Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

A general discussion forum, plus hauls and silly games.
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JediTricks
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Re: Fall 2021 Hauls!!!

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TF Kingdom Core Soundwave - awesome awesome awesome!

TF K Waspinator - better than I expected, some charm, some misfires

TF Golden Disc Puffer/Road Ranger - Puffer is nicer than Huffer, the Pipes remold has better arms and this version has better paint; Road Ranger's ok but the same flaws as Huffer; neither fixes the alt mode issue.

Marvel Legends FF classic Thing - amazing figure, huge and great new heads.

ML Spider-Man No Way Home Doctor Strange - eerily great likeness, good body and accessories, the best Doctor Strange movie 1 figure ever.

Star Wars Black Series Artillery Trooper - a good use of the new Stormtrooper body, color isn't quite a match, and mortar accessory doesn't pack away that well, but overall solid.
Shockwave wrote: Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:11 pm Alright, I'm upgrading Gnaw to an A-. I really should spend a few days fiddling with these things before I post reviews. So, after I attached the back piece, it actually does stay and doesn't partsform. In fact, none if it actually needs to partsform once you get it assembled. And, looking at him from different angles makes me appreciate the alt form a little more. I don't really think it was meant to be seen from the angle I was looking at before. Overall, it's a good version of Gnaw, I'd recommend getting him if you find him.
I'm glad to hear you gave him a second chance and like him more. I was totally confused by your claim of partsforming on that figure, as I hadn't experienced that, but the back piece not being assembled fully makes a lot of sense in that context.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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andersonh1
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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The local Ollie's discount had some Transformers on their shelves and a 35% discount on all toys, so I picked up Rung, mainly for the character rather than for any sort of interesting transformation. It's a mini-con sized figure with limited articulation and transformation, and I think he turns into some kind of gun which is essentially laying the robot down on his back, flipping a cover over his head and stretching his arms up, after which some "energy blasts" are attached to the feet. But he's a comics-first character that's migrated into the toyline and the price was right.

Decent pictures can be found on Hasbro's site: https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/product/t ... 2DA9E0D0E8
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JediTricks
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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Dang, he showed up at Ollies? That figure's been hotly demanded. I have 2 of him, his transformation is nothing special but it's great to have the character.

Some "around Xmas" hauls, including presents:

GI Joe Classified Duke variant (a present) - an adequate figure that doesn't look as goofy since he's not gold and electric blue all over, but does feel like he's missing something to replace that. Duke is kind of a lameass which is why I never got him, but once my Classified collection got this big I realized the Joes needed help and put him on my wishlist.

MOTU Origins Mosquitor - love this guy, so much fun. Wish he wasn't priced as a deluxe, but at least I got him for $20 instead of more. His heads are weird even for MOTU, one is pretty goofy and one is creepy but huge. His gimmick is delightful, but they molded warnings on his back to compensate.

SW Black Series Bodhi Rook - really fantastic figure, amazing likeness, great articulation, design is very appropriate to the character. The goggles on his forehead aren't removable or movable, but they are rubbery which is quite cool. A real understated gem of a figure.

Daisy Red Ryder 650-shot BB Rifle (a present) - great packaging, nice BB gun for a cheapo carbine that won't have spit for accuracy over any real distances, a lovely throwback to the classic and to A Christmas Story (although this isn't the version they sold to imitate the fictional one in the film that had the sundial and compass, those turned out to be from a totally unrelated BB gun of that era not made by Daisy, shaped like a shotgun actually).
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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andersonh1
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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JediTricks wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 12:29 pm Dang, he showed up at Ollies? That figure's been hotly demanded. I have 2 of him, his transformation is nothing special but it's great to have the character.
They had a whole peg of him at one point. Just two or three left when I went in the other day, so I pulled the trigger and bought one. I got my Titans Return Fortress Maximus at Ollies a few years back for $40. They don't have a lot of Transformers, but a good bargain can be had there from time to time.
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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Bought a couple of Golden Age Superman newspaper strip collections: 1942-44 and 1947-49 to plug the gaps in what I already owned. It's interesting reading the character in the newspaper comics, because apart from some early stories that appear both there and in the comics, the newspaper series takes off in it's own direction and has it's own pacing given that the entire story was told in 3-4 panel segments on a daily basis. The writers experimented with some much longer storylines than they could in 13 page comics, including one that ran for months where a group of scientists try various different methods to kill Superman.

The Superman newspaper strip ran from 1939 to 1966. I had the early years in paperback volumes by Kitchen Sink Press, then more recently IDW has been reprinting them for the Library of American Comics. I understand LOAC has parted ways from IDW and gone to another publisher after all the Sunday strips have been reprinted (thanks to Mark Waid having a near complete run of them which he let them scan), and all the 1940s and 1960s Superman daily strips. All they're missing is the 1950s, and apparently those are very hard to find, so they have some but not enough to complete any three year volumes.

Interesting to see that Jor-L and Lara and the most complete early version of how they discovered that Krypton was doomed and sent their son out into space was told in the newspaper strip, not the comics. There's a lot more World War 2 content in the Sunday color strips than the comics indulged in, including a 2-year long storyline "Superman's service to servicemen" where soldiers write in and Superman tries to answer their requests.
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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Most of January was dry, then I got hit with a few preorders and some good sale prices at the stores.

Kingdom Slammer - good toy, not perfect but a fun one. I posted more thoughts in the Kingdom section.

McFarlane Three Jokers Batman - decent, a little too "all beef" in the torso, head, shoulders, and the constipated expression, but likable "all around" Batman figure. Mine thankfully wasn't a breaking sample. The classic logo on the chest and the '89 movie belt help make this even more my speed. The floating crotch piece goes out of sorts easily. The ball-jointed butterfly shoulders have almost no range of motion due to sculpting choices, that's my biggest issue.

McFarlane White Knight Batcycle - Target clearance for $9.14 down from $30. A cool vehicle, rolls very smoothly, huge rubber tires. Sculpting is uneven, could be sharper in the front half and it really lacks detail inside the forks. Collapsing front end is a cool feature, the outer panels even slide further in and pull further out to lock into place, I know it's from the comic in long mode but I prefer the shorter mode as it uses more of the space in between the forks.

Marvel Legends retro (6") Shocker - a nice repaint of this mold on a huge, tough cardback that is a total throwback to my days haunting Kaybee toys and seeing this guy all the time. Comes with swappable hands, fist and open. For some reason, they keep giving Shocker these blast effects that are clearly comic book magic, they're spheres and circles, kinda looks like a grape vine, but I'll take it over nothing. This version's sporting sculpted but unpainted costume lines, both the cartoon and the original Toy Biz toy had painted lines but the toy back then had it way too heavy, I kinda dig this look better.

ML retro (6") Mr. Fantastic - found on clearance, I decided The Thing needed his buddy, and it's a pretty nice figure. The base body is fine, nothing special really, an older lanky Spidey body I think, but the head sculpt and paint are great together, the expression is fantastic, the removable labcoat is fun, the swappable lab arms and costume arms are good and easy to swap, and the stretched hands swap easily with the regular hands.

ML retro (6") Human Torch - once I had those two, it was time to use some xmas gift card value, so I got Johnny Storm all flamed-on in classic painted black lines style which is a great throwback, and gold eyes to sell some humanity in the face. It's on a newer but not brand new Spidey body which has really nice poseability and range of motion. The head, forearms, and fists are sculpted and painted with a flame effect; there's also a flaming piece that sits on his shoulders, although doesn't stay plugged in, and flame swirls to put around his ankles; his final accessory is non-flamey hands. He's really great, and now I have all the Fantastic Four if I count the Invisible Woman being 100% invisible ;) (I'll wait for either Sue Storm figure in this line to go on clearance, the regular or the transparent version.)

Masters of the Universe Origins Deluxe Ram Man - this figure, I hate to say it, is underwhelming. I actually bought him a month ago but intended to return him, then got a discount pricematch so I kept him. He's not a great MOTU-O figure because he's missing articulation at the hips and ankles to accommodate the spring-loaded gimmick. The puffy, soft sculpting on the arms is a huge drag, and he can't hold some accessories. He's sold as a deluxe by adding a second left hand (one that can, you know, hold things), an alternate head that doesn't seem to be based on any concept or comic art, and another axe which can plug end-to-end with the original.

MOTU-O Lords of Power Beast Man - found him at the Mattel Store's reopening, $15 and if you're a member for free of their club you get 10% off, so $13.50. Having not found the regular Beast Man, this is actually a bit of an improvement as I'm not cartoon-specific on this line, and he looks way more fierce with the new headsculpt. The new forearms aren't quite furry enough, it was sculpted in but cast soft for the little claws. But he's really neat and a great addition.

MOTU-O Stridor - Target had 15% off so I grabbed the horsey. At first it feels silly getting the horsey toy out of the package, but it's a really fun vehicle/character, this robo/cyborg war horse is huge and well-armed. He comes with a removable bit/reins that pops out of his spring-loaded mouth, removable head armor and an alternate, larger armor piece that I think looks better, removable front guns that have a peg on the outside so MOTU-O figures can wield them, 3 blast effects, and stand with a base inspired by Grayskull. Some decent head and leg articulation, not perfect but enough going on to be fun. The blast effects have caused stress marks on the tips of all 3 of his cannons, so they'll hang out with the Sky Sled's unused blast effect.

Star Wars The Vintage Collection Bib Fortuna - nice update of the character, new head, torso, arms, and cloth robe are all great, but he's way too tall.

SW TVC Lobot - another nice update, new everything except legs, he is really nice, the only drawback is his lower neck ball joint pops out of its socket a bit easy, but it's not falling out.

SW The Black Series Jedha Patrol Stormtrooper - this is a super nice figure, I was not at all expecting it. It's the updated new Stormtrooper body, but everything's painted tighter (except the stomach panel which is unpainted) and the helmet's glued onto the head perfectly, then they gave him an orange shoulder pauldron and a backpack with a huge antenna straight out of Rogue One. The backpack's a pain to get on the figure even though the upper straps can be pulled out, it's easier to just remove the head, remove the pauldron, then put the backpack on and replace the other parts.

GI Joe Classified Series BAT - this is a cool figure, both forearms are removable and swap with a backpack full of alternatives, there's a pistol and holster on the left, a swappable battle-damaged head and chest panel, but something feels a touch underwhelming. It's good, but it's missing that sparkle for me, maybe I just miss the lenticular chest sticker of the original, or maybe the double-barbell neck joint doesn't do it for me. I have two but I don't think I'm going to bother with more.

GI Joe Classified Series Alley Viper - oh man, this is an amazing figure. I have a soft spot for the original Alley Viper, but even if I didn't this thing has so many accessories - a fold-down visor you attach when you get the figure, two little knives which fit in the forearm sheath and the chest sheath, a riot shield on a rotating mount, a submachine gun, a machine pistol both with removable and swappable mags, a pistol that fits in the leg holster, a backpack, a removable grappling gun, and a removable grappling hook - and everything fits on the figure at once. The Cobra version of a SWAT guy is awesome and I wish I had more than 1 on preorder.

Fortnite Legendary Series Seeker - found at Ross, one of Jazwares' last entries before they lost the license to Hasbro, this figure is my first, and last, Jazwares Fortnite figure and I only bought him because he looks like a cool ninja figure. But he's really short, next to my Joes and my Articulated Icons ninjas he looks like a young teen. The articulation is generally quite good, the hands opening and closing are a little frustrating but not a dealbreaker. His main weapon - the harvesting tool - is a spear with a crescent just under the tip, which makes little sense.
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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My copy of Transformers vol. 4: Declarations of War finally arrived today. Between Cheap Graphic Novels taking it's time shipping and the USPS taking its sweet time as well, it took a month to get my book. But it was well packed and in great condition.
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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I gave up on finding Siege Skywarp (or even Hotlink) and ordered the Earthrise Cybertronian Villains 2-pack of Thundercracker and Skywarp, it just arrived a few minutes ago and I haven't even opened it yet already see that Skywarp's chest paint is has a small chip on the front. I didn't like this mold all that much with Ramjet, Dirge, and Thrust, but now I'm really just depressed at how middling Hasbro's gotten -- this is not a cheap set at $65, and I am not getting satisfaction from Hasbro for a better one. I'm not really into his dull-surprise :o face but it's not horrible I guess. The purple used for his plastic is pretty dark, moreso than the character in the cartoon, G1 toy, MP, or the Classics version from *gulp* 16 years ago. Other than that, I guess I'll have more feedback when I open it, I'm expecting Earthrise Starscream in the mail to complete the Seekers in a few days.
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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I found a tiny 1" G1 Starscream figure in the retail store my daughter works at and had to have it for the novelty alone. I'll have to post some pictures of this thing. It's molded in very light gray plastic with red, blue and yellow paint aps, but the head is unpainted plastic. No idea what this figure is, I'll have to do a search and find out.

The old guys on the Collected Editions board talking about this crazy book (and a 55% off price at InStockTrades) convinced me that I wanted the Wonder Woman Silver Age omnibus. This series out-Silver Ages the Silver Age Flash omnibus when it comes to sheer craziness. Wonder Woman creates an entire suspension bridge about the size of the Golden Gate bridge out of a single penny in one story, and when she has to follow Steve Trevor into space in the next, she heads to, where else, Amazon Space Lab on Paradise Island, where Amazons with short haircuts and white lab coats are testing a new space suit. And here I thought these ladies lived in a vaguely Bronze Age society with a little magic on the side! This book is crazy in the best way and so much fun to read, which makes it worth the purchase.
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Re: Winter 2021-22 Hauls!!!

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I got the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Studio Series, and I like B-127. His leg panels work, his color looks nice, his sculpting's good. His biggest drawback is his proportions with a tiny head and very wide shoulders.

BBSS Kup and Cliffjumper I'm not as sure about. I think I prefer the clear windshields, even if they aren't as G1 toy accurate.

Also got the Star Wars Black Series Carbonized figures - Shoretrooper and Paz Vizsla - and both look great.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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