The Walking Dead - ALPHA!

The Walking Dead - Comic Series - Skybound Exc - McFarlane Toys 2015

I still haven't read any of The Walking Dead comics, but this figure is really making me want to start. All information I'm gleaning about this figure is pure conjecture from the packaging graphics.. but it's some pretty awesome conjecture. I gather that Alpha is the leader of a band of survivors that wear skinned walker heads as masks to "cloak" themselves. It's a pretty gross and cool concept. I really hope Alpha and her tribe make it into the show. I'm guessing she's on the "good" side since The Walking dead always likes to play with the "appearances can be deceiving" concepts, and she looks pretty gruesome... so she must be friendly, right? Time will tell. Skybound.com has released a lot of great exclusives over the past few years. (Skybound is Robert Kirkman's Entertainment company FYI). It seems to be a great way to get us characters that aren't a good fit for the stores. Hopefully there are many more.  Let's check out Alpha below!

Marvel X-men Legends Infinite Series - JUBILEE!

Marvel X-Men Legends - Build-a-Figure Jubilee - TRU Exclusive - Hasbro 2015

Jubilee has never been a favorite character of mine.  When she first appeared I thought she was a cheap knock-off of Boom Boom, but then I quickly realized she was intended to be another Kitty Pryde-type character in the X-men roster. I thought she was silly and pretty much just ignored her until she became the focal point of X-men the Animated Series back in 1992. She was pretty hard to sweep under the rug at that point. But everyone seemed to love her so I tried to give her a shot. It took decades for me to warm up to her. Literally. It was while reading 2011's Wolverine and Jubilee mini-series that I finally saw what everyone else did. Of course at this point she was a vampire on the run with a kidnapped baby (which was a bizarre turn of events), but for the first time I enjoyed her. Of course I found that a quick way for that hard-earned respect to be rendered obsolete is to make her Legends figure a nearly-impossible-to-complete exclusive build-a-figure and then package her torso with the criminally shortpacked Storm.  It was a frustrating, yet bountiful, year for Marvel Legends. Let's check out Jubilee below!

Marvel X-men Legends Infinite Series - STORM!

Marvel X-Men Legends - Jubilee Series - Storm - TRU Exclusive - Hasbro 2015

This figure was the bane of my existence all year. It's one thing the have a shortpacked A-list female character, it's another thing to include a major (female) Build-a-Figure piece with such a figure, and it's yet another thing to make the entire wave exclusive to a single store. To me, this figure represented the cruelty that companies like Hasbro can inflict on the collecting community. I go to Toys R Us a lot. I pass four different locations in my regular travels, and I have an additional six in close proximity that I can easily hit on the weekends. But I never saw this figure once in the stores. I promised myself that I would get her by the end of the year, and here she is, but she cost me a small fortune. This figure is stunning though.  I completely understand why everyone wanted her. Plus the Jubilee legs and torso are a major bonus. I hope she gets re-released in some form so everyone can own her. This next year should be a pretty good one for X-men Legends. Let's check out Storm below!

Halo 5 Guardians - SPARTAN KELLY!

Halo 5 Guardians - Series 01 - Spartan Kelly - McFarlane Toys 2015

Halo toys just keep getting better and better. Each time I buy a new figure, I swear it will be my last, but then another character gets released and I'm back on the bandwagon. Halo 5: Guardians has a lot of great potential for female figures. There are already two females (Holly Tanaka and Kelly-087) for this game, with a third generic green figure on the way soon. But there are at least two more named females in the game (Olympia Vale and Linda-058). There is already an older figure Vale figure out there, but an updated one would be awesome.  I really just want female Halo figures in every color of the spectrum. I almost skipped this Kelly figure because I thought her coloring was too similar to Commander Palmer's for my multi-hued army. The earlier version of Kelly had white armor and would have been better, but she's really hard to come by at a good price. So alas, another silver Spartan on my shelf.  At least the gold-domed helmet distinguishes her.  Let's check out Kelly below!

Power Rangers - PINK DINO STEEL & DINO DRIVE!

Power Rangers Dino Charge - Dino Steel & Dino Drive - Bandai 2015

I'm combining my reviews of these two figures because I've had them on the back burners forever. For those unaware, Power Rangers typically get several costume upgrades throughout the course of a series.  So far in Dino Charge, there was the Standard costumes, the armored Dino Drive costumes, and the differently-armored Dino Steel costumes. This review will cover the latter two costumes of the Pink Ranger so I can be all caught up. I don't usually get all the variations of the figures (because the changes can be subtle and not interesting for display purposes), but the Dino Charge series is a little different because there are at least ten rangers, and I'm hoping for a variety of female action figures in new colors (Aqua/Cyan especially!). We already got a surprise Purple so my hopes are high. I'd hate to miss out on a full set so I'm picking up the Pinks when I see them. Let's check out Dino Drive Pink and Dino Steel Pink in detail below!

Power Rangers Dino Supercharge PURPLE RANGER!

Power Rangers Dino Supercharge - Purple Ranger - Bandai 2015

It's not every day that a Purple Ranger comes around.. especially a female one. As far as I can tell, this is a first. One thing that really impressed me when I first reviewed Dino Pink earlier this year was the sheer number of Rangers in this lineup. Included in the bunch were three females: Pink, Purple, and Cyan (or Aqua?). I honestly didn't expect to get any of the second-tier Rangers in action figure form. But then a few months ago some pictures were shown of the first waves of Dino Supercharge were shown with two new females: Purple.. and possibly Blue? Purple started showing up in stores around me this week. On the shelves, she looks really purple, but in photos I realize she looks very fuchsia. I have some added pics near the bottom that make her color look more distinct. Purple Ranger is themed as a Plesiosaur, which doesn't exactly seem like the most threatening of beasts. She's probably like Aquaman in the Justice League.  I love her though. I hope we get a whole spectrum of ladies!

Mortal Kombat - KITANA!

Mortal Kombat X - Princess Kitana - Mezco Toyz 2015

Fighting games don't have a good track record for sensible female costumes. Fetish lingerie with boots seems to be the status quo. (How this ever became the standard getup for a formidable female warrior boggles the mind). Mortal Kombat X is the sixteenth game featuring Kitana.  I haven't played video games in years, but I was definitely a gamer 22 years ago when Kitana made her first appearance. To be honest, the girls in the early years of Mortal Kombat kind of annoyed me. This is mostly because they were just multi-hued versions of the same character. Jade, Mileena, and Kitana reminded me of the Chipmunks with their minimal color-coded differences. I wanted variety dammit! Over the years their looks have evolved independently into the impractical mass of straps we see today. Don't get me wrong, this action figure is really well made and looks great.  And I don't regret picking her up for a second. I just think no fighter would be caught dead trying to spar in this outfit. Let's check her out below!

Masters of the Universe - TEELA (and Customization!)

MOTUC Point Dread & Talon Fighter - Mattycollector Exclusive - Mattel 2015

Teela is probably the greatest female character in the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series. The Sorceress and Evil-Lyn were awesome, but at the same time they were pretty archetypal witch/mage types. Teela, on the other hand, was the daughter of King Randor's weaponer, Man-at-Arms, and Captain of the Royal Guard. Most of the time she was tasked with protecting the seemingly aloof Prince Adam - much to the amusement of the viewing audience. The first Teela figure in the MOTUC line was amazing. Her only issues are that she looks pretty modern in comparison to more recent figures that favorite the simplified Filmation style. She's also very expensive to acquire on the secondary market. So this Teela 2.0 figure was a much-demanded figure that had everyone's hopes high. Then the production figures were shown with a misshapen face and the disappointed grumbles could be heard across the blogosphere. I can be pretty handy with minor touch-ups to figures so I was excited to try my hand at fixing this figure. I'm super happy with the results. Pics and details at the bottom. Let's check out Teela 2.0!