Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Karai Serpent

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this figure at the toy store as I was expecting to see Mikey Turflytle first (still waiting to find that figure!). So far this is the only Karai figure Playmates has given us in this new TMNT toy line despite her having been in the show from the beginning... Plenty has already been said about the lack of female action figures, better than how I could say it, but really Playmates?! We only get a Karai figure AFTER she's been mutated?! Not cool man.

Anyway, let's take a look at the figure out of it's packaging.

First thing you'll want to do is pop the tail on this figure to complete it. It's a very minor and simple piece of assembly.

Out of packaging Karai does not have her serpent head, she has her human head (see Playmates? You can sculpt it...)

Karai's human head is nicely done and includes her signature red eye makeup which is nice, she's got a good, but plain, hair sculpt and her eyes and lips are neatly painted. The overall sculpt is solid.

You also get her serpent head which places over her human head. The mouth is done in a sold red colour, and the eyes are pretty neatly done in a nice emerald green.

The head is on a ball joint so can be turned right around and tilted left, right, up (just a little) and down. And the serpent head covers it quite nicely.

As for the rest of the articulation? I'll make this quick: the arms move forward and back and there's a waist swivel.

Yeah.

I mean, you can move the tail, but the bottom of it is flat and hollow so looks unsightly and the figure can't really balance without it flat on the shelf.

As for the paint apps? That'll be just as quick. As I mentioned, the heads have some paint apps, the body though? Grey and purple. Nice sculpting of the scales, in her hands, and the torso, but with so little paint it's mostly lost and plain looking.

Surprisingly I don't hate this figure. I suppose it's fine for my purpse of display, and it's sturdy enough for play certainly, with so few many moving parts. But I struggled to get any real dynamic poses from here, and the paint? Man, a couple of things would have helped out greatly! A wash over the scales to bring out those nice details and a little paint to the snake hands and this thing would have at least looked a lot better.

But as we know, Playmates keep the cost of these figures down by minimising paint apps and articulation on the everyone but the 4 brothers.

Also, Playmates? A female Karai really would be great. Please.

Go Figure!

Marvel Legends Infinte Series Allfather Build a Figure Wave Scarlet Witch

Firstly I have to say how annoying I find the "Maidens of Might" banner that Hasbro has put Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel under. It's annoying enough that they don't get their own names on the box (similar to the "Avenging Allies" banner that Sentry and Machine Man have been placed under in this same wave), but there's something a little patronising and condescending about calling these characters "maidens". It's probably just me, and it's not the end of the world, but having their names on the box would make so much more sense.

Scarlet Witch comes with quite a few of the pieces needed to complete Odin: She comes with his head

Which I really like but I wish his beard and the horns on his helmet had a little more detailing painted on it.

His cloak

This is the same cloak that Thor is wearing in this wave but in blue.

And his staff is the last build a figure piece included

This is cast in a solid gold plastic, and sadly doesn't have much in the way of paint detail.

The Witch herself comes with 2 accessories for use with her

Pink, almost translucent, plastic Hex magic pieces that fasten around Wanda's wrists. These are sculpted really nicely and look fantastic when in place.

Scarlet Witch is a really nice figure. She comes in her classic X-Men suit; her red head dress, red cloak, long red gloves, red body suit and thigh high red boots. She also has pink tights covering her upper thighs. Her face sculpt is really pretty though and has some nice detailing with full red lips and neatly painted blue eyes.

My favourite details in Scarlet Witch's painted details are the shading and sculpt in her cloak, and the colour highlights through her hair.

Sadly a tiny touch of that paint used in her hair has hit her chin

As I mentioned, the Hex bolts clip around Wanda's wrists so it looks as though she's casting the magic straight from her hands.

As you can see, there are larger holes with small gaps for a bigger character - these will be re-used and cast in yellow for the new Doctor Strange figure that's coming in a future wave!

Wanda can look left and right but because of her hair and cloak she can't really look up or down. Her cloak also stops both her shoulders from coming up as much as they can or turning out and upwards fully. She has elbows that bend 90 degrees and her wrists swivel and hinge.

She has an ab crunch which is kind of useless as the cloak makes her so top heavy, her hips are on a ball joint, she has thigh cuts, double jointed knees, ankle pivots, swivel and rotation.

A real issue I have with this figure is her heels and heavy cloak combo. You can get Scarlet Witch standing without leaning her on her cloak, but really, it's just easier to lean her on it and from the front you can't really tell. From the side though...

I'm a big fan of this figure overall, I love that we got Scarlet Witch in her classic suit and those Hex bolts work incredibly well. If you're a fan of the character, X-Men, or are building your classic Avengers team, I'd thoroughly recommend this figure.

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Marvel Select Gambit

When I saw the Marvel Select Gambit, I knew I had to have him. I'm not Gambit's biggest fan by any stretch, but I've always enjoyed what I've read when he's appeared in comics, or when he's been in the cartoons. And this guy is an excellent looking, comic accurate figure.

This figure comes in the oversized Marvel Select packaging that showcases Gambit up front, stores his base in the back, and shows off his accessories.

His accessories include a small bundle of three charged playing cards, two different 'swoosh' effects of thrown playing cards, a different pair of hands, and his staff

These are all lovely little pieces which are sculpted and painted well.

I especially like the throwing cards. The semi transparent charged flames coming off them look very cool and he looks bad ass when holding them too!

But my favourite throwing cards are these ones - you can see that these have a specific section for his flat hand - these are my preferred posing cards with the figure for sure

Onto Gambit himself now, and his articulation is what we expect from the Marvel Select toys. His head moves side to side, and up and down a little. His arms move up and down at the shoulder joints and have elbow articulation, and his wrists swivel. He has a torso crunch (how else do you think he got those sweet abs?!), but no waist articulation, his knees bend (the joint is nicely hidden behind the knee pad), and his feet move up and down at the ankle.

The sculpt and paint is where Gambit really shines though.

His coat - which has several browns, nice shading, different textures and even a nice little silver paint app on his belt buckle - looks brilliantly windswept and makes the figure look super dynamic. Gambit's torso is magenta (that's right, not pink!... It's totally pink) that has some shading accentuating his muscles. There's some nice silver piping at his neck and over his hips, that is sculpted on with it's own little notched details matching his staff. The pink detailing runs down the side of his trousers to his lower legs which are a nice silvery blue paint for his boots. The stand out for me though, is that head sculpt, with the mask, the flowing hair, his stubble and his very cool red eyes!

The display base that Gambit comes with is a really nice corner of the Danger Room from the mansion. It's sculpted nicely enough and has some variation in paint and gives Gambit a nice solid flat base for posing in.

I absolutely recommend this guy if you're a collector of Gambit figures, Marvel figures or if you just want a cool looking superhero (that's why I bought him!) then he's well worth the money! I foolishly bought this guy online then found him in store 2 days later. It's always the way!

Go Figure!