Johnny Lightning: 1975 VW Super Beetle Convertible (Project in Progress) - version A, release 2

 

Street Freaks - Project in Progress series

1975 VW Super Beetle Convertible

version A, release 2

Limited Edition - 7,786

Freak Facts...

* The Super Beetle was the result of VW

redesigning the Beetle to directly complete

with American compacts and Japanese

imports in the early 1970s.

* Two main features of the Super Beetle

included larger storage area for luggage

and a more comfortable interior.

L11D 2792

Berber Yellow / Primer

Transformers War for Cybertron - Siege: Ratchet

Walgreens, a drug store company in the US has had a good history of working with Hasbro over the past few years to feature exclusive characters/toys. One of the more recent Transformers exclusives they featured was Ratchet from the Siege toyline. It's been a long time since I went out toy hunting, but I felt this was a figure that was worthy of the hunt. Several months back I was able to secure one and thought I'd share my take on the classic Autobot medic.

Ratchet is more than a simple remold / color swap of Ironhide. While Ratchet does retain the same Cybertronian "mini-van" form as his fellow Autobot warrior, Ratchet features a new front bumper and some other slight retooling. He is cast in white plastic, but as you can see from the above pictures not all the pieces are the shade shade of white. There is also the addition of the battle damage like most Siege figures have.

Any good robot medic would have his tools and Ratchet is no exception. His included tools / weaponry can be attached to the top of his vehicle mode. Here they obviously look more like weapons than tools, but if you look carefully you can see Ratchet's wrench plugged in.

I feel as if this "repair bay" mode is a little of a stretch, but if it weren't included in the official instructions I would have thought it was just a fan mode that someone came up with. It's basically the vehicle mode with the arms folded down.

When I initially took these pictures I didn't have Ironhide nearby, but I did have Crosshairs. I always like to include some side by side comparison images so Crosshairs will have to do. This is a great mold, no matter which character you purchase. The Siege line was really impressive and helped keep the fire burning that the Power of the Primes and Titans Return line ignited.

Auto World: 1962 Chevy Impala Hardtop - Release 3, Version A

Vintage Muscle series

1962 Chevy Impala Hardtop

Release 3, Version A

Limited Edition - 4,400

Premium Facts...

* This is a brand-new casting for 2018!

* This is the most accurate replica

of a '62 Chevy Impala ever made

in 1:64 die-cast.

923 70691

Roman Red

Masters of the Universe: Eternia Minis (Wave 3)

  

 

When the Masters of the Universe: Eternia Minis first debuted, they came blind packaged in small plastic Castle Grayskull packaging. Wave 2 used Snake Mountain packaging, but all subsequent waves moved to a more traditional (small) blister card packaging. 

Wave 3 was released in 2021 and consisted for 7 figures. The two that I didn't purchase were the black/red repaints of Ram Man and Teela, released as "Anti-Eternia" versions of themselves. I wasn't too keen on these so I passed them up.

We'll start off with Battle Armor He-man. Like with most of the variants to He-Man in other MOTU lines, this mini version is basically the same as the original version sans the battle armor. He comes packaged with the same Power Sword and battle axe as before. The molded piece of armor is quite detailed and features the familiar logo on the chest, however this version (obviously) doesn't have the same battle damage gimmick as say the original 80's figure or even the deluxe Origins figure.

Like with the above He-Man, Battle Armor Skeletor is also pretty much the same figure from wave 1, just with the addition of his black armor. He comes with his part of the Power Sword and his iconic Havoc staff. The pink w/ green outline bat symbol is present on the armor chest piece.

Stratos looks like...well a smaller version of himself. The little figure has a fair amount of detail, complete with his beard and hairy chest. Sadly his soft plastic wings were warped inside the blister bubble, but if you're an action figure collector then you know how to straighten out soft plastic accessories as such. This non-removable jet pack looks fantastic and helps complete Stratos' look.

Harkening back to the original 80's toy line, Evil-Lyn has her pale yellow skin hue. I prefer her appearance in the 200x show/toy line, but overall I don't really care. This figure is probably one of my least favorites in the Eternia Mini series. It's a dainty figure overall, but I think it's her face sculpt that keeps this figure from standing on the same level as others. Unless you're a huge Evil-Lyn fan, this one is an easy pass.

Growing up my main exposure to Masters of the Universe was through my older brother and our oldest cousin, so a character like Ninjor is practically new to me. I love the character and his look, so I was happy to see him added to the Eternia Mini ranks. He sports the same overall design as his 80's or Origins counterpart, which is a black garb with red gloves and boots. He comes packaged with a simple gray sword that he can easily wield in either hand.

I'm one that loves to display my toys, even though rarely does anyone outside my immediate family see my collection. That said, space is always at a premium so these small figures are awesome as they retain the look of their larger brethren, but take up way less space in your collection. I'm glad Mattel moved away from the blind packaging (even though they were coded) because as I mentioned earlier, I opted to skip on a few of the releases and being blister packaged made it easy to do so. This series would go on for a few more waves, even adding in small vehicles and adopting whatever the current animated show was. Perhaps I'll get to some of those in the near future?