POP Rides - SHE-RA on SWIFTWIND!

POP! Rides #279 - She-Ra on Swiftwind (Walmart Exclusive) - Funko 2021

Sometimes I'm just a sucker for a vintage-themed product. Do I love this Funko Rides She-Ra on Swiftwind? No. Do I have any nostalgic connection to the vintage She-Ra toy deisgns? No. But can a resist a retro toy of fabulous warrior woman riding a pink flying unicorn? Of course not. There were a lot of design differences between the vintage She-Ra toys and the Filmation cartoon. I never owned any of the toys and my memories of them in stores are a pink blur. I actually have fond memories of them from various Christmas Catalogs, but that was during the era when all the horses were translucent. My most potent memories are from the cartoon. Swiftwind had a very stark difference. In the cartoon he was a white horse with a reddish mane and tail, pink armor, and rainbow-like wings with blue, yellow, and pink. The vintage toy design was a pink horse with pink mane and tail, gold armor, and wings that were gold, pink, and white. I like the pink, but all my fond memories are tied to the animated version.

Kamen Rider Agito - EL OF THE WATER!

Kamen Rider Agito - Soft Vinyl Figures - El of the Water - Bandai 2003

I bought this figure about 18 years ago when I was on a crazy Japanese Vinyl kick. Then just a couple years ago I photographed it for a review and quickly realized I had forgotten every bit of detail about this toy (other than that it was produced by Bandai). I had no frame of reference in my head and googling things like "shark woman bandai" returned zilch. Then tonight I researched hard (hours literally) and finally was able to identify her. In 2001 Kamen Rider Agito aired as the eleventh installment of the Kamen series. There were a lot of villains in this series including a troublesome trio called the El Lords. These three Lords controlled Water, Wind, and Ground. Technically El of the Water is a male entity and voiced by a male actor, but for the majority of her/his screen time in this series, they had possessed the 21 year old human character Masumi Sekiya. And while possessing Masumi, the El of the Water looked distinctly female. Something I love about Japanese villains on action television is the creative designs.

Super7 Ultimates - APRIL O'NEIL!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates - Wave 3 - April O'Neil - Super7 2021

Super7 has a lot of my money tied up in pre-orders. I literally have 19 Ultimates figures destined for my toy shelves (eventually). It will be a selection of characters from ThunderCats, Silverhawks, G.I.Joe, and 2001: A Space Odyssey - and I'm very excited to get them all. While I have a handful of Classics-scale MOTU figures from the company, I consider this April O'Neil my first true in-hand example of a Super7 Ultimates. And I must say, this makes me more excited than I already was. I was surprised by the toyetic quality of this figure. While a lot of modern collector figures have a dull rubbery texture and realistic paint details (which I love), this figure is shiny, simple, and nostalgic - and appeals to me on a totally different level than most toys. You could convince me that this was a toy made for a kid in the late 80's... but a rich kid and a toy company that pulled all the stops. I expect the other properties will be equally impressive (but in different ways). Time will tell. Let's check out April below!

Camp Cretaceous - YAZ!

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous - Yaz & Velociraptor Blue - Hasbro 2021

I've been hearing good things about Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous on Netflix since it first debuted back in 2020, but I just started watching it this week. I know it's intended for a young audience, but beyond the juvenile banter of the campers, it has some pretty mature and dark themes. The show follows a group of young teenagers at an exclusive camp on Isla Nublar. It seems to take place concurrently within the first Jurassic World movie. The campers are a diverse cross-section of modern youth: a nerd, a rich kid, a vlogger, a dino geek, an antisocial athlete, and an overly energetic cowgirl. Yasmina 'Yaz' Fadoula is the antisocial athlete. I'm only a few episodes in and I'm not yet sure what sport she plays (Track & Field I believe), but she always wears athletic duds, is formidable in the action scenes, and hates having her picture taken and has trouble communicating with the others. There are three female campers, and the other two should be out any day now. Let's check out Yaz below!

Temple of Darkness SORCERESS!

Masters of the Universe Origins - Sorceress (Castle Grayskull) - Mattel 2021

Master of the Universe Mini-Comics were included with all the vintage toys and added a lot to the He-Man lore. As adult collectors, there is a fun trend of using character designs from these books as color variants. If you see a yellow Tri-Klops, a blue Mer-man, or a red Beast Man toy, these are vintage comic variants. As far as the ladies go, pink Teela, Eternian Goddess (green Teela), and white Sorceress all trace their roots to these mini-comics.  The interesting thing is that these were likely all the result of bad editing or cheap printing processes. They never mention the color changes in the stories, the characters just visually appear that way for a single story and usually revert to normal for their next appearance. But if toy molds need to be re-used to be profitable, I'm glad there is this obscure vintage reference to give us some meaningful variety. In the 1984 mini-comic titled Temple of Darkness, Sorceress inexplicably appeared in all white. This is my absolute favorite of all the mini-comic variations.

A Trio of ROBLOX LADIES!

ROBLOX Deluxe Mystery Pack Series 01 - Flora, Diana, Rosalia - Jazwares 2021

Whenever a toy line really establishes itself in the toy aisles, I know I'll eventually have to make a purchase to see what all the fuss is about. I have been noticing Roblox figures from Jazwares in stores for quite a few years now, and I honestly was never super tempted. They were blocky and simple with odd facial expressions. But on the plus side, the themes always seemed fun. I swear every time I glanced at the displays I would see a different mermaid character. I managed to avoid any purchases (not counting their non-blocky Imagination Collection) until a fateful day back in October when I saw three characters lined up: a mermaid, a centaur, and a spider sorceress. The assortment just made me happy and I finally brought a few of these figures home. Plus I was excited to add the first female centaur and first mermaid of color to my collection. And after playing with these figures and swapping parts, I get the appeal. I'm open to buying more if they call to me. Let's check out these Roblox ladies below!

WWE Wrestling - SCARLETT!

WWE Series 120 - NXT First Time in the Line - Scarlett Bordeaux - Mattel 2021

When I picked up this Scarlett figure a couple months ago, it was my first standard WWE purchase in four years. Sure, I picked up a ton of the short-lived WWE Superstars line and a handful of the Masters of the WWE, but for the most part I was worn out from years of buying (gorgeous and inexpensive) figures of characters I knew hardly anything about. I made a vow to not buy any more unless they really called out to me. Then I saw this figure during the 2021 holiday season and I was super intrigued. I had never seen a WWE lady with a full-coverage unadorned bodysuit. Then her brilliantly white hair just made her pop all the more. In reality, this is a super simple figure for Mattel. There is zero deco and the buck required no new tooling, but she is still an impressive figure (that I imagine customizers will be hoarding). In a time when the female wrestling figure lineup on the shelves is dominated technicolor palettes, this stark design ends up being the true attention-grabber. Let's check her out below!

PJ Masks - OCTOBELLA!

PJ Masks: Underwater Heroes 4-Pack - Octobella - Hasbro 2021

The properties being taken over by Hasbro aren't contained to popular collector lines like Fortnite and Power Rangers. Long-lasting preschool lines like PJ Masks have also changed production. Just Play Toys had been making these toys for years and I had acquired a small collection. But when toylines like this (that I only sporadically collect) start over, I get a bit fatigued and rarely continue buying them. But a big exception occurs when they start off with inclusion of an amazing new character. And this Octobella is a prime example of that. I love aquatic characters, and tentacled ladies are especially intriguing to me. Octobella is a villain introduced in Season 3 but not fully featured until Season 4. She is specifically an antagonist to Gekko and I'm obsessed with her design. Her unexpected inclusion makes me hopeful for a Batarina (the purple bat hero) and Orticia (the punky plant villain). Fingers crossed we'll see them. Let's check out the "squiggly giggly octopus girl" (her words, not mine) below!