Star Wars Power of the Force Wave 5 Collection

Wave 5 was the second biggest wave of the Red Card collection but it was a pretty odd grouping of figures. Instead of continuing on with Return of the Jedi, it went back to A New Hope. And, honestly, being in Episode IV is the only connection these figures have. They don't even all show up in the same scene. We get two army builder figures of what could be considered tribes of Tatooine (however, The Mandalorian has shifted my mindset on Jawas being local to the planet), two figures that have a merchandise/owner relationship, a background character from the Cantina, and a main character from a completely different setting.

Momaw Nadon

Momaw Nadon was one of my favorite figures when this wave came out. His file card listed him as a member of the Rebellion and he came with a huge gun. In my mind, this guy was a deep Rebel spy sowing the seeds of their cause on Tatooine. Later I found out he was an exiled gardener. I mean, the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. And learning about their war throats from Clone Wars makes him even cooler!

R5-D4

I did not have this toy back in the day and I did not want it. My best friend Jon owned it and I was disgusted with the whole pop out missile gimmick. I would have been much more happy with a simple R2 like design. However, as I look back on it, it was a pretty creative way to add some playability to R5's bad motivator. It's one thing to have a droid that blows up, it's another thing to have a droid that can kill everything in the area!

Jawas

The Jawas came in a 2 pack and had light tube eyes. What more needs to be said? So cool!

Tusken Raider

The Tusken Raider has definitely risen in popularity these days thanks to the Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Both series have done a great job in presenting these nomads as far more than grumpy desert dwellers or inhumane beasts. We now see them as noble and proud though it is hinted that not all tribes share the same values. I'll definitely be adding more Tuskens to my collection, especially since they can claim a familial relationship with Boba Fett.

Stormtrooper Disguise Luke

Stormtrooper Han was my first 'modern' Star Wars figure so getting this Luke just completes the package. Running around the Death Star was my second favorite sequence of A New Hope so being able to recreate these scenes was a lot of fun!

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King Arthur and the Knights of Justice - Lord Viper

I recently saw a tweet that stated that the best things of the 90's were really just backwash from the 80's. I'm still not sure if that is true but it does come up here with King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. It didn't last long but I loved it, especially that theme song! Definitely brought back feelings of Boorman's Excalibur. Also, the Round Table and Suit Up moments felt a lot like M.A.S.K. The biggest connection might be Masters of the Universe. A lot of the same voice actors from the New Adventures of He-Man show up in this series. Garry Chalk, who played He-Man in the New Adventures and Man at Arms in the 200X MYP series plays our main henchman and leader of the Warlords, Lord Viper. Also, let's not forget the Black Wing/Stratos similarities: One further connection, is that Mattel also created the toys for the short lived series. The figures were close in scale to both the vintage line and the New Adventures. The Horde Slime Pit was ev...

Toy Biz Batman Batmobile

Recently, I learned that the Toy Biz Batmobile was a two seater! Talk about a game changer. I loved my Kenner Batmobile, it had the engine missile, machine guns, and the pop out/rotating fire effect, but it could only hold Batman. As a 1966 Batman devotee, I always wanted Robin to ride batarang so that he could hear lectures about automobile safety as he approached his 16th birthday. It took a bit of searching but I found a pretty good one in $50 range on Ebay. The stickers were included but I decided not to apply them. I love the chrome features over the gold hubcaps on the Kenner Batmobile. The passenger seat is everything for me with this. The gear shift opens secret missile launchers in the front. The Bat Trunk was an interesting feature. It has a lot of depth, which I guess can be useful for taking criminals to Arkham, or disposing of their bodies. I guess everyone has competing views of the Caped Crusaders thes...

Funko Primal Age Batcave

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Transformers Legends Scale Jazz, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Starscream, and Thundercracker

Around the end of the G1 line, Transformers made the Pretenders which produced some smaller versions of some popular bots like Jazz and Starscream that would fit in different shells/skins. In 1989, they re-released these figures without the shells and just called them Legends. In the 2000s, Hasbro decided to bring this scale back with their Robots in Disguise, Transformers Universe, Reveal the Shield and various other lines. Over time, the scale has continuously fluctuated so that it is tough to understand just how different figures will line up. This proved particularly challenging for me when I was searching for an appropriately sized Optimus Prime for my GoBots. Well, now I have added some more Transformers to my collection, Jazz, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Starscream, and Thundercracker. They are all about the same size. This bothers me a little bit when it comes to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, but when I put them with Optimus or the GoBots, it all works out pretty ...

Wayne Manor/X-Mansion

Batman and the X-Men were the two biggest and best superhero cartoons of the 90's. They were also the two biggest action figure brands of the 90's. While the X-Men did have some cool playsets, they never really had a Mansion playset. Batman, on the other hand, did. Starting with Batman Returns, this playset would be reused many times and with many different color schemes. Unfortunately, it wasn't until my days as an adult collector that I would realize how perfect it would be for an X Mansion. 5 years ago I was lucky enough to find one on Ebay in pretty good condition for under $30. A great deal, if you ask me! As a teacher, I used to hold a Comic Book Club after school and I used this as a display in my room. Later on, I switched grades to Kindergarten. I didn't really think it fair to keep toys in my room that children that age couldn't play with, so I brought it home and sold off most of my X-Men. Recently, I decided to get back into the X-Men game...

Ubernerd, Beyond Loserdome

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