Top 7 Best and Worst Miscellaneous Action Figures of 2021

2021 was a year of experiments. However, like all experiments, some succeed, and some fail. Today, we honour the failures, the scrapped plans that I still enjoy, but I didn't want to put the time into a full review as past experiences told me the effort wasn't worth it. Today, we delve into the legends of Marvel, the galaxy far, far away and a different multiverse with its own pantheon of heroes and villains. Though there wasn't enough to make a Top 10 list (I didn't feel like it was worth it when I barely got over ten figures), I did want to make a shorter list that covers the greats and the not so greats. So, before I get to the Joes, here are my Top 7 Best and Worst Miscellaneous Action Figures of 2021 (of the things I got in 2021, not necessarily being released in 2021).

 

Though the title states 7 Best and Worst, there are only two figures I wanted to include as a "worst of" mini list in this review, not because I think they are objectively bad, but because they made me rethink what I was going to do collecting wise from now on. So keep that in mind when you read why I was not too fond of these two.

* Star Wars: The Vintage Collection Battle Droid.

 

 In terms of detailing and articulation, this is an excellent small scale Battle Droid. I never had "traditional" (if that's the best way to put it) Star Wars toys when I was a kid. The big vehicle playsets with lots of 3-4 inch figures controlling them were never in my metaphorical toybox. In that regard, it's been interesting seeing the Vintage Battle Droid and the (not included on this list) Vintage Darth Vader in person. There are two reasons why the Battle Droid makes it on the list. One was getting both the Battle Droid alongside some Black Series figures made me realize that I preferred the larger scaled figures (maybe I would get more of the Vintage collection if space and cost wasn't an issue for the vehicles). The other reason was that the Battle Droid specifically does not feel pleasant to hold. Because of how thin the B1 Battle Droid design is, the figure is moulded in this rubber-like plastic to keep it from breaking, which ironically makes it feel more brittle, and extremely light. While I get the reasoning behind it, and it was the most logical thing, it still doesn't feel great. I feel more confident playing with a Lego Battle Droid, and the clips used for those pieces are notorious for breaking (at least back when I got Battle Droid minifigs).
 

Marvel Legends Phage:

 

Feel free to call me a "filthy casual" for this one, but Phage made it clear to me that if I was going to go in on Marvel Legends, and it's long, long... long history... I would need to have a genuine interest in the character or the representation first. I got Phage when I aimed to get all of that Venom wave to complete the Build A Fig, Venompool (mainly not to have a torso hanging around my tubs from when I got Gwennom). The thing is, though, I have no idea who this even is. I don't know much about the wider Marvel Symbiote World outside Venom and Carnage. Riot didn't impress me in the Venom movie (so much so that I'm not even convinced I'm remembering his name right), and Phage... just looks like a gold symbiote with some more spikes. There are some things I like, the head detail looks great, and I love the arm blade accessory. However, this guy will likely always have going against him because of all the horror stories I've heard about Gold Plastic Syndrome and my past experiences with the ticking timebomb that is metallic plastic. Is this that same type of plastic? No, I don't think so, but I can't help but feel nervous when holding him, like if I breathe the wrong way, he'll turn into dust as if he was an Infinity Gauntlet victim. For those wondering, no, I no longer have a random torso in my tub for Venompool. It's now a random torso with legs. I didn't end up finishing the wave anyway after getting Phage.

The "Not objectively the worst, but worst due to circumstances and preferences" mini list aside, here are the Top 7 Best.

7. Star Wars Black Series Commander Cody:

 

 
Even as someone who grew up when the prequels were in cinemas (though I was too young to see them in the cinemas). I will openly admit the Star Wars Prequels aren't great movies as a whole. They have their moments of enjoyment, some probably not for the intended reasons, and I still think that Revenge of the Sith is, overall, one of the better Star Wars movies. However, what got me to love characters like Commander Cody was the Clone Wars, and I'm glad that this gives a great representation of Cody from both the show and the movie. I love how they handled the armour, all the little painted details, and even how they sculpted the blasters. This figure definitely made a positive impression on me regarding The Black Series of figures. It, and the Marvel Legends figures, took time for me to come around too, as they feel limited compared to the G.I. Joe Classified figures. While that may feel like a stupid comparison to make, it's hard for me not to compare them, as I got into Classified first. Things like Cody's shoulder pads limiting articulation, along with the lack of an ab crunch in another Black Series figure later on, still feel jarring. Will I army build Clones now, thanks to Cody? No, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to try and get a Rex, Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka to go with him.
 
6. Marvel Legends Into the Spiderverse Prowler: 

 

 
I won't deny the fact that there's a heavy "spider theme" for the Marvel Legends characters. While I like other Marvel superheroes and supervillains, most of that love comes from the MCU, and I didn't get any MCU Marvel Legends figures this past year. Comic focused waves like the X-Men stuff didn't interest me, as many of those designs aren't what I have in my head when I think of those characters. I got the full Into the Spiderverse wave and was planning to review them during MAYvel 2021, but I ended up cancelling those plans when the two Marvel Legends reviews I did bombed in terms of page views (hence why I'm doing this and not proper reviews). I love how they handled Spiderverse Prowler; it's accurate to the movie without feeling limited by it (something I'll come back to later). The costume looks gorgeous; it's beautifully dynamic even in stationary poses. It looks like a hunter stalking its prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce. I just wish he came with accessories for himself and not the Build a fig for the wave, Stilt-Man, as some battle-ready claws and an Uncle Aaron head would have been perfect additions for him.
 
5. Marvel Legends Maximum Venom Gwennom: 

 

 That's not to say I don't enjoy the comic book designs. Like everything, it's case by case. Venomized designs of other characters in the Marvel comics have often felt hit and miss for me, as Spider-Man's black suit's simplicity is often lost to make more monstrous designs based more on Venom's look. While that's not a bad thing, it does make specific Symbiote versions of heroes like Miles' equivalent of the Black Suit look bad in my eyes. Gwennom's look, on the other hand, feels like a nice balance of the two extremes. It looks more monstrous than her regular costume, but it feels more complimentary than something like Miles, which looks more like Miles' body, with Venom's head. Elements like the Symbiote teeth making up the end of the hood, the tongue used more like a whip, the punk jacket adding in that bit of extra detail to the body this still feels like a costume and not a monster. The story it's used for in the comics feels like a perfect modernization of the iconic story and costume without going overboard with the knowledge fans have, knowing that this thing is still a monster.

4. Star Wars Black Series Grand Admiral Thrawn: 

 

 
 While Star Wars fans may complain about how he was portrayed in Rebels, it doesn't change the fact that Thrawn was, to me at least, still one of the best things in the second half of the show. I love this kind of villain. Cold, calculating, a villain that, while they may still just be mortal, no extra powers, no god-like technology, can read their enemies so well that, when they stop playing with their prey, decimate everything about them. That presence carries over in this figure; you always feel like this character is in control. While Cody's shoulders are limited, I was genuinely surprised by the lack of an ab crunch on Thrawn, though it's something that I'm perfectly fine with ignoring as it breaks up the sculpt of the Imperial Uniform. Perhaps that's the goal of the Black Series? Sculpt > Articulation? To a Black Series collector, let me know if this is the case.

3. DC Multiverse Batman Beyond (standalone release): 

 

This list wasn't going to be purely Marvel Legends and Black Series. Though Hasbro 6-inch was the bulk of my purchases for the year, in terms of looking for more experimental things to cover, the DC Multiverse figures did catch my interest as I enjoy DC's pantheon of characters. As tempting as it was to get the DCAU inspired figures due to my love of shows like Batman, the Animated Series and Justice League, like with Prowler before, I wanted to get something that felt better in the real world instead than being limited to the design of the animation. While those designs look good in cartoons, they don't look good as toys. I love the design of Batman Beyond's suit, and Terry's growth into The Batman throughout the show was almost always interesting, even to this day. It's nice to see something where a teenager is the main focus, but it doesn't feel as cliche as other teenage focused shows (looking at you Disney Channel sitcoms). There are some things I wish this figure did, such as giving him removable wings, more articulation in the neck to get him into better flying positions and including the Batarangs from the Build a Fig version; this is still a gorgeous take on Terry McGinnis' Batman. I got him at the same time as I got the Batman based on Detective Comics #1000. While I still like that Batman, I absolutely love this one.

2. Marvel Legends Into the Spiderverse Spider Gwen:

 

Yeah, both versions of the Ghost Spider made it on the list. Though I still haven't gotten the comic accurate version they put out a few years ago (hopefully once I've got some more money to spare?), this is still a great take on both the comic book and movie character (depending on the head you're using). She's honestly one of the main reasons I wish Prowler came with a little more, as she comes with both Spider-Ham and Stilt-Man's chest and still has enough room in the budget for two heads, two hoods and a spare set of hands. Granted, she is a smaller character, but it still doesn't change the fact that I wish there were a little more to Prowler. This is just a fantastic take on the costume and character, one that I easily recommend as a representation of the multiverse heroine. Anything else I could add to here would just be repeating my review of her.

1. Marvel Legends Gammerverse Miles Morales: 

Both of Spidey's Amazing Friends made the list, but Peter Parker himself didn't. Peter B Parker I thought was just fine, which is why he didn't make it here. This version of Miles, though, this is what I wanted from the Into the Spiderverse Miles I reviewed back for MAYvel. This is a fantastic representation of Miles' Spider-Man, helped by the fact that his design in Insomniac's games (neither of which I've played yet as I don't have a PS4 or PS5... yet...) are great designs for the costume. The beauty of this figure is its simplicity, the black and dark red complement each other perfectly, the optional Venom blast hands (I think that's the name, I know it's Venom something...) add that little extra colour to make him look vibrant without detracting from the look. I hope an updated version of Peter's look from the games comes out to join him, especially with Spider-Man 2 being in active development. It would be tempting to get figures of all the original costumes for the games because of how good they look, especially if they're given this level of care. Miles was one of the last figures I got for 2021, so while a part of this may still be the new toy sheen, this to me, feels like a great way to close out 2021 in terms of general 6-inch figures.

Let me know if you agree or disagree with the choices on this list. With my limited experiences in these three lines, I'm more than open to hearing suggestions on figures to get or figures to avoid. Who knows, maybe for 2022, some of these could break out into their own Best of Lists by then. However, that may depend on how my income for the year goes, thanks to the pandemic. I'll see you next week for the final of these lists, the best and worst of G.I Joe Classified.

Opinion Piece: Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest 2021

Because the April Schedule is already out of whack anyway.

 

With the continued struggle of running events, Hasbro has decided to stream product reveals for six toy brands. Four licensed brands, two in house brands so that people who have access to Hasbro Pulse (without needing to resort to PO Boxes) can see what's coming up and what may join their collections. Instead of a regular review, I thought it would be interesting to go through the four and a half hours of live-stream, taking a break to finish building a new Lego Set, which will be getting a review soon, and see what new products are on the way. Here are my thoughts on the first Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest. 

 

 

 

To quickly get one thing out of the way. The six IP's that are focused on in this presentation. Transformers, G.I Joe, Star Wars, Marvel, Power Rangers and Fortnite. I actively collect two of these brands. I don't delve hard into merchandise for two of the brands here, choosing to focus more on the media they output, and the remaining two I don't care about in general. If you're coming here looking for my deep thoughts on the Power Rangers and Fortnite stuff, you're going to be disappointed as I didn't grow up watching Power Rangers, and I don't play Fortnite. 

I'll be going at this in order of reveals, but as an AV technician, I do have to call attention to awkward and frustrating aspects of the presentation, especially early on. Awkward camera transitions, the presenter's focus on the wrong camera, showing bad set direction early on, along with the continued use of "talk from the office via webcam", something that is a case by case technical issue depending on where the person lives and what they've done. There was stuttering, one of the people presenting in the Power Rangers muted themselves and didn't turn it back on, just minor issues like that which make the overall presentation look and feel kind of cheap. I was also not a big fan of the pointless padding like the Trivia, small Q&A sections, and talking to some fans moments that killed the presentation's pacing. Those shouldn't have been in the main show. Also, while I won't be going into details, I will still talk about all six IP's so going in order, relatively blind, so if it sounds disjointed, that's because it likely is. With that said:

 

 

Fortnite: The Victory Royal line looks alright overall, though, with my lack of knowledge on the game, I don't know if these are just fancy skins or actual characters, maybe both? It's why there are reveals that I'll be skipping because I can't think of much to say other than "looks alright". Ripply looks cool reminds me a bit of Minion from Mega Mind, but I'm cautious about how well those translucent joints will hold up over time. It seems like a very risky figure to be starting with engineering-wise. Lynx looks a bit too much like robot Catwoman, though I hope the articulation is carried over into other lines. Scarlett, the one female G.I Joe I have so far, only has single joint elbows, and I've heard Marvel Legends fans have been clamouring for better articulation in female characters for a while now, so hopefully, it happens. Shadow Meowsel (Meowsle?), the details are lovely, but I do find it odd that they released the obvious repaint first for this new line, though I shouldn't be surprised based on what I've seen from other toylines. The shark seems to be just a fancy accessory pack. I'm guessing a Loot Lama will be on the way based on how the accessories store in the shark. Will I go in on this line? No. As I said, I don't play the game. I've got no interest in these characters. I've not seen enough about them to know about any personalities they may have (compared to Overwatch, another shooter I don't play, but the characters do interest me). I might do a review of some if I get a chance to borrow the figures from someone interested in the line, but for the time being, I wouldn't expect to see more Fortnite on either site. 

 

 

Transformers: Purely because they addressed it in the presentation, Hasbro does need to get a lot better about leaks when it comes to Transformers. The new Titan looks fantastic; it's nice to get a Transforming Ark, and while I have minor nitpicks about the gaps for the sake of transformation, they do look bad in vehicle mode. It does, however, look very impressive as a whole. The Ark might be the first Titan I own because of how good it looks overall. Rodimus Prime, when I first heard about it from leaks, I wasn't impressed, as I don't care about Rodimus' trailer being a trailer. I was hoping it was going to be integrated into the transformation. After seeing pictures of it, though, and seeing all that it can do, all that it comes with, I've warmed up to it more. Ignoring what I wanted it to be, this Rodimus does look to be a great looking Rodimus. Galvatron I was excited for the moment we heard it was coming, and after getting Scourge and Cyclonus in hand, Galvatron doesn't look as impressive based on the pictures, but not to the point of it looking bad. I'm still loving the look of it and can't wait to get it. Scorponok looks fantastic, probably one of the best looking Scorpion Transformers so far, though that's not too hard to do. Wing finger looks alright, not too big on the fossil mode primarily due to the dinosaur they chose, but the robot mode looks great. I'm going to try and make the fossil combiner when I get all three fossilizes. Not entirely sold on Tracks, I think he looks a bit too bulky in robot mode, but the car mode and flying car modes look great. I can't wait for Rhinox, Dracodon's a Vertibreak repaint; see my review for my thoughts on that. Not sure if it looks good in green, though. Soundwave I'm not too interested in mainly because I'm not collecting the core class G1 characters. The only one so far that interests me is Megatron because of the accessory. Astonishingly, he comes with a Lazerbeak cassette, and because of that, I might change my mind depending on how well he looks in tape recorder mode when next to bigger figures. Tricranius looks cool, and I love the fact that they're doing a blast effects pack at last. I'd love to see them do more blast effects in different colours, especially if weapons that are blast effects compatible are going to continue going forward. Shattered Glass Blur, 1/5 figures that are going to be Shattered Glass repaints. I wish we could see more of those figures, but Blur looks excellent. I'm hoping to get the Shattered Glass two-pack sometime this year, and this one will look great with Prime and Ratchet. The final thing revealed is an app and voice-controlled Optimus Prime. This has been floating around for years as what looked like a Robotics designer's personal project, now given a mass retail release. It looks cool, but not the likely over $1000 cool. Though it's a shame that Studio Series didn't get any love, and it was so Kingdom focused, the fact that this paragraph is as long as it is shows you that there was still a lot of info released that I'm excited for. There will be a Fan Friday in May that'll show more off, hopefully including Studio Series?

 

Power Rangers: A significant focus for this section of the presentation was on the media side of Power Rangers, game updates, a new comic, episodes of the shows being uploaded to Youtube, along with unknown collections that will be retail exclusives in August. I don't have much to say about those. For the Lightning Collection, they first showed off the remaining team members of the Mighty Morphin Metallic Power Rangers. Yellow, Blue, Black, and Red. They look good; the glitter effect looks OK, the weapons look alright and will look good with the already released Pink one. Finally, they showed off the Boom Studios Tyranosaurus Sentry, and again, it seems fine. It might be the cape, but it looks like it'll be awkward to pose in exciting ways and doesn't look as expressive as the other figures shown (well, the digital renders they offered). The weapon effects on all the figures look great, though, and I think those interest me the most out of all of the reveals in this section of the stream.

 

 

G.I. Joe: The focus for the Joes was the product reveals for the upcoming Snake Eyes movie (which we're still waiting on a trailer for). The kids' roleplay items look fine, though I get the feeling the sword will be a bit difficult to hold for kids, at least based on the video itself, for all I know they're the same size as Lightsaber hilts which will be fine. Out of all the roleplay items, the spring-loaded staff would have interested me the most as a kid, but I could see them causing issues for parents. Parents beware when it comes to those toy Ninja weapons. The kids' action figures look good as well, a Joe equivalent of lines like Transformers Cyberverse, looking closer to the Deluxe class for them. The weapon combination gimmick, along with the spring-loaded attack gimmick, looks fun without being intrusive to the figure (they're not going to be as poseable as the Classified series, but these don't look to be as invasive as gimmick focused Transformers). The figures look good; not a big fan of the Baroness and Ninja Tech Snake Eyes, though. However, some accessories like Storm Shadow's quiver and a dagger that Baroness comes with seem to give off the impression that they'll work well with the Classified line for those who can't find the Classified versions on shelves. The Character and Vehicle figures don't look great to me. The characters look good, but the bikes feel forced in, and I'm not sure how well the gimmick will work considering they're motorcycles. I love the look of the Classified versions of the movie characters. They're different enough from the regular Classified figures that they stand out while not looking so drastically different from the familiar 80's aesthetic to not clash with the current Classified figures, at least when compared to the Transformers modernized looks compared to their movie designs. A solid presentation overall, but it's hard to be excited for a movie where there's no trailer for it yet, especially a movie now coming out in July this year.

 

 

Marvel: Starting with Marvel Legends Retro Wave 3, Bullseye, Grey Hulk, Invisible Woman, Cyclops, Ant-Man and Vision. While they look good, not too into 3.75-inch figures, at least on their own (something that I hope to elaborate on in the future). Going into the 6-inch stuff, Quazar looks well done; I just don't have much to say about him. I love the look of Classic Ultron, with there being just enough mechanical detail to give him some texture without going too far away from the comics. Evolt Guardsman looks fine; nothing really to say about him as I've never heard of him before. Hologram Iron Man seems interesting, but as with Ripply in Fortnite, I question how durable the material will be due to the translucent body. I love the look of Stealth suit Iron Man, along with Iron Heart. They did bring attention to the fact that Riri will have double pinless elbows, so regarding my comment about Lynx, there's a good chance the articulation improvements carry on into other lines. Not sold on Darkstar, to be honest, at least when compared to the previous reveals of the Iron Man wave. All of the figures from Ultron to Darkstar will come with components to make Ursa Major, which looks very impressive, but I would probably be more impressed if I knew who Ursa Major was. Stand alone from those in the 90's Modular Armor, which looks great and a good representation of the 90's armour. I could see people who played (what I'm assuming to be) Marvel vs Capcom enjoying the look as well, potentially keeping them around as new fans. The Iron Man suits are tempting, along with Iron Heart and Ultron; the others aren't interesting to me personally. In terms of the MCU stuff, while they couldn't show Disney+ figures, they did show off Thor from the final battle in Endgame. The sculpt looks good, and I like the effects parts, but I'm not a fan of the translucent blue weapons. They don't look good without the effects parts, which is a shame for those that don't want to use them for displays. A new piece of Legends gear is the MCU Eye of Agamoto, complete with a glowing, Removeable Time Stone. For people who like collecting the MCU gear, they're going to love this, and I can easily see this working well as a cosplay prop. After going into some details on the Haslab Sentinel, it appears that the next project they're going to try and crowdfund is a Galactus, at least based on the teaser and a teaser for the second wave of Age of Apocolypse revealed a Sabertooth coming. It is a nice mix of reveals, maybe not so much if you prefer MCU figures, but still solid overall.

 

 

Star Wars: Up first for Star Wars is the Galactic Snacking Grogu, based on his hunger from Mandalorian Season 2. An electronic Grogu toy is about what you'd expect it to be; looks fine. I hope you're not sick of Baby Yoda merch. After that came the reveals for the Vintage Collection. Re releases/ remakes in the collection include Luke Skywalker in his Hoth outfit, Han Solo in his Endor trenchcoat, Admiral Ackbar, and the Royal Guard. They look good for 3.75-inch figures. A new subline in the Vintage collection themed around Star Wars game characters was revealed, with the first wave including Heavy Battle Droid from Battlefront 2 (they didn't say which one), Shadow Stormtrooper from The Force Unleashed (which looks nice to me but, once again, translucent body parts), Scout Trooper (which looks to be a regular Scout Trooper but with new harness and a stun baton), and Electro-staff Purge Trooper, both from Jedi Fallen Order. The four figures look great, but I find it odd that it's all army builders and no characters from the games in question. Going to the 6-inch Black Series figures, they revealed figures they teased back in January, including General Lando from Return of the Jedi, Aura Sang from the Prequels (most notably from The Clone Wars), Tech from The Bad Batch, Zero from The Mandalorian, and Koska Reeves from The Mandalorian. All of these are faithful to their representations in Star Wars, though I am surprised they've finished The Bad Batch and Bo Katan's team so quickly, especially when there are (apparently) other teams and squads missing characters. Black Series Role-Play (I didn't catch the actual name) reveals include Wedge's helmet (which is probably a repaint of Luke's helmet, so again, looks fine if you're collecting them). The final reveal for the section was a Rogue One X-Wing for the Vintage Collection, along with an Antok Merrik that will be bundled with it to pilot it. During the presentation, a fan vote started to bring a vintage collection figure back into production in 2022. You can find it on Hasbro Pulse's social media channels. Maybe it's the fact that this took me all of Saturday to write (and I still need to do the thoughts on the presentation, the opening and closing paragraphs), or it's the fact that I don't collect Star Wars toys. Still, nothing in this section of the presentation interested me. 

Final thoughts on it all? I like the fact that Hasbro does product reveals like this and their Fan First Fridays. I hope that even after things fully recover, they continue to do them as it helps keep the excitement going between press shows. But, there are still some bugs to work out. I hope that if they keep working on them, the web cameras from home/ office stop once they can get people back at work, give the presentation a more professional look, and avoid technical hiccups that have frequently appeared in these kinds of events. I also think they need to strike a better balance in terms of the amount revealed compared to the discussion on the reveal. Four and a half hours is a lot to get through. Stop Motion trailers might be a thing to consider to show off a figure, what they come with, how they move, something that the designers would discuss. However, that will depend on how much they can cut the production time down. The padding, such as trivia and fan opinions, is also a pace killer; I think that kind of stuff is best saved for a post-show stream that could go into more detail on the reveals. I hope this was good read for you, I'll have a review of something for next week.