The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[cooleddie74]

A brand new, hi-res photo of the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Carbon Freezing Chamber figure set which contains seven figures, six of which will later be available(theoretically) at mass retail on these special "Lost Line" retro cardbacks.

The figures included with the convention-exclusive freezing chamber-styled container(available nowhere else but in San Diego) will be:

*Episode I: Jar Jar Binks
*Episode II: Clone Trooper Lieutenant
*Episode III: Shock Trooper
*Episode IV: Sandtrooper
*Episode V: Princess Leia in Bespin Gown
*Episode VI: Darth Vader with Emperor's Wrath Lightning Bolts
*Convention exclusive, tongue-in-cheek Jar Jar in Carbonite Block

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Is that what that is, it looked like some sort of Cthulhu Vader from the picture.

*Episode VI: Darth Vader with Emperor's Wrath Lightning Bolts

 

[cooleddie74]

Is that what that is, it looked like some sort of Cthulhu Vader from the picture.

Now THAT would be a hell of an action figure.

 

[Unicron]

Yeah, it does sort of look that way from the inconvenient angle. You guys should suggest that one to Hasbro.

 

[Leroy]

Do we really need more Jar Jar figures? Or do people buy them to destroy them out of hate thus creating a market for the character?

 

[cooleddie74]

I don't have a CLUE why the Carbonite Jar Jar was made, except that Skywalker Ranch in California supposedly has a life-size version of this hanging on an office wall and some folks at Hasbro and Lucasfilm though it might make for a quirky, weird collectible for the fans.

The regular Jar Jar at the bottom doesn't look too bad. It's supposed to be the best Jar Jar figure ever made with the most screen-accurate likeness, 14 points of articulation and a fabric skirt around his waist. It'll sell like hotcakes in large part because the current Vintage Collection line of premium figures is so hard to find at retail, but that Carbonite one is just...well...pretty lame and a complete waste of tooling and sculpting dollars that would have been much better spent on, say, a new and premium Jawa or Emperor Palpatine. Anything but this stupid turd.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I don't have a CLUE why the Carbonite Jar Jar was made, except that Skywalker Ranch in California supposedly has a life-size version of this hanging on an office wall and some folks at Hasbro and Lucasfilm though it might make for a quirky, weird collectible for the fans.

It was probably in response to the internet hate many fans had for Jar-Jar that prompted that to begin with.

Q: Which character would you like to see put away in carbon freeze forever?
A: Jar-Jar Binks.

 

[Shazam!]

The Bespin Leia headsculpt is atrocious. They should've got the guy who did the Hoth Leia sculpt.

The Jar Jar figure is annoying because he's in a larger scale than the recently release Gungan warrior(!).

Jar Jar in Carbonite is also an Easter Egg in The Force Unleased 2. Which I guess makes it canon?

As an aside, I won an old TAC Y-Wing on eBay for a tenner. Never had a Y-Wing before!

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Nice! Congrats! Believe it or not, I don't own a Y-Wing. Ships and vehicles have never been a strong focus for me so I own relatively few of them. And as much as I love the retro '80s-looking black and sliver boxes of the new Vintage Collection vehicles, the first three of 2012 are either Prequel or Clone Wars and just lazy repacks with few if any changes from their previous releases. Plus, Clone Wars and Prequel ships and vehicles don't really do much if anything for me.

I do, however, want this gorgeous thing. It'll be a K-Mart exclusive here in the States sometime this fall around the time of the election:

There are also rumors on a couple of collectors' sites that there will be a Vintage Collection-boxed Endor AT-AT Walker and a JEDI Speeder Bike with reproductions of the original 1983/84 packaging styles.

Behold the possible gloriousness

I don't have a CLUE why the Carbonite Jar Jar was made, except that Skywalker Ranch in California supposedly has a life-size version of this hanging on an office wall and some folks at Hasbro and Lucasfilm though it might make for a quirky, weird collectible for the fans.

It was probably in response to the internet hate many fans had for Jar-Jar that prompted that to begin with.

Q: Which character would you like to see put away in carbon freeze forever?
A: Jar-Jar Binks.

Yeah, I wouldn't doubt it. But the OFFICIAL reason is because of the wall art hanging at Skywalker Ranch. Unofficially, I'm sure the Jar Jar hate had a lot to do with it.

 

[Shazam!]

I'm totally picking up the new speeder bike. I got the larger AT-ST in the Attack Of Hoth battle pack. It's a great vehicle.

The only Vintage Collection vehicle I own is the Rebel Armored Snowspeeder.

 

[cooleddie74]

I missed the Snowspeeder, and prices for it on eBay are just ridiculous. But I do have the Landspeeder from A NEW HOPE in a Vintage Collection box and it is just magnificent.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I just saw that Warner Bros have announced Mattel as a partner for "Man of Steel". I suppose this means they'll be handling the action figure line next year which excites me.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Mattel has the DC license. That includes any DC movies. In all likelihood we'll get a kiddie line that is absolutely atrocious, and a Movie Masters line meant for collectors. Seeing as the Dark Knight Rises line has given us Alfred, is it too much to hope that the Man of Steel line might give us Lois Lane, or any of Superman's other non-powered supporting cast?

 

[cooleddie74]

If the Man of Steel toy line resembles the actual movie---at least from the early vibes I'm getting from it---then it might be pretty bad. But that's another thread altogether and I won't go there.

Anyways, more and very positive news from the STAR WARS toy universe! Toys 'R' Us computers are now listing in their systems a Vintage Collection Millennium Falcon to appear sometime in the near future! Kmart gets an AT-ST Scout Walker in a classic-looking box while TRU appears now to be getting a pair of JEDI-themed vehicles(Endor AT-AT and Speeder Bike) as well as a repackaged Millennium Falcon! Will it be a repack of the best "BMF" to date...the 2007-08 Legacy Collection ship with a plethora of electronic and other goodies that no previous Falcon toy had? Only time will tell, but just imagine how ultra-amazing and fun it would be to see the best Falcon of all time in a retro-looking Vintage Collection box!

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm excited for "Man of Steel". A lot of fans are still hesitant because Zack Snyder is directing it, but I've heard good things and that he's scaling back his own approach and going for more traditional filming. I knew that Matty had the DC license but it was nice to hear the confirmation. I wonder if they'll be unveiling their plans at SDCC next month?

I wish I could get excited about Star Wars stuff. I do have an Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano from "Clone Wars" though. Those are the only ones I've bought in years.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
I hope you're right about MAN OF STEEL. I sincerely do. It's just that in my particular circle of friends who are fans of Superman and know about the new film there's an almost universal feeling that the movie is going to be unsuccessful and might take too different or radical a new direction. A couple are excited and have no qualms, but after the complete reboot that leaves the Brandon Routh film out in the cold and seeing Superman's new outfit I'm not terribly impressed. But we'll see. It might kick ass and I hope so.

As per the STAR WARS stuff, in some ways I kind of envy you. You've been out of circulation for years so you don't have to put up with the recent problems and controversies within the Hasbro toy lines, which have all been voiced here in this thread ad nauseam. I love collecting the stuff, but right now is the worst time to be a SW toy collector since the modern toy line began in 1995. Things are an unfocused mess at the moment with a lot of product either supremely disappointing or not even making it to store shelves or both. You've saved yourself an ulcer.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Yeah it seems to me...that Hasbro is just pumping out stuff without giving much of a care to the quality or being mindful of the fans needs or wants in their products. Unless I'm missing something, which is possible. That's my take on it though. I wanna get stuff...but it just doesn't impress me enough to invest lol.

 

[cooleddie74]

When Hasbro takes ten-year-old figures that had problems and flaws when they were NEW and lazily repackages them that's bad enough. But they also take most or even all of the original accessories away from that figure and then have the cojones to charge twice as much!

Take the Movie Heroes(Wave 1) Darth Vader from this past January's Episode I 3-D promotion. A 2002 action figure based on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK but with inaccurate body armor that comes from the original film instead. Add to that a terrible plastic cape that pops off the body when you as much breathe on it and it wasn't the best Vader in the world to begin with in spite of its (for the time) really excellent detailing and sculpting.

But the original 2002 figure cost just $4.99 and came with a fun section of the Bespin Cloud City walkway where Vader cuts off Luke's right hand. The 2012 repack takes away everything the original figure had except Vader's lightsaber and is sold for $8.96-$9.99 depending on which chain you shop. That's four to five dollars more for less than half of what you got ten years ago. It's pathetic, but that's just one of the things that's been happening to the Hasbro lines lately. It's as if Hasbro is thinking "Star Wars has no more new movies coming out and the live-action TV show is still several years away...so why really bother with a lot of the merchandise? Just repack and ship anything you find lying around. We'll save loads of money. The toy geeks will buy it all anyways. It's a win-win for us!"

Even the Clone Wars animated line is suffering right now. There are just 19 single carded action figures planned for the entire year. 19. That's it. And 17 have already been released. Even the new STAR WARS television adventures aren't getting proper respect and attention from Hasbro. At times it seems like they've just stopped caring and the fans and collectors have noticed. The company's on a lot of collector shit lists right now. It limits good product and makes too much mediocre product...and can't get a lot of either one to retail.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I noticed the lack of Clone Wars line...I saw I think an updated Ahsoka on Big Bad a while ago (the one I have is the original figure that came with Rotta the Hutt from the movie) but that's about it.

 

[cooleddie74]

The new 2012 Ahsoka comes with the underwater Scuba Gear she wore in one or two episodes of the series. She's also very hard to find because the second and third waves of the year are so poorly distributed at the moment.

Here she is:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a3RLZK8rNU[/yt]