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All posts for the month October, 2026

REVIEW – JADA TOYS ULTRA STREET FIGHTER II: THE FINAL CHALLENGERS – AKUMA

Posted by Mighty Mike on October 14, 2026
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Akuma is a mysterious and powerful martial artist who first appears in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret alternate boss character. Driven by the deadly power of the Satsui no Hado, he has abandoned compassion in pursuit of ultimate strength. Akuma seeks only to test himself against the world’s strongest fighters, making him one of the most feared opponents.

Name: Akuma
Line: Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers
Manufacturer: Jada Toys
Released: 2026
Price: $45 AUD
Scale: 1:12
Accessories: Multiple interchangeable parts

Continuing my reviews of Jada Toys Street Fighter figures is Akuma. I was able to pick him up last May, locally, as he was fairly easy to find. I’ve never played as Akuma in any Street Fighter game, but I do think he looks like a very cool character design, and I couldn’t say no to picking him up after seeing him in store. Yes, I knew he would be good, because Jada Toys always do a great job.

I don’t think I will be reviewing every character released, as I only want to buy the characters I like. But, I will try and review all the ones I have or will buy in the near future.

SCULPTING

As expected, Jada Toys have done another excellent job with the sculpting of this figure. Even if I’m sure there is a bit of reuse from Ryu and Ken figures. The head sculpt, even by itself, is great! 

PAINT

Paint is kept to a minimum, but what has been painted is up to the high standard expected. No slop or over-spray etc. just nice and neat. 

ARTICULATION

 Like all previous Jada Toys figures I’ve bought, the articulation is fairly standard and only restricted by the clothes of the character. You can pose Akuma almost any way you want and he’s fun to pose. I had a lot of fun posing him for this photo set and I wouldn’t even call myself an Akuma super fan either. But, that’s one thing I do like, when I can easily take photos and it doesn’t become a chore to do so.

ACCESSORIES

My complaint here would be Akuma’s necklace as it just doesn’t sit right. But I think this is more from the plastic used to hold it together. I changed mine out for string and it’s marginally better. But still a work in progress to find the best solution.

Besides this minor issue and/or personal preference, he comes with extra head, hands and a fire ball and stand for it. 

It’s a nice variety of options and all are made well.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Nothing to worry about with this toy. Besides an annoying necklace, everything else is great and problem-free.

PRICE

I paid $45 for my copy from my local EB Games store. That’s pretty much the standard retail price in Australia at least for my local toy shops.

OVERALL

If you are a Street Fighter fan, it would definitely be worth your while picking up this figure. He’s an excellent Akuma figure and looks very menacing. He’s also very fun to pose and play around with and up to the expected standards from Jada Toys. I would not sleep on this figure if you are an Akuma fan.

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REVIEW – HASBRO GI JOE CLASSIFIED SERIES – NINJA FORCE – T’JBANG

Posted by Mighty Mike on October 9, 2026
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Ninja Force was a martial arts-themed sub-line released in the early 1990s. The GI Joe Classified toy line started in 2020 and has slowly been releasing retro version of various figures from the original GI Joe: A Real American Hero toy line in a 6 inch scale. Recently, Hasbro has slowly been releasing updated characters from its Ninja Force sub-line.

Name: T’JBang
Line: GI Joe Classified (Ninja Force)
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Released: 2026
Price: $99.00
Scale: 6 inch
Accessories: Various accessories 

The second figure included in the recently released Ninja Force two pack is T’JBang. Apparently he’s Storm Shadows second cousin and has taken an oath of silence. I’ve always thought he looked pretty cool even if I didn’t know much about the character. I liked his mask and blue and yellow colour scheme and it’s good to see he’s retained his tan, even if it could have been a little bit more darker.

So it’s great to see both T’JBang and Scarlett under the Ninja Force label in GI Joe Classified. I’m really looking forward to any Ninja Force figures that are produced, but top of my list is NightCreeper. So hopefully we don’t have to wait too long to receive a toy of him.

SCULPTING

Just like Scarlett, the sculpting on T’JBang is excellent! I feel Hasbro is doing a pretty good job at updating the character’s designs from 3.75 inch figures to 6 inch sized figures and modernising them as well. It’s a very detailed sculpt and you will be quite happy with the amount of detail, yet it still matches the original toy very well.

PAINT

Most of the time Hasbro do a pretty good job with their paint applications. I really think they are making their figures look really collector friendly with top notch paint applications and T’JBang is no different.

However, what I don’t like is that his mask doesn’t appear to be separate from his head so his eyes have been painted on over the yellow of the mask – once you notice it, you can’t unsee it and it takes away from the figure a little bit unfortunately.

ARTICULATION

 T’JBang has a lot of articulation and most of it works pretty well. However, his lat muscles really limit how much you can pose his arms, unfortunately. He definitely can’t hold any swords to his chest with two arms. Other than that, the rest of articulation works well and you can pose him pretty easily. I was even able to recreate his pose on his original box art without too much trouble as well.

ACCESSORIES

Just like the original toy, T’JBang comes with a lot less accessories than Scarlett. He comes with his two swords, that can be combined together and a single ninja claw and hook. He also comes with a mask accessory, but I don’t much care for these at all. It would be nice if he came with a second claw and another sword he can use for himself. Otherwise the amount of accessories is fine.

I didnt bother changing his hands over from the gripping hands to the included extra fist hands, because he really doesn’t need them at all and they become a bit of a chore with his bracers on his arms already getting in the way too.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Nothing to really worry about with this figure. Perhaps a bad paint job if you are unlucky and can’t get one in person.

PRICE

I paid the Australian retail price of $99 and was happy with that. Honestly the prices for single figures aren’t too bad either at about $49.00.

OVERALL

This is a great update to the original T’JBang figure that was originally released. It’s not perfect, but it does its job. I think the lack of extra accessories bothered me the most and the poor choice of painting the eye sections of his mask are my only issues really. He’s still a solid addition to the ever growing Ninja Force sub-line of GI Joe Classified Series of figures.

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RETRO REVIEW – BATTLE BEASTS HORNY TOAD

Posted by Mighty Mike on October 6, 2026
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Battle Beasts was a toy line consisting of small anthropomorphic animals in body armour; each toy came with its own individual weapon. Released in the mid-1980s, each Battle Beast would have a heat-sensitive sticker on its chest, which, when rubbed, would reveal the symbol of wood, fire or water. You could then play a rock, scissors, paper-type game using the toys with your friends.


Name: Horny Toad/Drillfrog
Line: Battle Beasts
Manufacturer: Hasbro/Takara
Released: 1987
Price: Then: $3.99, Now: $20-$25 
Scale: About 5cm in height.
Accessories: One weapon

Continuing my reviews of Battle Beasts toys is Horny Toad. This is one of my favourite designs when it comes to Battle Beasts, even if the name is a bit unfortunate. There’s a handful of designs that really stand out to me, and this is one of them. 

No interesting story on how I acquired this toy, just bought him off eBay a while ago. As mentioned before, I never had Battle Beasts when I was a kid, so unfortunately, I don’t have any memories of playing with these guys growing up.

I do, however, love the design and size of the Battle Beasts and have quite a few in my collection, but nowhere near a complete collection either. I just buy my favourites, and that’s enough for me. 

SCULPTING

This is a standout category for Horny Toad; he’s excellently sculpted and has a lot of cool little details on him. The skin texture is pretty detailed, and his armour looks really cool too. It’s also pretty cool he has a weapon arm too, as opposed to an additional hand.

PAINT

Paint is mainly used for his armour colour and extra details like his weapon arm. It’s a red/brown colour that really pops in contrast to the green skin tone, and the warm yellow highlights really help bring it all together visually.

ARTICULATION

 Like all other Battle Beasts, Horny Toad has a total of two points of articulation: you can swivel and rotate both his arms, and that’s it. Seeing he’s such a small figure, my expectations for a lot of articulation is pretty low. Sometimes with these older toys, it’s just cool to have any articulation at all, which is better than no articulation.

ACCESSORIES

Horny Toad comes with his silver scathe weapon, which fits nicely in his hand. It’s also a pretty big weapon and a little bit oversized in my opinion. But still looks cool nonetheless.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Nothing to worry about with this toy. 

PRICE

I paid roughly market price back in the day. But I’m pretty sure the price for these toys has gone up a little bit over the years. Just pay a price you are happy with, and hopefully the condition of the toy will be good too.

OVERALL

Horny Toad is another solid Battle Beast toy. He looks great and is very visually striking and interesting. They definitely catch my attention in a display of other random figures. I have a soft spot for toys that are 3.75 inches and smaller, so I think the size and the design are always going to be a home run for me. Definitely worth picking up this toy for your collection.


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REVIEW – HASBRO GI JOE CLASSIFIED SERIES – NINJA FORCE – SCARLETT

Posted by Mighty Mike on October 2, 2026
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Ninja Force was a martial arts-themed sub-line released in the early 1990s. The GI Joe Classified toy line started in 2020 and has slowly been releasing retro version of various figures from the original GI Joe: A Real American Hero toy line in a 6 inch scale. Recently, Hasbro has slowly been releasing updated characters from its Ninja Force sub-line.

Name: Scarlett
Line: GI Joe Classified (Ninja Force)
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Released: 2026
Price: $99.00
Scale: 6 inch
Accessories: Various accessories 

It wasn’t too long ago, I finally got around to posting my Ninja Force Scarlett review for the original toy released way back in 1993. Hasbro have been going strong with their GI Joe Classified line of 6 inch figures and announced new version of this figure to be included in a two pack with T’Jbang which was released recently. Being a fan of these two characters and Ninja Force, obviously I was looking to pick one up, if just for the new Scarlett figure alone.

SCULPTING

Let’s start with the best part of this figure: the new Scarlett head sculpt. It’s amazing! Hasbro has done a really good job here. It’s definitely the right balance of tough, determined and beautiful. The rest of the figure is also just as nice. Good proportions and nice detail all over the figure. Apparently there is reuse for this body, but it all works really well to make the figure look original.

PAINT

Paint application overall on this figure is pretty good. The paint application on the head sculpt is excellent. It definitely adds more to an already excellent sculpt. The rest of the figure appears overall nice and neat. Nothing too unusual here.

ARTICULATION

 Hasbro’s GI Joe Classified Series features a ton of articulation for its 6 inch GI Joe figures. Double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints in the shoulders and deep ankle pivots in the feet among your standard expectations for modern articulation. 

I didn’t have too much problems posing Scarlett how I wanted, once the joints are freed up she’s fairly easy to pose. I just wish her pony tail would have been a ball joint not a swivel. 

ACCESSORIES

You get a number of ninja themed accessories, but one thing I noticed from the original release – no nunchucks! Which is a shame. Other than that you get a good number of weapons for Scarlett to weld – a sword, some extended claws, kunai knives and an alternate head sculpt too. They all fit in her hands without too much trouble and add to your display options.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

I can’t really see any issues with Scarlett, Hasbro did a pretty good job with the overall product and quality control.

PRICE

I paid the current Australian retail price of $99.00 which is fair. It’s not an exclusive here and can be found in most Zing/Eb Games stores and other various retailers like The Gamesmen or Kings Comics.

OVERALL

I think this is an excellent update for a figure that was originally very underwhelming when released. Hasbro has really put a lot of effort into updating the Ninja Force Scarlett figure. Definitely a must have, figure if you are a Ninja Force fan.

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