The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[Kira's Mom]

Clint and Tasha are stuck inside because of Snowquester.

[cooleddie74]

Tasha: "What are you thinking about?"

Clint: "Arrows. Shooting bad guys. Tight jumpsuits. The perfect cheeseburger.

You know. Same old, same old."

[Kira's Mom]

He's thinking he wants to get outside and shoot snowball-tipped arrows.

[OdoWanKenobi]

You can almost see the longing on his face. This caged bird wants to be free!

Got a good score today. Before the shift from DC Universe Classics to DC Unlimited, there were supposed to be a couple of Toys R Us Exclusive two-packs. For the most part, they never materialized, due to the line going in to limbo and stores having over ordered the previous Shazam! two pack. They could be gotten overseas from Chinese sources, but most collectors had given them up for lost at retail. Then today, I find one of them at my TRU:



That's Sinestro Corps Hal Jordan and Blue Lantern Kyle Rayner from the War of the Green Lanterns storyline in which the four main Lanterns were forced to abandon their green rings and each take one from the other colored Corps. These are both straight up repaints, but for a Lantern fan like me, that's not a big deal. I'm thrilled that I actually managed to find them. Barely anybody has at all.

[cooleddie74]

Nice! I'm stopping by my TRU sometime tomorrow (now that the snow here has fizzled) because they just unloaded a couple of case assortments' worth of Vintage and Clone Wars on the pegs and there might be some cool and recent army builders hanging there for the current $4.99 markdown price. They'll probably be picked through by the time I get there but that's cool....I'm not looking for nor expecting anything grand, just something newer and cooler than all the Episode I pegwarmers that have been hanging there for most of the past year.

At this point I wouldn't mind another 501st Legion Clone or animated Captain Rex just for the heck of it.

[OdoWanKenobi]

One of my Wal-Marts did just restock their Vintage figures the other day.....with more Episode I figures. I about screamed right in the toy aisle.

[cooleddie74]

Canada and Europe are getting new stuff a lot of collectors actually want....we're getting more figures most of us didn't want a year ago.

Something's wrong with that math.

[OdoWanKenobi]

Ok, there's a surprise. I thought Black Widow was going to be next from Hot Toys, but I just got a shipping notice from Sideshow for the Hot Toys Thor! Looks like I'll have him some time next week. Cool stuff!

[Admiral_Young]

It's weird we're getting stuff and you guys aren't..."I sense a disturbance in the Force"

[Gotham Central]

OdoWanKenobi wrote:

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Ok, there's a surprise. I thought Black Widow was going to be next from Hot Toys, but I just got a shipping notice from Sideshow for the Hot Toys Thor! Looks like I'll have him some time next week. Cool stuff!

Seriously....I STILL have not been notified yet

[Gotham Central]

So I'm curious what figures do people actually collect? Are you like Eddie and focus almost exclusively on Star Wars...or like Odowan and seem to collect everything?

For instance...

I collect DC Universe figures (mostly Superman, Batman and Green Lantern Related)

I now collect Marvel.

I'm now hooked on Hot Toys (SOMEONE MAKE IT STOP! MY BANK ACCOUNT CANNOT HANDLE ALL THE AWESOMENESS!)...Right now I'm fighting the urge to buy a light cycle and the Iron Man stuff is unbelievable!

I have a large collection of DST Star Trek toys (mostly ships and Trek Tek)...

So spill...what are you wasting your hard earned money on

[OdoWanKenobi]

Yeah, my collecting is kinda eclectic.

My main focus is superheroes, and that's easily what I have the most of, but I'm not above grabbing anything that catches my fancy. DC Universe Classics (now Unlimited) and Marvel Legends are my favorite lines. I've got some figures based off of video games, and various movies, and a good amount of Star Wars. I do have quite a few Hot Toys, though I've moved away from that quite a bit due to the escalating price. The Avengers are the only thing I'm got coming down the pipe from them right now.

I think it's great the variety of collecting we see in here. You've got people like me who buy a bit of everything, and people like eddie who buy a lot of a specific area. There's more than one way to collect.

[Admiral_Young]

I am just starting to collect stuff again but I'm really focused on DC (mainly Batman and Superman) some Marvel stuff (like Spider-Man and X-Men), and MOTU. Oh and Trek stuff as well.

[Gotham Central]

OdoWanKenobi wrote:

---

Yeah, my collecting is kinda eclectic.

My main focus is superheroes, and that's easily what I have the most of, but I'm not above grabbing anything that catches my fancy. DC Universe Classics (now Unlimited) and Marvel Legends are my favorite lines. I've got some figures based off of video games, and various movies, and a good amount of Star Wars. I do have quite a few Hot Toys, though I've moved away from that quite a bit due to the escalating price. The Avengers are the only thing I'm got coming down the pipe from them right now.

I think it's great the variety of collecting we see in here. You've got people like me who buy a bit of everything, and people like eddie who buy a lot of a specific area. There's more than one way to collect.

Yeah I've noticed that the Hot Toys figures have really jumped in price. I'm late to the game so my Avengers set will be incomplete. I missed Hawkeye and Nick Fury (and refuse to pay ebay prices). But I'm looking forward to Thor, the Mark VII Iron Man and Tony Stark. I have not decided if I'll get Coulson. I kind of want a Batmobile (the coming 66 version in particular) but they are huge and way expensive.

[cooleddie74]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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It's weird we're getting stuff and you guys aren't..."I sense a disturbance in the Force"

Some people think it's Hasbro simply not wanting to take any unnecessary risks with a U.S. retail market that's still saturated with lots of leftover 2012 product that's not selling. That might hold some validity until you realize that the company is still shipping cases of 2012 figures that didn't sell last year and just making things even worse.

At least if they shipped the new 2013 product it'd get a lot of initial buyers because most American collectors are thirsting for new product and mad that most new stuff won't start hitting until the end of summer and beginning of fall. If the market's going to be hit with a slew of additional figures it would make a lot more sense for them to be new or new-ish and not just more of the same junk nobody wanted six or twelve months ago.

Frankly you have people lining up on both sides of the argument, the Hasbro defenders and the critics....and some people try to play both sides of the fence. In the meantime, Brits, Germans, Spaniards and Canadians get new figures and we Yanks have to continue staring at store pegs full of the same-old 2012 stuff even though we're the world's biggest and most successful market for these lines.

I don't get it. All I can say is....