The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

Oh, that's not what I meant. I think they revealed some kickass stuff over the past couple of days, but the general consensus at the collecting sites that I frequent is that the presentation had less meat and was weaker overall this year than in most past years, that's all.

The second wave of the Black Series and some of the 6" figures were amazing to see. I still see people complaining about Mara Jade's face and head sculpt, but hey - call me silly, but I really like her design and she's the best Mara Jade figure in this scale by far. It's not even a close competition.

 

Oh, in all the SDCC hubub I forgot to show off the latest from the Watchmen line. This month we get Nite Owl:


The cape restricts the articulation a ton, but the overall look of the figure is nice. I just wish that his shoulders weren't completely useless. Also, there seems to be no waist cut. Mattel, really? We're paying a premium for these figures. Why the hell are you skipping out on articulation?

 

^ The articulation is ten times better than the original movie Watchman figures. Those barely had any making them extremely hard to pose for display. The only thing they had going for them is the sculpt.

 

Jedi Temple Archives has just posted a massive, collaborative and special new article on the Vintage Collection that is one of the best and most entertaining things I've ever read about that figure line and, I believe, the best online collectors' tribute yet.

Great stuff.

 

They should've used some kind of vinyl for Nite Owl's cape. Similar to the old robes on vintage Star Wars figures.

 

Terrific article but I really disagree with some of their Top 25 choices (Bespin Luke is AWFUL, Starkiller really?, ROTS Darth Sidious?!)

I like Derryl DePriest's list though.

 

I'd have ranked the VC94 Imperial Navy Commander in that Top 25. Top Ten, really. But yeah, I can't argue in the least with the Gamorrean Guard and Ponda Baba being two of the top three figures from the line. The guys totally nailed those two picks.

 

Diamond Select revealed their re-issue of the Enterprise-A and she looks incredible!

 

Clint and Tasha joined me on a trip to see the Washington Nationals play the L.A. Dodgers. They suffered along with me through a long bus ride, excessive heat, and the Nats losing.





The game disappointed, but they liked my piggy bank souvenir.

 

Is that the Six-Million-Dollar Man's Boss?

I got onto TRU at 5am central time to get the Hasbro release of the SDCC exclusive Masterpiece Soundwave w/ all the tapes. Super happy. Should arrive tomorrow. Also got the Adam West Batmobile which arrived yesterday. Doors and trunk don't open and it really doesn't do anything other than roll and look nice, but I like it.

 

Your username has me thinking that we really do need a good Corran Horn figure. The one we got in Droid Factory was a really generic X-Wing pilot figure. The guy deserves better than that. He's a Jedi with an awesome color and length changing lightsaber!

 

Agreed. They didn't even do a distinctive green flight suit. Whistler was green though.

Because he was so generic I haven't picked that up. I did make my own Whistler using green astromech parts at Disney's Droid Factory when we went there, though.

 

They've just been found, folks!

Keep your eyes peeled if you're interested in these. If they're just starting to surface on the West Coast it's just a matter of time before the entire country sees them in local stores.

 

We're getting what looks to be a "Star Trek: Into Darkness" line from Play Arts Kai. These are obviously prototypes for Kirk and Spock. No idea yet if there are further figures planned yet.

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2013/07/lots-of-new-star-trek-figures-revealed.html

 

I don't think they're an "Into Darkness" line, per se, as much as they're from nuTrek in general. They probably would have included "John Harrison" with the initial offering of Kirk and Spock.

 

The placecards were cut off in the other link, but here you can see that they seem to be intended to be a part of an "Into Darkness" line. These are prototypes as mentioned, so if they are planning more for future waves, they might not have been ready for display last week. Or these two are possible test beds for future waves.

http://toynewsi.com/ig.php?mode=vie...nix&pic=IMG_4233.jpg&dispsize=800&start=0&sl=

 

PAK has never really gone deep in any lines have they? Usually just 1 or 2 big characters. It's most likely that Kirk and Spock are it.

 

Yeah it's usually just one or two big figures. This might be it...I'm just surprised that we're even getting these frankly. They look pretty good for prototype models.

 

I had a bit of luck this afternoon. I own a few of the Clayburn Moore sculpted comic book heroines like WitchBlade, Fathom, Lady Death and Purgatory, but I was never lucky enough to find my first "crush", Vampirella, imagined by the venerable Forrest J. Ackerman. The figure (and variants) were released around 2000, but my local comic shop never got the durn things.

Anyway, a discussion about a proposed Hammer Films adaption of the property (that never got beyond selecting an actress to play the role, Barbara Leigh) reminded me of that omission from my collection. So on a lark I ran a Google search just to pull up some photos of the long out of production figure. I noticed an eBay listing. Oy, how much was the "scalper" asking? I went to the page. With shipping and everything, about 28 bucks. Shoot! I'll pay nearly that much for the forthcoming "Ace" figure from Doctor Who. And the price was a "buy it now" number, not an ever rising bid.

Did I decline? H3ll no! The seller has already contacted me (and he has a 99% rating) and stated he'll ship it tomorrow.

In case you're curious, here's one of the better snapshots I've found on the 'net.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vWVxNe5Jbbk/UDYnmt4y1dI/AAAAAAAABow/0DRLytg6W68/s1600/vampirella.jpg

Not really articulated except for the shoulders and (possibly) the neck, but then I wouldn't really want a whole bunch of rivet joints to mar her ample curves.

Ah, Vampi'. Your Warren Magazine format comic helped get me through the mid 70s when I was not old enough to purchase girlie mags.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

Oh, I remember those Clayburn Moore figures--he was the master of sexy female comic book figures (and did a nice job with a couple of male figures too). I think I got all of them "back in the day" except Purgatori--I hated how her hair was forever blown horizontally to one side.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PJekhLqyUHo/0.jpg