Are you rich or well off?

[IMJ]

That was an awesome post, dude.
I'd say that I'd be in for one of the last two you posted there. But I seem to recall a pretty great Jim Lee Superman, maybe from the Hush line - I'll have to check that one out too.

I'd like that iconic figure, but with the articulation. I don't have the breadth of DC figure knowledge that you do, but I was sold on this instantly. Ironic because I did not pre-order it.

[Leo656]

Yeah, that's great one. The face isn't perfectly in-line with how Lee draws it, but it's close enough. It's a bit "soft" in the face considering how angular Lee drew him in that book but it's a very good Superman likeness all the same.
The MAFEX stuff runs a bit pricey for me, so I don't have it, but hopefully one day. I really like the look and the details of it.

DC Direct technically did two (or at least, "one and a quarter") Jim Lee "Hush"-style Superman figures. The first was from the actual "Hush" series, and I actually still don't own that one yet. I love the way Lee draws Superman, but I skipped it because of a few artistic choices made for the figure itself - specifically, the tattered cape, red eyes, and Poison Ivy's vines stuck to him in places as part of the sculpt. It's incredibly comic-accurate but I always get "basic" figures first and "variants" later on, so my urgency to buy that one was low and I just never got around to getting it.


Thankfully, they later released a "clean" version of the same figure in the "Superman Through The Ages" box set, minus the vines, red eyes and tattered cape. He still looks pretty angry, but let's face it, Lee's Superman kinda scowled a lot.

I was quite happy to get the "clean" version when I purchased the box set, and it actually looks better in person than that photo allows for. The shadowing kinda highlights the sharpness of the sculpt in that photo, and also, it's blown up. The figure itself is more attractive.

This figure was quite popular and anticipated upon release because it was one of the very first DC Direct Superman figures to not only have a new head, but an entirely new body sculpt. By that point (not counting the Curt Swan version which was only sold in a two-pack with Silver Age Lois), they had only done bodies for the "basic" Superman, the Ed McGuinness Superman, the Alex Ross Superman (much taller but with less articulation than the standard DC Direct body type), and then this Jim Lee one. The "Hush" line really drove home that DC Direct wasn't just about different face portraits, but that they were going all-in on making every single different version of a character as completely unique as possible.

I mean, compare all of those to the Ed McGuinness figure from the "Superman/Batman" line, for example. It's not my absolute favorite style, for many reasons (like the extremely short cape), but man oh man, it's just such a unique and awesome Superman figure, and absolutely "iconic" in its own right. I can verify that it really jumps out on the shelf even surrounded by other Superman figures. It's so unique that it commands attention all on its own.


This one also had a revised re-release in the "JLA Classified" line with a less-shiny, more matte-based paint job.

I confess that while the matte-painted figure is more "basic" and true to the general look of the character, I do prefer the "shiny" original release for this specific style figure simply because it's more accurate to the way the books were inked and colored when Ed was drawing the book. If you go back and look at the covers during Ed's run, his Superman always looked very "shiny" and I love how the first figure reflects that specific depiction so accurately.


That's what I loved so much about DC Direct. They really nailed all those little details that made things as comics-accurate as humanly possible while still providing tons of variety based on what they knew people's preferences would be. The "matte-painted" McGuinness Superman technically isn't accurate to the books, BUT they knew not everyone would love the shiny paint so they switched it up for the re-release. They did the same thing with Batman many times; "Hush" Batman originally came in a dark blue, "black bat" costume identical to that specific comic book run, but for "RE-Activated" they released the same figure in his Silver Age, bright blue and "Yellow Circle Bat Logo" costume because they knew people would want one in that outfit while keeping the awesome Jim Lee sculpt. McGuinness only ever drew "black-and-gray" Batman, so that was the initial release for the "Superman/Batman" line, but for the "JLA Classified" line they used a blue-and-gray costume for the re-released figure, just because they knew people would want that sculpt in those colors, comics-accurate or not. They did a LOT of that.

If you're looking for the "Hush" Superman single-packed figure (the one with the vines and torn cape), it runs about $30 on average online. Sadly, the "Superman Through The Ages" box set containing the "clean" figure has shot up to between $120-150 recently, BUT you do get Joe Shuster and John Byrne Superman with that (along with an Ed McGuinness "Superman Robot" that absolutely nobody cares about ). If you only care about the one figure from that set, unfortunately it runs about $60 even loose, since everyone wants a Jim Lee Superman on the shelf and the clean version only came in that one box set. I honestly think the box set is altogether a much greater value, considering it was also the only place the Byrne figure was ever released. The Lee and Byrne figures more or less sold the set, as there was a slightly better version of the Shuster figure released as a single-pack figure, and as I said, nobody cared about the Superman Robot.

In case you were wondering, No, I don't have EVERY Superman figure. There's several from DC Direct and Mattel that I still need, yet. Thankfully, I've at least got most of the more expensive and hard-to-find ones, as I scooped most of them up when they were $15 brand new. I generally don't f*ck around when it comes to Superman figures. Hogan, either.

I have a few porcelain statues and stuff, too, but sadly none of the really awesome 1:6 figures that are out there and stuff like that. They're incredible but I just can't swing the asking price. Gotta draw the line somewhere, y'know?

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I currently have $164,000 saved up for a rainy day, and about $19,000 in various stocks.

I just realized, you said this, and yet you claim to make an "average income". If that's the case, then where did all of that money come from?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

ALL SORTS OF SUPERMAN STUFF

Dude, I pulled the trigger on the pre-order on that MAFEX Superman because of this G.D. conversation. lmao! I haven't bought a Superman anything in YEARS. That MAFEX is iconic enough. I don't even know what I'm going to do with it. It might sit in the box next to my NECA street scene for all I know.

Originally Posted by ABrown

I just realized, you said this, and yet you claim to make an "average income". If that's the case, then where did all of that money come from?

His eccentric reply a few pages back was:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

When you get almost everything for free or pay very little, and don't have any kids or stuff like that, you can save a lot.

The stocks came as an inheritence from his Grandmother, which makes a lot of sense actually because that was the generation that bought single company stocks in employment and held them throughout life. My best friend inherited about 200k worth of Proctor and Gamble stocks. He never sold them either - he's just collecting the few hundred in quarterly dividends.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by ABrown

I just realized, you said this, and yet you claim to make an "average income". If that's the case, then where did all of that money come from?

I said in my earlier posts, most of that money is saved up for over two decades from the time I was 16-17. It's not like I just got that money overnight. I'm in my early/mid 30's now, so that's what two decades of saving will get you.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I said in my earlier posts, most of that money is saved up for over two decades from the time I was 16-17. It's not like I just got that money overnight. I'm in my early/mid 30's now, so that's what two decades of saving will get you.

The dollar amount is fine, really. But the real question is what are you doing with it? For example, is it sitting in a checking account? A high yield savings? Is it in a brokerage account? Is it tied up in real estate? etc.... Because if you have 164k liquid but you are carrying a mortgage around with you, that's probably not a growth situation, you know?

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I said in my earlier posts, most of that money is saved up for over two decades from the time I was 16-17. It's not like I just got that money overnight. I'm in my early/mid 30's now, so that's what two decades of saving will get you.

But don't you have bills? Do you have either a mortgage or rent? Car payments, car insurance, credit card bills, student loan payments? With what I consider to be an "average income", it's not enough to have saved up that kind of money after expenses.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by IMJ

Dude, I pulled the trigger on the pre-order on that MAFEX Superman because of this G.D. conversation. lmao! I haven't bought a Superman anything in YEARS. That MAFEX is iconic enough. I don't even know what I'm going to do with it. It might sit in the box next to my NECA street scene for all I know.

But at least you've got it. Good for you, buddy.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

But at least you've got it. Good for you, buddy.

Dude, if I dive into this **** and wind up buying the Batman and Catwoman and the TDK stuff it's completely your fault.

[Leo656]

I get blamed for things I didn't do every day, I'm used to it.

Just don't start hitting me, I already got a bitch who does that, I don't need two.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I get blamed for things I didn't do every day, I'm used to it.

Just don't start hitting me, I already got a bitch who does that, I don't need two.

Nah I'm more the type to start sending you free action figures just to rid myself of them while I curse your existence.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by ABrown

But don't you have bills? Do you have either a mortgage or rent? Car payments, car insurance, credit card bills, student loan payments? With what I consider to be an "average income", it's not enough to have saved up that kind of money after expenses.

I have rent to pay. My phone bill is only $31 a month. I spend the bare minimum on food I can. I rarely buy new clothes and most of the time I get them as gifts for holidays/birthdays, etc.

I don't own a car. I live in NY so there's no need for one. I use the subway to get into Manhattan and besides that all stores are within walking distance. If I have to go somewhere far for whatever reason, my parents drive me. Student loans? What's that? I went to college for 5 years completely for free between 2003-2008. There are people out there who actually pay for college?

My biggest expense is of course videogames, but even then I buy games as cheaply as I can. If I ever stopped playing videogames I'd save even more money but I like playing games too much to stop.

[Barkworm]

I really wonder what you look like, Cubed. And whether you have any real life contacts.

[ssjup81]

I work, when prior to this pandemic, in early childhood education as an assistant teacher (I've only done lead teaching in Japan). That should answer the question for you.

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

If I have to go somewhere far for whatever reason, my parents drive me.

They must be so proud.

[CyberCubed]

Do people really not go on trips with their parents? My parents both just turned 60, they're still fairly, "young."

This isn't something that happens frequently, but since I don't own a car, if I really do have to go long distance somewhere they give me a ride.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Do people really not go on trips with their parents? My parents both just turned 60, they're still fairly, "young."

This isn't something that happens frequently, but since I don't own a car, if I really do have to go long distance somewhere they give me a ride.

If that was true of my life, I sure as $hit wouldn't let anybody know.

[sdp]

Clearly the average dromer is still a teenager and embarrassed to be seen with their parents.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

If that was true of my life, I sure as $hit wouldn't let anybody know.

So nobody here has ever gone somewhere with their parents when they were an adult? Is that even possible? Like I can understand if people aren't close with their parents, or your parents live in a different state or country after you moved somewhere else, etc. But if you live in the same state/area your parents do where they can visit at any time, I don't see how that's not possible.

[Roseangelo]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Do people really not go on trips with their parents? My parents both just turned 60, they're still fairly, "young."

This isn't something that happens frequently, but since I don't own a car, if I really do have to go long distance somewhere they give me a ride.

Going on a trip with your parents is not the same thing as using them as your ride every time you need to go somewhere in a car.