The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[C.E. Evans]

^^^
Maybe that's just the photo. It might look purple compared to someone with a red one.

Eh, I still prefer the original Mara Jade figure over the newer ones, but this one ain't bad.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I like that one. Whole lot better than the piece of crap from the comic pack a few years ago.

 

[cooleddie74]

I have the Comic Book 2-pack figure that came with Luke. It was fine for 2007 or 2008 but even then she wasn't anything amazing. It was just a superior figure to the Expanded Universe one that came out near the end of the nineties, that's all.

This one blows all previous Mara Jade action figures away and then some.

 

[Shazam!]

I still prefer the original Mara Jade figure over the newer ones

This one?

 

[cooleddie74]

The original 1998 figure had a good looking outfit, but she just didn't do much for me at that time. Perhaps some of it has to do with me not being into most Expanded Universe characters back then, but aside from being really, really hard to find in stores and a challenge to track down the original figure just didn't offer a whole lot for me.

She was the best figure in the short-lived EU line, though. A lot of people say the Darktrooper or Spacetrooper was the greatest one, but nah...it was her.

 

[Shazam!]

I remember buying her and Kyle Katarn. Those were the days; when you could walk into a shop and buy a Star Wars figure.

 

[cooleddie74]

And for just $4.99 or $5.99.

(*Gets misty eyed and wistful*)

 

[C.E. Evans]

In muh day, you could buy two Star Wars figures for less than $6.00--tax included. I did that every month when I was a kid.

 

[cooleddie74]

Oh, yeah, when I was a tiny little kid of about five or six you could score some original Star Wars and Empire figures for just a couple of bucks each, and that was when they were brand spankin' new...not on markdown.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Found the Hasbro 6" Hulk! Yay! I've got all the movie Avengers now. Well, except Black Widow that is. Come on Hasbro, give us another wave with Black Widow, the Mark VII, and a Chitauri soldier. I promise I'll buy them all!

Also, this is the best Hulk ever made in this scale, movie or comic.

Oh, and one more thing:

Puny God.

 

[Kira's Mom]

^Awesome.

 

[cooleddie74]

That's an amazing looking Hulk. I don't think I've ever seen that one before, and certainly not in any of my local stores. He must be a great seller.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

He, along with Hawkeye and Loki have been shortpacked. From what I gather, with the Wal-Marts all doing their resets, the 6" Avenger figures are one of the mandated items to carry even for the small crappy stores. This also means that the ones that didn't carry them before the resets are getting the newer cases with more Hulks, Hawkeyes, and Lokis. That's good for us.

 

[cooleddie74]

The recent answer from the Hasbro reps at Celebration VI regarding case assortments of the harder to find, rare waves most people had trouble tracking down:

Will any 2010-12 Vintage figures---especially some of the harder to find ones like Ponda Baba or the Hoth Rebel Soldier---see repack and rerelease in Droid Factory/Legacy? We know TVC is done for the time being, but could we see some of the more badly distributed Vintage molds get reissued in Droid Factory packaging as sort of a kiss-and-make-up for how poorly their original run was handled?

This is a great question. And it has a disheartening answer. From Hasbro's standpoint, wave 7 of The Vintage Collection was the hardest for most collectors to locate. It was their goal to get this wave out again in its entirety whatever ways possible. In order to make this happen, Hasbro released cases with wave 7 carry-forward figures all together in a case assortment and then individual carry-forward in various case assortments. The Ponda Baba wave (wave 9) was produced in similar numbers to the rest of the line. The problem is that it suffered from distribution problems. Hasbro has a warehouse full of The Vintage Collection and this wave is part of this overstock. This wave (wave 9) has already hit Canada is discount chains and we are working with various American discount chains to get the rest of our stock out there.

In other words, lurk around your local TJ Maxx or Marshalls and forget places like Walmart.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

So, basically what I do already?

 

[cooleddie74]

Zing.

Well, basically...yeah.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Though, actually in the case of Wave 9, I'm good. I managed to find both Ponda Baba and Bastilla. I guess I was just lucky. The ones I would really like to gets my hands on are Nom Anor and Evezan.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Yeah. You were. With that wave, 99% of finding it was just pure, stupid luck.

On another note, look at what just hit retail shelves in Hong Kong. This is going to be a Target exclusive here in the States and was announced as a December/Christmas release, but if East Asian stores are now getting them the U.S. debut could be a lot sooner than we were originally told. Start keeping your eyes peeled just in case.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Funny how some of my luckiest finds this past year have been at the Wal-Mart that I generally consider to be the "crap" one. Hulk today, Hawkeye a few weeks ago, Bastilla and Ponda several months ago. Maybe this one has turned around.

 

[cooleddie74]

This summer Kmarts have been the place to go for a lot of collectors...for some oddball reasons nobody quite knows. The latest waves of Vintage(Evazan, Tarkin, Jar Jar) have actually shown up in somewhat respectable numbers at many Kmarts across the country in addition to the store-exclusive AT-ST Scout Walker in an awesome and popular Vintage Collection box. Heck, there've even been $15 and even $10 Vintage Collection B-Wing Fighters on markdown!

Most Walmarts around here are deader than a dodo. Most of the action is at TRU and Kmart, which is almost a complete reversal from previous years when Wally World and Target were the hot spots for new figures and exclusives.