An Offer We Cannot Refuse

The mostly-male toys in Stuffed Toy Land are ardent fans of the Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather movie trilogy. We must have missed it when this plush product came out a few years back.

The severed horse head plush (pillow) is a spoof of the horse head put in the bed of a character in Godfather I, Woltz, a stubborn movie producer who was didn't understand the cost of going against the wishes of Don Corleone Senior. Woltz woke up one morning to find the bloody head of his prized horse next to him as a warning to heed Don Corleone's 'advice'.

Video clip of the famous Godfather scene

The toys have mixed feelings regarding this plush and whether it'll contribute to plush toy brutalities. Nonetheless, most of us agree though that the stuffed horse head plush is a humane, animal-friendly way to give a friendly warning to friends and family members to take you seriously. :D

Buy it here

DC Universe Classics - Black Canary

Jumping into Mattel's DC Universe Classics wave 9 set, my review today will be of the only female action figure of the set, Black Canary.

The packaging for the most part is standard so don't expect anything out of the ordinary here. Other than the background picture that changes each wave, there is nothing new.

Enough about the boring packaging and on to the action figure inside. Black Canary is has a couple of features that are unique. For starters, the four horseman have created a beautiful head sculpt.

Black Canary's body also has some interesting features, the main being that she's got actual fish net stockings over her legs (more pics below) which is something we've not seen on any of the other DCUC action figures yet. More on this in a moment.

The paint job looks great and really there is nothing to complain about. The paint on her face made to look like makeup is very clean. The rest of the paint job is also very solid.

Now as for articulation, there are a couple of differences between Black Canary and the other DCUC female action figures like Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and Big Barda.

As you can see in the picture above, Black Canary lacks the Mattel trademark hip joints we seen on practically every single other DCUC figure and instead have the regular T hip joints we normally see in a lot of DC Direct action figures. Because of this, Black Canary's legs can only move forwards and backwards and really makes it hard to pose her in many cool fighting scenes. To make up for this Mattel has added a twisting joint in at her boots.

The other major bummer about the articulation is that Black Canary's neck can barely move due to the sculpt of her hair. The only position that her head can move is down and slightly to the left.

Looking for some accessories to compliment your very cool Black Canary action figure. Sorry folks, she comes with nothing other than an arm piece for the Collect and Connect Chemo action figure.

No question that Mattel's DCUC Black Canary is a great looking action figure but looking good comes with a price and that is in this case articulation. Still, its not that big of an issue that would make me want to skip out on this great looking action figure of this classic character. You should not hesitate picking this action figure up if you get the chance.

Sculpt/Design - 9, Paint - 9, Articulation - 6, Accessories - 0, Fun - 7

Where would you buy Black Canary you ask? Well, online is a great place to check and what better place than eBay.

To find Mattel's DC Universe Classics Black Canary on eBay, click here to find the lastest auctions.

Be sure to check back at Action Toy Review for more DC Universe Classics news, info, previews and reviews. Currently I am jumping between figures from the wave 8 and 9 sets as well as the Gotham City 5 Pack. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on some of the wave 10 figures soon as well.

Old Friend We Never Got to Know - Hungover Merlion

Meet 谎言 huang yen（literal translation 'A Lie'), a cute little Merlion soft toy that has has recently resurfaced in our household.

Huang yen looks a little dishevelled and hungover in this picture, after a night of partying and puking.

The Singapore Merlion was actually a marketing tool conceived by Mr Fraser Brunner for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board several decades ago to.. sell some souvenirs (I guess Singapore really lacks  identifiable natural geographical icons). It has a lion's head and mermaid/fish's body and the most famous Merlion at the Merlion Park near One Fullerton, much loved by Japanese tourists,  pukes  sprouts water from its mouth.

Examples of Merlion Marketing - Merlion Lychee flavoured cookies..

Examples of Merlion Marketing - Merlion Toilet Paper Dispenser (picture source unknown)

DC Universe Classics - Lex Luthor (Gotham City 5 Pack)

When I first heard about the DC Universe Classics Gotham City 5 pack which includes an exclusive Classic Lex Luthor action figure, it was easily considered a must buy for me. Ya, the other 4 figures are just re-paints but we're talking Lex Luthor here. The greatest criminal mind of all time. The other figures included in this pack are Batman, Superman, Catwoman and Two-Face. I'll get to the other figures down the road but lets get right to the main piece of this set, Lex Luthor:

First, as you can see, like many of the DCUC action figures the main parts of the torso, arms and legs are basically re-use parts. Giving this Lex figure its own individuality are, of course, the new head sculpt and some additional fine tuning here and there.

Wrapped around LL's chest is an X shaped....belt (?) with 4 canisters on the front....at least its what i think are canisters. The chest belt is a separate piece from the torso and has a leathery look to it but cannot be removed. There are also canisters placed on each side of his thighs and calves. One thing that you can really see in these pics (above) is that Lex's right arm sort of sticks out which is probably due to the tight packaging.

Lex's paint job is tight and his face is highlighted with a rosy skin tone shade over his forhead and cheak bones. The costume is fairly basic with no difficult areas to get messed up. There aren't any complex designs here. Green pants and gloves, purple shirt and boots, done.

Comparing DCUC Lex Luthor to DC Superheroes Battlesuit Lex Luthor (below), You'll notice that they really are two completely different action figures, different sculpts from head to toe.

The other major difference I thought was the lack of accessories included in the Gotham City 5 pack. Again, comparing the two action figures in the picture above, the old Battlesuit Lex Luthor came with a gun and a piece of Kryptonite. GC5 Lex Luthor comes with Zippo, nadda, nothing. He is sculpted with one closed fist and one open hand so he could've been given a weapon of some sort.

DCUC Lex Luthors articulation is standard from the DCUC toy line. If you have any of these DCUC action figure then you've got a pretty good idea of what you're getting. All joints were in proper working order out of the box.

Overall, Lex Luthor is a must have figure if you're any kind of a DC Comics or Superman fan. The problem is, Lex is not sold separately and you have to fork over 50 bucks or more to get him in a pack along with 4 other re-paints of previously released DCUC action figures. So you need to decide if this exclusive action figure is worth the cost.

Sculpt - 8, Paint - 9, Accessories - 0, Articulation - 9, Fun - 7

You have a few options on how to get your very own DCUC Lex Luthor action figure. First is you can head to your local Wal-Mart store (in the US only) and see if your store is one of the few that have the Gotham City 5 Pack in stock. The second option is to check eBay for the GC 5 pack (i paid $48 US plus shipping) and the third option, is to also check eBay but see if anyone is selling Lex Luthor by himself (loose). Its very possible but expect to pay about $30.00 for him on his own plus shipping costs.

To find Mattel's DC Universe Classics Gotham City 5 Pack on eBay, click here

To search for the Lex Luthor action figures on eBay, click here

Thus concludes another DCUC action figure review. I'll be jumping around finishing off reviews of Wave 8 and the remaining Gotham 5 Pack figures, plus starting on reviews of wave 9 and 10 (if i can get my hands on wave 10 at all) in the near future. So be sure to check back with Action Toy Review for more news, previews, info and reviews on Mattel's DC Universe Classics action figures.

My computer died! :(

Well it finally happened, my computer bit the dust. Six years of my life trapped in an unuseable hard drive. Looks like I'll have to buy a new one. I will have very little internet availibility within the next couple of weeks until this is resolved. Good news though I'm going on vacation to NYC so I won't have to think about it for a week. My etsy shop should be up and running just in time for holiday shopping. Looking forward to putting this behind me and having a brand spanking new computer to play with until that one dies. Don't forget to back up your files!

DC Universe Classics - Commander Steel

Mattel's DCUC Wave 8 is getting to be yesterday's news these days thanks to release of DC Universe Classics wave 10 (which is a Wal-Mart exclusive set). So trying to finish off my Wave 8 action figures, today's review will be on Commander Steel.

Quite honestly, I have no clue what the Commander Steel story consists of so I'm not going to pretend I know anything about the character. Lets just stick with the review on a toy basis. Judging by the picture below right, this action figure is a pretty good likeness of its comic book counter part.

As you may notice, with the exception of Commander Steel's head, the rest of his body is made up of re-use body parts.

Very standard looking....

What is a little more unique about Commander Steel is his paint job. It is a nice combination of Metallic Blue with red and white and actually looks pretty cool. It is a similar blue color used on Booster Gold from wave 7.

The quality of the paint job is generally good to above average with no really mistakes or slop to talk about.

As far as accessories go, Commander Steel only comes with the upper torso portion collect and connect piece of Giganta, which, quite honesty, is the only reason I decided to get this action figure. There are no other accessories included.

Since Commander Steel is your standard, run of the mill DCUC action figure as far as body parts goes, the same goes for his articulation. Nothing really different to speak of here. Joints include neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, abdominal, waist, hips, thighs, knees and ankles.
All joints on this action figure were in good working order out of the box.

Commander Steel is your typical run of the mill DCUC action figure. I like the paint job color combo on this action figure best. The metallic blue looks cool with the red and white but as I mentioned, the character itself does nothing for me. Really I could think of maybe 50 other characters they could've given us before this one. If you're a fan of the Commander Steel comic, you'll be happy with the purchase. If you know nothing of the character and aren't looking to finish the Giganta BAF, then you'll probably skip this one.

Sculpt - 8, Paint - 9, Accessories - 0, Articulation - 9, Fun - 7

Commander Steel is available all over eBay so if you're looking to pick him up or need to complete your Giganta BAF, then head over to eBay by clicking here.

Now that Wave 9, 10 and the Gotham 5 pack are all out, I'll probably be jumping around from set to set on my reviews instead of finishing off 8, then getting to 9 who knows when. So be sure to check back with Action Toy Review see which review will be next.

Day 116: Sipi (Where the Wild Things Are)

It's Sipi, one of the character from the children's book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak!

Download the PDF file here and make your own Wild Thing! Also don't forget to check out Moishe and Max too!

You can also get the blank template from our Facebook group and customize your own toy!