Spider-Man Homecoming MJ - Zendaya - Action Figure

Face it Tiger! You just hit the jackpot!

Presenting MJ - or Zendaya - Action Figure from the Spider-Man Homecoming 2-pack.  Definitely a must have for Spider-Man fans - or Zendaya Fans.

Seriously we're not Spider-Man fans. In fact while shooting Zendaya over there, we realized that we did not have a single Spider-Man action figure in the house.

But we are Zendaya fans. Honestly when she was cast as MJ, we couldn't care less that she was black (Technically only half-black). We actually couldn't care less who she was - because we weren't Spider-Man fans. And she was so sour and negative in the movie. So we really didn't care for her - though we did like Tom Holland's performance.

Then we saw The Greatest Showman and our minds were blown.

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Marvel Legends Magik Review

You believe yourselves immune to death? I bring you a gospel of oblivion.
I bring you the Soulsword. Taste it and cease to be.

We'd like to thank Marvel for making one of the rarest Marvel Legends figures - Magik - easier to attain. 

Though we're pretty sure that there are those out there who are seething that Magik's price range has dropped. Illayana Rasputin here used to be a 2015 SDCC exclusive that you could only get if you were able to purchase Marvel's Book of the Vishanti collection that includes: the Astral Plane version of Doctor Strange; Brother Voodoo, Hela and the great  Dormammu. Because it was an SDCC exclusive, we've seen Magik being sold alone - sans the Book of the Vishanti - for as high as US$275 (Roughly PhP 15,000). So when this was released? We had to have her - especially since Colossus and Shadowcat came out so beautifully.

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Marvel Legends SPdr wave Elektra Action Figure

 I am Elektra, the assassin. To look upon me......is to see the end of life.

Marvel keeps pumping out Elektras and each one is even better than the last one. 

We remember the first Marvel Legends Elektra that was released a decade ago and it was praised for its articulation and beauty. There was that back-step though when Marvel released a version that came with the Sinister 6 pack. That was garbage. Then there was the Elektra that was released along with Ronin as part of a 2-pack. That was our standard for Elektra since then: decent articulation, good accessories, alternate hands and heads, and a great sculpt. That was our fall-to Elektra til the Elodie Yung's version that we reviewed here. 

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Marvel Legends Sabretooth - quick look

Your fancy claws can't cut what they can't hit.
An' your hotsy-totsy healing factor... won't save you... 
when I rip out your heart! 

This will be a quick look at the Marvel Legends Apocalypse BAF Sabretooth. This is definitely not our first Sabretooth, but it is indeed our favorite! 

This particular Sabertooth stirs up memories of back when we first discovered the X-Men. This was the Wolverine antithesis who cut his way into the X-Mansion and nearly killed everyone in there during the Mutant Massacre only to be stopped by the timely arrival of Wolverine (Face it Psylocke, that was a running retreat. Nice try though).

Today he's more of an anti-hero, but he'll always be a classic X-Men villain to us. Their literal bogeyman.

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Marvel Legends Multiple Man Action Figure

You never know when you might need X-Factor.

How may Multiple Mans are needed before you have an acceptable army? We don't know but it's a really sad thing that we only have the one. 

Jamie Madrox, Marvel's Multiple Man has always been a surprise to us. When we were introduced to him some time back in the 1980s we kinda scoffed at him. We thought his power was lame in comparison to everyone else who could easily wipe out all of his duplicates with one or two blasts.

Yet through the years through creative writing, the Multiple Man has proven to be a complex and charismatic character; a worthy leader of the X-Men (Factor), and; a resourceful and almost unstoppable one-man army

He's so complex he refuses to die (His death via Terrigen Mist in the absolutely horrible IvX story-line was waaay undeserved, so welcome back).

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Marvel Legends Domino Action Figure Review

 I really should have stayed in college

The Marvel Legends Domino Action Figure is a much needed and much awaited upgrade over that horrendous excuse for a Domino released a few years back.

We watched Deadpool 2 over the weekend and frankly it was a fun ride but they lost me when they iced Vanessa (Spoliers - yeah they brought her back to life and now there's this theory that she's the personification of Death, but she's too pretty to kill).

But it was a fun movie and we do recommend that you go see it - we just prefer the first one (And we love you Colossus, but no way did you stand toe-to-toe with the Juggernaut).

It also surprisingly didn't bother us that they color-bent Domino. Probably because we thought that Zazie Beetz did justice to the role: she was fun, fearless, irreverent, and damn sexy (Though let's accept the fact that the members of X-Force died because of her probability field).

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Marvel Legends X-23 Laura Kinney - X-Force Action Figure

Maybe I'm not the best there is, but I'm pretty damned close.

The Marvel Legends X-23 Laura Kinney X-Force uniform action figure is a definite must have for any X-Force fan and one of the nicest Marvel Legends figures we've seen in some time. It's actually a wonder why she's turned into a peg-warmer. 

Laura Kinney: We never did like her as Wolverine. We personally saw that as a weird gimmik by Marvel to make all of Marvel's main characters princesses or minorities. Well it looks like the experiment is at an end. Thor is dead and the mantle has been foreshadowed to return to the Odinson; Falcon has returned the shield to Captain America (Shame considering there was another shield available for his use), and; THE Wolverine is back.
When Wolverine returns to claim his mantle, we wonder if Laura will revert to X-23 or will there be Old-Man Logan, Wolverine, Female Wolverine and James Hudson?

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Marvel Legends Gwenpool

Welcome back to super hero world, Gwen! Hope you survive the experience! 

As far as incarnations of one of Marvel's most... twisted... characters, the Marvel Legends Gwenpool figure is pretty decent adaptation. But we're pretty sure it could be better.

We're not really fans of Gwenpool and she hasn't really entered into any of the comic books we read. What we do know is that she started out as a promotional effort for Spider-Gwen. Because Spider-Gwen was so popular, Marvel decided to release comic cover variants of Spider-Gwen imagined as different characters like Wolverine, Dr Strange and.... Deadpool.

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Marvel Legends Mantis BAF Action Figure

Guardians of the Galaxy's Mantis

The Marvel Legend Mantis Build-A-Figure Mantis is an interesting progression in the technology injected into the toy-line. 

Personally we found Mantis to be a very refreshing addition to Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and actually prefer her innocent personality to her more stern and serious Marvel Comics personality. We're definitely looking forward to seeing her in the Avengers: Infinity War movie.

Her action figure was a bit of a bother to acquire though given that you had to purchase all 7 figures of the Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 toyline to get her. And we weren't particularly interested in most of the characters.

Happily we got her from another collector without having to go through the trouble.

Marvel Legends Female Loki

"There are no men like me"

Somehow it is fitting that the Marvel Legends female version of the character the world is growing to love and hate at the same time - Loki, god of mischief - is very well made out of spare parts. 

This is the female Loki included in the Marvel Legends A-Force 2017 SDCC Exclusive box. To the uninitiated, following the events of Ragnarok in the comic books, Thor - thought dead - returns and rebuilds Asgard on Earth. Unlike the movie though he had to find all the reincarnated Asgardians, which in this case included a gender bent Loki.

Just like the movie version, the female Loki proved to be on no-one's side save his own, even joining the alliance of evil known as the Cabal. However towards the end of Norman Osborn's Dark Reign, Loki would stand and sacrifice his life in defense of Asagard. Her final words to Thor were "I'm sorry brother."

Proving in the end Loki was a hero at heart.

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Marvel Legends Netflix Elektra Action Figure

Star-crossed lovers

The Marvel Legends Netflix Elektra Action Figure is a must have if you are a fan of the series - except for one major flaw. 

We always thought that Netflix's vision and execution of Elektra was pretty spot on - except for the fact that Elodie Yung is not Greek (At least she's Asian). Not that Elektra had to be Greek in the Netflix universe given that she was adopted. We felt that Elodie provided the perfect blend of mystery, sultriness and... chaos... that is at the essence of the character.

If we ever met her, yes we'd fall for her, but we know she'd be the death of us as well.

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Marvel Legends Netflix Daredevil Action Figure

I know what I am...
Who I am....
And I am not afraid.

To say that the Marvel Legends Netflix Daredevil Action Figure looks good, is an under-statement. 

He looks frickin awesome!

Personally we really didn't hate Affleck's Daredevil, but Charlie Cox's Daredevil has something that Affleck's Daredevil does not have - a suit of armor.

We think that the idea that Daredevil made his suit out of bondage gear.... plausible... but SERIOUSLY!!!

Netflix's idea of Daredevil going out in nothing but a black sweater and jeans til he found the Kingpin's armorer - Melvin Potter AKA Gladiator - is far more romantic and believable - especially since bondage cat-suits really don't provide any protection at all. (And squeak a lot)

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Marvel Legends Lorna Dane - Polaris - Action Figure

The last true daughter of Magneto

The Marvel Legends Lorna Dane - Polaris - Action Figure is a marvelous representation of one of the X-Men's traditional 2nd tier characters.

And yes, we mean 2nd tier. The former love team (Wasp really did a number on the now disfigured Alex Summers) of Havok and Polaris has always been a poor copy of the love team of Cyclops and Jean Grey.

Personally, save for stint in X-Factor (The formerly Government run one, not the one formerly run by Serval Industries), we preferred her more as one of the X-Men's staunchest villains back when she was possessed by the Marauder Malice in the 80's.

Let's see how she stands on her own - especially since she's about to go toe-to-toe against her ex Havok in the X-Men Blue comic book.

Marvel Legends Avengers Maria Hill - Cobie Smulders - Action Figure Review

Maria Hill

Welcome to a review of the Marvel Legends Avengers Maria Hill - Cobie Smulders - action figure.

If you follow the current Marvel Universe, then you know that Maria Hill has disappeared resulting in Hydra Cap being promoted to the head of SHIELD.

But we don't like Hydra Cap so we don't care.

We also don't like the fact that Maria Hill - hell the entire reconstituted SHIELD - was missing from Captain America Civil War.

Anyway, this is the Maria Hill from the Marvel Legends Infinite Series Agents of Shield 3-pack which includes her, Agent Coulson, Nick Fury & Maria Hill.

She didn't come with any weapons so we gave her.... we're really not sure what she's armed with. We think it's from HALO.

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Marvel Legends Secret War Captain America Quick Review

Because overthrowing foreign government requires new threads

Welcome to a quick review of the Marvel Legends Secret War Captain America from their Abomination BAF series.

This is the uniform that Captain America wore when he was recruited by Nick Fury - along with Wolverine, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Black Widow and Daisy "Quake" Johnson - off on a mission to overthrow Latveria's then rightful ruler, Prime Minister Lucia von Bardas.

Unfortunately Nick Fury wiped their memories of the mission following their attack on Latveria - which pisses off the heroes later when they find out.

Because of this private war, Nick Fury would lose his post as the head of SHIELD. Secret War was a five issue comic book series that ran from 2004-2005, written by Brian Michael Bendis and brought to life by Artist Gabriele Dell'Otto)

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Marvel Legends Dr Strange

Presenting the Marvel Legends Infinite Series Dr Strange Hulkbuster BAF action figure.

Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange is a brilliant but arrogant neurosurgeon - sounds a lot like Tony Stark (Must be a mustache thing for Marvel. He's also a bit of a playboy) - who loses the fine motor control of his hands in a car accident, ending his career.

Ruined, penniless and desperate to regain control of his hands, Doctor Strange turns to the rumored healing powers of a mystic hermit in the Himalayas.

Dr Strange finds the Ancient One who refuses to heal him because of his arrogance and selfishness. However the Ancient one senses that there is an innate goodness in Doctor Strange and instead offers to teach him the mystic arts.

Dr Strange refuses, but is kept from leaving due to a blizzard. While waiting he witnesses an attempt at the Ancient One's life by Baron Mordo. He confronts Mordo and is mystically shackled while Mordo leaves to continue his assassination attempt. Desperate to stop him, Doctor Strange pledges to learn from the Ancient One. The Ancient One then releases him stating that he was aware of Mordo's plot from the beginning and wanted to see what Dr Strange would do. Steven Strange becomes his apprentice and Baron Mordo declares himself his mortal enemy.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic and Black Arts was born.

Marvel Legends Thundra

Presenting the  head of the United Sisterhood Empire of North America, Thundra!

If you've got abs, flaunt them.

To the uninitiated, Thundra is a visitor to the mainstream Marvel Universe from a future alternate time-line where Earth is now known as Femizonia and is ruled by Amazon like female warriors.

Thundra came to the mainstream Marvel Universe to challenge the Thing and prove the dominance of women by beating the one male whom the Femizonias viewed as the most powerful in the 616 Earth - which is ironic since we know from the latest Fantastic Four movie, that the Thing lacks a specific male part.

Thundra would eventually become something of an anti-hero in the Marvel Universe. Thundra would stand toe-to-toe with the Hulk, become the head of the United Sisterhood Empire of North America, fall in love with the Thing, but eventually give her heart to another Earth 616 interdimensional visitor, Arkon the Magnificent, ruler of Polemachus, and become mother to the She-Hulk (Lyra). Thundra will join the Squadron Supreme when the dust settles from the on-going Secret Wars.

Marvel Legends White Tiger

Presenting the White Tiger from the Marvel Legends Rhino BAF toyline.

The White Tigers - and there have many - can trace their origin back to the fabled kingdom of K'un-Lun - (Making them sorta related to the Iron Fists - which probably explains the color scheme).

The White Tigers gain superhuman strength, speed, stamina agility, dexterity, reflexes and reactions, coordination, balance, and endurance, recuperative powers and the ability to blend with their surroundings - like a Tiger would - when they wear the Jade Tiger Amulets (There are three: two claws, and one tiger head). The amulets also make the White Tiger a master of martial arts.

Now, to the uninitiated, this - according to the box, is Angela del Toro, AKA "La Tigresa Blanca" a former FBI agent who was investigating Matt Murdock for allegedly being the Daredevil.  Angela was also driven by the need to find out why her uncle, Hector Ayala - the White Tiger before her, recklessly wasted his life being a super-hero. So ironically, when the White Tiger Amulets were passed on to her, the only person she could go to for advice was the one person she was investigating, Daredevil, who turned her into a hero.

Angela del Toro was killed and resurrected by Lady Bullsye and the Hand, and was not quite able to get rid of their corrupting influence. We're not sure when she stepped down, but she handed the White tiger Amulets over to her.... aunt - Hector Ayala's youngest sister Ava.

Which brings us to this problem: Unless we missed it - which we doubt - this is not the costume used by Angela del Toro, this is the costume used by Ava Ayala. This White tiger is Ava Ayala.

Marvel Legends Hellcat

Presenting Hellcat from the Marvel Legends Infinite Series Thanos BAF toyline.

To the uninitiated, Hellcat is Patricia "Patsy" Walker Baxter Hellstorm - though she divorced Baxter so we suppose she can just drop that name, and; she died so that kinda annuls her marriage to the Son of Satan Daimon Hellstorm. She currently just goes by the name Patricia "Patsy" Walker.

Marvel's Hellcat has a very interesting origin. She was created by Ruth Atkinson for Miss America Magazine in 1944 which was published by Marvel's predecessor, Timely Comics. The comics focused on the life, love and struggle of Patsy Walker presented in a manner akin to Archie Comics.

The teenage red-head was so popular that from the 1940s to 1967, Patsy Walker would continue to appear in Miss America, Teen Comics, Girls' Life, and would have her own-spin off: Patsy Walker; Patsy and Hedy (Her friend and "rival); Patsy and her Rivals, and; a one-shot - A Date with Patsy. Her stand-alone comic books would run till 1967, and she would make a cameo in Fantastic Four Annual # 3 which would cement her existence in the Marvel Universe.

She would later appear as Patsy Walker (Having recently divorced her teenage sweetheart, Former Air-Force Colonel Robert "Buzz" Baxter who was the Brand Corporation's security consultant and who was currently investigating the Beast - which is how Patsy met the Avengers) in Avengers # 141.

She would find and don Greer "Tigra" Grant Nelson's former costume back when she was "The Cat" and don it in Avengers # 144, becoming Marvel's Hellcat.

Marvel Legends Gamora - Guardians of the Galaxy

Presenting Gamora from the Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy collection.

If you haven't seen it yet, Guardians of the Galaxy is officially the Dungeon's "Best Movie of the Year!" (For now. After all we've yet to see Expendables 3).

Spoilers now: In the movie, Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos forced to become an intergalactic assassin who is currently taking orders from Ronan the Accuser. She is played by the incredibly beautiful Zoe Saldana - who we suppose really has a thing for science fiction having starred in Star Trek and Avatar.

We should probably note that Zoe Saldana doesn't look anything like the original Marvel 616 Gamora who dressed in snake-skin and could give the She-Hulk a run for her money as "Hottest Green Amazon." She also wore waaaaay less clothing than Zoe Saldana (Though later on her writers actually gave her real clothes).

Oh yeah! Gamora in the comic books is known for making Tony Stark cry "Uncle" in the sack!