This Week In Your Plastic Crack, Action Figures and Toy Collection 26 26

[fantastic_four]

38 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

No question, the 80's were the very best time for toys, and it's not even close.

Having been out of toys since the 80s until looking for some for my kids for the last few months I really can't understand this perspective aside from nostalgia.  None of the toys from my youth in the 80s had the articulation, details, or wide selection of styles of the myriad of toy models I now know are on the market today.    And that's across superhero figures, Star Wars, everything. Mego superheroes, Star Wars, and GI Joe were the figures of my youth, but subsequent generations of toys blow those all away in most ways.

Edited June 19, 2018 by fantastic_four

[STORMSHADOW_80]

5 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Having been out of toys since the 80s until looking for some for my kids for the last few months I really can't understand this perspective aside from nostalgia.  None of the toys from my youth in the 80s had the articulation, details, or wide selection of styles of the myriad of toy models I now know are on the market today.    And that's across superhero figures, Star Wars, everything. Mego superheroes, Star Wars, and GI Joe were the figures of my youth, but subsequent generations of toys blow those all away in most ways.

They blow them away, but the price point is way higher. Joes were only a couple bucks compared to now $10 each. Also it's hard to beat that feeling of having the toys to connect you to the cartoons on air. Now there are very little toy lines with shows. Or if there are shows nothing beats the after school programming and Saturday mornings.

I for one love the remakes of Joes with the extra details and masterpiece transformers but have to be more selective when buying.

[F For Fake]

6 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Having been out of toys since the 80s until looking for some for my kids for the last few months I really can't understand this perspective aside from nostalgia.  None of the toys from my youth in the 80s had the articulation, details, or wide selection of styles of the myriad of toy models I now know are on the market today.    And that's across superhero figures, Star Wars, everything. Mego superheroes, Star Wars, and GI Joe were the figures of my youth, but subsequent generations of toys blow those all away in most ways.

This may be true when it comes to collectors, but if we're talking about KIDS and KIDS TOYS, how do they stack up? Do kids still even play with action figures? 

I think the 80's was the ultimate confluence of licenses and cultural saturation. And while some toy lines today boast features like extra articulation (Marvel Legends, for instance) with many lines, the quality isn't as good now as it was then, when it comes to materials. For instance, the die-cast metal of the early Transformers, the harder plastic used in the small Joes, etc. (I'd also take the rubber o-rings of the past, fragile though they may have been, over the articulation of Joes over the last 10 years or so.)  And in some instances, advancements were made, only to be followed by regression (thinking here of the mass market Star Wars and superhero figures which boasted the articulation of Marvel Legends style figures for a time, but which have now mostly regressed to the original 5 points of articulation of their ancient forbears.)

Transformers, GI Joe and He-Man WERE toy culture at that time. Nowadays I'd suspect video games and interactive toys are much more popular than their action figure cousins, though I'm too lazy to look up actual sales numbers. 

Also, there's the matter of price. Joes were about $3 when I was a kid. Nowadays, a 3.75 figure is $10-$15. Marvel Legends are $20. I'll let the resident poindexters work out the inflation, but I still think that we had it much better back then, value wise.

Of course, as you point out, nostalgia is a huge part of it as well. But when I look at the toy aisles these days, I am not overly impressed. Sure, there are some amazing toy makers our there for the collectors market, but when talking about what is available at the local Target or Walmart, I'll still take what I had as a kid.

Also I'm grumpy and old.

 

[STORMSHADOW_80]

Well said @F For Fake

[F For Fake]

1 minute ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

Well said @F For Fake

I think you summed it up much more succinctly. I can be a bit of a windbag.

[PKJ]

I may have shared before but these two (Water Moccasin and Rattler) being sealed were long hunted. Found and bought several in box versions.

 

[F For Fake]

10 minutes ago, PKJ said:

I may have shared before but these two (Water Moccasin and Rattler) being sealed were long hunted. Found and bought several in box versions.

 

I think we MAY have seen the pic once, but I don't mind a bit seeing it again! So cool!

[fantastic_four]

31 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

This may be true when it comes to collectors, but if we're talking about KIDS and KIDS TOYS, how do they stack up? Do kids still even play with action figures? 

Since giving them to my two-year old twins is the only reason I'm looking at them there's no comparison--the selection I've got for them now blows away what I had available to me in the 80s.  And yes, they both love superhero figures, My Little Pony, Star Wars, and PJ Masks figures.  And their 6-year old cousin loves My Little Pony and Disney princess figures.

Edited June 19, 2018 by fantastic_four

[sagii]

..Snagged this one back in March. While not plastic, it is a tin toy: Made by the legendary Marx Toy co. in 1939 this is a still working Porky Pig Wind up toy (his umbrella spins). Tough to find with an original box, but i have that too.  One of many items from what i like to refer to as 'The Looney Tunery'. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by sagii

[Buzzetta]

We did not have a lot growing up so all of our toys were handled very carefully as there would be no replacements and if my parents thought we were careless with our toys there would also be no new ones.  However I do remember taking a screwdriver to GI Joes because if we wanted new figures sometimes we would kitbash in order to create new characters.. again because of $. 

[Buzzetta]

Oh yeah !

Got this in the mail.  This was not high on the priority list but it was something I always thought was cool.  I also said that if I ever found an R2-D2 with snow white coloring and no yellowing that I would make a play for it.  I never had 12" Star Wars figures as a kid... but I do now.   Both figures are in beautiful condition and yes, the Death Star plans are included in R2-D2.   I already put them in the curio cabinet. 

[Buzzetta]

5 hours ago, sagii said:

..Snagged this one back in March. While not plastic, it is a tin toy: Made by the legendary Marx Toy co. in 1939 this is a still working Porky Pig Wind up toy (his umbrella spins). Tough to find with an original box, but i have that too.  One of many items from what i like to refer to as 'The Looney Tunery'. 

Very much impressed by this.  It is so outside my area of even basic knowledge about collecting the tin windups.  Seriously, feel free to share other things that you have picked up.  I am very interested in these. 

[GeneticNinja]

On 6/17/2018 at 9:19 AM, Buzzetta said:

BTW.... I would not be surprised if this is not the next haslab project.  Back in 2011, Hasbro researched the viability of an updated USS Flagg to accommodate the smaller one man attack jets, Sky Hawks, and choppers in their then current lineup for GI Joe.  They modeled it after the GI Joe: Resolute cartoon and created the following mockup.  As you realize this was never produced but Hasbro did bring it to a Joe Con or two to show off what might have been (and what eventually could be.)  With the success of the barge I would expect to see this offered sometime in the future.  The footprint was under four feet so I would say they would go for another $500 and offer Admiral Keel Haul as a pack-in alongside another figure if they give this a go. 

 

 

Thanks for this image. I didn't hear about the Resolute prototype. I love that cartoon. That prototype does look like a Resolute Flagg mixed with an updated old version with the control tower. But it would probably be way too big if they made the round base part of the Resolute Flagg. It would be two large toys as that rounder section would be around the size of the old Cobra Terrordrome. I'm not sure I like those lift up sections on the prototype either. But I would be in for a Flagg toy.

 

I don't think Retroblasting liked that Sail Barge direct sale.

 

Personally, I'm not too fond of the whole Kickstarter no risk money to companies that should be able to afford to take the risk. But the Flagg was one of those toys that was just too big and I guess relatively expensive compared to the rest of the G.I. Joe toys back then. I think I had all the other bases like the G.I. Joe Headquarters, Off Water Base, and Cobra Terrordrome.

 

On 6/18/2018 at 1:42 PM, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

Got a devilfish and some nice acrylic display stands for Joe stuff on Father's Day. They work great. I had to modify one tab on the Eaglehawk display so I could have the helicopter facing this direction. Yes that is X-Force in the Eaglehawk

 

That Devilfish display is awesome. I might have to get one of those. It was one of my favorites because it was featured on a G.I. Joe cover. I think somewhere between issues 40 and 50. The Devilfish and the Joes from that cover are on my list to get again.

 

8 hours ago, F For Fake said:

This may be true when it comes to collectors, but if we're talking about KIDS and KIDS TOYS, how do they stack up? Do kids still even play with action figures? 

I think the 80's was the ultimate confluence of licenses and cultural saturation. And while some toy lines today boast features like extra articulation (Marvel Legends, for instance) with many lines, the quality isn't as good now as it was then, when it comes to materials. For instance, the die-cast metal of the early Transformers, the harder plastic used in the small Joes, etc. (I'd also take the rubber o-rings of the past, fragile though they may have been, over the articulation of Joes over the last 10 years or so.)  And in some instances, advancements were made, only to be followed by regression (thinking here of the mass market Star Wars and superhero figures which boasted the articulation of Marvel Legends style figures for a time, but which have now mostly regressed to the original 5 points of articulation of their ancient forbears.)

Transformers, GI Joe and He-Man WERE toy culture at that time. Nowadays I'd suspect video games and interactive toys are much more popular than their action figure cousins, though I'm too lazy to look up actual sales numbers. 

Also, there's the matter of price. Joes were about $3 when I was a kid. Nowadays, a 3.75 figure is $10-$15. Marvel Legends are $20. I'll let the resident poindexters work out the inflation, but I still think that we had it much better back then, value wise.

Of course, as you point out, nostalgia is a huge part of it as well. But when I look at the toy aisles these days, I am not overly impressed. Sure, there are some amazing toy makers our there for the collectors market, but when talking about what is available at the local Target or Walmart, I'll still take what I had as a kid.

Also I'm grumpy and old.

 

I walk around Target and other store toy aisles on occasion and it's nothing like the Toys R Us of the 80s with their long aisles stacked with toys from cartoons. There were tons of cartoons and toys to go with those cartoons. I read about a few older cartoons and more recent ones that were cancelled because of a lack of toys. But still if you were growing up back then the toys and cartoons went together far better than anything I see today. Most toys I get today are older or retro toys. Of course the collector toys too like Hot Toys.

 

I want to get modern small toys if the cartoons are good. I looked at the G.I. Joe Resolute figures and didn't like any of them. They missed a good opportunity with that show.

[followtheleader]

6 hours ago, sagii said:

..Snagged this one back in March. While not plastic, it is a tin toy: Made by the legendary Marx Toy co. in 1939 this is a still working Porky Pig Wind up toy (his umbrella spins). Tough to find with an original box, but i have that too.  One of many items from what i like to refer to as 'The Looney Tunery'. 

This is SUPER awesome.  Box is so killer. 

Patrick

[followtheleader]

1 hour ago, Buzzetta said:

Oh yeah !

Got this in the mail.  This was not high on the priority list but it was something I always thought was cool.  I also said that if I ever found an R2-D2 with snow white coloring and no yellowing that I would make a play for it.  I never had 12" Star Wars figures as a kid... but I do now.   Both figures are in beautiful condition and yes, the Death Star plans are included in R2-D2.   I already put them in the curio cabinet. 

Very nice condition on that R2-D2.  

Tough to find vintage white toys. 

Patrick

[followtheleader]

The Eels and Torpedo look amazing on the stands. 

Takes displaying to a whole new level.  

15 hours ago, F For Fake said:

Love the acrylic stands! Picked up a similar one for the X-Wing I restored. Sometimes they are a pain to assemble without breaking, but they look nice when they're all put together!

 

[fantastic_four]

8 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

Oh yeah !

Got this in the mail.  This was not high on the priority list but it was something I always thought was cool.  I also said that if I ever found an R2-D2 with snow white coloring and no yellowing that I would make a play for it.  I never had 12" Star Wars figures as a kid... but I do now.   Both figures are in beautiful condition and yes, the Death Star plans are included in R2-D2.   I already put them in the curio cabinet. 

I had the C3PO as a kid, but I didn't have that R2-D2, I had the radio controlled version instead.  It was pretty fun.

I had a lot of 12" figures but even as a 6-year old was always frustrated that they didn't articulate at the knees and elbows, which is why I appreciate modern toys so much in comparison.  I mostly forgot about action figures for about 35 years and when I went to buy some a few months ago I was amazed that they bend at the knee, elbow, and in many cases the wrist, ankle, neck, and more.    

Edited June 20, 2018 by fantastic_four

[tv horror]

11 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

We did not have a lot growing up so all of our toys were handled very carefully as there would be no replacements and if my parents thought we were careless with our toys there would also be no new ones.  However I do remember taking a screwdriver to GI Joes because if we wanted new figures sometimes we would kitbash in order to create new characters.. again because of $. 

A boy after my own heart Buzzetta. My father bought me one of the first Action man (G.I Joe) figures back in 1966 and I played with him for years then one day a concrete block fell on his leg and crushed it above the knee, I was heart broken. during the 70's I gave him to my nephew who lived in the same house as me and as he got his own figures mine was put aside as he was always the wounded soldier. Then one day I had the idea of giving him a new leg so we got a cheap version and chopped off his leg and then melted it on to the broken original figure success sort off as he was not great. However the story does not end there and due to Youtube I found out that these 12" figures can be repaired... he now has a new life and leg and I swear I can see a smirk on his little face. 

[archiecomicscollector]

I'm relatively new to CGC - and I need to look through the rest of this thread - but I'm a HUGE Archie fan! I started collecting Archie comics 20 years ago, when I was just 10 years old. I have nearly 2000 comics (including digests) and over 100 associated collectibles and toys in my collection. A glimpse of my collection can be found on Instagram under @archiecomicscollector. I continue to buy comics regularly, but recently my focus has been acquiring more Archie toys  

[badback83]

13 hours ago, archiecomicscollector said:

I'm relatively new to CGC - and I need to look through the rest of this thread - but I'm a HUGE Archie fan! I started collecting Archie comics 20 years ago, when I was just 10 years old. I have nearly 2000 comics (including digests) and over 100 associated collectibles and toys in my collection. A glimpse of my collection can be found on Instagram under @archiecomicscollector. I continue to buy comics regularly, but recently my focus has been acquiring more Archie toys  

It looks like you have some great Archie items!  Welcome to the boards!