The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[OdoWanKenobi]

I have the 2004 version. While a decent figure for its time, it does need an upgrade. It was just Wedge's head on the (correct me if I'm wrong) Dutch Vander body. We've come a long way since then.

[cooleddie74]

OdoWanKenobi wrote:

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I have the 2004 version. While a decent figure for its time, it does need an upgrade. It was just Wedge's head on the (correct me if I'm wrong) Dutch Vander body. We've come a long way since then.

Yep! You nailed it.

The 1999 Cinema Scene head and helmet on the 2004 Dutch Vander body. Nothing more complicated than that...but it worked for a while. I mean, at least Hasbro actually produced a single-carded Wedge Antilles and that was quite a gigantic breakthrough at the time. Every Wedge before then was either packed with something like an action figure carrying case as added value for your money or he was part of a multipack with other figures. The 2004 Wedge was the first time in the character's history that you could buy him separately in his own packaging. Not bad. I think his OTC cardback is pretty sweet.

ETA: Oh, I was curious about your opinion of the limited-edition "Lost Line" cardfront designs I posted on the last page. These will be available at the San Diego Comic-Con in July and will be in stores as chase variants shortly thereafter. The figures on these cards are Vintage Collection figures that will also be sold in regular, standard Vintage packaging, so you'll have two different versions of each to look for(if you're so inclined or even care).

[OdoWanKenobi]

Well, I'm an opener, as you know. Cardbacks tend to just end up in the trash for me. Try not to faint. While I appreciate a good looking card, they could slap the figure on a blank piece of cardboard and I really wouldn't care too much. I completely understand the appeal of MOC collecting though, and I'm happy for those who are enjoying the vintage style cards.

Now, that being said: Those are some damn cool looking packages. Such a shame one of them is being wasted on Jar Jar. I would not buy them, though. Those are exclusives that are made for MOC collectors, and if I buy them I'm just being an asshole.

[cooleddie74]

Oh, I understand man. This hobby's all about whatever floats a person's boat. Whether a person opens all his stuff or leaves it all MOC or MIP(or their collection contains both a whole lot of packaged and a whole lot of loose like mine), it's the joy of collecting that brings us together. I just wish the last couple of years had been a little kinder and easier on we collectors. I'm already starting to hear some people refer to now as "the New Dark Age of Star Wars toy collecting" because of the endless repacks and repaints of figures that kind of sucked when they were brand new. Outside of the Vintage Collection, the current SW toy market is a complete and blithering mess, and even Vintage is affected by awful distribution so no branch has gone unscathed.

[OdoWanKenobi]

It's been a dark age for DC and Marvel collectors, too. Mattel has been mishandling the line for several waves now. The distribution has been so terrible that prices are to the moon. I have a box of incomplete BAFs because I just can't find figures, and refuse to pay the ridiculous secondary market prices. Then of course, there's the recent fiasco with the new DC All Stars line, where they showed us a bunch of upcoming figures and then cancelled them all. These figures included some pretty furiously demanded ones like Larfleeze, Red Robin, and Superboy Prime. The subscription line at least is getting us some greatly wanted and needed figures. Can't wait for Jay Garrik, Metron, Atrocitus, Platinum and Tin, Poison Ivy, and Black Mask. The downside of course being that you either have to buy the subscription or take your chances with day of sales (a perilous proposition with how awful a website MattyCollector is.)

As for Marvel, the 3 3/4 inch lines are a mess. Iron Man 2 stuff still warms pegs for crying out loud. Marvel Universe is now just a wave of reuse and repaint. The new Avengers figures are a drastic step backwards. The return of Marvel Legends (one of the greatest toylines ever) looked like it could be the light at the end of the tunnel, but instead idiotic distribution has killed enthusiasm. Wave 1 and 2 were released within a month of each other. Store got exactly one shipment of wave 1. One. As such, most collectors never found them. Ghostrider especially was impossible to find, creating a lot of armless Terraxes. Not to mention that we've heard squat about wave 3, and the first two waves have been out for months.

[cooleddie74]

Toys and action figures in general are suffering right now. A lot of adult and kid collectors have switched over to video games and other electronic forms of diversion and entertainment and drifted away from collectible figures and other toys. When a kid has a PSP, new XBox 360 with Kinect, a smartphone with a zillion cool apps and spends half the day on his or her computer he or she just doesn't think as much about action figures or maquettes or dolls the way they would have before the current high-tech revolution. When you and I were kids nobody had smartphones, 3-D high definition televisions or the slew of startlingly realistic video games we see now. It was easier to get both kids and adults motivated to go out and buy toys to entertain themselves. The current toy market is under constant barrage and it doesn't help that some of the companies seem to have lost direction and focus in the middle of all of this. Repainted or repacked(or both) waves of action figures that almost nobody wants is just one symptom of the current morass in the industry. It ain't 1982 anymore, baby.

[OdoWanKenobi]

With the new stuff I got yesterday, my armory photo is now out of date. Here's a new one:

[cooleddie74]

^
Wow!

And I thought your Iron Man lineup was incredible before! That's just badass. Totally badass.



My friend will be getting at least one of both of these by next weekend, so I'll have them by then. These new Movie Heroes Wave 3 figures are light years better than the archaic crap and junk in the first wave...it's not even a fair comparison. This Vader has amazing body sculpting to match the character's appearance during the Cloud City lightsaber duel in EMPIRE, and though the Luke is just a tweak of a slightly older mold from 2009 or 2010 it's the best Snowspeeder/Hoth Pilot Luke ever made and this release has a quite good face and head that improves a little on the original.



These are two of the three new figures in Movie Heroes Wave 3(the third is a light-up Episode III Anakin Skywalker) , which hasn't officially hit retail yet in the U.S. But since peg walls are still jammed to obnoxiousness with the turds that are Wave 1 and the infinitely better Wave 2 has shown up only very infrequently in most places it's probably going to be a good while before this newest wave shows up in stores. Best to get them now for just a little over retail and save a ton of gas driving all over the place to try to find them to no avail. Toy hunts these days are more often than not a dreary annoyance and with gas rapidly approaching $4.00 a gallon and the recent figure distribution crap it's just not worth as much trouble as it used to be.

Here's the Anakin Skywalker from this wave...my friend isn't going to be getting one of this figure, at least not yet. I'll have to wait a little longer for my shot at this one.

[Shazam!]

Left-handed Anakin?

[Unicron]

Not exactly action figure specific, but I decided to make one last splurge on Magic cards before I retire from the collecting aspect. I have way too many cards. The new set is pretty decent, though it has a mix of stuff that seems really good and stuff that seems really broken.

[Praetor_Shinzon]

not exactly action figure related, but i did get some Gokaiger Ranger Keys in the mail yesterday. i'll try to upload a few pics later.

[cooleddie74]

Shazam! wrote:

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Left-handed Anakin?

Yeah. I noticed that too. But Hasbro apparently wanted to leave his right arm with the bionic glove and gauntlet free to more accurately preserve the character's look in SITH, so they stuck the non-removable electronic lightsaber in his left hand instead.

Incorrect, I know. But...meh. Whaddya gonna do. When you put these complex electronic light-up features into a figure that's only four inches tall you have to make compromises, especially if you want to preserve something about a character's appearance. At least it more or less looks like Hayden Christensen, so that's something.

[cooleddie74]

Just got back from a cloudy, dreary morning trip to my buddy's toy shop. Good thing he opens as early as 8 because if it pours rain later I don't wanna be out in that mess. Anyways, scored one of the two brand new Battle Packs that haven't yet hit retail, at least not in this country.

[DBR]

Figures I go for are typically 1:6 scale. A few Transformers, but mostly pop culture icons that mean something to me make up the bulk of my collection. I've never left a figure unopened--that's just crazy!

This post is indeed pretty useless without pics, so I will snap a few in a few days--hopefully by the weekend.

[Tom Hendricks]

Maybe you could answer a question for me. I never read the novelization for TPM but can you explain the reason for the every doors during the duel? I have always wondered about that.

cooleddie74 wrote:

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Just got back from a cloudy, dreary morning trip to my buddy's toy shop. Good thing he opens as early as 8 because if it pours rain later I don't wanna be out in that mess. Anyways, scored one of the two brand new Battle Packs that haven't yet hit retail, at least not in this country.