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

[Buzzetta]

4 hours ago, Cocomonkey said:

@Buzzetta These are last year's dates. For whatever stupid reason, he hasn't updated the website (his NYCBM one or apparently Facebook). This year's is March 9-10. (Just got my ticket earlier this week.)

https://www.bigapplecc.com/

I might stay home that weekend.  Seeing Elton John that week and have a ticket to Captain Marvel for the Thursday night with friends.  Last year I was in and out to drop off books that I should have sent to Joey first to be pressed and then I wound up grabbing a page of art in all of an hour before I left. 

This year... unless a couple of other people are going... I might take a break. 

[fantastic_four]

2 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

19 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

For modern Marvel collectors--this past Friday Hasbro put up a new web site to buy toys directly from them.  Lots of figures currently in stock, lots up for pre-order, and the pictures they have of everything up there are VERY high resolution and present better than product images on any other web site that sells Hasbro toys.  They also offer free shipping if you become a "premium" member, and if you buy anything on the site between today and Friday you automatically become a premium member for the rest of the year.  I'm guessing this is where I buy all my Marvel Legends from now on.

https://hasbropulse.com/

I hate you. 

I pre-ordered a skiff just in case.

You hate me?    What, are you out of space in your house, money, or both?    Either way, sounds like compelling evidence that action figures should be classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Agency.  

[F For Fake]

2 hours ago, fantastic_four said:

I stopped buying all discs from 2012 through about 2017, but this is why I bought an XBox One in 2017.  I wanted 4K but wasn't sure I'd have all the superhero movies consistently available to me in that format over the next decade, so I'm sticking with discs for now.  I would really prefer to just stream everything because it's so much more convenient and thought back in 2012 that it would be coming any year now.  Five years later in 2017 the quality of the video and the availability of all titles I want just wasn't there yet, and it still isn't as of 2019.  Disney's upcoming streaming service may be most of what I need since they produce most of the best superhero movies, but I'm not at all sure of it yet since their commitment to 4K is so lax and lame.  Most of their movies aren't true 4K all the way through every current release, so I don't even know that their streaming service will support that resolution.    Also I do like some DC films and Sony still has the Spider-Man rights, so Disney won't be streaming those and I don't know of great alternative options for them that I can rely on to still be there in a decade.

Don't get me wrong, I have Netflix (and Amazon Prime, as the wife is a subscriber) and it is nice to have content right there at the click of the controller. I'm not a hardcore physical media only guy. But I definitely lean that way, primarily because most of the movies I want to see aren't readily available for streaming. Netflix has tons of stuff, but almost nothing I care about watching. I'm not a big superhero movie guy, I usually see them in the theater once and then never have any interest in watching them again. It's rare that I go to Netflix looking for a particular movie, and actually find it. 

Amazon's selection of obscure horror flicks has greatly improved in the last year or so, I'd almost call it impressive. Otherwise, it's hard for me to find streaming options for the kind of movies I like, for the most part.

So, I buy discs. With Criterions, B&N has a 50% off sale twice a year, and 50% off sales for Arrow as well. Scream Factory rarely has good sales, but you can find discounts on their stuff if you dig. Hamiltonbooks has been my go to for deep discounted new discs, they've had some terrific buys on Kino releases. For mainstream Hollywood releases, you can get most of the newest stuff on Black Friday online at Best Buy, Target or Amazon for $6 or less. Buy a movie for $6, sell the code for $3-$4. It's great! And if you don't mind buying used, HPB has discs dirt cheap.

I like having a library,I love my movie shelf. Movies are my first love, more than comics, more than basketball. So I don't mind them taking up some space in my home. Plus I never have to worry about buffering, I never have to worry about lower resolution, I never have to worry about network outages. It's all there waiting for me when I want it.

So, getting back to the thread, yes, the HasbroPulse site has me excited. They didn't have much I needed right now, but I went ahead and picked up the Archangel figure. At $29.99 and free shipping, that's the best deal I've seen on the set so far. Was interested in the new Prof X set, but it has already sold out. Wonder if they'll put up more before the wave actual hits stores? They've also got the new X-Men wave up for preorder, but Beast has already sold out. But I agree, with no shipping fee, this may be a competitor with BBTS for my ML money going forward.

[F For Fake]

12 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Oh, and my favorite Marvel Legends reveals from the past weekend's Toy Fair are the Alex Ross Thor, Nightcrawler, Silver Samurai, Colossus, and the Magneto/Scarlet Witch/Quicksilver 3-pack.  I had been passing on Thor waiting for a great classic version, and this one looks like absolute perfection in every way--except perhaps scaling, he looks to be scaled at 7 feet tall in the pictures whereas the comic version is 6' 6" and Chris Hemsworth is 6' 3", waiting on the final figure to see for sure if they oversized him.  The Wolverine and Hulk combo pack looks interesting too, but I'm not buying duplicates unless reviewers tell me that one or both are better than existing versions.  The Magneto 3-pack is an Amazon exclusive that's already up for pre-order and I did pre-order that one.  The first appearance styling of Wolverine does look pretty great.  Hulk looks better than any other one I've seen, but meh, I'm not a big Hulk fan, so he'd have to be revolutionary to buy him.  He does have butterfly joints in his shoulders, and that might be enough, I'll wait for articulation video reviews to decide.  I like the look of Mr. Sinister, but I'm not familiar enough with the character yet to have attachment to him, he first appeared while I was in college and barely paying attention to comics.  I'm very curious if the classic Colossus will be better than the Select Colossus.  There's a new Cyclops that is VERY cool because he has optic blast effects with him, but he's wearing the X-Force costume I hate so I doubt I get him.  The styling and paint looks just as good, and he looks a little beefier which I like, and the articulation is almost certainly better, so I bet I end up getting him, but wow, I SO love the Select Colossus, Hasbro has to really nail it for me to move on from that version.

The single figure that I am most excited about is the 80's dazzler in the blue outfit. I've been waiting for that figure since I was a little kid. If I could get a punker Rogue (seems possible since they made one in the 3.75" line) and a classic Shadowcat, I'd have everything I ever wanted out of this line.

I'm stoked about the classic Colossus/Juggs pack, will definitely pick that one up, as well as the Classic Wolvie/Hulk, as that Wolverine mask sculpt is SWEET. Probably onboard for the entire Vintage X-Men and X-Force waves, along with that Magneto three pack.

I'm not an Alex Ross guy, so I don't really care about those, but the Thor is probably a pick-up for me as well. Zero interest in any of the movie figures, as I don't collect them. 

So, all in all, a mixed bag for me, but the highlights were very, very high!

[Buzzetta]

6 hours ago, fantastic_four said:

Will you be burying it in the backyard somewhere?  That looks like an awfully large item to hide.  Or does she pay no attention to your stuff, so when she asks "when did you get this and how much did it cost" you can just say "oh I bought that decades ago, you don't remember it?  It was about $40 when I first bought it" and get away with it?

Luckily my house is about a half mile away from my parents who are retired and usually always home.  They are signing for it.  As I am typing this, even at my age, I am more afraid of 'Dad' knowing what's in the box than the gf.

The GF does not live here but she knows the stuff I bring in and out of the house is not worthless junk and somehow she notices everything that is new and everything that leaves.  We were watching a movie together when all of a sudden my phone went ka-ching and then I showed her the GPA thing to compare. This was my 6.5 copy of ASM 31. So again, she does realize the value. 

 

 

[fantastic_four]

2 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

'm not a big superhero movie guy, I usually see them in the theater once and then never have any interest in watching them again.

I rarely watch them all the way through more than once, but I go back and watch the best fight scenes a LOT.  I only watch the REALLY good ones all the way through multiple times.  Examples of ones I watch in their entirety a lot are The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Logan, Iron Man, and Spider-Man 2.  Most others I just watch the highlights.

4 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

So, getting back to the thread, yes, the HasbroPulse site has me excited. They didn't have much I needed right now, but I went ahead and picked up the Archangel figure. At $29.99 and free shipping, that's the best deal I've seen on the set so far. Was interested in the new Prof X set, but it has already sold out. Wonder if they'll put up more before the wave actual hits stores? They've also got the new X-Men wave up for preorder, but Beast has already sold out. But I agree, with no shipping fee, this may be a competitor with BBTS for my ML money going forward.

Yea I'm probably buying Archangel too, I've had him and the new Gambit in my cart since the site went up on Friday but am waiting until the end to pull the trigger to mull over everything I want.  Not sure I want Beast yet...he looks amazing, but I'm not in love with the character.  I never liked it when they gave him the blue fur.  I've debated over Archangel for two months now...I love the idea of Apocalypse and the four horsemen, but that character has always been ruined for me by his dumb appearance.  What's up with his lips, or the big, dumb "A" on his belt?  I wince EVERY time I see that "A"...there is just no way a 10,000 year old dude is going to have a costume that vain and that dumb.    I'm eternally torn by the coolness of the character mixed with the abject stupidity of his visual design that him and everything about him--which in our current context is Archangel--is tainted for me.  But meh, those Archangel wings look really bad-arse, so I'll probably get it.  Or remove him from my cart and just get Gambit.

[fantastic_four]

5 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

I'm not an Alex Ross guy, so I don't really care about those

I've heard all three come with alternate heads that aren't styled like Alex Ross, so it may not matter if you like the body sculpt and classic painting.  Cap and Iron Man definitely have the non-Ross heads, but they didn't have the Thor box at the fair so nobody's sure about him yet.  I like the look of the Cap body more than any other I've seen and will likely get that, too.  Iron Man has the dumb original "iron muscles" I hate, but otherwise the sculpt and paint look great, so I'd pick him up on clearance if I can.

[fantastic_four]

10 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

Luckily my house is about a half mile away from my parents who are retired and usually always home.  They are signing for it.  As I am typing this, even at my age, I am more afraid of 'Dad' knowing what's in the box than the gf.

The GF does not live here but she knows the stuff I bring in and out of the house is not worthless junk and somehow she notices everything that is new and everything that leaves.  We were watching a movie together when all of a sudden my phone went ka-ching and then I showed her the GPA thing to compare. This was my 6.5 copy of ASM 31. So again, she does realize the value. 

Afraid your dad will think collecting action figures means you're stuck in a childlike mental state and that he must have failed as a parent, eh?   

Your girlfriend is probably keeping a count in her head of your net financial worth that she balances against your emotional, intellectual, and physical value.  Every new purchase or sale means she has to update your financial worth and re-balance your overall value to her.  

[OGlelow]

1981 Complete!

 

 

[Cat]

The Magneto, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch pack is up for preorder at Amazon, btw. 

https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Legends-Exclusive-Matters-Quicksilver/dp/B07MBBZQKM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=Magneto+quicksilver&qid=1550687525&s=gateway&sr=8-1

[F For Fake]

14 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

I rarely watch them all the way through more than once, but I go back and watch the best fight scenes a LOT.  I only watch the REALLY good ones all the way through multiple times.  Examples of ones I watch in their entirety a lot are The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Logan, Iron Man, and Spider-Man 2.  Most others I just watch the highlights.

Yea I'm probably buying Archangel too, I've had him and the new Gambit in my cart since the site went up on Friday but am waiting until the end to pull the trigger to mull over everything I want.  Not sure I want Beast yet...he looks amazing, but I'm not in love with the character.  I never liked it when they gave him the blue fur.  I've debated over Archangel for two months now...I love the idea of Apocalypse and the four horsemen, but that character has always been ruined for me by his dumb appearance.  What's up with his lips, or the big, dumb "A" on his belt?  I wince EVERY time I see that "A"...there is just no way a 10,000 year old dude is going to have a costume that vain and that dumb.    I'm eternally torn by the coolness of the character mixed with the abject stupidity of his visual design that him and everything about him--which in our current context is Archangel--is tainted for me.  But meh, those Archangel wings look really bad-arse, so I'll probably get it.  Or remove him from my cart and just get Gambit.

I have some affection for the blue Archangel, as that was right in the heart of my 80's/90's childhood X-fandom, and Simonson was drawing X-Factor at the time. Had the poster on the wall and everything! So i think the set is a good buy at $30, since it has the figure, the beautiful wings, three headsculpts AND an extra piece for the Apocalypse BAF. 

I will probably go back and pick up the Vintage wave Hawkeye, Wasp and Vision, just haven't pulled the trigger yet. But I wanted to get an order in before the end of the week to get in on the free shipping deal for the year, so Archangel seemed like a good choice.

Gambit represents everything I came to hate about the X-Men, but I will probably pick one up at some point just to complete the display. I don't like him, but I can't deny his presence in the team.

[fantastic_four]

3 minutes ago, Mecha_Fantastic said:

The Magneto, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch pack is up for preorder at Amazon, btw. 

https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Legends-Exclusive-Matters-Quicksilver/dp/B07MBBZQKM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=Magneto+quicksilver&qid=1550687525&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Yea I nabbed that the first few hours it was up.  I don't like this Scarlet Witch as much as the one from 2015, but the Magneto is the best to date, and Quicksilver looks great, so I'm looking forward to it.

[F For Fake]

12 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

I've heard all three come with alternate heads that aren't styled like Alex Ross, so it may not matter if you like the body sculpt and classic painting.  Cap and Iron Man definitely have the non-Ross heads, but they didn't have the Thor box at the fair so nobody's sure about him yet.  I like the look of the Cap body more than any other I've seen and will likely get that, too.  Iron Man has the dumb original "iron muscles" I hate, but otherwise the sculpt and paint look great, so I'd pick him up on clearance if I can.

I don't like the darker blue on Cap. I'll probably just stick with the Vintage wave as my go-to Cap for now (I also have Cap Wolf here on my desk at work!). I also don't like the gold color on Iron Man. To me he will always be red and YELLOW, not red and gold. That's what the comics looked like, so that's what I want. To that end there are a few options out there.

[F For Fake]

5 minutes ago, Mecha_Fantastic said:

The Magneto, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch pack is up for preorder at Amazon, btw. 

https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Legends-Exclusive-Matters-Quicksilver/dp/B07MBBZQKM/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=Magneto+quicksilver&qid=1550687525&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Cool, thanks for the link! It's in my cart, but it may be a while before I pull the trigger.

[fantastic_four]

1 minute ago, F For Fake said:

So i think the set is a good buy at $30, since it has the figure, the beautiful wings, three headsculpts AND an extra piece for the Apocalypse BAF. 

Is it possible to explain why Apocalypse would have a dumb claw on his hand?  If I ever buy the figure--which I really, really want to do because I love him in theory, but probably never will because of the lips and the dumb "A"--why would I ever replace his fist with that claw?  What the heck would he do with that thing?  

[fantastic_four]

3 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

I don't like the darker blue on Cap. I'll probably just stick with the Vintage wave as my go-to Cap for now (I also have Cap Wolf here on my desk at work!).

People said that on Fwoosh, and then someone pointed out that the lighter-blue Cap was later in the 70s and 80s and he was darker earlier.  I don't have much preference myself.  You can see on the two scans below (or most I find via Google image search) that his outfit does look dark on Cap #1 and #100.

 

[Buzzetta]

11 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Afraid your dad will think collecting action figures means you're stuck in a childlike mental state and that he must have failed as a parent, eh?   

Your girlfriend is probably keeping a count in her head of your net financial worth that she balances against your emotional, intellectual, and physical value.  Every new purchase or sale means she has to update your financial worth and re-balance your overall value to her.  

No my dad is known to at least one very long time board member here. (like from the class of 2002) I am sure if he wanted to tell stories and he saw this he would. My dad doesn't think a wall should be painted unless it is flaking.  He was furious when I bought him a snowblower a few years ago. He was furious when I bought my parents concert tickets. 

As far the gf.  Nah... believe me I cannot go into details but you are a little off base. I cannot publicly explain. 

[fantastic_four]

7 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Is it possible to explain why Apocalypse would have a dumb claw on his hand?  If I ever buy the figure--which I really, really want to do because I love him in theory, but probably never will because of the lips and the dumb "A"--why would I ever replace his fist with that claw?  What the heck would he do with that thing?  

I feel compelled to rant about Apocalypse a bit more.    I can think of no better example of a comic book character written EXTREMELY well that is more horribly executed by the artist than Apocalypse.  Why's he got tubes connecting his arms to his legs?  Guess what--nobody knows!  The artist just stuck it in there because he thought it jazzed up the look.  OK, so he's a mutant, and his lips look weird, I can buy that.  But those lips on the character aren't organic, they're metallic.  WTF?  As far as I can tell there are NO explanations for why the original artist made these bizarre visual choices that seem to be functional yet serve no actual function.  

[Buzzetta]

11 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

I feel compelled to rant about Apocalypse a bit more.    I can think of no better example of a comic book character written EXTREMELY well that is more horribly executed by the artist than Apocalypse.  Why's he got tubes connecting his arms to his legs?  Guess what--nobody knows!  The artist just stuck it in there because he thought it jazzed up the look.  OK, so he's a mutant, and his lips look weird, I can buy that.  But those lips on the character aren't organic, they're metallic.  WTF?  As far as I can tell there are NO explanations for why the original artist made these bizarre visual choices that seem to be functional yet serve no actual function.  

Bro... It was 1986.

 

Have you see what else was going on that year ?

[fantastic_four]

Picked the 10th Anniversary movie Ultron up at Best Buy today during lunch on clearance at $13; he's the one in the middle in the pic below.  Had been debating between that and the classic appearance on the Marvel Select visible on the left and just couldn't decide, so I think I might get the Select too eventually.  Ultron hops from body to body and often controls multiple drones and or versions of his main body anyway so any display can work with both.

Edited February 20, 2019 by fantastic_four