Werewolf [Altered Beast]

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!

POWER UP!

WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM!

It's impossible to think about Altered Beast without the soundbites and music playing in my head. Just like Matthew Sweet, I love the game. Memories of the millions of quarters sunk into the arcade machine at Circle K and elation of discovering the continue code when playing it at home. Of course I was excited to see the Werewolf represented in Jakks Pacific video game figures. Jakks has been pumping out a pretty solid line of toys inspired by several all time favorites and frankly... Altered Beast was one I never thought would ever get toys. There's a Weredragon figure as well that I hope to eventually get.

I had actually intended to talk about this figure last Halloween season but... completely misplaced it. It wasn't until recent organizing efforts that it was found and put aside once again to look at during Halloween on the site. Fortunately, I remembered where it was this time. As I said above, Jakks has a great video game figure line and Werewolf is another solid effort. He's pleasantly solid feeling, like a much more premium figure... but only cost $9.99. That's awesome. There's 22 points of articulation on his 4" body resulting in one super pose-able monster. Though I did have trouble getting the arms to close close to his body. Initially I wrote that off as a articulation limitation, until I saw others not having this problem online. Then I saw others having the same problem. Clearly it's a molding or QC issue as you can see where the joint is for that amount of movement. I chose not to force the joints on mine, maybe there's a fix out there for this?

Also, the head and crotch are a darker brown than the rest of the body. That's not a big deal, but you can't unsee it. As for accessories, he comes with a Spirit Ball, like the ones from the game that allow for your undead warrior to POWER UP! That's a nice little extra. There's a hole in the bottom of the ball for where a stand would have plugged into. Guessing it was omitted at some point. Clearly the figure isn't perfect, but I'm happy to actually have something from the game in toy form and honestly not bothered enough by the problems for them to overshadow that happiness. However, I'm an honest person and it wouldn't be honest to ignore those issues here. Regardless, it's still a pretty good figure. It's well sculpted and looks great. Hopefully I eventually get that Weredragon and more of the SEGA characters Jakks Pacific has been putting into their video game line. In my mind Altered Beast, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage all take place within the same continuity. With these figures, they can take place on the same bookshelf.

Koopa Troopa & Pull Back Racer - Bullet Bike

Sometimes the simplest toys are they best toys. My mother loves to peruse the clearance aisles at stores. Not long ago she was doing so and picked me up this Koopa Troopa figure from the Super Mario Bros movie toy line. Just because I love Super Mario and it was just a few bucks. It turned out to be a great little toy. Those familiar with Mario probably recognize the Bullet Bike. In toy form it's a simple, ride-able vehicle with a pull back engine and a good representation of the Bullet Bike. The Koopa Troopa is a little over two inches and a quarter with 5 points of articulation. He's a charming little guy who looks screen accurate to his (or her) appearance in the movies racing scene. I'm not ashamed to admit that the little bike has raced al over my floor, jumped ramps made from books, and pulled off some death defying stunts.

Axel Stone [Streets of Rage]

Regardless if you know him as Axel Stone from Streets of Rage or Akuseru Sutōn in Bare Knuckle, there's no doubt he's one of gaming's biggest badasses. One of the main protagonists from the prior mentioned game series... Axel doesn't get a lot of merchandise. So imagine my surprise when he gets a figure in the excellent Jakks Pacific video game based toy series. I've been a fan of these toys, often buying their Super Mario or Sonic offerings. They're great looking, high quality, and reasonably priced. Axel is 4" with 24 points of articulation. He's also pleasantly solid and feels like a higher priced toy. Included is a flame effect to recreate Axel's various Dragon attacks. It fits snugly over either hand and thanks to the articulation, practically any special move can be recreated. This is a cool figure of an awesome character from a classic game. I was really happy to see it announced and even happier to get one.

Super Mini World

One cool thing about big movies is all the cool media mix that comes with it. Well, for me anyway. The new animated Super Mario Bros. movie is a pretty cool example of this. There's all sorts of fun goodies and toys available, but so far my favorite is the Mini World toys that I'll be talking about today. I've been buying the Super Mario Micro World and PVC toys by Jakks Pacific for years now. They make a solid product that really brings the characters to life in a fun way. Micro World was a great keshi style mini figure line with great play sets that didn't take up a lot of room. Mini World is close to that same idea, but with articulated figures and cool transformable play sets. It's a small difference, but a fun one. I haven't tried it yet, but I do think they're cross compatible as well. Just maybe a hair off in scale. So if you've got some Micro World stuff, you could probably incorporate it.

On the subject of Mini World, like I said the figures are articulated. Not as much as the larger figures from the movie by any stretch, just a little bit. Arms move at the shoulders, it's basic, Usually this style of toy is very basic... if it's your thing... you're digging it. These are new sculpts to match the characters as they appear in the movie, but still 100% faithful to the characters as you know them. Realistically, I can see these appearing in newer packaging in years to come. They're just right for a blind bag at Five Below or in a gashapon capsule. Seeing as I've been buying Micro World figures via blind bag at Five Below for the past few years... it'd be something I'd be all for. 

The transformable play sets are pretty neat as well. Individual figures come of cards with a basic play set. This play set comes as the blocks you're used to seeing in Super Mario Bros. video games and open up to reveal a simple little place for your figure to have an adventure in. So far there is two larger play sets available. The Mario Bros. van (they're plumbers after all) unfolds into multiple areas based on settings from the games and movie. Personally I'm all about this van thanks to the cool teaser set as a commercial for the Bros plumbing service. You'll notice a familiar tune and the original voice of Princess Toadstool (before we started calling her Peach here in the states) voice from the classic cartoon.

The other play set is a larger one of Princess Peach's castle. Even if you take issue with the new movie for one reason or another... it's still a pretty faithful representation of her castle from the games. All I see when I look at it is Super Mario 64. It's a pretty large unfolding play set as well. I really hope more figures come along, because you'd need more than whats out currently to fill that thing with. I guess those Micro World toys would work. I'm pretty positive about these cool toys... as you can see. I'd hope for more games to get realized in this format (I could see Ghouls N' Ghosts easily working).