The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

[cooleddie74]

Toys 'R' Us stores just began a Buy One Get One Free sale on all 3.75" Hasbro Star Wars product that lasts the entire month and even into November. If anyone here is looking to score the newer Vintage Collection waves, the Speeder Bike and Scout Trooper sets and/or the Ewok and Yavin Pilot multipacks then now might be the time because they should all be covered under the terms of the sale.

Your mileage will, of course, vary from area to area. Some TRU stores are still loaded with Episode I 3-D pegwarmers and flops from January and February and not all have gotten shipments of newer carded figures, but the Speeder Bike sets and the Ewok and Yavin Pilot 5-packs are TRU exclusives...they should have them at some point or another.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Shoot. Gonna have to start hitting up the TRUs again. I'm still on the lookout for a Sandtrooper. I'll find one eventually, I'm sure.

 

[cooleddie74]

The brand new VC112 / "Lost Line" Sandtrooper? There've been reports of his wave hitting both TRUs and Walmarts across the country, but I'm sure you already know that he tends to be the first figure in his wave to sell out. If push comes to shove you can get the new Sandtrooper off of eBay for about $15 if you prefer the Lost Line look and don't absolutely have to have the much cooler and better looking Vintage packaging with the desert photo. That one doesn't seem to be any cheaper than about twenty bucks right now and most appear to be a little more than that.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Whoo! Found a Sandtrooper today. Best Sandtrooper ever? Best Sandtrooper ever. Is his blaster new? I don't think we've ever seen one with a folding stock in this scale.

 

[cooleddie74]

Congrats, man!

It's the first-ever 3.75" scale Imperial blaster with a folding stock and the first brand new Imperial blaster mold in, I believe, over ten years. The one you commonly see included with Imperial characters and troopers first came out during the Power of the Jedi line at the start of the last decade and has just been recast with sturdier plastic as the years passed. The new Sandtrooper blaster is probably the best Imperial weapon I've ever seen included with a Star Wars action figure unless you count the lightsabers of the various Darths, but those are technically Sith weapons and not Imperial.

 

[cooleddie74]

There are hints about at least one nice, big surprise for Star Wars collectors at NYCC, but as of this past evening the only new stuff revealed in the Big Apple were the brand new (and very mixed-reaction-generating) SW-Angry Birds crossover toys. The big surprise is said to be something that, and I paraphrase, is designed "to draw back those people who have left the hobby and stopped buying figures in the past year or two."

We already know that the Vintage Collection is going into hibernation for a couple of years and taking a rest starting with the new year and that the Legacy / Droid Factory line from 2008-10 is returning in all-new packaging, but who knows what the surprise will be. There was a strong hint dropped on one of the collecting sites that 2013 will see the debut of a brand new and super-articulated version of Admiral Motti from A New Hope, which would be very welcome since the last Motti was released during 2006-07 in an exclusive Death Star Briefing Room multipack with six other figures, and that Motti was just a very slight repaint and repack of the first Admiral Motti figure from the POTF2 CommTech line in 2000. It's been almost thirteen years since we've seen a new Motti sculpt.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Oh man...finally...Talia!!!!

http://toynewsi.com/ig.php?mode=vie...kham_City_4-Pack.jpg&dispsize=800&start=0&sl=

 

[cooleddie74]

New York Comic Con reveals some cool new stuff that's not from Hasbro.

Not bad. Could have been better, but not bad. It is very strange for Hasbro to have such a limited and almost invisible presence at a major Comic Con, but I guess they're holding out until the new year and the New York Toy Fair.

Spoiler Alert:
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Iron Man and Ponies are ahead if you click on "more floor photos"!

 

[cooleddie74]

The very first carded photos of WAVE 4 of the Movie Heroes line: light-up saber Anakin, Sandtrooper, Boba Fett and blast-apart Battle Droid!

Now the real question is...will American stores ever see any of these? Waves 2 and 3 barely hit at all and most retailers are still choked with unsold, unwanted Wave 1 pegwarmers. Part of me thinks most people will have to resort to scoring these online.

 

[cooleddie74]

My recent haul of Toys 'R' Us Star Wars exclusives...

The Ewoks are my favorite of the three, a sentiment shared by most other collectors I speak with.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Nice, man.

NYCC brought us a few reveals in the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths area. Three more figures for next year were revealed: Red Hood, Captain Marvel Jr., and Huntress. I'm pretty jazzed about these. Huntress has been topping fans' most wanted lists for a very long time. Marvel Jr. rounds out the Marvel family. Red Hood is going to be the Grant Morrison Batman & Robin version though, which is really not the version most people want. It's still a good looking figure, and I'll still be happy to have it, but I wish it were the Under the Red Hood or even the New 52 version.

So, that makes our 2013 lineup so far:

January: Saint Walker
February: Phantom Stranger
March: Elongated Man
April: Larfleeze
May: The Flash (Wally West)
June: Red Hood
July: Captain Marvel Jr.
August: Huntress

Four more left to announce, but so far next year's subscription is kicking this year's ass, and this year has been great!

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, every other line and franchise seems to be getting a lot more attention than Star Wars at this year's NYCC, but that's cool for the folks who love and collect those. I'm happy for ya...I hope you eventually score all these new DC figures when they finally hit.

I'm thinking that any big Star Wars reveals for 2013 will be saved for the end of the year or the New York Toy Fair, which should happen sometime around February. Did you check out the link to the pics of the Wave 4 Movie Heroes figures that just showed up in Singapore? That will be the final assortment of SW action figures with the Darth Maul packaging design...after this we kick off the green Yoda theme for the new year along with the redesigned Legacy/Droid Factory cardbacks.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I'm happy for ya...I hope you eventually score all these new DC figures when they finally hit.

I don't have to worry about scoring them. Club Infinite Earths is a "figure of the month" club. I'm already registered for it, and will receive each figure in its assigned month. Mattel has split DC Universe into two parts. There are two retail lines. DC Unlimited will focus on the big name DC characters done mostly in New 52 style. The other, Batman Unlimited, will be strictly Batman and related characters. Club Infinite Earths is their online only subscription club that is the way for collectors to get the more obscure DC characters. The subscription period for next year has passed already, but most of the figures should be available for day-of-sale. Those are always in really limited quantities, though. It's always a good idea to just buy the subscription.

 

[cooleddie74]

Oh, that's right. You mentioned Club Infinite Earths before and I forgot how it works for members. That must be a really great feeling to know you're guaranteed the new figure you're looking for each and every month...I wish Hasbro had that sort of program for Star Wars figures, but there are just waaaay too many new figures in a given 12-month period and you'd have to pick and choose the "best" or most popular ones to offer in such a manner. SW collectors rarely agree on what's the "best" figure at any given moment in time, and if it's left up to the company altogether they might pick one that collectors might not be too hot for.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Oh trust me, DC fans are just as hard to please. There's plenty of people that deride Mattel's character choices. Nerds will never be satisfied, no matter what. Especially since CIE will only have 12 figures a year, a slot in the sub is seen as precious. Some people, if they are unhappy with one figure are ready to write the whole thing off. Me, while I may not have interest in every figure that they bring out, I'm still happy to have them to fill out my shelves. And hey, sometimes seeing an awesome action figure of a character has actually made me interested in the character and I go out and read them.

A club like that for Star Wars isn't really out of the realm of possibility, though. Hasbro is doing the same thing with Transformers and G.I. Joe. If those are hits, maybe a Star Wars one could be in the future.

 

[cooleddie74]

A club like that for Star Wars isn't really out of the realm of possibility, though. Hasbro is doing the same thing with Transformers and G.I. Joe. If those are hits, maybe a Star Wars one could be in the future.

I suppose Hasbro could always try such a concept by skipping over any and all mass retail figures no matter how scarce and/or popular and offering brand new, exclusive figures that will only be available through their special online club (and, of course, later on through sites like eBay though they wouldn't mention that) and would never see the light of day at retail. That way there'd be no messy and controversial fan's vote for the super popular or hard-to-find retail figure that they'd like to see offered online to the exclusion of others that might actually have a wider fanbase but just didn't get enough votes.

If the figure Hasbro offers in such a club is one you definitely can't get anywhere else until vastly overpriced copies start trickling onto auction sites then they can offer anything and it'd be successful. SW fans might bitch about a character if they can walk into a Walmart or Toys 'R' Us and find it, but if their only option to complete their collection is the figure Hasbro chose to sell online that particular month then a lot of them will keep their voices down or mouths shut just to get the new figure they need to flesh out their displays.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

A club like that for Star Wars isn't really out of the realm of possibility, though. Hasbro is doing the same thing with Transformers and G.I. Joe. If those are hits, maybe a Star Wars one could be in the future.

I suppose Hasbro could always try such a concept by skipping over any and all mass retail figures no matter how scarce and/or popular and offering brand new, exclusive figures that will only be available through their special online club (and, of course, later on through sites like eBay though they wouldn't mention that) and would never see the light of day at retail. That way there'd be no messy and controversial fan's vote for the super popular or hard-to-find retail figure that they'd like to see offered online to the exclusion of others that might actually have a wider fanbase but just didn't get enough votes.

That's exactly what their G.I. Joe and Transformers clubs are, and what Mattel's Club Infinite Earths and Club Eternia (Masters of the Universe) are. The figures here aren't picked from the retail lines, they are exclusive figures made strictly for these clubs. Mattel does offer very limited quantities of each through MattyCollector on their monthly sale day, but they always sell out within hours. Also, the club subscribers do get an exclusive figure that is never offered through MattyCollector.

 

[cooleddie74]

We'd be better off with an official Figure Club rather than having Hasbro pawn off exclusive figures like the upcoming Jocasta Nu onto a site like Brian's Toys that jacks the price into the stratosphere and into the realm of eBay numbers (just one of her will cost you about $35 including shipping and handling) and doesn't exactly have the most sterling reputation with exclusive items to begin with.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

After many years, a dream figure of mine has finally been made. NECA's Gordon Freeman belongs to me:

My other new acquisition today. Derpy makes a new friend:

 

[cooleddie74]

Derpy!