Action Figure Friday is back and, because I really owe you AFF followers, I'm giving you FOUR times the reviewin'. It's also a little early birthday present for America. Because, as you know, the only things that spew patriotism more than Old Navy Flag Tees are old-school action figures of Skeletor's Henchmen.
First up in the bad-boys posse: Beast Man!
As far as actual likeness to the "real Beast Man", this guy comes in fairly close. Close, that is, if you ignore the fact that he seems to be wearing an orange bathing cap and has been drinking too much blue raspberry Kool-Aid.

The erratic spritz of blue spray paint on the breast plate makes him look just crazy enough, don't you think?
Mer-Man:
Well, yeah, so what we have here is obviously a guy who just doesn't make any sense at all. Fact: Cats hate water. Why, then, would they construct an aquatic creature to suddenly have feline-style ears?
Are you seeing it? I'm not seeing it. Ryan is trying to tell me some business about three different Mer-Men and the chronology of the toys, TV show, and comic but to be honest, I stopped paying attention about three words deep. I just know that I have a strange love for all aquatic superheroes and villains and I would prefer if they stayed on the amphibian tip.
Tri-Klops:
As any Action Figure Friday fan knows, I am an extra fan of toys that have interactive parts. I just can't get enough turning of the eyeball dial.
I call this one, "Who, Me? But I'm So Wide-Eyed And Innocent!"
This one is just "Stink Eye":
And, when the mood calls for a crescendo of dramatic flair, "Bloodshot Stink Eye":
Here is the real version of Tri-Klops at Threat Level Two: Stink Eye.
Trap-Jaw:
Aside from a glaring lack of eye-contact, I actually think Trap-Jaw might be the strongest dude in the line-up.
The lack of eye-to-eye conversation makes more sense when you realize that Trap-Jaw is the only one of these henchmen who can't give a thumb's up.
and he keeps gets getting left out of the weekly thumb-wrestling competitions...
Poor guy. At least it looks like he gets to work out at the same gym in the Snake Mountain basement - these guys have some eerily similar physiques.
As a collective legion of doom, I'll give these guys four tentacles. Individually, it's 3, 1, 5, 4.
Oh hello, what's this? I happen to have promotional announcement corresponding directly to these figures? You say that Ryan drew versions of these four characters in the future, attending Skeletor's Wake? Well, that is a funny coincidence.
These original illustrations are available now through July 20th in the Pop Pop! show at the Pink Ghost Gallery. [Scroll down the page - just after the piece by the esteemed Beau Berkley.]