The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

Went to another Kroger, saw a full peg of MI, including 2 Wasp figures.

CCC.

 

I haven't checked the toy section of a local Kroger store in ages. I'd heard stories that figures from the first few wave assortments of both 3.75" and 6" Black Series were being spotted at Krogers across the country (mostly older characters that frequently pegwarm at the big box retailers, but a few of the more highly-desirable figures have also been seen).

 

Just a quick reminder for fellow Star Wars collectors: today marks the official launch of the new Rebels series on Disney and there's a pretty good chance that a lot of new figures, vehicles and other product from the new show are about to hit big box retail. A collector in Singapore found the new 3.75" Rebels Stormtrooper figure and some of the Rebels-packaged Mission Series 2-packs have just been sighted in the UK.

Right now there's little or nothing new in my own local stores but with the premiere of the new TV series that means a lot of new product is coming to retail whether it's stuff we actually want or not. Hopefully the Rebels merchandising blizzard will bring a lot of fresh, new Black Series 3.75" and 6" product into stores with it.

 

Had a look in my nearest Toy R Us yesterday to see what Star Wars Black Series they had, I was actually looking for a Greedo which is one of the more common ones. They didn't have him, but I couldn't believe they actually had two Boba Fett's in stock. They're all £15.49 each, whereas I bought Fett online for about £30 a while ago, and that was the cheapest I could find it!

They did have a Stormtrooper and a Clone Trooper which I was torn between, went for the Stormtrooper in the end. Looks awesome

 

Wow, two Boba Fetts and the all new #14 Clone Trooper figure in the same store? Impressive. To date I have yet to see the Clone Trooper wave of 6" in my own local stores, which includes the Episode III Anakin Skywalker. I've seen most of the 6" characters at least once each but that Anakin/Clone wave has just been scarce.

 

^ Episode III Anakin was there as well

Along with Han Solo, Obi-Wan and quite a few Slave Leia's

 

At this point there is crude bacterial life on distant planets that has probably seen the 6" Slave Leia at least a few times. It's the first time a scantily-clad Carrie Fisher action figure has been a flop and it's a little weird to see.

 

It really doesn't help that the figure is just so unappealing. It's the only Black Series figure so far that I can call a dud without any reservations. There might be a good Fischer sculpt, but I can't tell under the horrific paint job. The articulation scheme makes the thighs look very odd. Beyond it being the only Leia we have, I can't find much to recommend in it.

 

As much as people complain about the Greedo and Han Solo figures that are all over the place, at least there aren't many aesthetic or quality control reasons to take pokes at them. Slave Leia has a truly great facial sculpt but a lot of copies of the figure have awful paint apps with crooked eyes, lipstick and other details that a $20 and up, premium- and collector-focused figure in a larger scale shouldn't be having.

Han has few issues with his design and the Greedo - well his eyes are more oval than they should be (the original movie mask had round eyes) but other than that he's an incredible 6" action figure. He and Han are just notorious peg- and shelfwarmers that have becoming extremely boring to look at, that's all.

 

^ The paint apps are pretty terrible but my biggest issue with Slave Leia is that she is humpbacked. The sculpt for her body is horrific. The way the neck pushes forward makes her head look like it doesn't belong on her body. I did get lucky. My Leia's face is actually pretty well done. She just looks a tiny bit cross-eyed.

I have been promising some new pictures and finally... here they are. I am still working on getting my nice big Canon compatible with my new computer so I had to use my cellphone. Some are a bit blurry and I apologize. (It is hard to get a stable shot with a camera phone on something so small. The autofocus was going crazy!)

This is my favorite figure in the 6-inch Black Series so far. They just looks so awesome I had to have two.


Again, awesome. With a little Photoshop to hide the joints and some better lighting you would have a hard time figuring out this was just an action figure.


I am very pleased with Jabba too despite his lack of accessories. And I didn’t know moving his arms made his mouth move until I opened the box. Simple but effective.


The sculpt and paint apps are really nice. I think they almost nailed the eyes. But anything would be an improvement on the eyes they did for 3-inch version that came out a couple of years ago. They were just terrible.


This is the latest Diamond Select Captain America. It’s a great sculpt but the mediocre paint apps bring it down a bit. I really like it though.




This is the Diamond Select Falcon. The sculpt and paint apps on this one are amazing. He is one gorgeous figure. The wings pop off so you can display him either open or closed. I prefer open.


The details in his costume are very crisp and clean. Love it.

 

I managed to find a 6" Slave Leia with good-looking eyes and other paint apps. She was from one of the earlier Wave 2 shipments, though, before people started finding the Leias who looked like Sloth from The Goonies after a week-long meth binge. As for Jabba, yeah, the opening mouth feature is a pretty sweet and fun little detail that I'm glad they added to the figure for the price they're asking. I'd have included Salacious Crumb if nothing else since the SDCC exclusive version of this Jabba has Salacious in the package with him, but....eh. Whaddya gonna do.

The Biker Scout gives you slightly better value for your $40 since you get an Imperial trooper and an articulated Speeder Biker vehicle with a clear display stand. The superior of the two 6" Deluxe releases.

 

Saw that the Wal-Mart in Nacogdoches has added some of the Marvel Legends figures from the Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I have all of 'em, except the WWII Captain America and the AIM & Hydra soldiers. Those three are now on the shelf at Wal-Mart.

So, I may have to get 'em next payday...

 

I'm at the Disney store right now. All of the 6" Black Star Wars figures are on sale for $9.99. I picked these two up.

 

Very nice! Excellent figures, and getting 6" figures for 3.75" prices is a fantastic deal no matter how you slice it. Congrats! I wish the Disney Store in my area hadn't closed shop a few years ago because it would be a great place to look for figures that the big box retailers had either sold out of or hadn't even bothered to stock in the first place.

What was their overall character selection like?

 

They had a few of these two. Tons of Leia & Greedo and a hand full of the others, including Stormtroopers, Han Solo, and such. No Darth Vaders though.

 

$9.99 Stormtroopers? I'd be there. Big time. Some of us army-build the 3.75" versions for that price or close to it. Even the first Sandtrooper from Wave 1 would be a huge bargain at just ten bucks.

At this point even highway truck stop diners probably have unsold 6" Greedos and Slave Leias collecting dust on shelves.

 

I think we need to stop calling her "Slave Leia" and start calling her "Humpback Leia". And I would also jump at the chance to "army-build" the 6-inch Stormtroopers. I have my eye on some other things first but for $9.99 I would have set that idea aside and filled up a cart!

 

Now the reason I was at the Disney Store today, my wife's latest additions to her Disney doll collection.

Limited edition Aurora


Limited edition Maleficent

 

Humpback Leia: the one creature Kirk and Spock wouldn't bother to bring back to the 23rd century with them even if Earth's survival depended on it. She'd have never gone extinct to begin with.

 

Just got this recently. The head spins around and does some classic R2 beeping sequences whenever you turn the car on and off, and plug/unplug a device. It has 2 usb ports.

And I swear it detects when my battery is low because it makes the sad r2 sound whenever my phone is in dire need of a charge. But that could be in my head.