Name: Lars Ümlaut Guitar Hero Action Figure
Company: MCFARLANE TOYS
Age: 14 and up
Price: $10.99
Category: Action Figures
What It Is
The Lars Ümlaut Guitar Hero action figure is based on a character in the popular video game, “Guitar Hero” from Activision Publishing. It is a 5” figure with a removable guitar and various movable parts.
What We Thought
The figure is extremely detailed and enables kids to use their imagination. My cousin, who is an avid “Guitar Hero” player, appreciated the fact that the figure looks exactly like the character in the game.
Why They’ll Want It
Devotees of the video game will want to add this action figure to their collection of “Guitar Hero” paraphernalia. Also, there are many other figures in the series, opening up the potential for repeat business. — Melvin Chua, 12/2/2008
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Name: Walt Disney´s “The Gremlins” PVC Set – Gremlin Gus
Company: DARK HORSE COMICS, INC.
Age: 8 and up
Price: $14.99
Category: Action Figures
Please click here to read TDmonthly´s Toy Expert review of this product.
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Name: Pre-assembled Alpha Male Series 01
Company: STIKFAS/SAIZON
Age: 8 and up
Price: $4.95
Category: Action Figures
Please click here to read TDmonthly´s Toy Expert review of this product.
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Name: Mighty World: Diego the Firefighter
Company: INTERNATIONAL PLAYTHINGS LLC
Age: 3 and up
Price: $3.99
Category: Action Figures
Please click here to read this special TDmonthly´s Expert Mom review.
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Name: Bionicle (Visorak Vhotarak)
Company: LEGO
Age: 7 and up
Price: $8.99
Category: Action Figures
What Is It?
This is the latest and the greatest in the Bionicle mythology: Visorak Vhotarak (say that fast three times), VV for short. The story: Web Of Shadows (year 2005): Hordes of these spider like creatures appeared in Metru Nui following the great quake. They quickly took over the Coliseum and spread out through the metru, weaving their webs and capturing Rahi. All Visorak have the ability to create and climb webs as well as a default paralysis power in their spinners.
What We Thought
First, you have to build the thing, and that can be pretty complicated (48 pieces in total). With the help of a savvy 12 year old, I managed to put it together (not without a little frustration and one piece hiding under a chair). VV folds and bends and shoots a spinning disk into the air. It has great mandibles. The legs articulate, and it looks very cool.
Why They’ll Want It
First off: you gotta collect them all. The fans will get it for that reason. For playing fun: it’s part spider, part mechanical, part weird. It eats miniature plastic army men as well as other toys. Get it playing with other Bionicles, and a whole legendary world comes into play. It’s very fun and imaginative.
--TDmonthly Staff, 8/26/05
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Name: Batman Begins ActionCape Batman
Company: MATTEL INC.
Age: 4 and up
Price: $25.99
Category: Action Figures
What is it?
Batman Begins ActionCape Batman is a 14” highly articulated action figure with an expandable fabric cape. The cape can be contracted to be less conspicuous or – with a touch of a button – expands to give batman a fighting display. The cape can also be tilted up with its supportive armature, to give the appearance of downward flight. Batman comes fully masked, leaving Bruce Wayne in permanent hiding. His head and waist swivel 360 degrees. He has articulated shoulders, upper arms, elbows and wrists, as well as articulated hipbones, upper thighs, knees and ankles. Dressed entirely in black, his waist is accented with a gold-colored utility belt. He comes with a gold-colored Batman boomerang to bring Gotham’s nasties to justice.
What We Thought
The figure is impressive looking and extremely poseable. His joints were stiff at first, but a little physical therapy from our testing staff loosened them up. He can balance on his own two feet, even when standing on a fairly slippery surface. The cape mechanism was trickier. The release mechanism sometimes stuck, releasing only half of the cape at a time. His permanent scowl makes him a formidable figure, especially appealing to kids who want a super hero who can scare off all contenders.
Why They’ll Want It
The super-articulation of the figure makes it really fun to pose. Kids who are into comics will want this figure not only for play, but also as a model for their own drawings. Batman would probably be best displayed out of the box and next to some books on drawing your own comics, or even a comic or book-making kit. The figure could even be used for stop-action movies, since so many kids have digital movie cameras these days. And of course, anyone who’s seen the movie will want the figure just so he or she can relive the best battle scenes and give the villains a good KAPOW!
-- Alison Marek, 6/15/05
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Name: Ross Powers and Jonny Moseley Signature Huck Dolls
Company: ORIGINAL HUCK DOLL NSM
Age: 4 and up
Price: $12.98
Category: Action Figures
Huck Dolls (ToyShow) were originally designed “for the purpose of visualizing aerial maneuvers,” says Jay Peters, the dolls’ inventor and co-founder of NSM Resources Corp. Peters used his degree in product design to create the doll to share with other local skiers at Lake Tahoe, but soon found the public was willing to pay for a doll of their own.
Though collectors will no doubt prize these 5-inch figures, this reviewer committed the unpardonable sin of actually removing the Ross Powers Doll from his packaging. Though the doll is not as limber as I would have thought, given that the figures are meant to be emulate real-life boarders, it still makes cool dashboard or computer decoration.
Other figures include Shane McConkey, Tara Dakides, JP Walker, Mike Michelchuck, Jamie Burge, CR Johnson, male and female surfer figures, and a skateboarder and wakeboarder.
--Andrew Windchanz
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