Kool Kollectibles content

26 Dec 2017

Sideshow Collectibles Han Solo in Carbonite

Been waiting years for Sideshow to complete their Empire Strikes Back bounty hunter troupe! With Zuckuss and Dengar on the way in early 2018, it was perfect timing to release the new Han Solo in Carbonite.

Overall, it's a great looking piece for display, but don't really think it's worth the $250 asking price! The lightup features are nicely done, and the paint app is decent, although could be slightly more metallic on its main front face.

Click the link below for my full video review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!



Box was actually a lot larger than I was expecting. Contents were all encased in foam similar to their larger statues. Everything was stored fairly sturdily.



On display with the bounty hunters, the Han Solo in Carbonite looks fantastic. An alternative base for the Jabba the Hutt scene would've been nice too, but the options they gave to display in the vertical or horizontal Bespin positions is pretty good too.

Overall, if you're a big fan of ESB and bounty hunters, then this will fit in nicely with your collection!


Bandai Star Wars Movie Realization Jango Fett

I was impressed with the Prototype Boba Fett paint application, but it turned out I was less impressed with this Jango Fett repaint! Overall still a nice addition to the Star Wars Samurai collection, but not a must-have.

Click through below for my full video review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Make sure to give it a like and subscribe too :)



Box art and contents are pretty standard with the previous Boba Fett figures. The double pistols are nicely done, but putting them in the holsters looks awkward. Much better to simply have him holding them!




Posed with the other Boba Fetts, these all look incredible together. The variant paint app across the three really pops on display. Will probably be it for me with this particular Boba Fett mold. Hopefully more focus on new characters for 2018!



22 Dec 2017

Bandai Star Wars Movie Realization Sohei Darth Maul

The Bandai Star Wars Movie Realization has been a unique series of Star Wars figures that I have loved from the very beginning. Bandai have been pretty slow at releasing new characters though, so any new mold is something to watch out for and add to the collection.

The new Darth Maul is no exception, and right up there with the best from the series so far. Click through below to watch my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Scroll further down too for some more thoughts and photos.



The box art is the usual classy style in this series, with a great pic of the figure on the front and the array of poses and accessories shown on the rear. The figure doesn't come with too much, but what you do get is of high quality and goes well with the figure.



The articulation on the body is as you would expect, and is consistent with the previous figures in the series. The kama around his waist and legs is a softer material that does not hinder the movement of the legs too much.

The shoulder pads are an interesting addition, since they were not shown in the concept art if I remember correctly. They don't look too bad, but are a bit fiddly to get in a decent position when posing the figure.



The head sculpt is a definite highlight for me. Looking at the prototype figures, it wasn't clear how they were designing the face. The choice they've gone with using a disfigured face that is then covered by a battle mask is a perfect combination for this series. The menacing sculpt is a fantastic representation in this feudal Japanese style, especially with the "sohei" sub-title meaning he's a warrior monk.

The base head sculpt is nicely sculpted, with little flames coming out of the eyes. The teeth are also nicely painted, as are all the tattoos on his face. The only main nitpick with the head sculpt is the colour bleed of the red onto the golden horns.



I was able to rub off some of the red paint that had made its way onto the horns, but not all of it. It's not too noticeable in amongst the black weathering, but was a little annoying and should've been avoided at this price point.



The battle mask is painted in a nice glossy red, and is made of a softer plastic so that it can be placed over the horns and top half of his face. There is a warning in the instruction book that placing the mask may rub off paint on the figure, so I'd avoid using it or taking it on and off too much.

I actually think the base disfigured head sculpt looks better without the mask, since the mask makes the top half of the head stick out a bit too much. In the end, I think he looks better on display holding the mask in some way.



The doubled hilted scimitar is beautifully designed, and I love the gentle curvature that it gives in truly ancient Japanese / Chinese style. The transluscent red plastic is similar to Vader's, and looks great with light passing through it. The hilt itself is nicely sculpted and painted too, with gold and silver highlights.

The blade does come apart at the hilt into its separate halves that he can hold in each hand. I love that Bandai even made the little peg removeable that holds the two sides together. This way when he's holding both halves, there's not some strange nub on one of them. Great attention to detail there.



The sculpting and paint app on the costume is pretty good. The forearms and shin armour parts have a nice rust paint application that really sets off the patterning. The waist part is painted in a nice greenish jade metallic colour that offsets the black well. Both front and back are nicely painted.



The beads around his neck are removeable, but as a warrior monk I think he looks better with them on. The bronze colour also gives a nice contrast to the black outfit. It's a shame they arent all separate beads held together with string of some sort. They are a single molded piece of plastic that separates out into the two layers of the beads. It's an OK compromise, but separate beads on real string really would've set it off.



Displayed with the other figures, it becomes clear to me that this series of figures continues to be one of the most interesting and unique Star Wars figures around. The build quality is great, the style in the sculpting is awesome, and the paints application really highlight the figures to their best potential.




There have been a lot of repaints, but if Bandai continue to release new molds of this quality, I'm up to get every figure the release in this series! I hope they announce the Gamorrean Guard and other bounty hunters like IG-88. With more unique characters, this series could truly become legendary!

1 Dec 2017

Hot Toys MMS366 Ellen Ripley from Alien

It's been a pretty long wait for Hot Toys to finally release their Ellen Ripley figure from Alien. Various prototypes had been shown at conventions, and the preorder was announced back in early 2016 I think, due for a late 2016 release.

But delays occurred and the figure was only just released after a delay of almost 12 months. Overall, it's definitely worth the wait to finally add a female screen icon to the collection!

Click through below to check out my video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!



There aren't a huge array of accessories, but what you do get is decent and done fairly well. The stand is the same as the one provided with the earlier Alien Warrior with of course her nameplate. The movement tracker and flamethrower are nicely sculpted, with decent weathering and paint application.

The cat carrier is also nicely done, and fits Jonesy pretty well. The cat itself isn't that great, but does the job. I'll have mine displayed inside the carrier so no big deal there for me.



The head sculpt is pretty good, and would look even better if they had given it rooted hair instead of the sculpted hair. The sculpted hair is OK, with decent detail, but sits a little wide and lacks some of the natural fall that rooted hair would've given.

The facial paint app and eyes are the usual high Hot Toys standard. The open mouth expression is good too, and from many angles the likeness with that expression is quite accurate.



The costuming is awesome, with nice use of materials and stitching. The outer jump suite is nicely weathered with a dirt wash, with lots of little details in the pouches, zips, and fabric ties. The costume also includes the cream shirt and green tshirt underneath. Together, the different layers give a nice accurate outfit that represents her character perfectly from the movie.

Articulation wise the body has everything standard 1/6th figures should have these days. However, the joints are a bit loose, especially around the hips and knees. They are much floppier than other Hot Toys figures I've had, so hopefully this is just a once-off and not some drop in overall build quality on their part.

EDIT: Thanks to Ander Perez over on the One Sixth Republic group for pointing out that I have the bloody flamethrower held in the opposite direction in the left pic below! Bloody stupid of me to be sure lol!!! Corrected in the pic on the right! :D



For my collection, it's great to finally add one of my favourite female heroines to the classic action movie shelf. I really do hope Hot Toys announces the Aliens version of Ripley with the Power Loader. I'd definitely make room somehow in the collection for those two!


Asmus Lord of the Rings Aragorn upgrade head sculpt

The head sculpt from the original release of the Asmus Aragorn figure wasn't too bad, but certainly had room for improvement. Recently Asmus has made a point of releasing upgrade sets that collectors can order to improve their previously released figures.

In the case of Aragorn, the upgraded head sculpt provides essentially the same head sculpt, but with rooted hair. It certainly has pros and cons when compared to the original sculpted hair version.

Click through below to check out my video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel.



It definitely needs some patience to futz the hair into something that looks natural. I'm still not quite there I think, but at least to a point I'm happy enough to put it up on display. I think the hair looks fairly natural, especially if you're able to get some of the strands to fall across the face to give it a more natural wind swept look.

One thing to watch out for is the neck joint. Apparently first batch releases of the sculpt did not include the neck peg, so collectors could not attach it to the body! Asmus sent out neck pegs, and a 2nd batch of head sculpts that had the neck peg included, and luckily I got the 2nd batch version. Still, the neck peg makes the head quite loose on the figure so it's hard to position the head properly.



In the end, I'm glad Asmus is trying to improve their products by giving collectors the option to buy these head sculpts. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how they do with the upgraded Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and Sam sculpts!

18 Nov 2017

Hot Toys MMS387 Doctor Strange

I really enjoyed Doctor Strange at the cinemas, and loved its mix of humour, mind-bending CGI, and overall mysticism. I thought it was a fresh departure from the usual Iron Man and Captain America style that's more bound with realism in some ways.

So when Hot Toys announced the figure and that it was going to be stacked with accessories, I was all in on the purchase! And I'm definitely glad I did! This definitely ranks right up there as pretty much my figure of the year so far!

Check out my full review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel below.



You can tell Hot Toys put a lot of effort into this release. Everything is beautifully designed, from the box art and opening mechanism, to the numerous accessories and diorama backdrop, and the tailoring and materials used in the outfit. That's not even mentioning the amazing head sculpt that is one of their best in a long time!



Hot Toys does the best sculpted hair in the business without a doubt in my eyes. The detailed stranding and paint application is beautiful and very realistic. The likeness to Benedict Cumberbatch is spot on perfect, with the usual Hot Toys realistic skin texture and glassy eyes.

The accessories are beautifully detailed, especially the Cloak of Levitation and Book of Cagliostro. The different materials and stitching on the cloak is very nice, and the book folds out with actual writing on its individual pages. Amazing attention to detail.



The general outfit is definitely on of the most intricate from Hot Toys in a while. There are various layers to the outfit, and the belts all hold things in place. In my video, I do show the belts taken off and how the outfit can be adjusted underneath. Luckily the main press stud on the belt is better quality and doesn't break as easily as other press studs.

There's lot of detail in the tailoring, with nice pleats and folds, different materials, and other mixed media for the tassels and boots. It's just fantastic work by Hot Toys on the outfit.



It was still a bit of a pain for me to try and get the outfit symmetrical, but I got it as good as I could. The cloak doesn't fit around the neck as nicely as I had hoped either, but overall on display, it still looks pretty amazing. With plenty of poseability and various hand gestures to use, there's lots of display options for this figure.

If you're sitting on the fence on this one, I'd highly recommend picking this up. I think by the end of 2017, this will likely still be my choice of 1/6th scale figure of the year in my collection!

3 Nov 2017

BigBoysToysHK TNC-00 Akuma

I've picked up each of the characters from this awesome Street Fighter series by BigBoysToysHK, and each one just gets better and better! This new Akuma has the usual great sculpt, lighting, and sound effects!

Check out the full review in my video over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel below :)



Love the box art! Perhaps their most detailed so far!





It's a shame the base only allows the statue to face one direction. The sculpt and paint app looks fantastic no matter the angle, and I probably prefer him from the front!





Definitely glad that a company like BigBoysToys really shows their love of the original Street Fighter statues. It looks like E.Honda and Vega are up next. Cannot wait to add them to the collection!

28 Oct 2017

Bandai Star Wars Movie Realization Ronin Boba Fett Prototype

I've collected at least one of each previous character from this awesome Bandai Star Wars Movie Realization series. When they announced that they were going to release a Prototype Boba Fett version at SDCC this year, I figured I could do without another repaint.

But they are taking so long to release figures that I ended up caving and getting this from BBTS. The price was certainly high for this exclusive, but once I had it in hand, I was glad I got it! Check out my thoughts in the video below over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. More pics and thoughts below too :)



I thought the repaint would be a pretty bland white job, but man the variations in the paint are awesome! The sculpt of course is essentially the same as the previous Boba Fett, but the use of shades of white, silver, grey, and black actually really pop.


The accessories to go on his shins were more difficult to put on this time, so definitely put the legs into some hot water to soften up the plastic before putting the little knives and gadgets on. All the other aspects of the figure, from the sword, blaster, shoulder pads, and cape are as per the previous version, obviously with a different paint app. Everything is cleanly done and to a high quality by Bandai here.



The paint app on the original Boba Fett had a green that was bordering on aqua. I would have preferred a darker shade of green, but they were probably going for the lighter Empire Strikes Back look rather than Return of the Jedi. Either way, the paint app on both are nice, and the stark difference between them on display looks great too.



In the end, this thing looks so great I'm not regretting the higher price at all. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming Jango Fett repaint compares to these two. I'm definitely looking forward to the new Darth Maul figure too, which will be the first unique figure for quite some time in this series. Hopefully they continue to make more of the characters from the concept art shown before.

18 Oct 2017

Hot Toys MMS359 BvS Wonder Woman

After getting Superman and Batman from BvS back in 2016, it took Hot Toys seemingly forever to finally release the corresponding Wonder Woman. In hindsight, I probably should've cancelled my order and just waited for the teased Justice League version. The prototype of that at recent conventions certainly appeared to have a superior head sculpt.

In the end, I probably would've been too impatient to wait another 12+ months for the next Wonder Woman figure. This one that has now been released isn't too bad, but it's far from perfect. I wouldn't count it up there with the best from Hot Toys.

Click through below to watch my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel.



She doesn't come with too much in the way of accessories, but what she does have is a pretty accurate reflection of how she appeared in the movie. The base is the usual excessively large style similar to Superman and Batman before her. I hate it, and much prefer the previous small black oval stands. Simply yet classy, whereas these are just too big and you have to use the stupid pole and waist grabber.




The assortment of hands suit her lasso, sword, and shield. It's unfortunate that the sword is such a soft plastic as a metal one would've been a nice touch. It is nicely detailed, but a premium material would've added an extra high-end touch for this price range.

The shield is also plastic, and takes a bit of work getting her to hold it in a decent way against the arm. I was wary of having it rub against the skin of her arm, so just watch out when you are adjusting the arm position.

The arm band also takes a bit of effort to put on, and you have to rotate it in certain directions to minimise any rub against the skin. The paint on the skin is very easy to damage, so go slow and steady. Over time, I think the arm band will stain or leave marks on the skin, but it should all be underneath the band itself out of sight.



Getting her hair to fall naturally was tough. I ended up not really doing too much to it with water or any other product, and just tried to keep it neat behind her shoulders. Other collectors are far better futzers and posers than I, and have made her look great in some photos. I am happy enough with her in this static pose next to the other two.

On posing, the articulation is pretty limited, and every move I was terrified of damaging her skin in some way. So it's unlikely that I'll be moving her too often if at all! Any rub on the skin would leave marks that would be near impossible to remove. The instructions do describe the limits of movement, but many of my joints were very tight, such as the knees. In the end, I just didn't feel like it was worth the effort trying to move her in case I damaged something!

I also worry that the shoulder strap may leave marks over time on the shoulder, but that's her look in the movie so I'll leave it on. The strap connects via one of the crappy press studs that Hot Toys continues to use, and I've heard quite a few reports of breakages already. I broke similar studs on my 1989 Joker jacket and 1966 Batman cape, soI hate these with a passion. Hot Toys should change to using metal studs like other companies, but continues to use cheap plastic ones.



On the outfit, I also had the same problem as some others where one side of the rear blue skirt has a larger gap on one side (see video review where I show it). The skirt was simply not assembled in a perfectly symmetrical manner, resulting in that gap. But luckily it's at the rear, so I didn't bother trying to fix it since it's not seen on display.

The red and gold torso section is nicely done, but be careful of any moisture residue to paint fade. Out of the box, every time I touched the torso, there would be some sort of residue left on my figures. This has gone away with time, but just be careful not to touch the armour and then touch the skin.

Overall, I'm glad to finally complete the Trinity from Batman vs Superman, but it's definitely not one of Hot Toys' best figures. With a better head sculpt likeness coming for the future Wonder Woman figures, I'd recommend holding off and seeing how they turn out.

27 Sept 2017

Upcoming preorders and reviews in Q4 2017

Here's a quick discussion on what I have coming up over the next 3 months leading to the end of 2017. It should be a great end to the year, and really looking forward to some of the things coming out in 2018 too!


Some of the things I have coming up include:
- Hot Toys Dr Strange, Ellen Ripley, Marty McFly, and Doc Brown
- Blitzway Ghostbusters
- Bandai Star Wars Movie Realization Darth Maul, Jango Fett, and Shadow Trooper
- Sideshow Zuckuss and Han in Carbonite
- Pop Culture Shock 1/3 scale Ryu
- TF Masterpiece MP-39 Sunstreaker, MP-12+ Sideswipe (Anime version), and MP-15/16E Cassettes

Hope you can all subscribe to the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel and stay tuned for all the upcoming reviews! :)

10 Sept 2017

Hot Toys MMS390 Luke Skywalker from The Force Awakens

It's taken seemingly forever for Hot Toys to finally release I think the last figure from their series of figures from The Force Awakens. Perhaps it was all down to some marketing strategy to release it closer to The Last Jedi hype train starting.

Either way, I think it's a pretty decent release if not something that is going to be overly memorable in the scheme of my collection. It's great to have good representations of old Han and old Luke to offset the other younger versions I have from the original trilogy.

Click through the link below to check out my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel! Scroll further down for more pics and thoughts.



The set doesn't really come with all that much to be honest. The bonus preorder stand is nicely sculpted and painted, but other than that all you really get are a few swap out hands. While we're on the hands, the relaxed hand, force gesture hand and its corresponding mechanical hand all seem slightly over sized. When the arms are at his side, the large hands really accentuate the gorilla look.

But swapping out to the more close fisted hands hides the size issue better, which is what I went with for my display pose. Those hands are more suited for posing him pulling back his hood, which is what many collectors will chose I think.



Aside from the hands, I think everything else on the figure is pretty great. There have been a few complaints about the head sculpt, but I think it matches the prototype photos well, and is a decent likeness from the movie scenes I've compared it against.

Similar to the old Han Solo sculpt though, Hot Toys went with a almost golden sheen look to the hair, whereas a much greyer colour would've matched not only te movie, but the colour of his painted beard too.

The outfit is very nicely tailored, with several layers and different materials. I like that they didn't use a wire for the hood, which makes curving it and using some water treatment a better way to pose it around the head. I still need a bit of work on mine, but you get the idea.

The magnets that hold the cloak to the shoulders could work a little better, and need decent futzing to get the material to lie realistically. I think in the last movie scene, the cloak can be seen to actually be sewn to his tunic that runs down the front of his body, which seems pretty silly. But I guess they need that to make sure it stayed on his shoulders! So Hot Toys' use of magnets is probably as best a compromise as any.



Articulation is decent, and getting the arms up for the pose was straight forward. The large and obvious wrist joint that becomes more visible is a bit of an eyesore, but not much can be done about that. Perhaps look for a smaller wrist joint from other figures that have a similar skin tone, which might work to hide it.

The torso area has some definite foam padding of some sort, that really seems to restrict the articulation in the torso area. But for most poses I was going for, it wasn't too big a deal. The material of the pants doesn't hinder the hips or upper legs, so you could go for wider action poses if you wanted.

There's not too much ankle movement though with the use of sculpted boots. The ankle is separate to the calf area, so you can can some rocking action there, but not too much on mine. It would've been nice if they went with material for the strapping and boots, similar to the previous DX07 Luke Skywalker, but it's not too big a deal.



Standing with the other heroes from The Force Awakens, I think Hot Toys has done a pretty great job with all of these figures. Each of them aren't perfect in their own right, with at least a few things to complain about with them all (eg. Chewie's snout, Finn's excessive height, Rey's lack of height).

But together I think they look pretty amazing. The only figures I really hope they make for The Last Jedi that they missed for the previous movie would be General Leia and Poe Dameron. If they make those two for the new movie, I think I'll be happy enough for the new trilogy.



Up on display with the bad guys I have from the movie, I like the overall aesthetic that they went with. Familiar of course, but at least different enough to be interesting. I'm not sure I'll be tempted to get any more trooper figures, but will be interesting to see how Captain Phasma and Snoke play out in the new movie.



So to summarise, if you were a fan of The Force Awakens and started collecting these Hot Toys figures, I think you'll be pretty pleased with this new old Luke Skywalker. I'm sure there'll be a new Luke released for The Last Jedi, but this one will do for me.

29 Aug 2017

New YouTube channel trailer with photos since May 2017

Here's my quick hack together of the most recent photos I've taken of my collection since May 2017. As always, I put it to the background of Street Fighter music :D


21 Aug 2017

Kotobukiya Kill Bill Bishoujo The Bride

I'm still loving most of the Bishoujo statues that Kotobukiya release, and this new version of The Bride from Kill Bill is no exception! Kill Bill is by far my favourite Tarantino movie, so this statue was a must-have for me.

Click the link below to check out my full review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!



Packaging is the usual Bishoujo style with the great concept art by Shunya Yamashita.



Everything about this shows off how great the Bishoujo series can be. Awesome face sculpt and skin paint app. Love the flawless skin, eyes, and lips. Hair could be better, but overall detailing and paint variation is decent.

The sculpted detail in the suit is also nice, with realistic folds and shadow detailing in the creases. The pose they've selected is iconic for the part, and simple and classy.



Love the detail of the Hattori Hanzo logo on the katana. I just wish the katana was longer like it was in the concept art. It seems just a tad too short. Also be very careful when inserting into the hands, or you will snap it off at the hilt. I had to heat the hands up in some hot water, which made it much easier to insert the hilt.



For me this is another winner by Kotobukiya. Get yours here from BBTS!

The next releases I'm most looking forward to are the new horror Bishoujos such as Ash and Pinhead! As for the Kill Bill series, hopefully they don't just stop at one, and make Gogo Yubari and O'Ren Ishii too!

20 Aug 2017

Asmus Toys Lord of the Rings Legloas "Luxury Edition"

Overall I've been pretty happy with the Asmus Toys Lord of the Rings series of figures. I think all their figures have excelled at costume tailoring and use of materials. But one area they have fallen behind other companies like Hot Toys and Blitzway is their sculpting of the head sculpts and hair.

With this new Legolas, I think they've improved a lot with the facial likeness, but then fail in the execution of the hair. Check out my two-part review at the links below to the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel.

Part 1 gives the overview of the figure, and Part 2 goes through the main issues I had when trying to put everything together for display. Hope you can check them out and give the videos a like and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already! :)

PART 1:



PART 2:



I preordered the "Luxury Edition" that includes the extra troll head diorama base. The packaging for this set comes in a very large black box that contains the actual Legolas box and the separate troll head box. The troll head is housed in ridiculously bad quality foam that crumbles in your fingers as you grasp to try and remove it from the box. Make sure you have a vacuum cleaner handy!

After removing the troll head, I was further disappointed with the realisation that one of the boots that are meant to be used to stand the figure on the troll head was actually glued into place rather than being removable! Apparently Asmus have indicated this was done for stability, but I don't really see how the figure could be that unstable if balanced correctly and the boot peg was deep enough.

With the boot in place, this removes the ability to display the troll head on its own without the figure on top. There were also reports that the boot actually snapped off during shipping for some collectors, meaning they couldn't even display the figure on the troll head! I think this is one area that Asmus had a decent concept, but was badly executed.



The unboxing of the Legolas figure is a far more enjoyable experience! This figures comes with a nice array of accessories, and as always with Asmus the costume tailoring and material is very nice! This time, the head sculpt itself is pretty nice too, with a good likeness and a decent facial paint app too! It's just all let down by a badly sculpted hair piece that gets in the way of articulation (more on that later).

The bow and arrows are nicely detailed and painted. I especially like the flexible bow string that works very well. The various sculpted hands also work well for holding the included knives or the arrows.



Setting the figure up for display was indeed a pretty frustrating task, even more so than Aragorn for me. The scabbards for the knives are incorrectly oriented out of the box, so they need to be removed and reinserted under the quiver, which was a bit difficult since they're inserted quite tightly.

But the hardest part was actually adjusting the cloak. The head needs to be removed to add the cloak, and is an absolute pain in the arse to reattach once the cloak is in place. There is a gap in the cloak to get over the quiver and scabbards, but getting it adjusted nice and flat with the not-so-flexible sculpted hair was tough. The ball joint on the head sculpt was also quite tight to attach properly to the peg, and the back of the hair kept pushing against the quiver and scabbards to prevent the head going on properly.

Once on, the head is forced to look in a downward position, and cannot be pushed up to look in a straight position. This is OK when the figure is placed on top of the troll head, but for those who just get the regular version, the fact the head always looks down would annoy the crap out of me.

The hair itself is far too yellow, and the fine stranding is badly done so that it looks quite clumpy. Hot Toys figures such as their Thor have far finer and more detailed stranding in their sculpts that improve the realism a lot. There were some photos by a customiser on the Sideshow Freaks Forum that showed the Legolas sculpt with rooted hair, and it looks amazing! Hopefully Asmus see the error of their ways and release a rooted hair version soon.




The troll head is nicely sculpted and painted. I especially like the teeth and the wetness around the nose. It is a little undersized, but that could be a design choice for some camera perspective similar to the way the Hot Toys Boba Fett Sarlacc Pit base was smaller in scale.

Inserting the legs into the boots for the troll head was easy enough. Just make sure to use a small flat tool to push the tights into the boots so that they don't bunch up. The tights are a nice soft material that don't restrict the movement of the legs. The separate boots for the figure have separate sculpted ankle boots that match well with the calf section. This also helps with articulation when not displaying on the troll head.

The best part of the costume is definitely the tunic and undershirt combination that has great stitching and use of material. The only other thing that was annoying was the overly tight strap over the shoulder and chest that covers the tunic. This attaches the quiver, but is too tight that makes the buckle on the front ride up too high. It's all glued in, so the straps are not adjustable without breaking those glue points.

Once all set up on the troll head, the figure does look very nice on display.



It's unfortunate that Asmus haven't been able to get a complete home run on a LOTR figure yet. There's always a few things that count negatively to the overall impression of quality, and it's a shame because overall they do a great job.

Their costume tailoring is great, so if they could just get around the head sculpt issues, they would really be some good competition for the likes of Hot Toys, Sideshow, Blitzway etc. I'm definitely glad that they've announced Boromir and have teased Gimli. This would make them the first company to actually complete the whole Fellowship in 1/6th scale form. That in itself is a pretty amazing achievement, and I think they'll look amazing together.


19 Aug 2017

Collection Update - August 2017

It's been a while since I did a collection update video on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. I figured I'd do a run down on the things I've received so far this year across all the stuff I collect. So this covers things from 1/6th scale, Transformers Masterpiece, smaller action figures, and statues!

Hope you can check it out at the link below :)



Hot Toys MMS369 Yoda

Seems like a long wait to finally get a great original trilogy Yoda, and that's what Hot Toys have given us with this new version. Two great head sculpts and diorama make for a great way to display the little Jedi Master!

Click through below to check out my full review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel :)



Box art is the same style as always, but it's interesting that the inside insert art shows the prototype with just sculpted hair. They added a bit of fluffy hair in final production by gluing it to the sculpt rather than rooting the hair. But it still gives a decent effect that adds to the realism.



Comes with a decent array of accessories to justify the high price point. The light up feature is a nice-to-have, but not something I'll use at all on display. The diorama base with tree give a nice little environment for the figure to rest on.



It's a definite improvement over the previous Sideshow version, especially in the head sculpt accuracy. I particularly like the closed-eye sculpt from the scene where he lifts the X-wing out of the swamp. It's perfect for that Jedi concentration look on display, and that's the way I'll leave it! If you're an Empire Strikes Back fan, this is the 1/6th scale Yoda for you!


6 Aug 2017

Bandai S.H.Figuarts Ash & Pikachu and Team Rocket

I personally have no idea about Pokemon, but my kids have been on a Pokemon craze for over a year now. With their friends at school, they've been hooked on the card game and the cartoons. So with my son's 10th birthday recently, I decided to get these two new figure sets from Bandai for his birthday.

The kids certainly love the figures, and I have to say Bandai have done a pretty awesome job with them! They come with a great set of accessories, with swap out face sculpts and hands, and have some pretty sweet poseability too. Highly recommended for Pokemon fans both young and old!

Click through the links below for the full video reviews of both sets, this time with the kids joining in to give their thoughts :)





4 Aug 2017

BigBoysToysHK Street Fighter TNC-07 Zangief

Have loved this Street Fighter series by BigBoysToysHK since they started back with Ryu and Ken. The sculpting and paint detailing is as good as ever! Click through below for my full video review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. More pics are below too :)




Love the packaging art for each of these statue sets! The super-deformed style really suits the characters well.




Great sculpt and paint details. The light up features are nice too giving the spinning effect for his double lariat. I think Akuma and E.Honda are coming up next. Can't wait to complete the original set of World Warriors!