JENNY GABS ON: Gas Skunk (Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Hasbro, 2001)

As the Japanese Beast Era petered out and Beast Machines failed to excite in the West, Hasbro and Takara decided to change tack and start collaborating on a franchise reset. However, to hold the line before the launch of Armada/Legend of the Microns in the fall of 2002, Hasbro needed something on the shelves. So they ported over Takara's 2000 line and accompanying anime, Transformers: Car Robots, which saw the exciting return of Autobot cars and, eventually, Decepticons...as a *subteam* of the main villains, who remained the Predacons. As we know, Japan hates bad guys, so while the Autobots got three new Deluxe and two new Leader molds, the Predacons only got a new Megatron, with his team formed from a selection of late era Transmetals 2 molds that hadn't been released in Japan.

The unfortunately named Gas Skunk, parsed slightly cooler as "Gaskunk" in Car Robots, was one of three Predacon flunkies serving under flying shark/haiku poet Sky-Byte. He naturally turns into a biomechanical monstrous skunk, with a silver stripe going down his back and continuing in silver vac metal down the length of his spiky tail. He was originally released in 1999 as the even more unfortunately named Maximal Stinkbomb, and even shares the same plastic colors as Stinkbomb, only his deco is greatly improved. Gas Skunk's claws and robot mode teeth are painted, Stinkbomb's are not; his tail is two-toned vac metal with a rich copper accent, Stinkbomb's is solid gold. Stinkbomb's stripe is white, which does sell "skunk" a little better. You know, they could have easily passed this guy off as a wolverine or something, he didn't HAVE to still be a skunk. Might have seemed a little less like Hasbro was trying to sell you a better version of a thing they just sold you two years ago. But that's their entire model these days, so Gas Skunk was just ahead of the curve. (As mentioned, he was new to Takara's market so this only became an issue on his American release.)

His conversion to robot mode involves a lot of spinning ball joints and flipping stuff over. In robot mode, he's roughly 4" tall, not counting the bitchin' ponytail of death attached to the back of his head. His red mask is appropriately villainous for a mold that started life as a good guy. In my opinion, most of the Transmetal 2 Maximals look kind of evil, so abandoning the "mammal=good guy" rule that Beast Wars loosely observed makes sense. His sculpted details are asymmetrical in both modes, as was the style at the time. He has a flip-out yellow claw on the end of his pony/tail, and the pod on his left shoulder can flip up to reveal his spark crystal. The pod on his right shoulder also flips up, but there's nothing in there. Perhaps it's where he keeps his weed. In fiction, he can belch up clouds of noxious fumes and fire stink beams from an integrated blaster in his left forearm, but that's up to your imagination. Or you can also forget I just told you that, totally an option.

In Japan, the Predacon foot soldiers were sold individually, but the Hasbro release opted to bundle Gas Skunk, Dark Scream (a flying squirrel) and Slapper (a poison dart frog) together in one box. There are minimal differences between them, but if you find one loose on a $5 table at a toy show like I did, it's probably Hasbro's. Also, "Slapper"? Jesus Christ, Gas Skunk doesn't even have the worst name on his own team?? This is why localization can sometimes be good, weebs.

RID 2001 eventually encompassed molds from every previous Transformers series--a true celebration of where the franchise had been and where it was going. The late Beast Wars era turned out banger after banger while corporate was more focused on Episode I and neon Batmans and Pokémon PVCs. I wasn't into them at the time, and I've owned and sold several in my collector years. They're definitely an acquired taste. But given the state of things in 2026, with prices rising out of control and Hasbro ever more committed to recreating 1984 with all the whimsy stripped out, a freaky little mutant with shiny bits and stupid gimmicks is a taste I'm starting to acquire. Maybe it's just longing for an era we're not likely to see again.

JENNY GABS ON: Pirate Captain Brutus (Port Borgo) (Star Wars: Epic World of Action, Hasbro, 2025)

 

I've always been fond of the Shistavanen wolfman species, much more than George Lucas, who excised the two original wolfmen (Lak Sivrak and Arliel Schous) from A New Hope Special Edition. He believed the off-the-shelf masks looked corny, not awesome like the giant praying mantis or the guy with the devil horns. In a decision I actually agree with, Disney has said nuts to that and started incorporating the species back into canon. (Genndy Tartakovsky also somehow got away with using one.) In fact, Arliel Schous, once a longshot on par with Bea Arthur's night shift cantina barmaid Ackmena, has been rendered in plastic recently for the first time too.

Disclosure--I haven't seen Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. From everything I've read it seems like a perfectly cromulent show, probably picked apart a bit too much by people who were outside its target audience. I admire what they did, at least *trying* to connect with kids, and of course, allowing Hasbro to release a wolfman space pirate, which you can appreciate even if you don't care about Star Wars.

Brother Bruti comes to us from the ill fated Epic World of Action, a 4" scale kid-targeted line that was 0.25" taller than the previous 45 years of product for no reason in particular. Because of that he's a little oversized compared to what he should be, but it's not like there's a surplus of Skeleton Crew figures to display him with. There's a couple in this line (counting Brutus), one in Vintage, and...that's it? Aliens and droids are close enough to fudge the scale difference. And as stated, I haven't even seen the show, and statistically you probably haven't either. If I had to guess most Captain Brutuses are going to end up towards the back of a cantina or Jabba's palace setup.

He leans pretty hard into the pirate aesthetic, with a captain's coat and a bandolier of extra blasters. I doubt they're single shots so it's not practical the same way an earth pirate would carry extra pistols, but it looks cool. He has two more sculpted into the holsters on his brown PVC kama, and a loose silver blaster to hold along with a short sword. You'll notice his right foot is kind of coming off the table--it looks like he's sculpted to be taking a step forward, but the stiffness of the kama makes it hard to flex his leg back far enough so that both feet are on the ground, and even then he'd still probably tip right over. He almost needs to be brandishing his tools of the trade as a counterbalance.

Because he comes from a kid line (and is a "deluxe" figure no less), company policy dictates that he must come with a big dumb missile launcher. It's meant to plug (loosely) into an extra oversized harness that you can shove onto his torso, and no, that doesn't fix his balance issues. It can also just plug directly into his back so he can make like Boba Fett in an alternate universe 1979 where his backpack was functional. I never cared for accessories like this as a kid, and I care even less for them as an adult who writes about toys for fun. 

If you liked the character, and you're not as hopelessly devoted to archaic form factors as I am, just get the Black Series figure. In that scale he actually has several of the children from the show to menace. If you're into monsters and pirates, or you miss Super7's The Worst, this figure fits right into that aesthetic. Plus it's always exciting to see cantina aliens in new contexts. Like most Star Wars toys of the last few years, I can really only recommend this guy at clearance prices. Get a stand for him though.

 

 

JENNY GABS ON: Gigawatt (Transformers Collaborative, Hasbro,2020/2025)

 Jigga who? Gigawatt!

The DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future is one of the most iconic nerd vehicles of all time. At least I think it still is—the 80s were a long time ago, I’m on the younger end of people who are obsessed with 80s pop culture, and I’m less than a year from turning 40. It was featured pretty prominently in Ready Player One, right? Do the kids like that movie, or was that also mostly people my age and older? Regardless, for the milieu of Transformers Collaborative, it fits like a glove. I’m sure Naruto is cool and everything, but I’ll pass.

So it seems a lot of collectors just…leave their figures in robot mode forever? How reductive. With these crossovers the vehicle is a huge selling point, though, and as a model of the DeLorean time machine Gigawatt does an admirable job. The iconic gull wing doors can open (although the interior is obviously not filled out), and the wheels can flip down to put the car in hover mode. The stainless steel body panels have a nice texture, and the back of the car is decked out with all of Doc Brown’s modifications, all picked out with paint. As with most toys of the time machine, he does not have the DMC badge on the front. Did you know the DeLorean Motor Company is still around? 

Gigawatt is built off of the Siege Sideswipe mold and shares engineering and some parts with it; it’s one of the most solid deluxes of the modern era so no complaints on that front (I’m approaching Seeker numbers when it comes to how many copies of this mold I own). Take care when transforming his wheels because they’re not pinned and will pop off at the hinge if you use too much force. There are additional locks to keep his shoulders and chest together in both modes, and the flip-around chest panel with the flux capacitor and date display can be a little hard to maneuver past his head. They really pushed this little Deluxe to the limit in terms of retooling!

Gigawatt includes three accessories, only one of which—the rifle—is specifically for the robot. He also includes the lightning rod from the first movie, which can plug into his forearm as a “whip” as well as mount to the back of the car, and a Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor that can mount to the top or back of the rifle as well as the back of the car to power its hover mode. Unofficially, it can attach upside down to his wrist as a “watch” to replicate the poster art, but I’m afraid it will scrape off the microscopic “Mr. Fusion” logo. All of his accessories can be stored in his vehicle mode, with the rifle pegging neatly under the front of the car. (The lightning rod and Mr. Fusion wouldn’t be equipped at the same time, but whatever, we love weapon storage.)

I don’t normally mention packaging in my reviews but Gigawatt comes in a G1-style box, complete with 1985-era Hasbro logos and a cutout Tech Specs card on the back. I’m fighting the urge to hoard by reminding myself that I decided to stop using packaged toys as home decor.

Initially sold at a premium price point, runaway inflation means you can now get Gigawatt for a few bucks more than a normal deluxe (or for your birthday from your awesome family). As a very solid model of the DeLorean time machine or as an addition to the legion of Sideswipe clones with extra flair, Gigawatt does it with style.

JENNY GABS ON: He-Man and Skeletor (Masters of the Universe Mighty Masters, Mattel, 2026)

In this modern world of hyper articulation and media accuracy, it's easy to forget where we came from. As an action figure aficionada with an appreciation for the fundamentals, I'm a sucker for a back to basics approach. And as someone who wants to see this stuff live on beyond me, I'm conscious of the need for good quality entry level product. Kids aren't going to get hooked on $20 Origins figures, not in this economy. Five to ten dollars is the sweet spot, something a kid could buy with their allowance. If Star Wars figures were $20 in 1995 I might be normal.

 

Since 2026 is finally the fabled Movie Year spoken of in hushed tones by brand managers of the distant past, Mattel made sure to have He-Men of every conceivable size and style ready for the MOTU movie merchandising blitz. At the base of the pyramid are Mighty Masters. This is Masters of the Universe boiled down to its most essential elements. A-list characters, key weapons only, six points of articulation, $4.97 retail.

 

Throwing it back to 1982 but at a more compact 3.25", Mighty Masters launches with the Man that is He and the evil lord of destruction alongside shortpacks Man-At-Arms and Beast Man. They actually have a slightly better range of motion compared to the vintage figures because of their ball jointed heads and, y'know, actually hinged hips instead of weird proprietary rubber bands that are a pain to replace 40 years on. As far as I can tell their shoulders are only swivels, so don't mistake these for mini-Origins. They also don't pull apart, although you can take off their chest armor with some effort.

 

Like the early vintage figures, they all have the same power punch action feature--pull back at the waist and release to make them clobber the crap out of each other. He-Man's got his Power Sword, Skeletor his Ram Staff, and that's all you really need, isn't it? They look cool standing there. They're fun to pick up and fiddle with. You can carry one in your pocket. What's not to love?

Although these are definitely targeted at kids, there's something appealing for adults looking for a cheap hit of nostalgia as well. Five bucks is the same price as a Blokees kit, only you know what you're getting. They seem to be selling pretty well, too (which is why Duncan and Beast Man aren't in this review, although that might have more to do with these being functionally Walmart exclusives and my local Walmart sucking. There's also Battle Armor variants of the main men as well as Fisto and Trap Jaw, allegedly). If not for yourself, get 'em for your kids or niblings. Introduce them to a Skeletor untainted by Jared Leto. Pass on the knowledge of the First Ones. This is the way.

...hey, didn't that get a movie this year too? Huh. I forgot.

JENNY GABS ON: Frankenstein (Universal Monsters Reaction+, Super7, 2026)

The classic Universal Monsters cycle in and out of pop cultural prominence, but they always have some kind of presence. Despite living through a serious marketing push in the 90s and a consistent supply of quality product from companies like Sideshow and NECA, I've never owned any Universal Monsters toys that I can remember. Is that weird? I've had plenty of figures that were just downstream of the monsters. Most of my earliest toy memories are made up of the backwash of the 80s that was still lingering at such outlets as Children's Palace, Value City, and Kay Bee. And a big part of that was Kenner's Real Ghostbusters, which in 1989 introduced a subset of (legally distinct from Universal's) Monsters. Not strictly the bailiwick of Venkman and company, but there weren't nerds analyzing this stuff on the Internet back then. At closeout prices I managed to get all of 'em. So maybe that scratched my itch.

I've been seriously eyeing Super7's Reaction+ offerings since they came out last Halloween, but series 2 has my favorite--Boris Karloff as Frankenstein (yeah, yeah, he's Frankenstein's monster, save it).  This is the movie that solidified the popular image of Frankenstein. The neck bolts, green skin, squared off head, big stompy boots, too-short sleeves revealing the scars where the wrists were connected--none of that came from Mary Shelley. Universal's makeup department really played up the horror elements and the resulting creature terrified Depression-era audiences and changed the trajectory of Karloff's career from journeyman to icon. The film casts a long shadow over pop culture, influencing everything from Mel Brooks to Monster High. How many movies are still getting merch 95 years after their original release?

There have been countless toys and collectibles based on Frankenstein, including 3 3/4" action figures, but this is the first one in the O-ring style. The Monster--and yes, Super7 does call him "The Monster" on the back for all you sticklers--is just a little bit taller than an average Reaction+ figure, but still well short of, say, Big Lob. You don't want these things to stray too far from the mean. His sickly skin tone is cast in color (please stop painting skin on the Joes, it makes them look more like cadavers than Frank) and his face has some awesome shading that really brings out the likeness of Boris Karloff. Karloff is uncredited here, perhaps because Universal trademarked their design for Frankenstein back in the 30s and the figure is meant to represent the idea of the monster rather than the man. Regardless, it's him beneath the scars and bolts, and after January 1 it's a moot point anyway as the film enters the public domain along with the 1931 version of Dracula.

The lower part of his jacket is made of soft PVC that I think is glued to the waist piece. The color matching between the parts is spot on (my camera makes it look like the pale green plastic of his forearms is showing through the paint, but you don't get that in person). His O-ring is maybe a smidge too small, because his torso wants to slouch forward. I took him apart and pushed it all the way back on the post and it seems better now. Right to repair for collectible toys is not a pressing issue but it's still nice to be able to troubleshoot your trinkets.

 

 

I'm not the world's biggest horror fan, but I am a big fan of what Super7 is doing with Reaction+. They've gotten better and better with each series, even if you're not going to mistake this for an actual vintage figure. The Ghostbusters set Hasbro made a couple years ago has a similar marriage of modern sensibilities and classic form factor. And hey! The Ghostbusters can fight Frankenstein once again! Now I just need Super7 to make me a Beetlejuice O-ring and I'm really in business.