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

[STORMSHADOW_80]

A little project I finished up. The unreleased 1995 GI Joe Sea Wolf. It came out pretty nice. I dig the grey color. I’m currently making a display case for these.

[ADAMANTIUM]

Wahhoo!! @STORMSHADOW_80 

Edited April 4, 2019 by ADAMANTIUM

[fantastic_four]

24 minutes ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

A little project I finished up. The unreleased 1995 GI Joe Sea Wolf. It came out pretty nice. I dig the grey color.

You created a mold for this and did some or all of the plastic parts yourself?  

[F For Fake]

1 hour ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

A little project I finished up. The unreleased 1995 GI Joe Sea Wolf. It came out pretty nice. I dig the grey color. I’m currently making a display case for these.

SWEEEEEEEET.

[STORMSHADOW_80]

1 hour ago, fantastic_four said:

You created a mold for this and did some or all of the plastic parts yourself?  

Nah, I just found some good Killer Whale parts and repainted them. Some of the parts I had just sitting around for a few years so it's nice to put them to use.

[STORMSHADOW_80]

14 minutes ago, F For Fake said:

SWEEEEEEEET.

Thanks man!

[fantastic_four]

22 minutes ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

Nah, I just found some good Killer Whale parts and repainted them. Some of the parts I had just sitting around for a few years so it's nice to put them to use.

Wow, awesome work!  

[STORMSHADOW_80]

Just now, fantastic_four said:

Wow, awesome work!  

Thank you sir! I think that's one thing about collecting Joe stuff. Eventually you find yourself doing something custom whether it's vehicles, figures, or dioramas. It's fun. I really dig your figure collection. Some of those are really well made and photograph great!

[fantastic_four]

Got another Toy Biz throwback figure a few days ago--Blackheart from 2006.  I was skeptical I'd like it, but this thing is flipping awesome.  For the most part, Hasbro's sculpt work and articulation are better than all the Toy Biz figures I've seen--particularly on most humanoid figures--but some of the Toy Biz figures are absolutely exceptional, and this one is an example of that.  Fantastic articulation and sculpt work on this guy.  Some figures really benefit from the finger and toe articulation that was standard for Toy Biz but Hasbro rarely does, and this one really benefits from both.  The bendy-wire tail is also awesome, although it's really stiff and hard to keep in place once you form it.  I did read his first appearance back in Daredevil 270 in 1989 when it was released, but he's mostly famous for being in the Marvel vs. Capcom series of fighting games.

    

[fantastic_four]

To go with Blackheart--and a few other figures too, particularly Thor--I'm also going to pick up the Bandai ground and lightning effects sets.  Been wanting them for a while, and they should really make Blackheart, Thor, Storm, and probably a few others I haven't thought of yet really pop in displays.  I've already got the Bandai burst effect coming in today pictured third below, but I'm still not sure how I'll use that yet, I just got it because BigBadToyStore had it in stock (but not the first two) and I was already getting a few other things from them.

   

Edited April 8, 2019 by fantastic_four

[707comics]

2 hours ago, fantastic_four said:

To go with Blackheart--and a few other figures too, particularly Thor--I'm also going to pick up the Bandai ground and lightning effects sets.  Been wanting them for a while, and they should really make Blackheart, Thor, Storm, and probably a few others I haven't thought of yet really pop in displays.  I've already got the Bandai burst effect coming in today pictured third below, but I'm still not sure how I'll use that yet, I just got it because BigBadToyStore had it in stock (but not the first two) and I was already getting a few other things from them.

   

Those are really cool, had not seen those before.

[fantastic_four]

1 hour ago, 707comics said:

Those are really cool, had not seen those before.

They're Japanese imports, so you won't see them much.  Most of the Bandai effects get cheaply copied by Chinese companies, so most of the really cheap versions of those on eBay are knockoffs that suck in some way or another.  The only way I know to get real ones are to get them directly from Japanese companies or from one of the major American companies that frequently sell Japanese import products like BigBadToyStore.  They're not too expensive; the burst effect I'm getting this week cost $10.  If you look on amiami.com all three of these are for sale for about $5 to $7 apiece, although shipping from Japan will be expensive and take 2 to 4 weeks.

[707comics]

My first graded piece. I love the acrylic case .... looks great on the shelf. Only issue with it is getting a good picture (so much glare).

Anybody else have any graded pieces?

 

[fantastic_four]

I went into searching for high grade comics mostly to extend the hunt of collecting.  I doubt I do that again...I'd rather expand out to other hobbies, not further into any given one.  I suspect if I did go deeper into action figures it would be with building customs or effects pieces, not buying graded figures.

Edited April 9, 2019 by fantastic_four

[shadroch]

Just picked up a huge hoard of reproduction Marx playsets. Looks like several dozen castles and literally thousands of knights, Vikings and Merry Men. Only opened one of four bins thus far.

[Yorick]

16 hours ago, 707comics said:

My first graded piece. I love the acrylic case .... looks great on the shelf. Only issue with it is getting a good picture (so much glare).

Anybody else have any graded pieces?

 

I'd like to have a bunch of my figures graded just because of the nice cases.  Cost wise, I'm not sure it's worth it.  The risk in shipping is another worrying factor.

[707comics]

2 hours ago, Yorick said:

I'd like to have a bunch of my figures graded just because of the nice cases.  Cost wise, I'm not sure it's worth it.  The risk in shipping is another worrying factor.

I hear you on the price. AFA grading with with a UV case starts @ $55 and then notes, cleaning fees and return shipping has you up to $100 real quick.  

In doing some research for figures I just want to have in a case, I ran across these .... look really similar to the AFA ones:
http://www.gwacrylic.com

[STORMSHADOW_80]

I'd like to get my Megatron graded eventually, but not really sure how the process works. Do you need a membership? I think i need one more thing for it to be considered archival.

[ADAMANTIUM]

6 minutes ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

I'd like to get my Megatron graded eventually, but not really sure how the process works. Do you need a membership? I think i need one more thing for it to be considered archival.

Also is there kind of a bare minimum, well kind of sort of, to cut down on shipping cost....with cgc 

But shipping many of these would be difficult so maybe there are different criteria, but I'm curious...

Edited April 9, 2019 by ADAMANTIUM

[707comics]

24 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Also is there kind of a bare minimum, well kind of sort of, to cut down on shipping cost....with cgc 

But shipping many of these would be difficult so maybe there are different criteria, but I'm curious...

I've yet to-do it myself but have been researching a bit the past few days. High level from what I understand: 

1) No paid membership required to submit for grading. Paid membership gets you discount on services.
2) Figure out the tier and services you want (i.e standard express w/ UV upgrade, notes and cleaning = ~$150 before shipping).
3) Fill out the paperwork or do submission online (select the return shipping carrier and insurance value at this stage).
4) Send in the figure(s).
5) Wait for grade / return of graded figure(s).

Sources:

• Submission instructions: https://cgagrading.com/ToyGrader/submission_instructions.aspx
• Pricing Guide: https://cgagrading.com/ToyGrader/submission_packagedpricing.aspx