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This Week In Your Plastic Crack, Action Figures and Toy Collection
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Started by Buzzetta,

9,325 posts in this topic

Chip Cataldo

Chip Cataldo

Posted
Posted
On 5/13/2018 at 9:39 PM, Buzzetta said:

Still available for $24.99... I bought a couple to resell down the road... or to have an epic display in my backyard...

I already have the BMF AT-AT from a few years back.

Black Series... AT-ST 

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/65211

 

 

Screen Shot 2018-05-13 at 9.37.57 PM.png

Screen Shot 2018-05-13 at 9.38.04 PM.png

FYI Buzz, people have been finding these at Ross for $14.99.

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comicwiz

comicwiz

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, fantastic_four said:

My twins are now 2.5 years old, so for the past few months my son in particular has gotten heavily addicted to action figures.  As his interest in them grows, mine has rekindled.  I've never collected, but I played with Star Wars figures in the 1970s and GI Joe in the 1980s.  I gave it up about the age of 12 and never got back into it.  I started buying statues from about 2000 to 2008, and I didn't realize that Hot Toys had effectively crossed the line between action figures and statues until just yesterday, and since then I've been thinking a lot about switching from statues to these figures.  I've got a few newbie-level questions about this type of ultra-high-detailed action figure:

  • Is there a better word for these high-end figures than just "high-end figures," "highly-detailed figures," or "Hot Toys figures"?
  • Are there other major companies doing what Hot Toys is doing?
  • Are any of the companies creating these things adhering to classic comic styles?  Hot Toys appears to mostly try to reproduce the specific look and body type of actors from films, but is anyone creating highly-detailed figures that adhere to comic forms like classic Superman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc?  I don't really want Hugh Jackman in jeans or in that dumb original X-Men black movie costume, I want a 5' 2" yellow and black Wolverine hunkered down and looking feral or a Juggernaut that's built like a Hummvee.
  • Has anyone fully switched from statues to these figures?  Suddenly statues seem MUCH less appealing knowing these figures are so much lighter, articulated, and fun to play with.  My two-year old just broke down crying a few days ago when he asked to hold my Bowen Daredevil statue and I wouldn't let him, and I know how he feels, I wished in that moment I could play with it, too, and let him play with it.  :frown:
  • Is there a master list somewhere on the web of all the Hot Toys figures that have been released?  Or even better, a master list of all highly-detailed figures available from all companies?
  • Is anyone else turned off by action figures that look like real human beings?  At first, I was amazed at the level of detail.  As I looked at more and more of them, the idea of having a plastic version of a realistic-looking human being began to creep me out.  I may get over it, but for now I'm torn between admiring the craft and feeling creeped out by their appearance.  There's a well-known phenomenon called the "uncanny valley" where if something looks almost exactly like a human being but is very slightly off, it tends to creep people out:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

    The uncanny valley has mostly come up in society in relation to androids and realistic-looking robots.  I think I'm having this exact reaction to Hot Toys figures, but I'm not sure of it yet.  Like I said, I just found out they existed yesterday so my taste for them is still forming.

For nostalgic reasons, I gravitate to toy lines I saw in commercials, ads, saw kids I grew up with play with or collect, or that I collected or might have wanted to collect but couldn't afford to as a kid.

Likeness isn't something I ever really gravitated to, but I think it's because it was lacking in 2D art I grew up with (i.e. adapted from film to comics) and was never really a prerequisite to enjoying the end result. The process was definitely something to appreciate when it was achieved, but the difference between then and now is a huge consideration when dropping the kind of money people are on prototypes.

Sculpting those details with tools, by hand, or drawing them out was painstaking, and I do collect those stages both in prototype toys and original comic art as an appreciation as much as aesthetics. For this reason, I don't really see a lot of the rendering nowadays being done digitally on the same level from an artistic or craftsmanship standpoint and never will. Don't get me wrong, the people doing it using a keyboard/mouse/tablet are probably every bit as talented as those who sweated over a piece for days/weeks/months through hand-tooling, but I just appreciate the pre-digital methods that much more. 

I would be otherwise fine within the age/period of collecting vintage, but I have side collecting interests revolving around my two boys, and they do get involved in picking out stuff. Some of it is curated with the approach they will have something unique and other times it's just about letting them be kids. I have been offered a lot of really cool preproduction items over the past few years, but one principle I seem to take a firm stand on is I won't buy anything that could be made on-demand from a file.

Edited by comicwiz
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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

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6 hours ago, Chip Cataldo said:

FYI Buzz, people have been finding these at Ross for $14.99.

Not everyone has a Ross near them.  For example the nearest one for me is 65 miles away.   And... that is even IF they have one.

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Chip Cataldo

Chip Cataldo

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Posted
Just now, Buzzetta said:

Not everyone has a Ross near them.  For example the nearest one for me is 65 miles away.   And... that is even IF they have one.

Oh, okay. No worries. I just thought I'd let you know since you were hunting them. :foryou:

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Senormac

Senormac

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Posted
On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 8:16 AM, srezvan said:

Slowly working on a full set of M.U.S.C.L.E.s as I can get them for cheap. Made these shelves to hold them. Unfortunately, I need to make one more.

568317271_MUSCLEsDisplay.thumb.jpg.666271972fb191a7f7b27054d501f41c.jpg

Is every single one of those ..... DIFFERENT ?  :whatthe:

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F For Fake

F For Fake

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Posted
10 hours ago, srezvan said:

There are 235 different ones. Some come in different colors but I'm just going for one of each figure. 

So cool! I don't need another thing to collect, but I loved MUSCLE when I was a kid. Had the little wrestling ring and everything.

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Cat

Cat

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Posted

Picked up a Kotobukiya Super Powers Hawkman statue, MIB for only $15. Don't know how I missed this guy when he was released, but I'm glad to add him to the collection. 

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GeneticNinja

GeneticNinja

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 5/15/2018 at 7:34 AM, fantastic_four said:

My twins are now 2.5 years old, so for the past few months my son in particular has gotten heavily addicted to action figures.  As his interest in them grows, mine has rekindled.  I've never collected, but I played with Star Wars figures in the 1970s and GI Joe in the 1980s.  I gave it up about the age of 12 and never got back into it.  I started buying statues from about 2000 to 2008, and I didn't realize that Hot Toys had effectively crossed the line between action figures and statues until just yesterday, and since then I've been thinking a lot about switching from statues to these figures.  I've got a few newbie-level questions about this type of ultra-high-detailed action figure:

  • Is there a better word for these high-end figures than just "high-end figures," "highly-detailed figures," or "Hot Toys figures"?
  • Are there other major companies doing what Hot Toys is doing?
  • Are any of the companies creating these things adhering to classic comic styles?  Hot Toys appears to mostly try to reproduce the specific look and body type of actors from films, but is anyone creating highly-detailed figures that adhere to comic forms like classic Superman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc?  I don't really want Hugh Jackman in jeans or in that dumb original X-Men black movie costume, I want a 5' 2" yellow and black Wolverine hunkered down and looking feral or a Juggernaut that's built like a Hummvee.
  • Has anyone fully switched from statues to these figures?  Suddenly statues seem MUCH less appealing knowing these figures are so much lighter, articulated, and fun to play with.  My two-year old just broke down crying a few days ago when he asked to hold my Bowen Daredevil statue and I wouldn't let him, and I know how he feels, I wished in that moment I could play with it, too, and let him play with it.  :frown:
  • Is there a master list somewhere on the web of all the Hot Toys figures that have been released?  Or even better, a master list of all highly-detailed figures available from all companies?
  • Is anyone else turned off by action figures that look like real human beings?  At first, I was amazed at the level of detail.  As I looked at more and more of them, the idea of having a plastic version of a realistic-looking human being began to creep me out.  I may get over it, but for now I'm torn between admiring the craft and feeling creeped out by their appearance.  There's a well-known phenomenon called the "uncanny valley" where if something looks almost exactly like a human being but is very slightly off, it tends to creep people out:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

    The uncanny valley has mostly come up in society in relation to androids and realistic-looking robots.  I think I'm having this exact reaction to Hot Toys figures, but I'm not sure of it yet.  Like I said, I just found out they existed yesterday so my taste for them is still forming.

I don't know what you mean by crossed the line between statues and figures. I know Hot Toys figures weren't as good as they are now. But many of the Sideshow Collectibles statues weren't as good back in their early days either. I think they actually started out with figures if I remember correctly. I get both statues and figures myself.

 

1. I just call Hot Toys figures, Hot Toys figures as they are figures that can be posed unlike statues. They are high end as they are $200+ compared to whatever the average action figure is these days. Sometimes I call them adult action figures too.


2. Sideshow Collectibles is close to Hot Toys but not quite there. I'm getting Hot Toys Jedi Luke and Sideshow has a version coming out as well. I expect the Sideshow one to be just a bit lower in detail and life like qualities. The Sideshow one does come with the Endor poncho unlike the Hot Toys version. Hot Toys showed separate Endor Luke and Leia figures last year at Comic Con. Both of these companies tease and sometimes don't release figures but I would put more money on Hot Toys to finish a group of figures any day over Sideshow.

 

Also QMX has a line of Star Trek and other figures. I think those are a bit better than the Sideshow ones I've seen. There is a company making James Bond figures but I haven't seen those myself and people had a problem with nose scuffing on those.


3. Depends on what classic is I guess. I've seen close to classic versions of custom figures on SideshowCollectors forum. I think I saw a custom Wolverine figure. If not I know there are good Wolverine statues like that. Same goes for Juggernaut. The Kotobukiya Danger Room line is a good example for those two characters.


4. I wouldn't let kids play with a $200+ figure. These can break if handled incorrectly.


5. Check out Hot Toys official site.
http://www.hottoys.com.hk/


Also a video of their display store a few years back.

The others like QMX you can check their sites or that SideshowCollectors forum. Some people there have almost complete collections. Which is shocking considering the price. The guy that took the video above has every Hot Toys Iron Man figure I think.


6. Not me. They look like small versions of the characters and I thought accuracy in the end is what everyone wants from statues or figures. Not statues or figures that look nothing like the characters. Search for some of the Sideshow fails or Quality Control problem statues that were released. I guess a kid will be happy playing with a small figure representation of a hero. But when you get older, knowing you can get better. Why settle for low quality?

Edited by GeneticNinja
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F For Fake

F For Fake

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1 hour ago, DocHoppus182 said:

Anyone going to the Mego Meet in Columbus on June 1st and 2nd?  My first time going, as I live in Columbus.  I'm looking forward to it!

That sounds fun, hmm... hm

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F For Fake

F For Fake

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Just now, DocHoppus182 said:

Do it.

I would, but I better behave myself. I'm supposed to be saving up for the KY Joe con in July!

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scumdolly

scumdolly

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Posted

I've had a few (and seen MOTU figures exhibit the same problems). The rubber band either rots and then falls apart or it partially rots and then the crotch+legs tangle (very loosely) while still sealed. It's not a pretty sight.Storm Shadow is also susceptible to yellowing.

The rubber band rotting is less noticeable in vehicle+figure sets (Zartan, Hiss Tank, Water Moccasin, HAL, etc.) because the bubble fits the figure tightly.

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