The legacy of Transformers Generation 2 continues.

This toy was kindly donated by Rodimus78.

A while back I reviewed the Transformers Generation 2 set of Dreadwing and Smokescreen. The Smokescreen figure in particular caught some interest from both fans and designers alike. I have said that the Generation 2 line was a starting point of novel concepts in Transformers like articulation and especially ball joints. Someone must have really liked this toy because the exact same design was used to create the Starscream figure for Transformers Energon almost a decade later.

Starscream starts out as a F-22 style jet. He's not nearly as sleek as Smokescreen. He sits on a full set of tricycle landing gear with fixed wheels.

One complaint against this toy is that it has a lot of molded "battle damage" to reflect the character's image of a kind of ghostly apparition. It doesn't look that impressive and subsequent repaints of this toy look uneven with pristine paint contrasting cracked armor.

Folding down Starscream's wings reveals a pair of missile launchers. They are your standard spring loaded type and send their plastic payload a good couple of inches across the table.

You can also attach Starscream's energon weapons to his wings.

Transformation is quick, easy, and practical identical to the Smokescreen figure. Starscream features articulation in his shoulders, elbows, knees, neck, and hips. In robot mode, this figure certainly looks the part of Starscream. In fact he seems to have more of the original Generation 1 appearance than the Armada design he succeeds.

The paint apps on this figure are a little dull. None of the colors stand out and the "damaged" gives him a halfhearted asymmetrical appearance. His eyes feature the typical light piping gimmick but his cloudy gray eyes barely let anything through except an intense flashlight blast from the rear.

On the back you can see some of the figure's better details like the embossed Decepticon symbols and the bright green wing damage. The silver details around the backpack damage is again, mediocre.

Snapping his weapons together, Starscream gains a sword that would make Cloud Strife blush. While it looks cool, there's really only one way for the figure to hold it with both hands.

Energon Starscream is a decent figure but in many ways I feel his unique weapons are not as well realized as Smokescreen's very straightforward approach. Oddly enough the Smokescreen figure was released as Starscream in the Beast Wars II line. This particular figure has received a few repaints, most recently as Transformers Collector's Club figures. Still its an interesting curiosity. Further proof that the legacy of Transformer Generation 2 continues onward.

I do not claim to be an artist.

It's funny how those wallflower Microman toys turn out to be major asskickers over and over again...

Hello and welcome. I am Wallas, Poland's main toydude and I'll be your host today as together we take a look on the second release from the Microman Biomachine line. So sit back, relax and enjoy the presentation, as there is a lot to see today. Without any further delays, I'd like to introduce you to Microman Godoh and MachineStinger.

For some reason I can't find the pictures of the toy boxed and unopened on my hard drive, so I'll skip this part for now and will add the pictures should I find them. If anyone's interested how the box works, you can always look up BM-1 Xeku, whose review has a very big chunk of the text dedicated to the packaging.

Godoh is a standard Biomachine type body, built with the use of dimmed clear plastic and covered with shiny blue chrome, which not only makes him look great, but also gives him a sort of sky/water theme. I have him for about a year now and there is still no sign of chrome wearing off from the figure, which is a good sign.

Like all Microman and Acroyear, Godoh's face is fully chromed and sports a nice sculpture of a young man who, having long hair falling on his face and that determined angry face, looks almost like a bishonen. According to tech specs I found on Xeku's promo DVD, he is the brain of the Biomachine team. Hmm, intelligent, blue-coloured... are sure this isn't Billy from Power Rangers 5 years later? Anyway, what really strikes me on this head is that Godoh has a ponytail that is a seperate piece attached on a swivel joint. I advise any owner of this set to superglue it there, though. It's the first part you'll see falling of. I couldn't find mine for three days once ^^

Just a small size comparison with ROTF Deluxe Class Smokescreen

Godoh comes equipped with standard-issued Microman accessory pack, which includes a dual-port oval stand for poses and 5 extra pairs of PVC hand kept together nicely via plastic holder.

One of the two most important features of Micromen is their extreme poseability that only Revoltech and Figma can compete with (and having recently started collecting Revoltech, I know what I'm saying). Godoh has 30 points of articulation, including dual feet, knee, arm and wrist joints, not to mention others like ball-mounted neck and torso. As a result, he can pull off some crazy and extreme poses that are sometimes hardly achievable for other action figures. Examples below.

As I said, Biomachines are designed to have pilots and while controling the unit, Godoh rests on the main part and the tail. He “plugs in” via two handles behind the the screen/shield. He has one set of hands ideal for the job and holds on to the vehicle firmly. Overall it looks nice and works, too.

Just like Xeku's MachineMirror, MachineStinger can release some of its parts. For what purpose? Let's get Godoh and find out!

The aforementioned parts snap on to our Microman and form an additional armour for Godoh. This is officially known as BioTech mode and presumably powers the character up. I really like how each BioTech armour looks completely different. Godoh's seems to be designed as a light-weight type that doesn't affect the users mobility and speed (since Xeku's the only one who can ride his Biomachine with the armour on). I really like how the circular part previously attached to the unit's turbine snaps on the figure's back and forms a sort of a halo around his head, which makes it look like a battle-ready Saint.

I really do like how the armour has almost no effect on the toy's poseability, in fact making many of the poses even cooler then they were before.

In Xeku's case, this should be the end of the review, but Godoh differs from other Biomicroman in that his Biomachine seems to release even more parts!

As a result, Godoh puts his hands on a huge sword and a flight pack, thus entering Super BioTech mode, which in my opinion is the best thing in the entire set. It looks awesome!

With the huge double-edged sword Godoh is finally armed and can execute cool battle poses, not to mention his foes. I find the stand quite useful while doing this. If anyone wonders what happened to the ponytail, worry not, it's not missing, I detached it after BioTech mode to avoid it falling off every time I move the toy.

Super Biotech is a great feature, but it seems that there is more than that to it. You see, after you detach the cannons from the Stinger it becomes visible that the pegs on them match the small holes on the shoulderguards. The instruction remains silent on this, but it all fits together just to well to be accidental and reminds me of the easter eggs left by creators in games and on DVDs.

And so, now Godoh has both a blade and some firepower to use, which unexpectedly makes him surprisingly well-armed. The nice thing about the cannons is that you can mount them however you want, as long as at least one peg stays attached. To make the poses more credible, the cannons have both additional hinges that allow them to swing out while attached to Godoh and even there you will find some details. Wow.

I also found that if you want to, you can flip the wings down to form sort of a cape, but that's just my fiddling with the parts. I wonder what would happen if I plugged in some parts from other Biomicromen...

To sum things up, Godoh proved to be a great toy that has many interesting features that come out once you give this guy a bit of attention. If you dig that kind of action figures, you'll love him. And, he's still easily reachable via ebay :)

Ever since I watched Godzilla: Final Wars on DVD, I fell in love with Goutengo, the savior of mankind. When I saw this toy at my local hobby store at discounted price, I fell in love more than before. Can this love turn to hate…?

Ever since I watched Godzilla: Final Wars on DVD, I fell in love with Goutengo, the savior of mankind. When I saw this toy at my local hobby store at discounted price, I fell in love more than before. Can this love turn to hate…?

This Goutengo (Kaitei Gunkan Gotengo) is taken from the Godzilla: Final Wars movie. I think it’s the strongest ship in the movie. It defeats Manda easily.

Ok, enough about the movie, on with the toy.

Goutengo came with the usual box with styrofoam protecting it. First impression you have that it’s heavy though the box doesn’t say chogokin at all.

It comes with a display stand that you need to assemble and the Goutengo itself. The Goutengo measures about 18cm long. It has a fair amount of detail.

The rivet panel lines are there, but because it’s black, it’s kind of hard to see. The upper part is made form die cast while the lower part is made from ABS. The bridge also made from ABS. The front drill and the fin is made from rubber. While most of the body is black, some of the red part is well painted..

The bad thing is it has no action feature. You can move it’s fins and rotate the drill, but that’s it. No sound, light or action feature. It is just meant to sit pretty on your desk or your cabinet. Maybe I’m expecting to much from a 25$ toy?

It may not be fun but with the price point I had (10$), I’m glad I bought him. After all, your vinyl Godzilla needs something to fight, right?

The last piece of my Sideshow 12" monster collection.

It's always nice to be able to complete a collection, be it a run of comics, a vintage line of toys or some modern releases. And this past Christmas I lucky enough to be given this 12" Hunchback of Notre Dame toy, completing my collection of Sideshow monsters. I don't have all the different color variations and things like that, but I'm not interested in those. Just one of each monster released is good enough for me.

This figure is based on the character of Quasimodo as portrayed by the great Lon Chaney in the 1923 silent movie classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

This was the last one I got because it's just not one of my favorite characters and on top of that, it's a pretty easy one to find. Furthermore, the price on this one has been pretty consistently low (about $30-40) so there just was never any urgency for me to pick it up. As so often happens in cases like that though, now that I have it, I love it.

As with all Sideshow 12" figures, the Hunchback comes in a full color box with opening top lid and clear plastic window inside. I'm not too big a fan of the artwork on the front of this one, though, as it features Esmeralda more prominently than Quasimodo.

The toy is very well articulated, allowing a wide range of motion to strike some pretty unique poses.

The clothing is very well done, with several layers to add depth. The shirt is nicely tied off with faux rope and the belt strapped on and actually adjustable. In addition to his regular costume, accessories include the crown, robe and sceptre of the "King of the Fools". With the last entry in the line, they finally got it right by giving the toy a hand than can actually hold it's accessory!

Unfortunately, the crown itself doesn't fit on the head too snugly and you basically have to rest it on there and pose the toy so it doesn't fall off. The crown is made of a very flexible plastic, maybe even a thin rubber, but it's just to small to fit over the head. Not a huge problem though. It will stay off if you just put it on after posing it.

An adjustable stand with the title and an image of Frankenstein in the Universal Monster logo on the base is also included.

This figure was limited to 2000 pieces. A black and white "Silver Screen Edition" was also released in even smaller numbers. That version was limited to just 500 pieces.

Thank God for suggestive sales as when I got to the checkout the salesperson was wondering why I wasn’t going to purchase “The large one? ” “The large one? Could you show me where it’s at?” Sure enough on a different aisle was a boxed large scale 13 inch Astro Boy for the buy me price of $7.99!

Astro Boy.

I just do not know why I have not made it a habit going into Big Lots or the .99 Cent store every week to look for odd Japanese toys at blow out prices. Both are less than a five-minute drive from my house yet I always forget that historically I have always found great Japanese toys at blow out prices at such establishments.

If you remember the late 1980’s when many toys were being cleared out at places like Sears’ Surplus and Pick N’ Save, these discount stores were the places to go to purchase the last breath of all the great toys from the early 1980’s. I remember going into a Pick N Save in the late 1980’s and seeing HUNDREDS of Matchbox Voltron I and Voltron II stacked across the risers at the blowout price of $25.00 each. What the heck ever happened to all those mint boxed Voltrons?! It just boggles the mind!

Flash-forward to 2006, I was in Big Lots picking up odds and ends and supplies for my film and I saw a small Astro Boy action figure for $2.99. “Hey, it’s Astro Boy for a few bucks.” Thought nothing of it and tossed it into the cart. Thank God for suggestive sales as when I got to the checkout the salesperson was wondering why I wasn’t going to purchase “The large one? ” “The large one? Could you show me where it’s at?” Sure enough on a different aisle was a boxed large scale 13 inch Astro Boy for the buy me price of $7.99!

There are some toys that if you are a Japanese’s toy collector you must own at least one example in your collection out of respect even if you do not particularly collect the series. This list includes a Valkyrie, a Mazinger, a Doraemon, a Voltron, a Godzilla, a RX-78 Gundam, and a Totoro. One toy I believe that should be on that list is an Astro Boy. Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy is a cornerstone of the entire anime racket and his classic look and art design is one of the most recognizable of all anime characters.

That is what so great about this Astro Boy. Bandai seems to have captured what is so great about this Astro Boy and more. It is one of the most active toys I have bought in a long time with many great features and gimmicks which leads it to feel that is was released in the 1970’s or early 1980’s.

The boxed Astro Boy is sandwiched between two sheets of vacuform plastic with many of his features exposed. Because each limb has some sort of feature, it is best to discuss one limb at a time. Let us start with his head.

The sculpt of his head and hair is great and captures that whimsical 1950’s hairstyle perfectly. When one twists the head another set of hidden eyes are exposed and light up. The spring-loaded head snaps back into place when you are through. His concerned look on his face looks like it could have been better, but on the whole looks fine.

The chest area has two buttons on the belt and makes sound effects. If you push the right button it snaps open the chest to expose the light up heart with sound FX. Now if you hold both belt buttons down and twist the head at the same time the toys makes a unique power up sound FX and lights up the heart in a different pulse sound.

The right arm clicks open and the wrist opens the scanner. If you slide one of the five cards that are included it “scans” the card and makes another sound FX. In classic 70’s Chogokin style, the right fist shoots off and opens up the inner wrist mechanics when you push the button on the arm. There is nothing cooler than shooting fists on a Japanese toy and this Astro Boy is one of the best current examples I have seen in a long time.

Both legs open up and expose the inner mechanics of the jet engine. Another great feature that Bandai just nailed is when you engage the buttons on the back of the legs spring loaded jet exhaust and flames appear from the bottom of the feet. It just captures the spirit of Astro Boy so perfect and the clear parts look great and well thought out. Beautiful job Bandai! I only wish one could take the toes off for that foot-less Astro Boy jet look I like so much.

Snap all the gimmicks close and you have one of the nicest looking Astro Boy toy on the market without having to break the bank. I do not know how much these were selling when they were released but spending $30.00-$40.00 on one of these today and you would definitely not feel let down or that you overpaid. The plastic is solid, the articulation is within reason and the charming likeness of the character is captured perfectly. And most importantly it is BIG.

In fact the only way Bandai could have improved on this figure is if they made it out of metal and put an “Astro Boy” stencil in Japanese across the belt or chest. It is that well done. Astro Boy looks perfectly at home with all your other Chogokins and Valkyries in the display case and is a beautiful link to the past of the early days of anime.

©2009 article & photos Leonardo Flores and Collection DX.

Gazura is another Kaiju from Dream Rocket's "Monster File"

Gazura is another Kaiju from Dream Rocket's "Monster File", along with the previously reviewed Balbagon and Marnon.

This release is the regular color release, and there has been at least four other colorways of this toy.

Monster File Kaiju are original creations from the staff at Dream Rocket, and as such have no show or series associated with them.

Gazura is molded in orange vinyl with brown, silver and red spray applications.

All four legs move, and the neck has a nice surprise. It can actually extend out a few inches, much like a turtle.

I have to admit, I got this guy when I was just getting into designer kaiju because he was cheap. But over time I have really come to like it, and he has also become a favorite of my kids. He has the battle wear to prove it.

So I finally got my hands on a Virgo Shaka after being out of print for a while. One of my favorite characters in the series but was it worth the wait?

From Wikipedia:

“Shaka is one of the Twelve Gold Saints. As the guardian of the Temple of Virgo along the path of Sanctuary, Shaka has played a pivotal role chiefly in the battle between Athena and the Pope in the Sanctuary arc, and also in the Hades arc. He is referred to many times on the story as the "the man who is closest to god" (or closest to attain godhood) due to his immense power and is also considered the only Gold Saint that has full control over the Araya Shiki (8th sense). “

“Arguably Shaka's most pivotal role comes during the Hades chapter, when Saga, Shura, and Camus, who had previously died in a civil war within the ranks of the Saints, returned from the dead. Saga, Shura and Camus had sworn their allegiance to Hades, the God of the Underworld, promising to help Hades defeat Athena and invade the Sanctuary in exchange for a chance to return to the land of the living. ”

“Shaka conducts them to the garden at the side of his temple. The four engage each other in direct battle, but the three revived Gold Saints are not initially on par with Shaka's strength. However, as the battle continues, they start landing successful blows, and Shaka realizes that he can't last forever against three gold saints - as powerful as he is, eventually, not even he would be able to survive against three Gold Saints in direct combat. He then uses his The Treasures of Heavens to disable their senses, and urges them to use the forbidden technique that was sealed by Athena many centuries ago, Athena Exclamation, with a power similar to that of the Big Bang itself. Shura and Camus hesitate - for they will be branded lower than beasts. Saga encourages his fellow Gold Saints to remember their purpose and goal. When Shaka is about to take their last senses, the trio decide to use the Athena Exclamation.”

“The Gold Saint of Virgo is consumed by the immense destructive force of the "Athena Exclamation" attack. With his physical body completely obliterated by the banned attack, Shaka's spirit returns to Earth one last time to write a final message to the goddess Athena herself (Arayashiki).”

“Later on on the Hades arc, it is revealed that Shaka and Athena are still, indeed, alive - they are shown making their way towards Hades' realm. Shaka eventually located Hades and confronted the Greek God alone, threatening to kill Hades by himself. Just when Shaka is about to attack Hades he is stopped by Athena. Athena forbids him to attack Hades, since he was inside Andromeda Shun's body. After both the gods disappeared, Shaka tried to sacrifice himself to open the way to the Elysium, but since he didn't have enough power alone Libra Dohko stops him, this was only granted after all the Twelve Gold Saints reunited and used their own lives.”

Virgo is one of the characters that really grew on me as the series progressed but it was his final sacrifice that put him over the top as one of my favorite characters in the series. Being an early release he has been sold out for a while now but luckily Angolz.com got a restock so I was finally able to pick one up to go with the Appendix I had gotten about 6 months ago.

So was it worth the wait? When combined with the appendix- kind of. This Virgo Shaka figure suffers from some pretty loose joints and being an earlier release the face sculpt left a lot to be desired. With the appendix parts swapped in it is a much better looking figure but it still difficult to get into poses it will hold.

The package is the same Window-box book style package collectors have come to expect from the Saint Cloth Myth line so no surprises there.

The body is a Generation 1 type so articulation is a bit more limited in the torso than later releases but that doesn't really hamper posing the figure. Loose ankles, knees and hips however do make it difficult to pose. I don't think all the Virgo's made suffer from this problem. Saint Cloth myth while a very nice high caliber collectible is still mass produced and I think I may have just gotten a clunker.

Appendix parts basically give you an improved head sculpt and a longer neck so the figure looks accurate to the anime when on display in the Lotus position. They do include new chest plates so when displayed in object mode it is a bit more show accurate but the only real parts fans will probably want is the head.

Speaking of heads, they do include a head for Andromeda Shun as he does wear the gold cloth of Virgo on several occasions. Unfortunately this face sculpt is even worse than Shaka

With those criticisms said when you do finally get him in his Lotus Position and put on the shelf he does look good on display. Any fan of the series and fan of Virgo will want this in the Saint Cloth Myth collection but only if you get the appendix at the same time. I got both of mine at Angolz.com. A video review is included below.

The Gold Cloth that starts the whole adventure for our heroes....The Sagittarius Cloth.

Plot recap fromWikipedia:

“When Aioros was 14 years old, he, along with fellow gold saint Gemini Saga, were summoned to Pope Shion's throne room for an audience. There, the Grand Pope revealed that their goddess had once again reincarnated in the form of an infant, and so the Sanctuary must prepare itself for the imminent wars. As Shion himself was getting on in years, he decided that it was time to appoint one of the twelve Gold Saints as the successor to his seat. At the time, most of the Gold Saints were still too young; only Gemini Saga and Sagittarius Aioros were most qualified. The Pope eventually selected Aioros as the new Pope, and asked Saga to serve as an assistant to the Sagittarius Saint.”

“Saga, possessed by his evil side, became jealous at the fact that he was not chosen for the seat, especially since he believed that he was superior to Aioros in terms of power and wisdom. Saga confronted Shion regarding his decision and killed him. He disguised himself with the Grand Pope's garments, and left to kill the infant Athena. Inches before Saga could dig the golden dagger into the baby's belly, Aioros appeared and halted the blade from striking the death blow. The Sagittarius berated the man he assumed to be the Pope, but was quickly shoved aside. After a minute of struggle, Aioros sent Saga flying into the nearest wall, knocking off his headdress and mask. Upon seeing Saga's face and realizing that Saga had killed the Grand Pope, Aioros immediately snatched away the infant Athena and ran off from Sanctuary.”

“Saga, disguised as the Pope once more, sounded the alarm and sent guards to go after the saint. It is at this point that he officially branded Aioros as a "traitor". He was eventually found by Capricorn Shura and managed to flee, but was deadly injured.”

“As he was dying, he ran into Mitsumasa Kido, who was touring Greece at the time. Aioros begged the elder Kido to become Athena's new guardian, and explained to him the travesty that had taken place at the Sanctuary. Along with other secrets, Kido learned about the existence of Athena's Saints and their Cloths. Entrusting the elder Kido with Athena and his own Sagittarius Gold Cloth, Aioros succumbed to his injuries. It is unknown as to where exactly Aioros died and buried, as the whereabouts of the location is omitted in the series.”

“After his death, Aioros' spirit would provide assistance for Athena and her Saints. He has aided Seiya in battles by lending the young bronze saint the Sagittarius Gold Cloth time and time again, and even appeared once to his brother Aiolia during Aiolia's fight with Seiya, when he demanded proof of Saori's identity as the goddess Athena. When the bronze saints were in the Temple of Sagittarius, the Sagittarius Cloth moved on its own (or with Aioros' spirit), and fired its golden arrow into a nearby wall -- revealing a final hidden message of the gold saint's last will: "To you young boys who have reached this temple, know that I entrust Athena's life in your hands. Aioros." It is likely that Aioros foresaw that one day, new Saints would go to his temple to fight for Athena.”

“When Athena's saints were once again fighting against Hades's spectres, all the Gold Saints, both dead and alive, gathered in Hades' room to break the Wailing Wall. Only with sunlight can the wall be destroyed, and because each individual gold cloth contained a bit of solar energy, gathering all twelve would provide enough of it to properly damage the wall. At this point, the spirit of Aioros appeared with the rest of the recently deceased Gold Saints to aid their comrades in accomplishing this task. Focusing on a single point of the Wailing Wall, Aioros guided all twelve gold saints' individual attacks into one, and struck the wall. Once the mission was completed, Aioros and the rest of the gold saints dissipated, leaving only the gold cloth behind.”

So as you can see by the Wikipedia entry above the Sagittarius Cloth and Aiolos have been very important to the series despite Aiolos being dead during the series..... and before the series is over the Sagittarius Cloth will make one more VERY important appearance, but I will save that for the next Saint Cloth Myth review.

Sagittarius Aiolos comes packaged in the usual Book style box with Windows to see the parts and pieces. No surprises here at this point, but always a nice presentation.

Figure is a Generation One body as it was an early release so articulation is limited in the waist area which is fine as the armor design limits movement in the waist. Not a big deal but worth noting. Body and head are plastic with the feet being die cast metal.

It falls a little short in sculpt department as far as the faces go. Aiolos just doesn't look right. He has a vacant and lifeless stare as well as the head looking a bit to small for the body. This character is perfect for an Appendix release to correct the head sculpt.

While nice that Bandai included a Seiya head so he can wear the Cloth like in the show, it is down-right ugly however and suffers from the same vacant, lifeless look as Aiolos.

Luckily the Cloth of Sagittarius itself is as beautiful as previous Gold Cloth's and looks just fine in it's statue form. This will be my preferred form for display as I think of the Cloth and not Aiolos when I think of it in the series.

The Cloth features large amounts of die cast metal with the wings, bow and arrow and the head piece being plastic. The rest is metal.

Like I mentioned earlier this is a very important piece in a Saint Cloth Myth collection and one any self respecting Saint Seiya fan should have not only for the reasons mentioned in the Wikipedia recap but for what it becomes.... but more on that in the next review.

I think the design is fantastic and looks great in its statue form but not the best “figure.” I think it's a fan only choice this time around but your mileage may vary. You can get your Saint Cloth Myth at Angolz.com like I did. A video review is included for your entertainment as well.

"You will not remember what I show you now, and yet I shall awaken memories of love... and crime... and death... "

I never really thought about it until now, but I suppose people who aren't classic monster movie fans might get a bit confused when hearing about the characters from the 1932 Boris Karloff vehicle "The Mummy". The main character is of course the mummy himself, who's real name is "Imhotep", but when he's resurrected, he takes the name of Ardeth Bey and moves freely among the rest of the cast, until his true identity is revealed. So, "The Mummy", "Im-ho-tep" and "Ardeth Bey" are all the same person.

The figure is really well made like all the others in the line. The box art is great as usual showing Ardeth Bey poised above the character of Helen Grosvenor (played by Zita Johann), whom he believed to be the reincarnation of his lost love, the Princess Anck-es-en-Amon. A statue of the Egyptian god Anubis stands in the background. I love these box lids that have the vintage poster art on them. They make such great backgrounds for your monster setup.

Ardeth Bey box art

My humble monster collection, with Sideshow boxes on the top row

Ok, so the box is great, but what about the figure? Well, like most toys, it's got it's good and bad points. The costume and accessories (a sacrificial dagger and the Scroll Of Thoth, with which one could raise the dead) are fantastic. The figure can even hold both of the accessories and the Scroll of Thoth can actually be untied and rolled out to admire all the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics which were meticulously recreated. The tarboosh is molded right onto the head and is not removable.

The figure looks just like Karloff did, but something about the paint job feels wrong. I know how the character in the movie looks eerily ancient but here his face looks absolutely petrified (and I mean that in a turned to stone kind of way). I don't really have a problem with that, but you can still see tiny areas of flesh tone peeking through and I feel like the black around the eyes looks a bit too exaggerated, which sort of makes it look "fake". I know that's probably a weird way to describe a toy, but I think if I saw someone who looked like this in real life, I would think "there's someone made up to look ancient" instead of "there's someone ancient". It looked great in the movie, but doesn't seem to work as well in color. Perhaps this figure would have benefited from a black and white "Silver Screen Edition", but one was never made as this was released towards the tail end of Sideshow's run of these 12" classic monsters.

With that said, if that's a problem at all, it's only a problem when you look at it up close. From a couple feet away or while mixed within a collection, the doll is fantastic. And it certainly adds a distinctive flavor to a monster room otherwise filled with your standard Frankensteins, Draculas, etc... I welcome any of the characters who are less seen in toy form.

Ardeth Bey comes with his own adjustable 12" doll stand and was limited to 3000 pieces. It's definitely a great figure for the monster collector and if the paint feels flawed at all, it's only because of the high standard already established by Sideshow's previous releases. But I don't think you'd be too disappointed to have this one in your collection!

It's not an expensive toy. It's not big... Who cares? It still rocks!

Hello there, I'm Wallas, a new writer here on CDX. Before I start my review, I must tell some tech stuff. This is my first review, so please be understanding if I make some style mistakes ^^ Also, I will use the writing scheme that is common on my very own Transformers site. And finally, I may be pretty advanced in English, but it's still my second language (I come from Poland). So don't kill me if it won't sound like a native's article :) Ok, time for the fun part!

My adventure with this toy began quite accidentally- I'm a Transformer collector and although I do like Japan toys (on my PC's screen), I had never had personal contact with any of them, especially Microman toys. That is, until one day someone sold two Microman Biomachine toys on our local auction site. I wasn't quite interested but after 3 months of failing to sell those sets, the seller lowered the price to about $5 per piece. Then, out of simple curiosity, I began to consider purchasing them and made some small research on those toys. The results were promising enough for me to buy both Microman sets. Were they worth it? Read on and try to guess :P

Umm... don't expect to find any plot-related stuff here, I'm as new to this as you guys ^^ All I know that Microman are some kind of miniature cyborgs fighting with their evil counterparts...

For starters, let's check out the box. Though it may look like your standard blister-on-card package for smaller toys, this one has few very nice features. Apart from specific graphical design (I'll leave judging whether it's nice to you), from the technical side, it's far more better than, for example, TF Deluxe boxes. Especially when it comes to opening it. Usually companies like Hasbro (or even Takara with their other releases) simply glue the blister to the card, which is quite irritating for collectors who wish to preserve the box in the best possible shape. But it's not that easy when you must literally tear the box apart to reach the toy inside. Even if you decide to cut the blister with something sharp, it still doesn't look too nice. That's why I was so pleased to notice that with Microman it's completely different. Here, the blister isn't glued to the front of the card. Instead,it's side and bottom edges partly cover the back of the card and are sticked together with transparent gluetape. So, to open the toy, you simply cut the tape and slide out the card. This way you can have the box in exactly the same state as it was before opening. Brilliant! Also, unlike most US toys where figure and all it's belongings are place on a single tray filling the whole blister, here, the accessories and the main figure are stored on separate trays (and in the way that all smaller extra parts are hidden behind the figure). All the paper sheets included to the toy are hidden inside the card (it's double-layered). So in general a viewer has a feeling of order when looking at this box.

After dealing with the holding measures (which are effective but also easy to remove), we get to see Xeku, Microman included in this particular set. And I admit it, even while not being a big fan of human action figures, the look of this one simply impressed me. Very human-like proportions, nice pallete of colors, as well as simple but eye-catching design of the suit. It's purpose isn't obvious when you first look at it, but it's just a fine piece of a battle suit (Power Ranger costumes go home!).

About the colors again. Xeku is made mostly from semi-transparent dark blue plastic. We can also see many red metallic parts of the armour, accompanied by single white metallic chest part (white is also the colour of the hands). The finishing touches consist of many small, orange paint aps all over the figure, as well as silver,chromed head (this is something like a recognition sign for the whole Microman series). And I admit, it's a nice color scheme... the only problem with it is that the red tends to wear off at those pegs on shoulders...not a big deal for me, as it's not that visible, though.

Now, a close-up for the upper body. The chrome head mentioned before is nicely shaped. Not very detailed, but still you can see hair or eyebrows. Not bad for a 3 1/2 inch figure if you ask me. Also, the red chest plate is shaped after the emblem of this very character (the emblem is visible in the right upper corner of the box). Nice!

Time for another important matter in this toy aside form it's looks. Microman was always known for poseable figures, but when Takara introduced so called Full Action Body system few years ago, Microman became one of the most poseable toy series up to date and even now it's no less impressive than the Revoltech line. Just look at the example poses above. It doesn't look much until you look up the numbers- each Biomachine Microman features 30 points of articulation which include double knee and elbow joints, double shoulder ball joints and more. Plus, each figure has it's own 6 sets of interchangeable hands. This gives you a lot of possible configurations and poses. I think it would be really hard to run out of new ideas at some point.

Xeku also includes a small elliptic stand made from transparent plastic. It features two phrases - "Micro size action figure" and "Microman since 1974". That's what I call a long tradition. Aside from these, in the center of the stand there's also a carving of a Microman with his legs and arms stretched... An obvious reference to Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, but it's a very nice touch. The stand also includes two pegs- one that is compatible with Full Action Body figures (like Xeku), the other one is to make the stand work with older Microman toys. although the stand is done nicely, it's not much really. I mean, compared to standard Revoltech stands that allow you to create jumps, powerkicks or other airborne poses, this one allows you only to support ground-based setups. But maybe it's just me with my big requirements, you still can manage some nice poses anyway.

But, unlike Revoltech, Micromen actually have something like a storage for hands not used at the moment. Basically it's just a transparent connector that keeps all spare limbs together, but it sure makes losing these parts a lot harder.

Now it's time to introduce the main feature of the Biomachine sub-line, the Biomachine itself!. The main idea behind Xeku and his buddies was to provide each Microman with his own, unique set of accessories (like it does in most Microman toys). In Biomachine they take shape of futuristic vehicles like the one above. In Xeku's case it's a small combat hovercraft dubbed MachineMirror (probably due to the use of anti-gravity drive). And I must say, it looks interesting. It's shape isn't maybe obvious, but thankfully no one has yet definitely determined how a futuristic hovercraft should look like, so it's not a bad thing. Especially that the specific shape is partly due to the special feature that can be used when all four Biomachines are gathered in one place- they can combine to form a huge exo-frame robot (Bio-suit) piloted by one of the Micromen (still need the other two to perform that, so no pictures of the combined form now, sorry ^^).

But I would also like to mention other things about MachineMirror apart from it's general mold. For example, the color scheme. Basically the main structure is pure chrome, which is simply awesome. I guess the Mirror nick of this vehicle can also refer to the fact, that everything around it reflects on it's surface and it really looks good. It's almost like this machine was built from liquid metal (similar to T-1000 from Terminator 2). Add really nice level of details and you get small, but really nice piece of toy (I guess it's not hard to consider Biomachine sets as two separate toys). Another thing that catches the eye is the weaponry- MachineMirror is equipped with a medium size laser cannon , as well as four smaller blasters on sides. For a vehicle of it's size (check out the Mirror/Xeku comparison shot) it's more than enough.

Another nice (and maybe not 100% obvious) feature of MachineMirror is to drive Xeku around- it has two small handles on the back which our Microman can grab- when you fit Xeku there, he looks quite similar to a motorcycle driver. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to make it look right. First, it's hard to make Xeku grab the handles- you have to use a dedicated pair of hands and it's still hard to place them right. Then, when you're done with that, you must also pose Xeku properly (like on the picture above and believe me, it only looks easy, unless you have a third hand, of course. You see, you use one hand to hold Machinemirror, the second to adjust Microman. But when we talk about hyper-posable toys like this, usually when you adjust one part, the others changes their earlier position...so it's really a pain in the butt to do it properly. Thankfully, Takara equipped Mirror with two pegs on top. You can plug Xeku's feet there, so that he can surf/skate on his vehicle.. or do other interesting things related to transportation :).

You thought that's all this set has got? Not a chance. For you see, some parts of MachineMirror are made of the same transparent dark blue plastic as Xeku's main body. And apart from the piece on the main gun, all these parts disconnect from our hovercraft...to become Xeku's armour. This is called the BioTech mode and I simply love it. Not only does it look great (the transparency of those parts make them look as if they were taken from Tron), but also doesn't really decrease Xeku's poseability much. Plus, parts that were laser barrels before, now form a spear that can be used as Microman's personal weapon. Pure awsomeness if you ask me. Ok, time for some pics so you can get the idea how BioTech mode works :)

Finally, the partly disassembled MachineMirror can stll work as Xeku's vehicle, even if he's in BioTech mode.

And the last pic in the review, a group shot of all parts included this set. Oh, I almost forgot- the US version of this toy (like mine) has a promo DVD included. It's not much- you have all Biomachine's members short profiles, a short commercial and a two minute overview of Microman line up to Biomachine. still, if you get it for free (the set costs the same amount of money as the japan release), it's welcomed :)

To conclude, I didn't expect so much nice features form such a small and cheap toy. I highly recommend Xeku as well as other Biomachines- for someone who's new to the Microman line (like me), it's a perfect toy to get enthusiastic about these figures. An "A" score from me :)