Top 10 Street Fighter characters that I want Storm Collectibles to tackle.

While Storm Collectibles has the license to only do SFV characters, there are a few non-V characters that they should do. BTW, the main reason why will mosty be reduced to Street Fighter II.
Sagat, E.Honda, T.Hawk, Fei Long, Blanka, and Dee Jay, especially Dee Jay are all backed by the SFII reason.

that leaves 4 spots.
Sakura... She's my favorite Alpha character that is NOT Dan... (yes, Dan is on this list just to complete Team Saikyo)

I mentioned Dan, who is not playable on SFV, but his existence is hinted. He's mostly reused parts from Ryu and Ken, whether he's made in the traditional look or the "ken style", he'd be great to have.

Gen, just because the old man works as a rival for Akuma Matata,is not reason enough. He needs an additional reason... He'd look badass?

Rose. While she's not my favorite Alpha character, she's Bison's good half.

it's a short one, but no phone and dependng on Wi-Fi can be a bit tough when over 95% of the island is without power. Looks like I won't be able to see a certain movie afterall...

my cellphone decided to die on me.

Just when I got my phone's service back, the bastard decided to die on me. Sadly, I can't contact my provider to see what we can do about it, since they haven't been able to open up their stores. Another strike against my ranting ability.
With rumors about Hugh Hefner being dead, I'm missing out on a ton of stuff that I could rant about...
No, I couldn't get a SNES classic... Freaking Hurricane...

in any case, once again, my apologies for not being able to rant as much as I want.

GEICO Does He-Man...

And it was Glorious!
Watch it here cause I can't embed it at the moment.
It felt a lot more MOTU than the Money Supermarket ads.

It's cool that the VAs chosen tried to emulate the Filmation cast as much as possible. If Mattel was smart, they could've used something like this to promote MOTUC, back when they were in charge. 150 second animations showcasing the new  characters and even telling a simple story.  But I've beaten Mattel's incompetence much more like the proverbial dead horse.

At least SOMEONE is keeping the brand alive in a more respectful manner.

I finally read the MOTU Newspaper strip collection.

I gotta say, it was pretty interesting. I may have had commented a bit about it in the past... Few references to Doctor Who in them. Some takes on characters that we hadn't seen before. That Snake form King Hsss is crazy. Clamp Champ gets some love as a character. Duncan even gets a fiancee that is NOT The Sorceress...

They even do New Adventures of He-Man while He-Man avoids the skinny jeans...

Sadly, there were a few strips MIA when the book was published. Apparently, there is a small chance that SOME of those missing strips were sold by accident at Power-Con.
I hope they are found so we could achieve a more complete collection if the eventual V2 is made. They were a refreshing read. This is the part where I'd take a jab at a really bad writer who is a professional bad writer.

Some liberties were taken at the time, but they weren't as bad as making the Heroes commit genocide... I'd say that the newspaper strips were a slightly more mature take on Filmation. They were a fun read and in a way took me back to my childhood, even if the first time I ever read these was as an adult.

Torn on the idea of Darkstalkers figures...

While no one is making Darkstalkers figures yet, with MvC:I out, I guess someone must want them. With no power I haven't been able to buy the game, much less play it. Need to pretend that I'm a somewhat responsible adult.

I KNOW I KINDA DID A SIMILAR RANT A WHILE BACK. But, now we have a few things in favor of the Darkstalkers...

MVC4 for starters. We have a few Darkstalkers in the game to nudge the desire for a 4th game and even figures.

Storm Collectibles doing the SFV figures... Just imagine Darkstalkers and Street Fighter figures in the same scale. This could allow for some parts to be reused or retooled for Darkstalkers.

Cost of the items would be the main drawback. They aren't Play Arts Kai expensive, but some Storm Collectibles items are a bit on the expensive side. Zangief, Shao Kahn, I'm looking at thee.
Guessing that Huitzil, Anakaris, Sasquatch and a few other Darkstalkers might be expensive... that is assuming Storm Collectibles ends up doing them.

I understand that many of the zany moves from many of the characters wouldn't be feasible in the real world, as toys, I mean.
But if we can recreate SOME of the key moves. We can't have like say a figure covering energy blast for Talbain's Beast cannon, but we could have an energy blast to put behind the figure and some clip-on pieces to kinda simulate the aura surrounding Talbain when using The Beast Cannon.
I can see why a company wouldn't risk doing Darkstalkers... maybe Capcom needs to push the Darkstalkers a bit more... Like a Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers game...

This is heavy...

If you're picturing Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, then you might be guessing my reference correctly.

As most of you should know, Michael J. Fox has been suffering from Parkinson's. It seems that the disease is going stronger on Fox and his condition is degenerating.

One of my great uncles had Parkinson's. I emphasize had, because he's no longer with us. I've seen first hand what this disease can do to people and if these reports on Mochael J. Fox are true, then my best wishes to him and his family.

What's in a name? Slamurai.

Slamurai... what visual pops in your head when you hear that word?
Well, it should be a white ninja...
Are you lost? Welcome to my world.
You know the Power-Con Reuse 88 Wave 3 pack... The one with the dude wearing Snake trousers for his trouser snake. The one with the Whiplash, Trap Jaw, Rattlor, Mosquitor thing. Well, the white ninja has been ID'd as Slamurai... Due to poor Internet connectivity, I cannot use the Naked Gun facepalm.

Slamurai? Now, this is the part where some History buffs come and say: "Well, actually..." something something ninja samurai something.

I'm aware of this. But John Q Public is not. Much less little Johnny, who grew up in the 80s watching GI Joe, MOTU, and TMNT.
If you say Slamurai, you should picture a samurai dude with some sort of slamming attack. Like being able to create earthquakes by slamming his sword to the ground or something.

Something along the lines of Sy-Klone with other parts from other characters... like Standor's loincloth, Prahvus's boots, He-Ro's bracers and a new lenticular label that shows a seismic graph. Give him 3 samurai swords and call it a day.

The white Ninja I'm calling something else. White Shadow seems to be winning so far.

Letting y'all know I'm still alive.

Hurricane Maria has made one Hell of a mess in Puerto Rico. Over 95% of the island is without power. Cell signals are on the fritz. Internet is mostly down. I'm currently using Wi-Fi from the friendly neighborhood KMart. (This is not an advertisement) I'm safe. My place was mostly spared by the hurricane. I may or may not have a functioning Washing machine. I'll find out once power returns. I have NO IDEA WHEN it will return. Massive damages to the power grid. This will massively slow down my time at the house of rants, which I mentioned earlier.
I've my health, I suffered no material losses, so I can consider myself lucky. I'm not one to ask much of my readers, but if you're willing, please donateanything you can to a relief fund, whether it's to the victims of Harvey, Irma, or Maria; it doesn't matter. Just find a way to help our brothers and sisters who aren't as lucky and need any help they can get.

This whole F5 Hurricane Maria thing is scary.

Saying that I'm afraid is an understatement. The Hurricane is meant to reach Puerto Rico tomorrow. Power may be gone for who knows how long. Due to my new job, I HAVE to be on duty DURING the Hurricane, which scares me. I don't know what's going to happen and the uncertainty is scary.
There's lots of things that I'm worried about, family, friends, my place, my vehicle. Some of you may think: Material stuff can be replaced. Sure, some things can be replaced, others, not so much.

Out on my own is such a scary place... almost as scary as Zac Efron looking at a bad CGI reflection of himself. It's times like these where I feel so alone. I want to hide under a blanket and cry, but that won't solve anything. Duty calls and I must answer the call. Sure, I am crapping my pants right now, but I have to do what I have to do. Like I stated a while back when Irma was coming:

No Power = No PC Usage. No PC Usage = No Internet. Will try to be safe

We dodged a bullet with Irma. With Maria we seem to be running out of luck. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to post consistently and the past few days I've been posting from my cellphone, which it isn't as fun.

I haven't been able to comment on the deaths of Harry Dean Stanton, Bobby Heenan, Frank Vincent, or Len Wein... and with a Hurricane coming through, I don't feel like it. All I can say is my condolences to their families.

The craziest thing is that between my two jobs... Cue the Rochelle Clip!

The whole electric power issues and all that might mean that I COULD MISS OUT ON:
My Little Pony: The Movie
Thor Ragnarok
Justice League



Hopefully the damage from Maria will be minimal...

It came from the Toy Chest: You must defeat Shen Long to stand a chance.

You might have guessed what Street Fighter chracter's figure I'll be reviewing. Yup, it's Ryu. Specifically the Street Fighter V (blegh!) by Storm Collectibles. BTW, the blegh! Is for SFV, not for Storm Collectibles. I have to review this figure first to determine if they're a pass or a failure.

So, Ryu in a nutshell... FIGHTING HOBO. OK, not really a hobo, he's more like a wandering warrior, who travels across the land fighting the strong, in order to perfect his craft. Like a modern era wandering samurai... who can shoot fireballs from his hands and occasionally slip into his dark self and have waves of murderous intent flowing through his body. He's also the main character of Street Fighter in almost all of its versions... (except in the US)

Let's get cracking.

Articulation:
Ryu's a very articulated figure. Talking Marvel Legends level of Articulation here. I Like the Aesthetics of the Articulation here a bit better than the NECA SFIV Ryu. The Articulation ranges are similar to the NECA figure, but having the ability to rotate the ends of the bandanna allows to be a bit more dynamic in the poses.
5.0

Paint and Sculpt:
Before I start, I must mention that some of the paint on his gauntlets chipped off while I was trying to set up the Hadoken effect. Luckily I had a bit of crimson paint that closely matches his gloves. His sculpt is based on his SFV look. That explains the dirty gi and his kinda SFIII-ish look.

While I am not a fan of this look/style. SFII style FTW. Storm Collectibles captured the game look rather well... (Can't wait to see how they tackle banana hair, or Akuma Matata)
So, keeping in consideration the issue of paint flaking I have to give him a 4.0


Accessories:
Stand with spring loaded clamps to hold the figure in place
6 extra hands
2 extra faceplates
3 piece hadoken effect

This is easily a 5.0 but I feel like he's missing something... The Duffel bag, which only SOTA has given him that specific accessory.

Overall:
Ryu gets a 4.67 as his final score. The paint issue bugs me a little bit. Other than that, this is THE BEST Ryu Figure so far. The SH Figuarts, while in scale to Marvel Legends, Figma, DCUC, etc. is not that good looking. (Can't believe I'm saying that) The Storm Collectibles figure seems to be way more accurate to the source material. I just noticed that his neck is a rubbery piece covering some skeleton body. That worries me for obvious reasons...

We NEED a Darkstalkers 4...

You heard, or read me right. We NEED a Darkstalkers 4. Seeing that some Darkstalkers  (especially Morrigan, who finally ditched the old sprites) showing up in MvC:I I said to myself: "Self, you ARE aware that adding a couple of Darkstalkers to MvC4 could lead to a Darkstalkers 4..." to which I replied: "I hope so, self. I'd LOVE a Darkstalkers 4! "
Having the classic crew return in 3D would be interesting... All the night warriors and maybe some new faces. Personally, I'd like to see some Dark Hunters, because Donovan, Hsienko, and BB Hood aren't enough. Maybe even some creatures, like say El Chupacabra, being a human made abomination by combining Human DNA with different types of Darkstalkers. Wendigo, which could be a slightly different kind of Sasquatch, but more violent looking... Maybe adding a North American shapeshifter and a poison fairy to mock Twilight.

Also, since the trend of having "Guests from other companies' games" I figure that A dude from this clan would be perfect.
Yes, I chose Richter's version of Vampire Killer for obvious reasons... Namely have Maximoff and Belmont reference This beauty.
Now think about it... You know you WANT a Darkstalkers 4 now.

So I saw El Cuaderno de la Muerte: The Netflix movie

The only good thing I xan say about it is having Wilhelm Dafoe voicing Ryuk. Light being now one of the Naked Brothers band is lame. The americanization did a lot more harm than I thought.
No potato chips were TAKEN AND EATEN!
so, in a nutshell it sucked so much ass that it turned itself inside out and began the ass sucking process all over again.
So death note not exactly the main theme of this rant even though death note is in the title. That's just a setup for the main rant.
As I dozed of for a few seconds, I had a small dream. Shenmue the live action movie...
An American live action movie.
Ryan Hoskins is your average American kid who happens to live in Japan because his father, Ivan Hoskins opened a dojo in Japan. Mr. Hoskins is killed by a Chinese guy named Lan Di. Now Ryan is hellbent on revenge. His best friend, Hope, a Japanese-Canadian girl tries to stop him from going through that path, but ends up being kidnapped by Lan di's underlings.The shenmue experience, americanized made me almost throw up, which woke me from the Nightmare...
I'm afraid something like this happens thanks to Shenmie being a sort of hot topic.

Top 10 Kombatants that Storm Collectibles should tackle.

We have seen a few Kombatants that Storm Collectibles has done.
Noob, Scorpion, Sub-zero, Reptile, Shao Kahn, Goro, sculpt protos of Kitana, a Cyber ninja, Baraka, Liu Knag with Dragon Fatality form.

All of those are good (my achy breaky wallet) and if they do a Klassic Johnny Cage, I HAVE to get him, so here's my list of Klassic Kombatants (pre-3D era) that they should make.

Rayden: you thought I'd start the list with Mr. Cage? Well, no. I'm starting with the Thundergod himself. Personally, I'd take the MK2 version, because it's more colorful. He'd be needing lightning effects, the stand for his flying move, and obviously faveplates and hands.

Kano: He's obviously a popular character... Heart ripping fatality anyone? Here's where I'm torn. I like the MK3 outfit, but I'm not a fan of bald Kano. I'd take the MK3 look over the MK look if a hybrid can't be made.
He's going to need his knoife, the heart, maybe a faceplate that a laser beam can be plugged to the cyber eye. Extra hands and usual stuff.

Jax: I like both versions of Jax and would like to have the option for flesh or cyber arms. But if I HAVE TO MAKE AN EITHER OR CHOICE, Cyber arms win, because they're iconic.

Shang Tsung: TBH I want the MK version as a joke, but I'm pretty sure that MK2 or 3 will be the one made.

Kung Lao: MK2 version. No need to go into details. But I prefer the MK2 look to Mr Kung Lao.

Sonya Blade: MK3 look... Cause Kerri Hoskins. Mmmmm! Kerri Hoskins...

Quan Chi: I know what you're thinking:
You bastard! You used Mythologies as a loophole to bring 3D era characters!

Motaro the wallet rapist: This one would be expensive as heck and people may "accidentally" break him just to get revenge on all those lost quarters.

Sindel: Kahn is coming soon, Kitana too... (Mileena and Jade could happen as well because repaints.) Makes sense for Mrs. Shao Kahn to be made.

Last but not least, Nightwolf... just kidding, it's Johnny Cage! He'd be the MK2 version because the Frank Dux look from the first MK isn't as appealing. His accessories would be the obvious ones hands, faceplates, energy blast, green effects to mimic the shadow afterimages. I'd like for him to have a hand holding glasses for the faceplates without glasses. A Secret accessory could be a Goro hand breaking a pair of glasses as a nod to the movie.

That's pretty much it. The lack of repaints is for obvious reasons, there is no Stryker because I think I'm the only person who kinda likes Stryker.

Seriously? ANOTHER Hurricane!?

Not being fully recovered from Hurricane Irma, The Caribbean is about to be hit by yet Another Hurricane. María is coming and she's likely to hit Puerto Rico as a cat.3 Hurricane. This is likely to reduce my time ranting and to finish the movie play by play I'm working on. Not to mention a certain It Came from the Toy Chest. Once again, my apologies for not being able to deliver the quantity of rants I usually do.

Figures that Power Con could do (variants)

With the recent release of the Power Con 3 packs (BBTS Should be shipping mine in a few weeks) I've been thinking about Variants/repaints that could be made for Power Con 2018. This list will not be of new characters like Slamurai or the Horde Snake Troopers. This list is more variant oriented like Mini Comic Tri-Klops kind of thing.

Since I mentioned Tri-Klops, let's start with him.
New armor. That's all he needs. We have everything else. (Bonus if the sash is a separate piece, a repaint in purple can be used for Carnivus)
But Tri-Klops a three pack does not make...
Let's toss Mini Comics Randor and Marlena.
Marlena is pretty much the same Marlena we got but changing her forearms to the ones from Sorceress. Paint her head in a paler reddish blonde and we're done with her.
For Randor, we do the Search for Keldor version, which is Toy Randor with blue arms and white hair.

 Obviously that a "200X" set would be suggested here, which will be my next suggestion.
He-Man is just a new harness and maybe loincloth, since we have the rest of the pieces. Have him come with just the power sword to compensate for the new tooling needed on the other 2 figures.
She-Ra is just a new skirt and sword, seeing that the rest of her parts would come from Teela and BP She-Ra.
Skeletor would need new forearms, loincloth, and shins. (Worst case scenario, Draego forearms and He-Ro shins)

This next one is a curveball because I'm going full Filmation here...
Prince Adam, who is literally a new vest.
FAKER, who is literally a He-Man without pupils and GITD paint on his eyes.
Last but not least, Man-E-Faces: Beastman disguise. Literally Beastman with new armor to accommodate the Man-E-Faces head.

Part of me is interested in a "Newspaper strip 3 pack".
Prince Adam... I know he looks "just like the toy version", but this is a perfect excuse to toss in a "Normal Adam" with a sword holster on his tunic. The sword would be the Filmationy sword in one tone silver to match MOTUC Adora.
Figure 2 would be Duncan, the white hair and reusing the Demo-Man or Preternia Disguise Tunic completes the look. The new tooling could be used on a vintage toy accurate mace for him. Sometimes his armor looked like a normal shirt, that's the look I'm going for.
Figure 3 would be...
King Hssss! There was a reason WHY I was avoiding new pieces on the others. He COULD be made via kitbashing Snakemen... Rattlor has a front torso perfect for him... but if SOME new pieces are needed, let's use them on Hssss.

Birth of Skeletor 3 pack.
Keldor with a new burnt face and carrying the 200x swords.
Evil Lyn who should get a new tunic and reuse the Huntara boots to get a 200x-ish look.
Figure 3 would be Hordak.
New head and cowl (with the epaulets)
The rest can be made using parts from existing figures. Sea Hawk gloves, Standor Loincloth, Horde Prime boots. Etc.

Still alive. Power Con MOTUC rumors and stuff.

I am still alive. Luckily hurricane Irma didn't do much damage to Puerto Rico. I'm still without power so I have to rant on my cell phone and I hate doing that. The new job is fine but it can be a bit tiresome cuz it's a graveyard shift job and I'm a morning person so it sucks getting used to it. Don't get me wrong I really like this job but it's just at my circadian cycle isn't ready for it yet.

So Man-E-Faces was revealed at Power-Con for the Filmation sub. With his loincloth and Boots we could totally make Songster.
Granita will have her bend over transformation. Lodar will come with the slave City chains.

Wave one will be shipping a late October early November.
Ways to will be able to be pre-ordered on October from October 1st to Halloween.
Now here comes the rumor part:
Stridor is coming. No date yet.
They're looking into Snake Mountain most likely is going to be reduced in size a little bit even further. I know it sucks...
Price point will hurt a little bit so far the rumor is $500, but to be fair this is not Mattel; this is a smaller company and the price when he was to be expected. I hope it gets done cuz it's Snake Mountain. Electronics will not be added to it.

The Infamous Money Supermarket He-Man and Skeletor Dirty Dancing ad

You know which ad I'm talking about...


I've already talked about how cool the costumes are for their accuracy to the toys. My only real gripe is...


Of All the songs that they could dance to, it had to be Dirty Dancing's (I've Had the) Time of my Life


I mean come on! Here we have YET ANOTHER He-Man is gay hardy har har joke here.

See THAT'S THE PROBLEM I HAVE with Mattel's treatment of the brand. They leave it out to dry and with no real material to defend the brand the jokes remain the only thing that the brand is known for.

What about...

Stop it right there! If you're going to mention Transformers, Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, or Power Rangers, hear me out.
All of those have had a constantly on-going series promoting the brand alongside the occasional silly thing that pops up.
Star Wars was Popular when the Holiday Special showed up and that abomination was a kinda discreet set-up to the upcoming  Empire Strikes Back.
TMNT were at the height of their popularity when they came out of their shells (ew)
Transformers had an animated series and upcoming movie when the Citroen vehicle robot ads showed up. Heck even the Optimus Prime/Pinkie Pie Crossover for the IDW comics had both TF and MLP with active shows... Something TRUE TO THE NATURE OF THE BRANDS TO FALL BACK ON.

What does He-Man have? An obscure Toyline that only the hardest of the hardcore fans knew about? A comic book series that was competing hard in being Outneitliching the Neitlichverse and then a Thundercats crossover that turned into a mockery of both brands? You know what the worst part is? That MATTEL WAS IN ON IT... If it hadn't been for the incompetence after Neitlich left and Matty closed up shop in 2017, we might have gotten a Filmation Adam for SDCC, but not because he's a Key Filmation MOTU Character, but because of this:

This rumor was going around for a while. IF it was true, then it would show that Mattel is run by dumbasses that have no idea what to do with their properties... Although we've had plenty of evidence for that... Just look at Max Steel.

The He-Man movie "is coming"... Where is Mattel trying to hype up people with MOTU? We need something more than these "jokes" to get hyped up for the brand, or heck to ensure the longevity of it. Part of me feels sad with the idea that He-Man dies with us.

A Small Announcement

Due to some circumstances in real life (normal job related) I MIGHT be a bit too constrained in time to be able to rant as often as before. I still need to get used to the new routine before I can return to some sort of normalcy at the House of Rants... I am NOT closing up shop, just stating that I may not be able to have the "1 rant per day" or its equivalent. Not to mention the whole Hurricane Irma thing going on. No Power = No PC Usage. No PC Usage = No Internet. Will try to be safe.

I'm currently preparing a play by play Rant for a Japanese Live Action movie. If power is restored soon after the SSJG Hurricane Irma I'd be able to upload the rant.
 Once the MOTUC and Filmation figures arrive, they will come out of the toy chest.

With this new work situation I may have to say goodbye to my plans of meeting Jason David Frank and Vic Mignogna. Well, I need to pay bills and stuff and I can't beg people for money via patreon or gofundme...

In the Meantime, enjoy this video of Skeletor and He-Man dancing...
me out of the Toy Chest... Maybe I'll finally open the April O'Neil from NECA...

MoneySuperMarket - Dirty Dancing from Blink on Vimeo.

The costumes on these ads are fantastic... It's like they brought the MOTUC Figures to life!!
They also showcase that a true blue Vintage He-Man would look a bit bad in live action... maybe a darker loincloth? Skeletor looks badass!

Look at him!! Maybe make his colors a bit more muted, a more grayish skin and darker but faded purples could make him more "realistic" Love that he has the finned arms from the MOTUC Figure. A bit sad that his feet aren't the "duck feet". I think this video deserves a rant of its own...

Looking Back at Neversoft's Spider-Man

About 17 years ago, a Nifty PS1 Game was released by Neversoft... Yes, the Tony Hawk Pro Skater guys.


They made a Spider-Man game (that used the THPS engine), which is MOST LIKELY why Spider-Man is an Easter Egg in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

This was Spider-Man's first foray into 3D Gaming and after some hits and misses in 2D, fans were praying for a hit... It WAS. the Sequel made by Vicarious Visions was a sloppy cashgrab that felt like a partial rehash/cashgrab.

Then Treyarch, the Call of Duty boys, made the Tobey-Man game, which was an improvement over the PS1 Spider-Man, then came Tobey-Man 2 which gave us New York, and like Yamcha, everything went downhill from there... Vicarious Visions came back for the PS2 Port of Tobey-Man 3 and let's get back to Neversoft's Spidey, because I'm going on a tangent here.

Back then the game was awesometastic. Is it Nostalgia, or does it still hold up? Let's Find out!

Story:
You're Peter Parker, also The Amazing Spider-Man. You're taking pictures of a Reformed Doctor Octopus who has some inventions for the betterment of mankind. You accidentally bump into Eddie Brock as "Spider-Man" steals Doc Ock's invention and breaks Brock's camera... Cue Tonguey... I mean Venom. Then 2 Mysterious Villains release a "Poison?" fog in New York City which in reality is a plot contrivance that covers for the limitations of the PS1. Now as Spider-Man you must attempt to clear your name and stop a couple of bad guys who are up to no good.
6.5 before the pitchforks and torches come into my face, hear me out. The story is NOT THAT good if you look at it on paper. It's your classic evil  Doppelgänger frames you for a crime you didn't commit story. That the actors playing the roles did an amazing job, that's a different story and a different area to rate, but looking at the story on paper, it's been overdone.

Graphics:
This is a PS1 game from 2000. You can't expect PS4 Graphics from this game.

The characters are a bit stylized DUE to the limitations of the Era. On some characters it works decently, like Peter. Notice I said Decently, not perfect, since Parker and Spidey have very different face shapes. Other Models look atrocious, even for a PS1 game... I'm looking at you, Doc Ock... Black Cat too!
6.5 FOR A PS1 Game...

Controls:
This game has some controls that are clunky by today's standards. You move with the D-Pad, your worst enemy is the camera and sometimes the cause of unnecessary deaths. These were the foundations of modern Spidey controls and the stiffness/limitations from being the first generation shows. Nostalgia remembers them a bit smoother. That Underground Sewer Section.... ARRRRRRRGH!!!
7.0

Sounds and Music:
Most of the game's music is a bit bland and forgettable. The only memorable piece is Apollo 440's take on the 1960s Animated series theme... The voices on the other hand...
Jennifer Hale returns as Black Cat... Mmmm! Anti-Freezing Peptide... While we don't have Chris Barnes as Spidey, we have Rino Romano... Insert a Reference to Sandy Cheeks' boobs here. The Late Ephrem Zimbalist Jr. is once again Doc Ock... Dee Bradley Baker as Carnage, Rhino, JJJ and others... Dee Bradley Baker. His name sounds familiar. Wait... He's PERRY THE PLATYPUS!!
Also, Mysterio is Anti-Cosmo...

No, really... Listen to Mysterio, and every now and then Anti-Cosmo's voice pops up!
And obviously, the Narrator is The GOD OF MOTU Himself, STANDOR!!
9.5

Gameplay:

It's an action game, so basically, get from point A to point B, fight some enemies, avoid being killed by stage hazards. Some stages you have to race against an opponent or escape from attackers. There is a little variety and I Love how this game tackles some bad guys. You can use Rhino's charge attacks against him and forcing him to ram some power generators for him to get shocked. You can trick Carnage into touching a sonic bubble, so it's not simply beat the crap out of your enemy.
8.5

Overall
Spider-Man gets a 7.6 in this era. The graphics are the weak spot, even if being fair to them being PS1 era graphics. The controls have not aged well and the story wasn't great. The dialogue was entertaining, but the story itself wasn't that great. Back then this game would've been an 8.0 at minimum.

I'm not going to touch Enter Electro... BLEGH!!

Thinking about Super Mario Maker 2...

I didn't know that the Switch has a touch screen, meaning that the Big N could theoretically do a Super Mario Maker 2. So it's List Time!!


MORE ENEMIES!!
Let me start that list with the most obvious idea. More enemies. We got the most basic Mario Enemies in the Original SMM, well let's bring out some more. I understand that Super Mario 2 (USA) is way different from Normal Super Mario To Make a true blue Super Mario 2 in Super Mario Maker, but the enemies could be brought in and given Normal Mario Properties. Ninjis, Shy Guys, Snifits. then we have enemies from SMB3 that didn't make the cut like Ptooies, alternate Bros. (like fire or boomerang) Buster Beetle. From SMW The Rexes, Dino-Rhinos, or enemies from Super Mario Land like Bombshell Koopas, Pionpis, etc.

-More Sub-Bosses:
Birdo, Reznor, Boom Boom, even Charging Chucks would be a nice addition other than Baby Bowser. The Koopalings (which could work as an alternative to Baby Bowser)

-More Bosses:
Aside Bowser here we could have  Mouser, Clawgrip, Tryclyde, even Wart or Tatanga (which is theoretically a reskinned Baby Bowser on a fiery clown cart) to switch things up. (I so want Totomesu)

-Power Ups:
Superball, Ice Flower, Boomerang, Hammer Bros. Suit come to mind. we could add the acorn suit as well, just to name a few.

-Themes: (Stages, not Look)
We are missing themes like Desert, Overworld at night, Ice Cavern, Lava Cavern. Forest, Chocolate, etc.

-Lava as an obstacle OUTSIDE the castle levels and water outside underwater sections:
Think lava caverns from SMW with the Blaargs and stuff. For the water think of all the levels in SMB3 and SMW that had water and dry sections at the same time.

-World Skins:
We already have SMB, SMB3, SMW, NSMB
How about SMB2, SML, SMW2?

-SLOPES!!! (Both Solid and Semi Solid)
 Do I need to explain this one? These could be used to recreate SMB3 ans SWM style levels or at a more basic level Donkey Kong 25m stage.

-Cannon Pipes: We saw these in SMW they were usually slanted, but having Cannon Pipes would be a fun idea for levels.

-costumes in all modes:
Self-explanatory.

That's just the tip of the iceberg on things I'd like to see... (Play as Luigi or Wario for reals, not a costume mushroom thing would be fun.)

Odds and ends Sept 01, 2017: We do not have the Technology, we can't rebuild him!

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better... stronger... faster! Famous words by Richard Anderson in the role of Oscar Goldman. Based on the title of this rant and the quote, you might guess that I have some bad news. Haley Joel Osment has seen Oscar Goldman. He passed away on August 31st. My condolences to his family.

The A-Team, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy, Extreme Ghostbusters, Dynasty, Murder She Wrote, Kung Fu: the Legend Continues, Simon & Simon, Perry Mason Returns,  The streets of San Francisco, Hawaii 5-0, Columbo, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive, Mission Impossible, The Green Hornet, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (obviously)... Heck he even was the father of the Hardy Boys...

Not those Hardy Boyz... The OTHER Hardy Boys...

Yes, Richard Anderson played the Hardy Boys' father in The Mystery of the Chinese Junk. huh huh junk...
So, as I was saying before I got sidetracked, Richard Anderson has played a lot of roles in a lot of series and movies. Many being part of pop culture... Though most people will think of Oscar Goldman for obvious reasons. May he Rest in Peace.

Crapcom is rereleasing a Limited Edition of Street Fighter 2... FOR THE SNES. A $100 SNES Cartridge of SFII in Ryu Headband Red or GITD Blanka Green. Really? A $100 cartridge for a console from 6-7 generations ago? WTF?

Woah! 4Chan Trolled Marvel? That's Deliciously Evil!! They even got their letter published.
They even compared the America Chavez comic to The Room... Spike, roll the clips!




Come on! The comparison to The Room was a dead giveaway that something was rotten in Denmark.
But that's not the point of this. The point is how Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston has his head so far up his ass defending the comic that he doesn't notice that his article makes the trolling by 4Chan more delicious.

It commits the crime of being a first-time comic written by a YA novelist, having characters of a variety of sexual origins and identities and ethnic diversities, and being a positive activist comic.

It can't be because the writing is bad... Let's look at the sales figures from the first 4 America comics.
176- AMERICA

 
04/17  America # 1 -  43,592
04/17  America # 2 -  23,987  (-45.0%)
05/17  America # 3 -  16,262  (-32.2%)
06/17  America # 4 -  12,624  (-22.4%)

Since issue #2: -47.4%

Author Self-Insertion
on the frame before Storm.

Going from 43k to 12k is a HUGE Loss. Seems like the YA novelist writer isn't doing a great job. There is nothing wrong having a "diverse cast" the problem is when the "diversity" is being hamfisted and current Marvel is NOT BEING SUBTLE ABOUT IT. We've even seen Writers and Artists getting into feuds on twitter because of their "activism".

It's like the proverbial "Preachy Vegan" (Not all Vegans) They go to a steakhouse, bother the people dining by dumping their verbal diarrhea by insulting the people dining, then grabbing the food and dumping it into the ground as they scream bloody murder and go into the kitchen to attempt to "convince" the chef to go vegan. Instead of having people look up veganism and consider at least trying vegetarianism before going full vegan; you have people Doubling down on meat eating.

If you read the YA Novelist's "fantastic writing" on that page, including the Stephenie Meyer levels of cringy self-insertion, you can see WHY people were dropping this comic. She's basically a Lesbian Latina Superboy Prime with more Mary Sueness than Bella Swan and Alice from Resident Evil (in name only). Seriously, when you have to waste a page and have popular characters praising your protagonist it REEKS of Mary Sue.

But yeah, let's blame White Heterosexual Cis Male bigots...

 4chan is the collection of message board known for their anarchic free speech, responsible for everything from alt-right memes such as Pepe to the anti-Scientology actions of Anonymous. 

And here we go, smearing the second most wretched hive of scum and villainy this side of Mos Eisley.

The subgroup 4chan/co, which focuses on comics, animation, and sometimes how terrible I am, saw one member concoct a fake letter for America sent to editorial intended to mock the series with over-the-top praise that they think this comic undeservedly gets. And then they compare the comic to a much-derided movie. The letter is signed from CO, the 4chan subforum in question.

They DO HAVE a point since you ARE defending this comic. The Room gets a lot of undeserved praise, just like the "America" comic. Point is that Marvel WAS Duped into printing an obvious troll, because they're desperate for praise. It's almost as funny as the Christian show that was duped by the Fresh Prince song.

Wait, is that Star Wars?

Vegeta is that you?

But you see the point I'm trying to make here. Marvel got duped to publish a letter mocking them and they didn't notice the mockery, because they were trying to validate a failing title. America has the potential of being a good comic... IF she was being written by competent people who'd put the story above everything else... But it IS the House of (Moronic) Ideas and Agendas come before story...
A Faux Latina Interdimensional Illegal Alien (in the most literal sense of the words since Superman) with a ridiculously Overpowered Skillset is only known for being "Latina and Lesbian".  You can have a Latina Lesbian Character with super powers but when the character is simply using one or 2 words in Spanish while everything else is in English, it reeks of vagancia... Or worse. That's stereotypical and possibly Borderline Racist... As a Native Spanish speaker who is mostly bilingual and dabbles in a third language; I'm more prone to slip English into Spanish than Spanish into English. The only times I've mixed Spanish words in English has been either mocking the stereotype, holmes; if caught off guard and instinctively answered in Spanish and corrected myself mid-way in English; or I don't know/recall a word (due to brain farts) in English.

You CAN add politics (whether normal politics, identity politics, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) into a comic BUT IT CAN'T BE THE FOCUS OF THE STORY, otherwise it would be preachy and people fight back when being preached with condescension. The story SHOULD come first and the propaganda in second. something something attracting more flies with honey than vinegar.

So, the burning question: Does Super7 get a passing grade?

Now that I did 4 out of 5 Ultimates, is it enough for me to give them a final grade?
The answer is no. Once Waves 1 of Classics and Club Grayskull are reviewed, that's when I can give my final grade... I can give a Mid-term grade so far. I'll be using the same grading system as the it came from the toy chest to get the average.

Let's begin:

Communication was a bit of an issue. Videos explaining some status reports were consistent, though some issues popped up between videos that weren't properly communicated and rubbed some people the wrong way. The silence on the Resealable issue was the biggest offense. While Flynn acknowledged it was his fault, an omission is still a lie. 3.0

Payment was a breeze, while it STINGS A LOT that we have to pay it all upfront, there is no Matty scramble and no dealings with the incompetence made corporate... Digital River. 4.5

Delivery of product had a few issues: First the delays DUE TO THE FACTORY not keeping the molds properly, then the Dock Workers Strike...
While Technically NOT Super7's fault, they did leave a lot of people with a sour taste.  I'm only mentioning it for the sake of objectivity. (That is also why I haven't taken potshots at Super Kami Toyguru in here so far. This doesn't count. I'm stating that I haven't taken potshots at the guy.)

When the Product finally arrived to Super7's HQ it only took 4 days to arrive to my doorstep (and that was because the mailman didn't leave my package abandoned on my porch and I had to pick it up the next day at the post office.) 5.0

The final thing I have to use to grade them is the Toys themselves.
I'm taking the average of all It Came from the Toy Chest and using that as the final score. While I don't OWN Ram Man, I saw one in person and was able to judge it using my 5 point system.
4.40 is the actual score, BUT I have to round it. Math says I have to round it down to 4.0 but that would mean that I'd be removing nearly HALF a Point from the score. If I round Up, I'm giving them 1/10th of a point. So I'll do BOTH Scores for the sake of being as unbiased as possible.
Rounding DOWN 4.0 ROUNDING UP 4.5

Overall:
Super7 so far has a 4.13 or a 4.25 as their final score. This would translate to a B- which isn't TOO BAD, but it could be better. Communication, while it's leagues better than Mattel in the post-Neitlich era, sometimes it can be a bit too quirky for their own good. If there's an area that needs a small improvement, I'd say that one. The toys themselves need a smaller push, but they changed factories AFTER The Ultimates, so we'll see how that fares once we get the other waves.