Red Ranger was his sister Lauren.  From what I gather it was a situation very similar to Queen Amidala.. they knew she was the real Red Ranger the whole time but felt the need to hide her in plain sight.  This toy was a very late addition to the Samurai line.  In fact, I'm 90% sure she wasn't released in North America at all.  I spent an unproductive year waiting for her to show up at Ross or Big Lots before finally caving and ordering her from Europe.  I'm really glad I did too because she's becoming very scarce and now that I have her I can't imagine not having her with the rest of my Ranger ladies!