01-12-2021, 09:31 PM | #2261 |
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They were all pre-posed but some of the poses varied. Some guys had kind of a "biceps" pose, others more of a "squat with fists raised" stance... Rick Rude had his hands on his waist, making his figure even more impossible to play with than the others because he couldn't even pretend to hold or grab anyone. It was a very odd choice to do toys that way, but I guess LJN was trying to be experimental (as well as the hard rubber being more durable, in a sense, than regular plastic for the kind of "action" these figures were likely to receive).
And oh yeah, you could totally kill a guy with Andre the Giant or King Kong Bundy if you hit 'em in the head hard enough with it. My oldest friend had a giant hole in the bedroom wall from where his brother threw Andre at him once. Lot of childhood roughhousing sessions came to an abrupt halt amidst cries of "MOOOMMMMMM!!!" once a kid started wielding Andre the Giant like a f*cking sledgehammer. That's when you knew sh*t was serious. My wallet definitely wishes I'd jumped on those figures when they were actually in stores from '85 to '89, but... I was spoiled on stuff like He-Man. Lots of articulation (for the time) and action features, that's what I liked and what I figured all toys "should" be. Big Rubber Statues just seemed odd and kinda pointless, to me. Especially for wrestling figures. As an adult, I have a greater appreciation for the awesome likenesses and how they capture the spirit of the era and the guys they were based on, but as a kid I just couldn't be bothered. So I always went for the MOTU-style bootleg figures from companies like Madison and Sungold, the "Galaxy Warriors"-looking guys who just happened to have heads that looked exactly like Hulk Hogan and Iron Sheik and so on. At least their arms moved! And they fit in great with all my MOTU guys, which was even better. But had I known that not only would I later come to appreciate the WWF LJNs, but they'd also shoot up to insane prices, I definitely would have grabbed as many as I could. As it is, I mostly resort to buying them in beat-up shape and restoring them, which is admittedly a lot of fun. I've come to really like them for what they are. What baffles me a little bit, though, is how that style of figure has been so often repeated within the genre of wrestling toys. The first WCW line from Galoob in 1990 copied the basic idea of hard, immobile posed figures, but in a more manageable 4-inch scale. But on top of that, many wrestling figure lines from Japan and Mexico use the exact same style and scale. And then of course, the above-pictured WCW line from OSFTM, which paid homage to both the WWF LJN line and the Galoob WCW figures but in a 7-inch scale, which was annoying since they don't even fit with the LJNs they're clearly patterned after. It's just strange to me how many older lines of pro wrestling "action figures" don't even move and are essentially just statues. Granted, in the last 20 years things have gone almost totally the opposite direction and now about 20 points of articulation is the standard, allowing for just about any pose one could imagine. But it amazes me how long it took for figures based on characters who are all about dynamic movement to be designed to actually... y'know... move. I like all the different lines for what they are, but I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for some of those conversations. |
01-12-2021, 10:18 PM | #2262 |
40 Years of TMNT
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Christmas gifts from bae, Biollante & Gigan, Bandai vinyls (Godzilla '89 & '04 respectively).
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01-13-2021, 03:25 PM | #2263 |
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Today's Mail #1: "Macho Man" Randy Savage from the 1998 Original San Francisco Toymakers WCW line:
This one's a bit lazy, to me. The likeness is off, the head is "squished", and while the costume details are sort of accurate, they're applied rather simply and generically. I'm also not a big fan of the "bear paws" arm positioning. All in all, not one of the better figures in the line, which is a shame since Savage is such a primary character. The earlier, "posed statue" Macho Man figures were way better, despite their complete lack of articulation. Next up, we have Scott Hall from the 4.5-inch line: As you can see, it's pretty much almost identical to the 6.5-inch version I posted a few days ago, just with ball-jointed shoulders and without the action feature. Just waiting for the Scott Steiner and Sting to show up and I'll have the entire 6.5-inch line (aside from the two Wolfpac variants). And I only need Goldberg to finish the 4.5-inch line but he's not showing up anywhere at the moment. |
01-14-2021, 10:56 PM | #2264 |
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Today was a great day for lots of reasons. Not the least of which being, I GOT A BUNCH OF TOYS!
First, the Mail Call! One step closer to completing the 1998 Original San Francisco Toymakers WCW line with The Man Called STING! I've gone on at length about what a mixed bag this whole series was, but this was by far one of the best figures OSFTM had EVER put out! The deco on his outfit could have been a little bit more detailed but by the standards of the time it's really quite good, and everything else is pretty spot-on. Night-and-day with the rather mediocre Macho Man figure. While we were out earlier we stopped off to see one of the dudes I used to wrestle with who now runs a toy and collectibles store out of his house, and picked up some cool swag! Going back in time a little further, we have Big Bubba (more famously known as the Big Boss Man) from the original OSFTM WCW line, Series 3 to be precise: Not a ton to say about it, it's a good figure as the original OSFTM line went. Good enough likeness, captures the persona. This was the only figure of Bubba/Boss Man/Ray Traylor that WCW ever produced; they never even did any repaints or repackagings of him. Series 3 by far had the most "one-and-done" characters in the entire line, kind of a shame. Next up, from the Mattel "DC Super-Heroes" line, we have the Linda Danvers Supergirl! I was always a fan of the Linda version of Supergirl, and I really like this outfit, too. This was from the era when they were trying to distinguish her from Superman as much as possible - no Kryptonian or family connection, totally different powers, etc. - so the costume was another big step in that direction. I really needed this one in my collection, but I will say the face sculpt could be a little bit better. The 4 Horsemen do some great sculpts, but on occasion their women figures have a case of "resting bitch face", and this is one of those cases. It's not too bad but it definitely could have been better and it makes her look older than she was in the comics. The DC Direct Supergirl figure had a MUCH better face sculpt, but as usual the Mattel figure comes out ahead in articulation and general sturdiness. Finally, from the Mattel WWE Elite Series line, we have this awesome Miss Elizabeth! True story, for as important as she is to wrestling history they've hardly ever made ANY Miss Elizabeth figures, so every single one is a Must-Buy. There was the original LJN Liz, which often goes for over $300 loose, and then Toy Biz did one in a two-pack with Macho Man back in '98, and then I don't think there were any more until this one came out a couple of years ago. They recently did another one of her in her SummerSlam '88 yellow dress, which I did pick up, but that outfit was much more "loud" than what she usually wore and this figure much more accurately represents how she usually looked. The other Liz looks fine on display with Hogan and Savage as the Mega-Powers, but this one goes perfect with any Macho Man figures with less of a clash of styles. I love how the box says "Includes Dress". As if it's a Bonus that they didn't ship the figure naked. Although last year a nude resin prototype of the LJN Liz was floating around online and going for a few THOUSAND dollars. So maybe they didn't want there to be any confusion. Bubba, Supergirl, and Liz are all courtesy of my main man Jeff Noyze at "Noyze Toyz" in Tom's River, NJ. We go back over 10 years and he's a legit "Good Brother", brother. For wrestling, comic book, Star Wars and sports collectibles, give him a holler! He's on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/noyzetoyz |
01-16-2021, 11:10 PM | #2265 |
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Some more cool stuff today. Two in the mail and two from the flea market.
While I was at the flea market, I picked up this Bane from the Legends of the Dark Knight series. Honestly, this line wasn't entirely to my taste, with how over-the-top it was (stuff like Penguin's tuxedo being entirely made of dead bird carcasses, for example... like WTF? ). This line was clearly DC and Kenner's answer to the stuff McFarlane was doing at the time; all of a sudden they were doing "huge" 6-inch and 7-inch scale figures in a hyper-stylized aesthetic with lots of crazy detail. It had its Ups and Downs. I frankly don't like the Batman and Robin figures in the line at all but some of the villains are kind of cool, like this Bane. I basically got him for free so it was a no-brainer. Next up, another edition to the LJN WWF line with "Adorable" Adrian Adonis! The flea market always has a ton of LJNs in stock - these things literally started falling out of the sky at one point so you can find them almost anywhere, but usually in really banged-up shape - but this one was in the glass case with the more rare figures rather than hanging on the wall with the "commons". He's not SUPER rare but it's hard to find any of the LJNs in this good of shape! He's got a few rub marks I have to clean up, and I might clean up a few lines of paint but he's as close to "perfect" as a loose LJN figure gets! This was part of the massive collection they got in a few weeks ago where I cherry-picked Warrior, Hogan, and others from. The kid who had these must have either really loved or really hated Adrian, because some of the figures like Jake the Snake were banged up pretty rough and this one's nearly spotless. Whatever, man, I'll take it! They have a Hart Foundation set there for about $150 and I really, REALLY hope it stays there for a while longer so I can save up for it. Onto the stuff in the mail, first we have Scott Steiner from the Original San Francisco Toymakers WCW line: Not bad, not great, pretty okay overall. This was the first figure ever made of Scott Steiner in his "Big Poppa Pump" gimmick. He's even got the Superman logo on the sides of his singlet, which most likely only avoided the legal wrath of Kenner back in 1998 on account of not too many people giving a sh*t about these figures. So now, aside from the two Wolfpac variant figures, my OSFTM 6.5-inch WCW collection is COMPLETE! Obviously if the Wolfpac Sting and Macho Man come my way and they're not $50 each I'll pick them up, but I'm not sweating it. Now I'm working on finishing up the first series of OSFTM WCW figures, the "rubber statue" ones. I need about 10 singles and a few tag teams and then I'll be all done with those, too. Spiffy! Finally, a real gem and something I've had my eye on for a while. From Funko, we have a vinyl figurine of the incomparable Fluttershy! I'm not even gonna front, I love these goddamn things. They're often EXPENSIVE though, so so far we only have this one, Rainbow Dash, and Muffins/"Derpy". I want the entire Mane Six and probably Luna and Celestia as well, but some of them go for around $100-200 now. When I get a bit saved up I'm probably gonna pick up one of the cheaper ones; Rarity goes for about $40, Pinkie Pie's about $50, Applejack goes for $50-100 depending on what day it is. Twilight, though, is $110 on the low end and up to $200 depending. ARGH! Celestia seems to have stabilized around $110, but Luna? Good GRIEF, Luna's anywhere from $200-400 right now. I'm thinking that when I can, I'll go Applejack-Rarity-Pinkie in that order, and then save up for Twilight. Can't split up the Mane Six! And while I'd love to have Luna and Celestia as well, they're gonna have to be "We'll see what happens" figures. Especially Luna. I don't have three hundred bucks for ONE plastic pony! Anyways, yeah, good day today. Nothing major upcoming, though, I think I got like one thing coming in the mail this week and that's it. |
01-19-2021, 09:28 PM | #2266 |
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This came in the mail yesterday but I was busy.
"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright from the Original San Francisco Toymakers WCW line! One step closer to "character completion" (having at least one of each individual character released) for this line. This was one of the better figures in the original "rubber statues" line; the face has a good likeness and the details really make the figure. I don't recall Alex wearing a necklace very often (although I'm sure he must have at least once), but the hairstyle and leather jacket leave no doubt that this is "Das Wunderkind". I recall him wearing neon green far more often (although he did wear blue and even red on many occasions before the green became his "main" look later on) but this look is fine, and now that I have this one in perfect shape I can always just buy a loose beat-up one and repaint it. He's pretty common either loose or on-card but I got a pretty good deal for this one on-card. I picked up a couple more from this set today, so they should show up sometime next week. Getting close! |
01-19-2021, 09:37 PM | #2267 | |
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01-25-2021, 12:41 AM | #2268 |
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Got some more figures from the Original San Francisco Toymakers line in the mail this weekend. Getting closer to Character Completion!
First up, Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittman from Series 3. He's pretty common now, but he was tough to find for a while on account of 1. He's a pretty obscure character who only ever had this one figure made of him, and 2. This is one of the very few figures in the line that never had a repaint or rerelease (along with Big Bubba and Alex Wright). Not a bad likeness; not a lot to it but it's a good figure for this line. Next up, Harlem Heat from the Tag Team Series 1 set (which also included the Nasty Boys and a Hogan/Sting pack; Hogan was the same as the single-card figure but Sting was one of several repaints they released over the first few waves). This was the first of several Harlem Heat sets they released, which were always the same figures but repainted in red, purple, and royal blue outfits. They're all pretty good but I always liked this attire best, and I found it online for a decent price - some of the Harlem Heat sets go for up to and over $100 in-package, but I got it in an auction for $40 plus shipping. Pretty good face likenesses, and the outfits are pretty much perfect. They even made sure to make Booker T a little bit smaller than Stevie Ray. For what this particular line is, this is about as perfect a set of these figures ever got. It's a pretty much perfect representation of Harlem Heat circa 1995. Getting closer to the finish line on this series. |
01-25-2021, 11:01 AM | #2269 |
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Dude your Wrestling figure collection is so encompassing that even if someone wasn't into wrestling they should still love it. You've got to respect fully fleshed out collections of focus all the time....
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01-25-2021, 08:56 PM | #2270 |
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Thanks man.
Wrestling figures are definitely my largest collection by far. I haven't done a full inventory in a long time but I have TONS. There's millions more I'm missing - the Jakks WWF/WWE line from 1996-2010 and Mattel WWE line from 2010-Now are f*cking impossibly HUGE and it is literally impossible for anyone but a millionaire to own EVERY figure they put out from those two because they did/do a hundred variants of each character, over hundreds of characters, totaling THOUSANDS of figures per line - but I have a LOT. I mean, from what Exists and what I Own, there's... WWF LJN (1985 - 1989): I have about half of these, maybe a little less. Not a HUGE line but the last two waves go for hundreds of dollars each, so this is a tough one to complete. AWA Remco (1985 - 1987): Only have a few, these are tough to find. Again, the last one or two waves are INSANE. WWF Hasbro (1990 - 1994): I have about 2/3s to 3/4 of the entire line. All but the final wave are common, but those last few are $500+-each figures. WCW Galoob (1990 - 1991): I have the entire Series 1, but none of Series 2; Series 2 only came out in Europe and they're like hundreds of dollars per figure even loose, so I don't think I'll ever own them. They're awesome but I'd have to get lucky. WWF/WWE Jakks (1996 - 2010): My largest collection by far, I have a couple hundred altogether but that's nowhere NEAR as many as they did. The line changed style and scale a whole bunch of times during their near-15 year run, so there's a ton of "sub-lines", some of which are much better than others. The bulk of what I own is the more-articulated "Ruthless Aggression" scale that they produced from 2003-onward, and their "Classic Superstars" line which shared that style. But there was also so many sub-lines - the "Bone Crunching Action" style they started out with in '96, the later BCAs from 2002 that were bigger, the two different "Titan Tron Live" series, the "RealScan" and R3 lines... SO much to collect altogether, it's overwhelming. So I mostly just focus on the "RA" figures, but I pick up a few of the others when I find them cheap. Even some of the 1996-era figures are cheap just because they were so over-produced. But will I ever own All or even Most of the Jakks WWF stuff? No, I will not. It's just not even possible. I do hope to one day own one of each character in each different series, though, that seems doable. WCW OSFTM (1995 - 1999): Not counting variants, I'm getting VERY close to owning all the individual characters in this series, finally. I picked up a few more today, it's getting down to just the really expensive ones. They had four sub-lines - "Big Rubber Statue" style, "Vibrating" figures, "Power Move" and 4.5-inch "Poseable" figures - and not a ton of figures in each line. This is, by far, the easiest wrestling figure line to collect to completion, simply because there aren't a TON of figures and they're all pretty easy to find at decent prices. WCW Toy Biz (1999 - 2001): This is the second-easiest line of wrestling figures to collect, because they didn't do a ton of variants even though they did release a decent number of figures. I have ALL the characters except for Michael Buffer (yes, THAT Michael buffer ) who came in a three-pack. Once I get that, I'll consider that collection "Complete" since I really don't care much about repaint variants. ECW OSFTM (1999 - 2000): I only have a few. Much better than the WCW line, but they've gotten tough to find in recent years so while it's a small line it's tough to collect right now. The ring with cage is ridiculously priced. TNA Toy Biz (2003 - 2007): I missed most of these, but I have a few. They're almost exactly like the WCW line from the same company, and they even re-used some of the molds (it works, though). The distribution sucked so some of these are expensive, but I hope to get them all one day. Not a huge line, so it's possible. TNA Jakks (2010 - 2014): I have maybe 20 of these out of maybe around... I forget, 70 or 80 figures they produced? Again, distribution sucked for these so they were "rare" as soon as they came out and only go up in price. BUT, if I go "one of each character" and only a few variants, I might own all of those one day. WWE Mattel (2010 - Now): Ooof. Like Jakks, they put out SO many goddamn figures that it's impossible to own them all, or even most of them. I love them, it's just... there's SO much, and I'm so far behind on other lines that I never made these a focus, yet. I have, like, a dozen or so... mostly a bunch of Hulk Hogans and a couple other characters I really like. But this and the ECW and TNA lines are by far my smallest collection of wrestling figures, with only a handful of each. I'd LIKE to own more, but I'm trying to fill in the "smaller ponds" first before jumping into the Big Oceans. I'd go so far as to say that there's probably more wrestling figures out there in the world than anything else. No other line of toys does as many characters and variants, for one thing, not even Star Wars or G.I. Joe, and with the way the brands and licenses switch around so much (or used to), it can be very overwhelming. Figurerealm.com doesn't even TRY to have comprehensive checklists for the Jakks and Mattel WWF/WWE lines, at best focusing on the sub-lines. Altogether, I have hundreds and hundreds of wrestling figures. But I have a LONG way to go until that particular journey is complete. Next time I do inventory I'll put some of it up; I did one a few years ago BUT then I bought a couple hundred more figures since then. Once the OSFTM WCW line is "done", I might start trying to track down more of either the Toy Biz TNA or OSFTM ECW figures, depending. At least I'll never be "done" with collecting wrestling figures. There's so much out there that being "done" is just not possible, unless I completely stop caring one day which is unlikely. |
01-26-2021, 11:59 PM | #2271 |
Hellblazer
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I got Kingdom Optimus Primal and Rattrap Last week. Beast Wars are back and I am getting all the figures. Cheetor is coming next month
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I respect what FW cartoon did for the turtles franchise but it is the most overrated and hard to watch of the 3 turtles cartoons. |
01-27-2021, 11:22 AM | #2272 | |
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01-28-2021, 01:23 AM | #2273 |
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Another addition to the OSFTM WCW line came in the mail today. We jump from the original "rubber statues" line to their second - and most short-lived - series, with this "Pulsating" Chris Benoit action figure:
I got this one for about $15 since the bubble is yellowed (he's coming out of there anyway) and frankly, nobody cares about these figures. This short-lived series of only eight figures was notable for a few things, but they've mostly become a big joke amongst collectors for their highly... "questionable" action feature. Improvements/changes over the first series of figures were the addition of articulation (albeit limited, with only their arms and legs moving, but Any articulation is honestly better than None) and their larger size. BUT, the down side of that is that this line is very small with only eight figures and - like everything OSFTM ever put out - they only really scale well with themselves, and look wrong next to anything else. One positive, however, is that this line saw first-ever WCW figures for several characters, including this one. But what they're most-often remembered - and ridiculed - for is their bizarre "action feature". There's a red button on their side, which you push and... it makes them vibrate. That's it. The battery on a lot of them has since worn out, but you can sometimes still find ones that work almost like new, and... it's weird. NOBODY has any idea what the hell the idea was with that, but it's led to tons and tons of jokes, including "The Action Figures Most Likely To Disappear And Wind Up In Your Mom's Dresser Drawer". Seriously, that's ALL these things are remembered for. What an odd decision. Dumb gimmick aside, these figures are... okay. I doubt they're too many people's favorites. Yes, there's articulation at the hips and shoulders, but the arms are pre-posed and everyone has the same "bent elbows" stance, more or less, so they just look strange no matter how you try and "pose" them. As usual with OSFTM, the faces aren't good and the details are sparse. Chris Benoit never really had a full beard, but for some reason OSFTM could never make the "stubble" on him or Scott Hall look right, they always just gave them full beards the same color as their hair. Very lazy. The 4 Horsemen logos on Benoit's tights are a nice touch, BUT, having them be plain red instead of silver with red outlines is a bit cheap. Not terrible, not great. This figure is historically significant for being the first-ever Chris Benoit figure ever released, at least in America. There may have been some Pegasus Kid/Wild Pegasus figures released in Japan before 1997 but this was the first-ever "Chris Benoit" action figure ever made. Too bad they didn't do a slightly better job, but again, it's not terrible. Just "Meh". |
01-28-2021, 10:10 PM | #2274 |
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More mail! Pretty big day today.
First up, another addition to the "vibrating" line of OSFTM WCW action figures - The Giant! Unlike the Benoit figure, this one somehow still has its vibrating function - no small feat after 25 years! It's not a bad likeness; it's a very simple figure, but by default one of the better ones in this specific line of eight. All I need is "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan, and I'll have all eight figures in this set. Next up, we go back to the "rubber statues" line of OSFTM WCW figures, with the Sting two-pack! The timing of this set is very peculiar - the "rubber statues" figures were mostly phased out after 1997, with both the vibrating figures AND the "Action Feature" 6.5-inch figures already hitting shelves by early-'98, but Wolfpac Sting in red didn't debut on TV until Spring of 1998, meaning that this set had to have been one of the last ones OSFTM ever put out. It's cool to have a "modern" or contemporary look for Sting in the "rubber statues" style, since prior to this they had only released "Surfer Sting" with his short blonde hair and even those had been out of production since 1996. But it's also a bit strange that they'd even bother producing these figures at all since the line was pretty much "obsolete" by the time this would have come out. This version of "Wolfpac" Sting DID see a single-card release in the final wave of "rubber statues" figures, the short-lived "WCW Nitro" Series, and was one of the very few unique sculpts in a line that was mostly repaints (only Sting and Lex Luger were unique; everyone else was a repaint or repackaging). BUT, "Crow" Sting was never sold on a single card and was ONLY available in this two-pack. It goes for about $70 on-card, but I paid less than half that by buying them loose. They're in almost-perfect condition and only need about two or three drops of Gloss Black paint and they'll be pristine. These are pretty good Sting figures, for what they are (you either care about "rubber statue" figures or you don't). They're not perfect; the stance and the "crouch" makes it appear as though the figure has super-long arms (and they are a *bit* too long even if he was standing up straight). Also, this version of Sting always wore gloves. Lastly, the Wolfpac version isn't dressed accurately, as Sting only wore this full-torso Starrcade '97 outfit a couple of times before switching permanently to a singlet; Wolfpac Sting only ever wore the singlet with a red scorpion on each side of the legs/torso, and never wore this specific outfit in any variation. This tells us that the "Crow" Sting figure was the one they planned on making first and put into production, only to have to rapidly switch gears and redo it in red paint once he joined the Wolfpac on TV. But I'm guessing there were a bunch of "Crow" Stings already produced by then, thus this two-pack was created to sell those off. Nitpicks aside, though, there's a lot to like about this figure. The face likeness is on-point, by far one of the best face sculpts in the entire OSFTM WCW line. Most of the figures in this line were only "Close Enough" in the face department, but this looks exactly like Sting. The scorpion deco is a bit simplified - the one on the actual outfit he wore at this time had a lot of depth and shading on it - but by 1998 standards it's as close to perfect as it could get. And finally, I have to give credit for actually sculpting the padding onto his pants; even a lot of "better" figure lines simply painted them on, so for a rather cheap company like OSFTM this was actually a really nice touch. Finally, we switch gears completely to the Super 7 Masters of the Universe "Club Grayskull" line, with the somewhat-unfortunately-named FISTO! I hadn't bought any MOTU figures lately so I started looking around to see what was available for under $100 - not much, unfortunately. I love the Classics and Club Grayskull figures, but Lord do I wish they didn't cost so much. The more realistically-detailed "Classics" Fisto goes for over $500 these days, so I highly doubt I'll ever own him. But I at least needed ONE version of Fisto and this Filmation-styled one was pretty reasonably-priced at about sixty bucks. I'm still very slowly putting together a modest collection of these figures; SO many of the main characters like Teela and Man-At-Arms go for around $200, so it's very slow going thus far. |
01-30-2021, 11:55 PM | #2275 |
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Got some cool new stuff today. Some in the mail, some at the flea market.
For flea market pick-ups, first we have this awesome Rey Mysterio from Jakks "Best of WCW" line! This figure is based on Mysterio's iconic outfit from the 1997 Halloween Havoc PPV. On its own, it's damn near perfect and one of my all-time favorite looks for Mysterio. The only problem is, Jakks never cared one bit about proper scale, so this figure of a guy who's about 5'4 in real life stands taller than a lot of figures based on guys who were 6'4 or taller. Annoying! On its own, though, it's a fantastic Rey figure. The BIG item from the flea market was this set right here, the LJN Hart Foundation! Bret and Anvil both need a bath and a good scrub, and some touching-up as well, but this is one of the most important Tag Team sets in the entire line and one I've been looking for for a while. I've got some custom WWF Tag Team Title belts that are gonna look great on them once I get them all spiff'ed up. Can't wait! From the mail, first up we have two figures from the Kenner/Hasbro JLA line, Batman and Martian Manhunter: This line was a revival of sorts of the previous Kenner "Total Justice" figures; Hasbro had bought Kenner, and in turn their DC license, and reused most of the molds from that series for this one, while also creating some new characters that never got released under the "Total Justice" brand. In fact, the first wave of these figures still had a Kenner branding on them, before later ones switched to Hasbro. As such, many of the reused figures in the line have identical sculpts to their "Total Justice" figures, just with slightly different paint jobs. This Batman, for example, is a repaint of the rather crappy "Total Justice" Batman, just swapping the blue paint for black. It wouldn't be too bad, if not for the fact that he has those stupid "wings" instead of a proper cape. This series later put out an all-black Batman with a cape to make him fit in more with the rest of the set. Martian Manhunter, on the other hand, was a new figure (and the first figure of him we'd gotten since the 1980s "Super Powers" line). It's a pretty good sculpt and likeness. Since half the series was repaints I'm more interested in collecting the characters who weren't in the "Total Justice" line. Each of these figures generally goes for around $20+, but I got them together for that so I figured it was a good deal. I really like these Kenner/Hasbro DC figures. Pre-posed action figures are always controversial and not everyone is a fan, but for the most part I think these were all pretty good. Finally, we have one that I've been wanting to get for a while: From the Mattel "Masters of the Universe Classics" line, it's Evil-Lyn! What else needs to be said? Although I basically flipped a coin between getting this one and the Super 7 Filmation version in the same scale, since they cost the same. But the "Classics" are always harder to find and are going up in price rapidly, whereas the Super 7 ones tend to hold a bit more steady. plus, the fact that this one comes with Screeech was a nice bonus that ultimately made me go for this one. I do plan to get that other one later on, though, just because I love the Filmation style. |
01-31-2021, 06:42 PM | #2276 |
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Location: Ventura California
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Got Greef Karga Carl Weathers Character from Mandolorian. Looks great next to Mando and Cara Dune
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I respect what FW cartoon did for the turtles franchise but it is the most overrated and hard to watch of the 3 turtles cartoons. |
02-02-2021, 01:36 AM | #2277 |
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Latest mail call, Chun-Li from the Funko "Savage World" Street Fighter line:
Not everybody cares about 5.5-scale figures, but I really like 'em. They really trip a nostalgic trigger in me going all the way back to the original Masters of the Universe line. Since Funko put out a handful of Mortal Kombat figures a few years ago, it makes sense that they'd eventually do a Street Fighter line. I think it's a really good figure for what it is. Obviously it can't compare to the more "modern-style" figures insofar as likeness and points of articulation but the sculpt and details are really nice. They even gave her much bigger thighs than all of their other female figures, which is a really nice touch. There's not a lot to these types of figures at all, but on display with other 5.5s it makes for a really nice scene. Sadly, it appears that there won't be a second Wave of these, and so the single set of Chun-Li, Blanka, Bison and Ryu are all we'll be getting. Apparently sales never really recovered from the early series of a few years ago having problems at the factory and a lot of figures shipping with bad leg/hip joints. Funko switched to a different factory and the problem ended up being corrected, but the brand's reputation had already suffered greatly and apparently sales never recovered enough to justify making more figures. It's a shame, because characters like Ken, Guile and so on would have been a natural fit for Wave 2 of this set, so it (and the MK series) will forever seem incomplete. I have Ryu and Blanka on the way, and after that once I get the Blanka variant if I bother, I'll have the whole set of these. Then I just need a couple of the Thundercats figures and I'll have all the Funko 5.5s. I wish I was more aware as a kid, because I would have loved to get stuff like Galaxy Warriors and the old Remco stuff that was in 5.5 scale. I was too focused on "Real" MOTU stuff to bother with the "knock-off" lines, but I really regret that now. |
02-04-2021, 05:10 PM | #2278 |
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Ventura California
Posts: 8,575
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Beast Wars Kingdom Cheetor. Decent upgrade from the 90's figure
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I respect what FW cartoon did for the turtles franchise but it is the most overrated and hard to watch of the 3 turtles cartoons. |
02-05-2021, 05:56 AM | #2279 |
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posted in the wrong thread oops
Got lucky and ordered the 10 inch walmart superman funko. Not lucky enough to get the chase version. Picked up the 8 inch Black series Hyperreal Darth Vader. Been slow for me lately.
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Do not concern yourself with what I've already done: rather tremble at the thought of what I am about to do. Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth. http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=48140 |
02-08-2021, 10:19 PM | #2280 |
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Been lettin' it pile up a bit. Got some cool stuff recently.
First up, I got these Funko "Savage World" Street Fighter Ryu and Blanka figures: Again, 5.5s are what they are, but these are cool for what they are. Kinda bummed how this line comes with NO accessories, unlike every other set of "Savage World" and "Primal Age" figures they did, but I guess they were running out of money near the end or something, and since their 5.5 line was ending I guess they just couldn't be bothered with any extras. I know Street Fighter characters don't really have weapons or "accessories" but something like a clip-on fireball effect or something like they did with Raiden's lightning would have been better than nothing. Ah well. With these, I have all of their Street Fighter figures except the blue and yellow Blanka variant. If I find him cheap enough I'll snag him. I find most of these for about ten bucks, which ain't bad. Next up, another one for the Kenner/Hasbro "JLA" line, with this awesome Wonder Woman! Pretty perfect representation of her 90s look down to the last detail. For some reason, it took them a long time to get this figure out there, as she wasn't part of the "Total Justice" line that came out before this series (and that they borrowed most of the molds from; seriously, 2/3s of the JLA line is repainted "Total Justice" figures, not that I'm complaining, it's just weird that the first line had a friggin' HUNTRESS figure but no Wonder Woman). Furthermore, not only was she NOT in "Total Justice", she didn't even come out until the very last wave of THIS series, which just baffles me. This is a cool line, but they put out no less than three Batman variants before coming out with their FIRST Wonder Woman, and that just kills me. ZAURIEL got a figure first. PLASTIC MAN, even. C'mon. Anyways, great figure, only gripe is that the "lasso" is just a molded plastic golden/yellow ring, but at least it snaps onto her hip. She's kinda got resting bitchface BUT I admire the level of paint detail for that scale in a 1998 figure. I've got a couple more of these JLA figures on the way. Trying to get all the new characters first before going back and filling in the repaints like Aquaman and Flash, since again, they really are just the Total Justice figures repainted; some look better, some don't. Next up, a much-needed addition to the OSFTM WCW line, "The Total Package" Lex Luger! This is one of the more rare (and expensive) figures in the "rubber statues" series of WCW figures. This "WCW Nitro" set was the last series before they switched to the "pulsating" and then "action feature" style and scale, so most of them are a bit harder to come by now. Also, this was the one and only Luger figure they did from that line, and as one of the final figures in that set he was one of the few guys not to be released as either a repaint or a two-pack (although later Lex figures saw multiple repackagings). So he's a bit more scarce than a lot of the other guys. Sadly, while I don't dislike the figure it's one of the weaker ones in the line. The pose is spot-on, but a lot of little things mess it up. His armbands are too low, they're supposed to be higher up on his arms near his armpits. His facial likeness isn't that great. And his head sculpt suffers from a lack of sculpt detail in his hair; the top of his head mostly looks like a smooth round blob painted yellow. And like a lot of these figures, he's just too darn pale. Like, he's SO pale you can only barely recognize him as Lex, whose secondary characteristic aside from his physique was his golden (but not quite Hogan-level) tan. I know that it was most likely down to being cost-effective and molding most of these figures in the same color plastic, but it really hurt the figures for guys like Luger and Hogan. Altogether though, not too bad, and a must-have for this series. Finally, these AWESOME Bill & Ted figures from Fig Biz and Incendium showed up in the mail today! For some reason, I thought these would be a little bigger, but regardless, they're GREAT! The likenesses are nearly perfect and all the little details seem spot-on. Having swappable "regular" and "guitar pick" hands was a nice touch. These are a no-brainer for any Bill & Ted fan! I think they're about $35 each on the Incendium website. They also have the "Bogus Journey" variants, The Grim Reaper, and the Phone Booth, all of which I'll hopefully be picking up soon. I got a couple of other things but I'll be posting them in the appropriate thread. |
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