What better way to celebrate the release of the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy than by reviewing four 12 year old, completely unrelated action figures? I can’t think of one! Yup, it’s time for another Random Toy Review.

Today we’re looking at four action figures that were released as a tie-in to the direct-to-video animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which is actually pretty damn awesome. I loved Batman Beyond as a kid, but I didn’t discover this movie until a few years ago. It has a huge cult following, partly because the violence nabbed the first PG-13 rating for a Batman animated film. There have been a lot of versions on home video since, some with the violence dumbed-down, but thankfully the uncut version is available on Blu-ray and looks great.

But I digress. Thinking about this movie has made me want to revisit it soon, and I’m sure I’ll write something up on the site about it. For now though, the toys. A friend game me some carded figures from this movie, and since I have no respect for mint-in-the-box-things I promptly ripped them open to get a closer look. How do these 12-year old toys hold up to the Batman action figures of today? Let’s find out.
Read More

Just recently I dug out my Tub-O-Toys™ that had been in storage for the past three years or so, and among all the old action figures and vehicles I found a surprise. I had two Mighty World figures still in their package that I had picked up at Target with the intention of posting here. I had never heard of Mighty World toys, and I was intrigued by the Playmobil-like generalness of their themes and the highly detailed, almost wooden appearance of their sculpts.

Ok, so the real reason I bought these was because they had a Cat Burglar figure, and I’ve always thought children’s toys of vagrants and criminals is such a funny concept.

Mighty World was pretty new when I picked these toys up, and I haven’t seen them in stores for a while. You can still buy them online but it looks like the line failed for the most part. Like Playmobil, they had a lot of everyday people and occupations represented by their figures and playsets. Police, construction workers, outdoorsy adventure-types, and of course Cat Burglars.
Read More