The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[cooleddie74]

Wow. The five new figures in the Dr. Evazan wave are going for well over $100 on eBay. One---Nom Anor from the Expanded Universe novels---is going for over forty-five all by himself. These figures will be hitting retail outlets and toy shops before too long...well, hopefully anyways. The staggering impatience of some toy collectors that leads them to pay five or six times retail for an as-yet-unreleased item never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Here are my personal two favorite action figures I own. They are both from the time of the release of Tim Burton's Batman. While I have several other figures from this line, these two without a doubt are my favorite.

First up is Bob, poor old Bob. The most loyal of henchmen, the right hand man who meets an untimely death.

The second one is nothing really special, but my favorite of all my collection. Its the Quick Change Bruce Wayne.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
That's cool. I never knew they made an action figure of Bob the Goon from the Jack Nicholson movie. Neat! I didn't collect nor even pay much attention to the BATMAN toys in 1989 so some of these gems just slipped right past my radar.

This town needs an enema!

 

[Saga]

i always wanted Quick Change Bruce Wayne when i was a kid. i had tons of Batman toys from the movie. i still have my Batwing in storage somewhere.

 

[cooleddie74]

It's amusing at times to see how far action figure tooling and sculpting has come since the 1980s. In 1989 those BATMAN figures were considered quality and about as accurate as you were going to get with the technology of that decade. Now an awful lot of them would be laughed out of almost any retail store you can think of for being so cheesy. Except the Bruce Wayne. For a 1989 toy that head's not too bad.

 

[Shazam!]

Picked up a few more Star Wars toys; Gungan Warrior, Tusken Raider and a VC Naboo guy.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
The Walmart 3-D "Discover the Force" figures? The Walmart exclusive Gungan and Tusken are quite excellent figures. I have multiples of each. I also have several of the Vintage Naboo Guards...they're great army builders even at an $8.96-$9.99 pricepoint.

 

[Unicron]

First up is Bob, poor old Bob. The most loyal of henchmen, the right hand man who meets an untimely death.

I like how the artwork is happy because he has hair, while the figure is sad because he doesn't.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, I noticed that too...unless the hair on the figure is so lightly colored it's hard to see and it hangs behind the head, but it doesn't look like that's the case. Well, like I said above, 1980s action figures were amazing and rollicking playthings that gave myself and countless others endless joy and amusement, but accurate portrayals of movie and TV characters they weren't. I think the toys that came the closest to resembling their screen counterparts were the HE-MAN and THUNDERCATS figures.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Took a gamble on a Easter Grab Bag from Figure of the Day. Here's what I got:

NECA TMNT Leonardo bobblehead
GI Joe Renegades Toxic Viper
GI Joe Renegades Firefly
Avengers movie Iron Man Mark VI
Avengers movie Ultimate Captain America
Marvel Select Colossus

Not too shabby. I don't collect the Joes, but both come with some really cool accessories that I can make use of with other figures. I haven't gotten any Marvel Select in the past, but with how awesome Colossus is, I'm tempted to go pick up more. Seriously, this is one fantastic figure.

 

[Saga]

some of those GI Joe Retaliation figures look pretty decent. especially the blue Cobra Commander. i might get some of those. haven't bought any Joes since the 25th anniversary line.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Yep. I not only still have all my old Transformers, Masters of the Universe, She-Ra Princess of Power, GI Joe, M.A.S.K., Super Powers, Jem and the Holograms stuff from when I was a kid but I have all the Playmates Star Trek figures as well as the DST Trek toys that they put out in the mid 00s.

And since 2008 I have been collecting Mattel's DC Universe Classics figures(which are approaching nearly 300 in just 4 years) and the updated Mattel MOTUC line from Mattycollector.com

Best case scenario seems to be that any DCUC revival will be strictly Superman and Batman related stuff. They don't even consider characters like Green Lantern, The Flash, or Wonder Woman to be retail viable. Ridiculous.

I don't have a problem with them reinventing the line simply because I think they have gone as far afield as they can away from the A-list characters--Honestly they did a pretty good job turning out close to 300 characters and digging pretty deep into non mainstream fare like the Metal Men, Doom Patrol, Justice Society of America and characters like Killer Moth, OMAC etc.

I think shifting back to more of a Superman/Batman character focus will help reinvigorate the line allowing for fans and casual buyers alike to pick demanded comic accurate characters i.e. SP deco Batman, light blue Superman with Mytzplk pack in, Balent Catwoman, Garcia-Lopez inspired Supergirl, Battle Armor Lex, Atomic Skull, Conner Kent with Krypto pack in, Composite Superman, Scarecrow, classic Poison Ivy, the Clock King, Mad Hatter, Ventriloquist with Scarface, Metallo, Silver Age Bizarro, Firefly, Ras al Ghul, Green Lantern Batman, Zebra Batman, Earth-2 Superman for JSA fans, Earth-2 Wonder Woman, Alfred, Huntress etc

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Except those won't happen. Poison Ivy and Black Mask, both fairly prominent Batman villains are in the subscription line this year. They have said that females won't sell at retail, and you can forget about characters like Clock King, Alfred, or Ventriloquist. Those are guys in suits. The only villains that may ever see the light of day at retail are the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler, Catwoman, and Lex Luthor because those are the only ones that moms know. Never mind the fact that the DC Universe package has always had the words "Adult Collector" right on the package. Mattel hates us and only want to sell to the moms and kids, who they think only want Batman and Superman. I guarantee you the average person on the street will at least have heard of Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman. But noooooo, those are just way too obscure.

At least DC Direct (or DC Collectibles, as they're now called) know what they're doing. Their quality has been shaky over the years, but has been getting consistently better lately. Their Green Lantern and Blackest Night waves were all pretty fantastic. It looks like they'll be the ones to get our DC toy fix from now. The only downside is the slightly larger scale than DCUC. Some are easy to fudge, though. I have several DC Direct Lanterns mixed in with my DCUC ones.

 

[RyanKCR]

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Impressive. I never got into those Voltron-style toys but they always look pretty impressive in their finished form. Of course, thanks to shows like ROBOT CHICKEN I'll never, ever be able to look at toys like that the same way again.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I've got that exact one on my coffee table right now, except I've got the lions separated currently.

I also got the Stealth Voltron that was released a bit later.

 

[cooleddie74]

My buddy at the toy shop comes through yet again...the very first 2011 Luke Skywalker(Jedi Knight) VC23 cardfront that was quickly changed to a new, more appropriate photograph and the as-yet-officially-unreleased 2012 Dr. Evazan VC57.

The Luke figure and his accessories remained the same in both incarnations but the name was changed from "Jedi Knight Outfit" to "Endor Captive" because of the Imperial binders(handcuffs) as well as the fact that Luke's hand has already been damaged on the figure and he's donned the black protective glove. At the time Luke first entered Jabba's Palace to rescue Han and his other friends he wasn't wearing the glove and no Imperial handcuffs were ever put on him. The photograph was also changed to show Luke after he is captured on Endor and brought to his father.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

If I didn't like you, I would hate you. I wish I had a buddy at a toy shop.

 

[cooleddie74]

Oh, it's just dumb, random luck that I even know the guy.
I usually avoid getting into long conversations with people who work the cash registers at stores and shops, but if I hadn't started up an awkward, spontaneous discussion with him a few years ago we wouldn't know one another. He's a pretty good guy...he can't always score the stuff I want, but when he does he's very reasonable about the price. If you lived in my area I'm sure he'd try to set you up with a few things you wanted...he deals in all different sorts of toys. He even has the original MEGO Star Trek dolls from the 1970s, including Uhura and the Klingon. If you like it, there's at least a passing chance he has at least one of it in his shop.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I need to start trying to befriend the guys at my LCS, then. There's that whole "talking to people" barrier to break through, though.