It’s been a while since I did a proper, full tilt toy article, so prepare for an onslaught of information.

Right off the bat let me sing the praises of McFarlane Toys for a perfect first assortment of Halo Action figures. From paint application to articulation, these are easily some the best action figures McFarlane has ever produced. There’s a generous amount of articulation in these figures and what’s more (and I’ll be coming back to this again and again in this article) the joints on said figures are nice and tight, allowing for each figure to hold its pose. There are no center of gravity issues with the figures and each hold their respective weapons with ease.

Speaking of weapons, every Halo figure comes with at least one peg to attach to said weapon, and in turn, the weapon can be ‘holstered,’ or attached to the figure.

In sort of an informal poll I’ve taken over the last few weeks, Halo figures are selling at a fast clip. I went down to my local EB Games and saw 4 full pegs of the figures. I asked how they were selling and they told me they’d sold through and this was a second shipment.

Spawntoys.com hooked me up with the figures you see in this article and I want to give them a special shout out. They’ve always been very good to me and they’re well worth a look-see.

click on any image for a high resolution version

Moving along with the video game theme we come to the recently released Metal Gear Solid 20th Anniversary figures from Medicom.

I’m going to state this plainly: ‘don’t waste your money on these over-priced, under-articulated figures.’ Not only are they nearly static in their pose, the MGS figures WILL NOT STAND on their own. This MIGHT not have been such an issue; when McFarlane releases a static posed figure, they include a base for it. Not so with Medicom. Not ONE of the figures in this attractive but worthless line will even stand for more than 5 minutes.

I must say, overall, Medicom has lost a great deal of my respect, and in turn, my dollar. What use to be THE formidable producer of high-end, even avant-garde, pop culture collectible figures, have recently dropped their quality to levels than can no longer justify their high price point.

I know Sideshow is currently importing many of their figures, but with the sole exception of their vinyl line, I cannot recommend you spend money on anything Medicom is producing. Three of my recent purchases from Medicom (aside of the MGS figures) had issues with their joints; here I’m talking about the 12” Marvel Wolverine, 12” Darth Maul, and 12” Spawn. With Wolverine, his right leg at the hip snapped off. Due to the nature of his outfit, I couldn’t even glue the leg back in place. With the Spawn and Maul figures, joints were loose, making them plastic rag dolls. This track record Medicom has amassed is unacceptable and I urge them to not only improve their manufacturing drastically, but have Sideshow put pressure on them as well.

From Medicom, who is doing little right, I turn to Mattel, who is doing EVERYTHING right. Their first series of DC Universe figures were a near-perfect marriage of solid sculpts, ample articulation, tight joints, and stunning packaging. The build-a-figure for that first series (Metamorpho) was the only down side to an otherwise perfect first assortment. Metamorpho was simply too small and overall too lackluster for a BAF.

With DC Universe series 2, Mattel has created an assortment of figures I cannot praise enough. From Aquaman to Firestorm, THIS is the line to beat. Hasbro should make special note of every single choice Mattel made with this latest assortment. Needless to say, I love this line and I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Last up, Mezco. They have totally redeemed themselves with their ‘Cinema of Fear’ series 2. Everything I disliked about series one has vanished. Better packaging, better sculpts, much better paint applications, and an overall sense of polish to the whole line makes this another feather in Mezco’s cap.

Mezco is a company that, by in large, does flawless work. I simply love the smart choices they make in terms of sculpt/articulation. And their vinyl work, especially with the new 9” Jason, is exceptional. All of the ‘Cinema of Fear’ series 2 figures should be hitting stores this week, and I want to thank Cornerstorecomics.com for sending these out to me so quickly.

That’s all for now, but much more is coming soon.