Poppy Playtime - KISSY MISSY!

Poppy Playtime - 12" Figures Series 1 - Kissy Missy - Phat Mojo Toys 2023

This is the figure that made me excited to start buying the Poppy Playtime figures that were hitting toy aisles this Summer. I always love modern 12" scale figures, but it seems that only a few toy licenses ever get that treatment: DC from Spinmaster, Marvel and Power Rangers from Hasbro, and Halo from Jazwares. (Plus the random one-offs like Lightyear from Mattel). But to see a new manufacturer with a new license like PhatMojo with Poppy Playtime is exciting. It's also cool to see a whole new genre (horror/horror gaming) in 12". This figure of Kissy Missy is appealing to me because her long limbs are inexplicably creepy and I love the simple gimmick of a spin-around head with a different facial expression. She is also surprisingly heavy and dense which is a far cry from the hollow plastic you typically see in this scale (and it allows her to stand firmly without fear of toppling over). I never saw this figure in stores, but she was readily available online. Let's check out the 12" Kissy Missy below!

Poppy Playtime - MOMMY LONG LEGS!

Poppy Playtime - 5" Figures Series 1 - Mommy Long Legs - Phat Mojo 2023

I legitimately think the most terrifying living toy in the Poppy Playtime game is Mommy Long Legs. This action figure seems so innocuous and sweet, but the few gameplay videos I've watched have changed my view of her completely. When you first meet her, Mommy Long Legs seems childlike and maternal. But throughout the game she becomes more unhinged; delivering the same mommyisms ("Play nice, now") in a more sinister tone and running in a spider-like fashion with her stretchy arms and legs. She has a "furious mode" where her skin becomes mottled and withered and her mouth forms an angry frown. But I personally find her "deranged mode" more scary. In this mode, she looks essentially the same as her happy appearance but her eyes are fully dilated and she acts and moves erratically. That juxtaposition of innocent appearance and unpredictable demeanor gives me chills. She's essentially a demonic Betty Spaghetty. Let's check out Mommy Long Legs below!

Poppy Playtime - KISSY MISSY!

Poppy Playtime - 5" Figures Series 1 - Kissy Missy - Phat Mojo Toys 2023

Poppy Playtime is a 2021 horror video game featuring an abandoned toy factory whose entire staff mysteriously disappeared ten years earlier and was shuttered. The factory is now in fact full of living malicious toys. You play a former employee who was lured to the factory with a letter from one of their missing coworkers. You try to escape the factory in maze-like corridors, being chased by the creepy toys and occasionally solving puzzles. I especially like the character design of the toys because they initially appear adorable, only to expose an extremely creepy or downright scary side. Kissy Missy is the pink female counterpart to the main male character, Huggy Wuggy (he looks like Kissy Missy but blue and no eyelashes). PhatMojo has definitely found a niche in the horror video game genre. Hopefully the Poppy Playtime line is as prolific as Bendy and the Ink Machine was because there are a lot of characters who would make great toys. Series 2 is already announced. Let's check out Kissy Missy below!

Monsters, Inc - CELIA!

Disney Pixar 7" Featured Favorites - Mike Wazowski & Celia - Mattel 2022

This 7" Pixar line from Mattel is unexpectedly awesome. I say unexpectedly because I don't typically buy figures from genres that aren't superhero or sci-fi. Sure, I've seen and enjoyed every Pixar movie so far, but I can honestly say I've never finished a film saying "oh man I need action figures of these characters." But when this line started hitting the shelves last year I was really intrigued at the quality and scale of the figures. Especially at the price point of roughly 10 dollars per figure (so 20 for this 2-pack). The first one I bought was Merida from Brave, followed by a few Incredibles. Then I realized they paired well with my Toy Story 4 Bo Peep figure. I didn't know how many others I would buy, but then I saw this amazing Celia figure from Monsters, Inc. I love odd characters with alien-like features, and her cyclops eye, medusa hair, and octopus legs always thrilled me. Even in this Pixar-specific line, she is not a character I ever expected to see, but I'm ecstatic that she was. Let's check out Celia below!

Digimon - LILIMON!

Bandai Spirits - Digimon Adventure Shodo Vol.3 - Lilimon - Bandai 2021

Digimon is a property that has always appealed to me, but similar to Pokemon, I actually find it overwhelming and confusing. However Digimon stood out because it had many more humanoid characters that I thought looked amazing. I especially love the flower-themed ladies (and, yes, I'm aware they are technically genderless). I was always bummed that there were never any true action figures of them, only glorified PVC figurines (that are inexplicably expensive on eBay). But now this new series of Digimon Shodo Adventure figures has given us a perfect Lilimon. She is truly amazing. Her sculpt is adorable, her small scale is fun, and her poseability is impressive. I only hope this line continues and gives us Rosemon and Lilamon so I can continue my action figure garden. Currently Lilimon will be joining a handful of Spiderwick Happy Meal toys and Perfuma, but I know Digimon Adventures Shodo could give me so many more. Fingers crossed! Let's check out Lilimon below!

Marvel Legends - BLINK!

Marvel Legends - X-Men (Caliban Build-a-Figure Wave) - Blink - Hasbro 2019

I stopped reading mainstream comics in 1993. Marvel and DC had lost a lot of great talent to Image Comics a few years earlier, and honestly the resulting Image titles were mostly show and little substance. I was then drawn into Indy and Manga for years. But I would still browse all the X-titles on the shelves every week... usually glad I no longer felt the need to shell out my hard-earned paper route money for hologram covers and bad (extreme!) 90's art. I have distinct memories of disliking Blink. I thought her appearance was far off-base for a mutant book. She looked like a reject from the Lodoss Wars or some fantasy video game RPG. But I kept hearing about her. For years my friends would rave about her and I would see fan art almost every month in Wizard magazine, but I honestly never thought much about her until I saw this action figure revealed. My childhood disdain somehow transformed into nostalgia and curiosity. Now I have some apologetic reading to do. Let's check her figure out below!

Disney Junior's VAMPIRINA!

A Collection of  Disney Junior Vampirina Action Figures - Just Play Toys 2017-18

Vampirina is a Disney Jr cartoon about a young vampire, her vampire family, and all of her friends (human and monster alike) as they run the Scare Bed & Breakfast in Pennsylvania. I always love it when child and adult genres are mixed like this. When I was a kid most monster stuff was too mature for me, so when I see new properties like Vampirina I am hit with a mix of nostalgia and jealousy for all the cool options that kids today have. I've been eyeing the Vampirina toys since they first hit the shelves back in October of 2017. However, I never planned on buying any until I found the new Scream Girls box set featuring the titular character and her three awesome bandmates. Suddenly I had to have them all. Now I'm looking forward to scanning the Disney aisle for future characters. There is a gill-girl and ghost character in a picture below that I would love to see. Although they are unnamed extras from a music video, so that's pretty unlikely. Let's check out all the cool Halloweenie girls below!

Kulipari - STRAWBERRY BULLFROG RANGER!

Kulipari: An Army of Frogs - Ranger PVC Figure - Mattel 2015

There aren't nearly enough anthropomorphic toys in my opinion. Sure there have been extremely cool toylines like ThunderCats, Biker Mice from Mars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that gave us some cool product. But female anthropomorphic action figures are still a rarity despite the genre's popularity. Earlier this year I was perusing Netflix and discovered this Netflix Original cartoon called Kulipari: An Army of Frogs. The cartoon has a pretty self-explanatory title, and while I enjoyed the character design and concept of the series, I am just not in the target demographic and didn't love the actual show. However, I was intrigued enough to look into any toys based on the property. Surprisingly there was a set of small 2.5-3" figures released by Mattel in 2015 (they may have been exclusive to Amazon).  The specific frogs themselves are unrelated to the cartoon, but I just couldn't resist adding a pink frog girl to my collection. I'm going to seek out more amphibious characters now. Let's check her out below!