September/October Hauls

[andersonh1]

Here's hoping that September will be a more active month for us than August!

Today's haul: the Robin Archives, vol. 1. Robin had his own solo feature in Star Spangled Comics starting in 1947. It's been awhile since I bought a DC archive, and I prefer Golden Age to Silver Age, so I'd had this on my list for some time. Tim Drake may have been the first Robin to get his own solo series, but Dick Grayson had the first solo Robin feature. Take that, Drake!

[Onslaught Six]

I did pick up some stuff recently that's been occupying my time, hence my lack of activity--beyond TF being kind of dead right now, especially if you don't care for OpMax.

-Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. I have literally been waiting for this game for something like three years, and so far it's lived up to everything. I've already beat the "main" story (Mission 31 of 50) and it's pretty great. Definitely a GOTY contender; play this game even if you never played Metal Gear, or if you hated past installments, because this one changes a LOT.
-CW Bombshell. On sale for $7, hard to pass up. He's alright, but honestly I have the G1 Insecticons reissue from a few years ago, and they almost seem like better toys--I didn't get Shrapnel (but I guess I have to now) and the other guy isn't even announced, is he?
-Marvel Universe Star Lord and Drax: On sale for $5 each; picked up a Rocket Racoon on eBay that will show up in a few days to complete the trio. Now I just need a Groot and, well, for Hasbro to make a Gamora in this scale. They aren't the movie versions, but I like their matching uniforms, and they didn't do proper movie versions of these guys in this scale anyway. Hasbro's near abandonment of decent figures in the 4" scale (especially for Marvel) kinda sucks, but I understand it. The new Star Wars don't even look all that great, unless there's a proper TVC/"Black" series 4" scale Force Awakens lineup that my job just doesn't carry (which is possible; we have a shitty department manager who doesn't care what we get in stock, just as long as there's shit on the shelves. We literally still have a wave of AOE crap that's been sitting in the Generations spot since literally last August.) $5 a pop for a proper MU toy isn't bad at all though.

Oh yeah, and I dropped my phone at work and broke it. So I'll be getting a new one...soon.

[Shockwave]

A new job. After spending the last three months working part time at Target and fighting to get my old job back (which failed), yesterday I was offered a position in a contact center. It'll be about the same I was at before with reasonably comparable benefits, so it seems like this year will end on a high note.

Yeah, the new SW figures are ass. We're literally back to the stone age here. They all look like old school Kenner toys from 35 years ago. It's just unacceptable. I was shopping at a BX (the military's department store) with my parents a couple weeks ago and even my Mom noticed the difference. Upside is that I'm getting the 4" Black series Imperial Naval Officer for Christmas.

[JediTricks]

I've been sick since my birthday, so I guess I'll give some birthday haul highlights:

Star Wars The Force Awakens Tervis tumbler (I am not sure how I feel about the film, but it's nice having a modern SW Tervis to go with my classic SW Tervis)

Cheesecake Factory $50 gift card

new model Sonicare toothbrush with extra brush head and travel case

2TB portable hard drive

shirts

Batman: Arkham Origins for PS3 (adequate game if you haven't played other Arkham games, but definitely not up to snuff with the series)

Rick & Morty season 1 blu ray

32gb Sandisk Extreme Pro SD card

----

and also since then...

Star Wars Hot Wheels Kylo Ren character car

Star Wars Hot Wheels Zeb Orellios character car

Star Wars Titanium Series The Force Awakens X-wing

Boomco Farshot blaster (fairly accurate, feels cheap but so far so good quality even if dart straw things aren't as satisfying as Nerf; that said, the damned thing has no iron sights and the darts jog off-mark at the last foot so it's very frustrating to come so close to landing shots. Also, blue/green darts are terrible color for finding.)

Nerf N-Strike Elite MEGA Cycloneshock (6 MEGA darts, no waiting, shoots pretty darn far)

Nerf N-Strike Modulus Stealth Ops pack

Star Wars Nerf deluxe Stormtrooper blaster (thank goodness it was on sale because it's not worth the $40 it asks)

Star Wars The Force Awakens 6" Chewbacca

Aukey bluetooth earbuds

Transformers Combiner Wars Mirage

Transformers Combiner Wars Prowl

[Onslaught Six]

Star Wars The Force Awakens Tervis tumbler (I am not sure how I feel about the film, but it's nice having a modern SW Tervis to go with my classic SW Tervis)

I don't think any of us will be sure how we feel about the film until December.

Batman: Arkham Origins for PS3 (adequate game if you haven't played other Arkham games, but definitely not up to snuff with the series)

We're literally back to the stone age here. They all look like old school Kenner toys from 35 years ago. It's just unacceptable.

I dunno about THAT. You want 35 year old Kenner designs, check out some of that ReAction crap. (The Alien designs that started the line were obviously great because they were actual cancelled toys from 1979. Everything since has been like...Why am I paying $2 per POA? GI Joes cost the same price and even the shitty ones are loaded.)


ANYWAY! Got some shit I've been wanting:

-Generations Hoist. Just plain missed this one, found him cheap, got him cheap. He's Hoisty.
-ROTF Skystalker. This fucking bastard, entirely too hard to find, even on eBay, and largely overpriced. I got him for $25 shipped which is ridiculous for a Basic from 2009, but in an age where even now Basics are $10, and considering shipping and that he was complete (always the possibility of him not being when buying secondhand) and for such a hard to find figure, a $15 markup is not actually all that bad. I am rapidly approaching a point where I have more money than patience to grab stupid shit I've wanted for a while, so jumping on this when I've found it for under $30 is actually pretty good. Have not tried him out with Mindwipe yet.
-RID Dreadwing and Smokejumper. That's their names, right? Whatever. They're great toys! I only own a G2 release of Dreadwing without the arm panels or any missiles, so to get the whole set complete (with ALL the missiles!) is pretty neat, and there's that cool "RID/Universe 1.0" feel that's great. Now that I have them, I actually think their colour layouts are fairly close to BB and Starscream, just in a military camo-type style instead of the black and purple from the Japanese release. I dig it a lot more than I thought I would; these guys were mostly on the list for completionist's sake but their play value and colours are largely pulling me towards them. Something about this era of toys, man.

[Shockwave]

We're literally back to the stone age here. They all look like old school Kenner toys from 35 years ago. It's just unacceptable.

I dunno about THAT. You want 35 year old Kenner designs, check out some of that ReAction crap. (The Alien designs that started the line were obviously great because they were actual cancelled toys from 1979. Everything since has been like...Why am I paying $2 per POA? GI Joes cost the same price and even the shitty ones are loaded.)

Except I do. I had almost all of the Kenner figures back in the early 80's, and these are exactly like that but new characters. Yeah, the same goes for that ReAction crap too. I seriously have to believe they release those as a joke. But for Hasbro to seriously give us the Kenner style crap as the starting line up of Episode 7 figures? Fuck that. A whopping 5 points of articulation? Check. Robed characters with their robes forming huge plastic legs and arms? Check. The accessories are better, I'll grant them that, at least we don't have those telescoping, stuck in the arm lightsabers from the Kenner days, but jeez, this is just a big pile of fail. The vehicles look nice though.

[Dominic]

Those new SW figures are bad enough that I want to movie to be bad. (Seriously, if I end up liking that movie and cannot get a good figure of a favourite character, I will be pissed.) On the other hand, at least they are toys I can easily skip.



The ReAction figures are especially offensive as they include characters that I want good toys of. (I want a good "fleshed" T-800 or T-1000. Why are those "Predator" figures so awful?) Of course, the retro-80s properties are forgivable in that they look like the toys would have looked had they made toys of R-rated movies back then.

The Buffy or "Nightmare Before Chistmas" lines do not even work with the joke of (that is) the line.

[andersonh1]

Deja vu: another of the shrinking list of Golden Age DC archives I want arrived today: The Shazam! Archives volume 3. This book contains stories from back in the day when the original Captain Marvel could have his name on the cover of the comic book.

[Onslaught Six]

Those new SW figures are bad enough that I want to movie to be bad. (Seriously, if I end up liking that movie and cannot get a good figure of a favourite character, I will be pissed.) On the other hand, at least they are toys I can easily skip.

Black Series is supposed to be for you, then. Of course, that carries its own host of problems (like the fact that 99% of Star Wars collectors have every character they want already in 4" scale) but that's the direction Hasbro seems to be going.

I still think these are closer to the 90s SW toys than they are the 70s. Articulation aside, these are at least sculpted and painted well (for Hasbro standards) and look like the characters in the movie (from what we know).

The ReAction figures are especially offensive as they include characters that I want good toys of. (I want a good "fleshed" T-800 or T-1000. Why are those "Predator" figures so awful?) Of course, the retro-80s properties are forgivable in that they look like the toys would have looked had they made toys of R-rated movies back then.

I can understand the appeal to someone who would be nostalgic for that era of toys (for whatever reason) but I was born in 1989; the 3.75" scale died its final death with GI Joe until Star Wars revived it again, and I wasn't into Star Wars toys as a kid--and the prequels just solidified that. Wasn't until the mid-2000s when I rediscovered 80s film and started to plow through everything that I reinvigorated an interest in SW, purely as a "these were great movies" exercise, the same way I like Back to the Future or Terminator.

That said, there are many more options for good (or great) Terminator or Predator toys if that's what you're looking for. NECA is actually killing it, their Predator figures look amazing, especially their newest Dark Horse Comics version. Just look at this thing! And at about $25, it's actually affordable!
http://www.comicbookresources.com/imgsr ... -15f69.jpg

[Dominic]

The NECA T-800 is not bad. The biggest objective problem is the lack of accessories. (The included gun is consistent with the movie. But, I would prefer more/other guns for the endo-skeleton.) Personally, would want an infiltrator type. (I might still end up buying one.)

The Re-Action line is crap. I am old enough to remember that standard being *the* standard. And, Joes blew away SW toys. Renember when knees on non-Joes were a big deal. 7 points of articulation was standard 15+ years ago. 10 was average 10+ years ago. Current "Star Wars" is worse than stuff from 20 years ago.

Black Series is supposed to be for you, then. Of course, that carries its own host of problems (like the fact that 99% of Star Wars collectors have every character they want already in 4" scale) but that's the direction Hasbro seems to be going.

The big problems with the 6 inch figures is that they are more expensive (obviously) and more limited in scope. (One of the strengths of SW has always been the range of characters, and iterations of characters. That cannot happen in a 6 inch line.)