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NECA TMNT: Movie Splinter/Shredder and Cartoon Triceratons

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Walt

I was (pleasantly!) shocked last Friday browsing a local Walmart.

In the 7-8 MONTHS that the chain has exxxxxxxclusivvvvvvvely had NECA TMNT movie figures, I’ve never so much as seen a single figure.

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Buuuuuut finally came across a lone two-pack: Shredder and Splinter!

So, snagged it on principle. It would be great to find one of the Foot packs, but who knows. It’d be EVEN BETTER to just simply be able to order the figures in general withOUT being limited to a SINGLE WEEK that happens ONLY ONE TIME EVER. To have a product that is simply produced, in reasonable numbers to meet demand, and last over time. Especially for generic/army-building.

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Then, over the weekend–Saturday–with rumours and a couple of Facebook sightings shared during the week, ventured out to Target about 40 minutes away and lucked across Zarax and Zork…which (with last summer‘s Slash and Leatherhead "pre-order") brings me current except for the April vs. Foot Soldier box.

I wouldn’t mind getting a couple of the generic Triceraton grunt…but while that’d be cool for mini-army-building, when I’d gotten the original Playmates Triceraton in the ’80s prior to reading the comics, I’d thought the character’s NAME was simply "Triceraton" and it wasn’t until the 2003 cartoon’s toyline got to having Trieratons that I snagged multiples. And given the nature of NECA‘s line…yeah.

While I’m (7+ months later) finally getting close to "current" with the line and while NECA DOES seem to have handled the Krang’s Android Body and Baxter and Splinter release farrrrrrrr better than any prevous release…I do NOT yet "trust" them.

I suppose THAT could come depending on how they handle the upcoming Rat King and Vernon and Frogs and Ace Duck and such.

In the meantime, though…I continue to willfully NOT buy any OTHER NECA products as long as I am missing any previously-released TMNT boxes–which for now, is that April vs. Foot Soldier one.

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Due to the extreme hassle of finding ANY of the boxes in general, even when I WOULD find one, I’ve NOT opened any of the figures, as I’m loathe to display them on a shelf with the looming notion of being done with the line. I’ve "grudgingly" built up a stack of the things over the last 14 or so months, though.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Lanard Aliens Collection 2021

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Walt

It was right about a year ago–1/28/2020–that I happened across Lanard‘s Alien Collection figures for their 2020 output. They had a 12" Queen, 3 Xenomorph packs, a Xeno + power loader, and a vehicle. But that was then.

[I’ve titled this post with Aliens plural. The named branding on the boxes is singular, but I go interchangeably with the plural for the general historical branding that came out of the films and such. The Alien vs Aliens semantics as a sweeping/universal brand is–to me–a subject for some other post another time.]

I never really had use for nor cared about the human characters in the Alien playsets last year. I bought them FOR the Xenomorph figures. And in a world where a similarly-scaled figure is routinely $13 or more, $10 for a Xeno, a human, AND accessories…I was always more than happy to pay $10.

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Now we get significantly larger Alien figures–7" or so–with accessories–and we’re STILL at the $10 price point!

This also certainly beats the $26-$30+ for NECA Aliens figures. (All the more given that–at present–I’m personally refusing to buy any NECA product EXCEPT what TMNT I can actually find until I have "completed" my set of the basic TMNT releases.)

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Having fun Aliens with good sculpts from Lanard absolutely scratches the "Aliens itch" for me and at a price point I’m much happier with!

Plus at the lower price point and basic sculpting…there’s a lot more room for me to do some decent "army-building" and "customizing."

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Thoughhhhh thus far the extent of my customizing is essentially "aim black spray-paint at a figure." I spray-painted several dupes last year including a Queen and have been pretty satisfied with the end result.

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That said…I’ve also appreciated the brighter colors in large part for the nostalgia of the old Kenner figures. Said nostalgia also led to me purchasing a couple of the vintage figures last year to add to my shelf of Xenos.

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Unfortunately, I’ve more or less run out of space on the Aliens shelves…especially with the inclusion of Predators in the mix.

Though I should be able to squeeze these 7" figures in without TOO much trouble offhand.

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Fitting multiple additional Queens in are a whole different matter–given their bulk…and their tails!

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This new deluxe Queen being red works on MULTIPLE levels!

Firstly, it’s a new color to differentiate from last year’s purple Queen. Secondly it’s another brightly-colored figure like the rest of this line. And thirdly, it works given the ALIENS: GENOCIDE comics & novel history with the Red Aliens developing and fighting with the typical Aliens.

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I’m not particularly impressed with the sound effects of the figure and don’t really get the "light up" purpose. But considering the price point is EXACTLY THE SAME as the no-electronic version, and I’m basically just DISPLAYING the things, it doesn’t bother me! I’d much rather "have to" ignore sound effects that are manually-activated than having to "ignore" something visually-displeasing.

While the Queen alien is basically a slightly-enhanced re-issue of the purple; and these other 3 are essentially just scaled-up versions of the smaller ones from last year: I’m quite happy with them, and look forward to getting a few more.

I’m also VERY happy with them seeming like they’ll be quite plentiful/available in general DESPITE being Walmart-exxxxxxxclusive. Until the 2020 stuff was clearanced out, I feel like throughout the year I rarely–if ever–saw the Lanard Alien Collection pegs bare. Which is QUITE the opposite of other lines such as the Retro GI Joe where I think I’ve only 3 times seen ANY figures whatsoever present.

Even better than just these Alien figures is that Lanard ALSO has Predator figures! (Which I’ll likely be covering next!)

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of January 20, 2021

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Walt

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Another mixed week of stuff. First time in awhile that I’ve snagged a "current Marvel" due to the writer!

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So I may have known there was a new Iron Fist comic coming, but what I had not consciously noted was that it was written by Larry Hama. That alone would be enough to sell me on it. But something about the cover also helped sell it. I haven’t decided if it quite fits my recent Bought it For the Cover category, as I think I’m holding that for "live" attention-grabbed-by-the-cover.

We’ve got the second issue of Batman/Catwoman…and I’ve figured I’d give it at least the first 3 issues or so. Though all coming a year later than they were supposed to, a certain sense of relevance has worn off.

I’m continuing to enjoy Walking Dead Deluxe…#7 here starts the 2nd arc, which puts us juuuust past the "novelty" of a colorized vol. 1 graphic novel. Though come to think of it, I think it was said that these color editions are NOT going to be collected anytime soon…so I dunno. My frustrations in general particularly with DC of late (kinda "numb" to Marvel) leave me embracing stuff like WDD as something a bit outside the norm but holding enough familiarity to feel normal.

It’s sort of annoying on principle that IDW let BOTH the new issue (#113) of TMNT as well as the secondary mini-series (TMNT: Jennika II) both come out the same week. Along with generally spacing all books from a given publisher across a month, it seems that attention should be given to spacing books that are part of the same tight "family of titles" are spaced out as well. This issue of TMNT itself seems to pick up a bit from the past year’s worth of issues; we have a couple of "new/classic" characters introduced…though the issue certainly does NOT fit the solicitation suggestion of what happens in the issue! And I think I read Jennika II #1, but wasn’t even interested enough to read #2 (yet)…buying because it’s technically TMNT and I have every (regular cover) single-issue of TMNT and non-promotional minis/one-shots as published by IDW thus far.

Then there’s the newest Dawn of X TPB–vol. 11. Still wanting to support these, and hoping they at least continue through/including X of Swords, and ideally beyond. Though they could do to be a bit more frequent given the addition of other titles, specials, and mini-series. Collecting half a month’s worth of books each month (or less-frequent) helps lose relevance. 11 volumes in is quite an investment at this point, but proven to be a cool (to me) way to get stuff that does NOT involve having to chase down numerous iterations/printings/etc of a bunch of titles with oodles of variants apiece and all that.

Finally…Batman/Catwoman #1. Yup…#1. Cuz dummy that I am, I misplaced the copy I’d bought a couple months ago when it came out. So I opted to buy a new copy since it was available (and at cover price!) so I could read that and then #2, instead of allowing another series to get backlogged because I can’t find a previous issue. Not something I’ll do regularly…and having read the first two issues now, I can honestly say that I have no idea what’s really going on, except it seems to be split between at least three different time periods, though I’m guessing since there are NO captions to clearly deliniate "present" or "the future" or "a few years from now" or whatever. Nothing even particularly clear to separate any "present" from "flashback." But 105 issues of Batman since 2016, 85ish of those being the basis for B/C and I’m stubbornly interested in seeing stuff to its conclusion, however challenging that’s become.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Bought it For the Cover: X-Force (Dawn of X) #14

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Walt

Here we are with another Bought it For the Cover post in the same week!

(Well, to be perfectly transparent, it was the fact of having TWO of these that I even noticed/considered a pattern and said pattern seemed ripe for a "feature," so…yeah.)

Bought it For the Cover Archive:

As is sometimes the case on "smaller" weeks, I’ll take an extra look at comics to see if/what catches my eye, to try to allow a bit of serendipity to remain. All the more as I’m increasingly discouraged by the newest stuff from Marvel and DC, and the lack of "ongoing-ness" of titles, and yet also a bit of nostalgia and "missing" being able to just browse and come across something new.

In this case, I was curious about the X of Swords thing and browsing the section of the recent-back-issues rack.

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I noticed the "trade dress," I think, for X of Swords where the story title was at the top of issues and the actual series’ title was lower/at the bottom of the cover. Sorta makes the event/crossover story dominant and the actual titles secondary…which "works" for me, at least for NOT being particularly invested at the moment.

I’m sure what FIRST really caught my eye for this particular issue was the familiar-looking depiction of Wolverine…while it reminds me a lot of the way the character appeared in the ’90s, albeit reined in a bit. Even NOT being able to see the claws for what I could see of the cover in the rack, I recognized Wolverine. And he’s holding some sort of blade (hey, X of SWORDS!) reflecting other characters.incredible_hulk_340

While it’s hardly the most dynamic of covers, it’s certainly "iconic" in its way–to me, at least. But also like Amazing Spider-Man #54, I think it sparked a bit of memory to an older comic.

Specifically, Incredible Hulk #340.

While the images are not nearly as similar as on the Spidey issue, the prominence of Wolverine’s face and a blade reflecting someone is there. Loose? You betcha. Relevant? Duh.

And again…this is NOT a first issue, nor is it the first chapter of a new story. It also is not–to MY knowledge up to/as of this typing–an issue with any particular hype or specific anything. It’s essentially JUST "another issue" of some series; a latter chapter, but not penultimate or finale of a crossover/event series, not a series I’ve bought any prior issues for, read any issues of, and so on.

It’s isolated.

It’s the cover that caught my eye, drew me in, and I wound up liking it and bought it.

Perhaps BECAUSE I 1. liked it and 2. it’s NOT a variant cover.

I’ve yet to read the issue. And it may languish as too many other issues also do–bought but unread for awhile–despite initial enthusiasm and being interested enough to purchase the thing.

But as with other issues that will get their own Bought it For the Cover spotlight…the main thing is that the cover catches my attention, I like the cover, and buy the issue due to liking the cover…AND it’s NOT a variant.

The 11th Dawn of X volume should be out by the time this post goes "live," and that’s the way I’m choosing to follow this "era" of X-Books generally…all the more due to so many variants and multiple printings and speculation and seeming so tied together that one has to be all-in…not to mention annoyance at Hickman‘s (or inspired-by-Hickman) white-space and credits pages and infographics and such that I’d rather buy collected editions than be annoyed at the individual page-counts and wastes of space in single issues.

I don’t know if X of Swords will simpy be contained within (multiple?) volumes of the anthology-style Dawn of X paperbacks or if it’ll be its own Omnibus-sized thing. With 22-some chapters, though, it seems ripe to simply be contained in 4-ish DoX paperbacks.

Time will tell. Meanwhile…this issue will either need to be read, or find itself orphaned in a box somewhere for awhile.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, Bought it For the Cover, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The TSR Comics Spark 2021

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Walt

As we head toward December 51st, 2020…

I’ve yet to get together any end-of-year or new-year post…pretty sure that’s not happening this year.

I have, however, been meaning to do a post updating my "Grails" and such, but hvaen’t gotten to that, as yet.

So in a sort of "spin-off" or "prologue to" or whatever on that…figured I’d share on what will likely amount to my 2021 iteration of 2020’s intention to hunt down missing Marvel 2099 books.

I’m not sure when it was that I’d come across my original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comics, but they’re issues I’ve had bagged and boarded for years–decades, really–and they’d been sitting out to keep aware of their location until last spring when I organized my X-Men and related books at the time. These had to find a new home and wound up on a shelf with my Dragonlance stuff.

More recently, I’d grabbed the Dragonlance: Fifth Age issue for bathroom-reading and enjoyed the issue well enough for what it was–though it was still rather vague, cheesey, and hardly anything wonderful. It was nostalgic, and re-ignited a bit more of my interest in the Fifth Age stuff (along with the game books the other week from Half-Price Books) such that I’m also listening to the first book of the Fifth Age novels on Audible.

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Having read the Dragonlance issue–which I specifically remember getting from a Waldenbooks back in the day–I decided to move on to the Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour issue. That one proved to be a bit of a slog, requiring multiple reading sessions to get through. A lot of walls of (tiny!) text and such…but appropriate for being a promo comic to introduce one TO the Forgotten Realms setting. This was another issue I remember getting from Waldenbooks.

Somewhere along the way, over the years, I acquired the Labyrinth of Madness issue. This one I do NOT recall getting from Waldenbooks–which is not to say I didn’t, but I don’t recall specifically getting it, only that I had it grouped with the other two issues, so obviously recognized it as what it is in a promo issue from a certain time. It’s as likely that I snagged it from a quarter-bin at some point.

But the point of this post, and the way these are a "TSR comics spark" for 2021 comes from an ad in the World Tour issue above.

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So along with the Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Labyrinth of Madness (apparently "generic AD&D") issues, there were also Planescape and Birthright issues!

birthright_serpents_eye_mcs_stock_imageNow consciously knowing this, and being YEARS removed from whenever I’d picked up the third issue…I was able to hop online to do some searching for these "missing" issues to complete my "set."

I quickly learned that apparently the Planescape issue never saw print, though was released online at one point as a digital/online comic. Ok, scratch ONE off the list.

Further digging and I eventually located a copy of the Birthright issue for sale via some 3rd-party seller on Amazon. I paid a little more than I might have liked, but as a promotional issue, "limited edition" that I hadn’t even consciously remembered/known existed and certainly not being something I’ve come across in bargain bins (I definitely would have bought it if I had!), I decided to hold my nose and go for it, just to save myself the hassle and "grail-ness" of the thing.

But then, that wasn’t enough for me.

I was already searching for TSR comics and recalled the ’80s/early-’90s Dragonlance series from DC; along with a Forgotten Realms and a Spelljammer series.

So I did some further re-searching and ultimately was able to order the entire series for Forgotten Realms (which, now as I type this, I suddenly vaguely recall snagging a small run YEARS ago from a quarter-bin…but I don’t have the time/inclination to go rummaging through unsorted longboxes for those anytime soon, so it’s a moot point). I was also able to order several of the Spelljammer issues. There were only a scant handful of Dragonlance issues available to even order, so I decided to hold off since I couldn’t just cross the series off the new list, and figure I’ll go hunting for those some other time.

But it definitely means I’m on the hunt for this "dead universe" of DC-published TSR comics; most of the Dragonlance and at least half of the Spelljammer runs. I might eventually extend to the more modern iterations of the titles such as from IDW…but those lose a certain quaint sorta "charm".

Time will tell!

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Weekly Haul: Week of January 13, 2021

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Walt

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Look at this! The third week in a row covering a week’s worth of new issues to stay current! Also the second post on this blog in as many days…with at least one more lined up before the week is done. The world will surely be back into 2020 territory at this rate!

So…another small-ish week, with some double-dip and a random purchase.

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Foremost (for me) for the week is the Captain America facsimile edition. If Marvel would actually do these as a weekly thing–some ’80s or ’90s (or earlier) facsimile edition every single week, I’d absolutely be on board with that, on principle!

Amazing Spider-Man #57 continues the fallout from Last Remains, which I got into thanks to the (non-variant!!!) cover of Amazing Spider-Man #54. I’m pretty sure this is the third issue of this title in as many weeks, and the fourth in five weeks or so. I’m not onboard for a weekly series, and even biweekly for a Marvel title is not much in the cards for me.

I couldn’t pass up the Chris Claremont Anniversary Special…it’s Claremont. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as much X as I had expected/hoped…though I really didn’t even know what TO expect at all. Still, could do a lot worse, especially for a random one-shot. And having become aware of some other "anniversary" issues coming up, I may have to settle myself in to buy some of ’em, if they have any sort of decent homages back to ’90s stuff that appeals to me…as opposed to all the modern stuff that I just don’t seem to care much for.

I picked up DC Future State: Robin Eternal #1 because it’s Robin…but I’m really NOT digging this whole Future State thing. I might have gone all-in to immerse myself in it/have this finite "event" story…but it lost me first for no bundles from DCBS (their Rebirth bundles had me all-in for over a year on at least purchasing those issues) for the event. Then there’s the variance in pricing, with at least $3.99 AND $4.99 AND $7.99 issues…maybe more prices. Also the variance in mini-series’ lengths. Some are 2 issues, some are 4…not sure if there are any one-shots/specials in addition.So last week I bought Swamp Thing and The Next Batman; this week Robin Eternal and while I’ll likely finish Swamp Thing and this, I’ve chosen to opt out of Future State otherwise, and by extension, Infinite Frontier or whatever the next "initiative" is for DC. Going through the motions otherwise.

X-Force #14 is an issue I bought due to the cover getting my attention; isolated, random purchase otherwise.

Finally, the second volume of Fire Power is out. $16.99 for the contents of 6 $3.99 comics. I’m double-dipping…I’ve been getting the single issues, but want the collected volume to go with the prelude OGN/vol. 1. And as I’m increasingly averse to Marvel and DC, I’m looking for other stuff to follow and keep with and have largely settled on Fire Power and Walking Dead Deluxe as a couple of such titles…double-dipping or otherwise.

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And this week’s Comic Shop News on its own, though it’d usually be in the main image. My photo "stage" was different this week and I couldn’t get it in the main image as a single shot. The BeQuest looks interesting…I might actually check it out. Looks like it’s from Aftershock, so it’s "eligible" where I won’t touch Boom! Studios‘ stuff, even these 5 years later after their stunt with the ratioed covers for MMPR. (Petty as it is, I actually looked to make sure the title was not Boom! here–I would have foregone the CSN cover if it was).

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Thanks to a post in the NEOTACC group on Facebook, I was made aware of the Skeletor/Panthor set from Mega Construx being in-stock at the local Walmart 5 minutes away. And waiting on a ridiculously-lengthy installation/update to Windows 10 on my work computer (thanks, Microsoft, for forcing me to work late that night to make up the time you stole!) I was able to make the 20-minue run so as to avoid complete loss of patience with my work computer…and acquire a very cool set!

I also–in looking for Skeletor/Panthor–came across the Raphael single figure, which goes with the Donatello I already have. I think I saw someone’s post recently that indicated Michelangelo and Leonardo had already been out, so I may be SOL on those, but then again, I could probably use extra weapons from other duplicates and get dupes of these more recent ones. Or just say screw it and go with what I have…will still look cool on the shelf!

And snagged the GI Joe set of metal mini-figs cuz why not? It’s the ONLY non-vehicle GI Joe thing that’s ever actually in-stock at Walmart. Maybe if they MOVED they’d get something different in, or realize they actually need more of the "retro" figures that are never in-stock.

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And then for the heckuvit, I bought the TMNT movie Casey Jones Pop vinyl that I came across at a different Walmart over the weekend. Here he is next to the older cartoon-based Casey that came out a couple years ago.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Bought it For the Cover: Amazing Spider-Man #54

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Walt

I don’t know how "regular" a "feature" this’ll be, but decided this was an appropriate sort of post to do. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I have a definitely dislike of most "variant covers." And thanks TO variants, I’ve largely felt that covers are near-meaningless now because any issue that SHOULD have an "iconic" cover has it FURTHER diluted from 2-3 covers every. single. issue. to umpteen extra covers such that there are more covers than there used to be for TWO YEARS OR MORE of any given single title. The "heat" is on the VARIANT, the CHASE, etc. Making the "regular" or "NON-variant" something "common" or "less than" or "basic" or "undesirable" or whatever.

But for Bought it For the Cover I want to highlight an issue that I bought for the cover–only, it’s the REGULAR cover.

Today, it’s The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. whatever…6? 8? 12?*) #54…ostensibly the penultimate chapter of Last Remains.

(*at this point I just figure EVERY Marvel title is at LEAST half-a-dozen volumes in, with all the reboots. Maybe sarcastic, maybe tongue-in-cheek, maybe just snarky or whatever.)

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This was an issue that grabbed my attention seeing the cover. It may be fairly generic–"just" a closeup of Spidey’s face…but rather than white eyepieces, we see a reflection of his hands as he’s shooting webbing out at the city, preparing to swing out.

spiderman_050_1994_stockimageAnd there was just something "familiar" to me about the image, that turned out to be that it’s Mark Bagley art! I’m most familiar with Bagley thanks to his stints on Ultimate Spider-Man, but apparently also on Amazing back during the ’90s.

Anyway, the image grabbed my attention, maybe also reminding me of Spider-Man #50 with a holographic/foil/shiny cover in the ’90s.

(As you’ll notice by the image being present here, I pulled the image of the aforementioned Spider-Man #50 for comparison!)

While not quite as zoomed-in/close-up, should be pretty obvious on the similarities. Prior to googling the old cover, though, I was thinking the holographic eyepieces were simply reflective…I totally forgot about (Kraven?) being visible…but having something "reflected" in the eyepieces certainly lends itself to why I "automatically" or "subconsciously" drew the comparison seeing the issue on the rack.

And being such a fan of ’90s comics–especially ’90s Marvel and DC (as well as Malibu‘s Ultraverse, and Image and such)…it was definitely the nostalgia that helped prompt me into buying the issue even though I knew it was not an opening chapter of a story; it’s by a writer whose work I’ve really not much cared for, and is the 54th issue in a run I’d NOT bought ANY issues from prior.

But that’s actually all the more the IMPACT I want to call attention to, of this simple, basic, "A", "###11", non-variant, cover.

54 issues in, zero context to the story, no particular hype that I was aware of over this issue (plenty for the NEXT issue, though with the newly-coined "webhead" cover), latter chapter of a story, not a writer I care to follow. TOTALLY the ART of the COVER prompting me to pay the $3.99.

No advance hype for this cover reaching me, I wasn’t aware it was gonna be out, I wasn’t looking for it, and even though it caught my attention, I wasn’t even going to BUY it.

But I wound up doing so.

And thanks to this REGULAR cover, I wound up getting the entire Last Remains arc and two issues of epilogue/fallout after the official story itself.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, Bought it For the Cover, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Weekly Haul: Week of January 06, 2021

Posted on January 11, 2021 by Walt

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Another week, another batch of books. And actually a mix that INCLUDES both Marvel and DC "current issues"!

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I am absolutely NOT a "Cates Cult" person. I haven’t DISliked Cates‘ stuff that I’ve actually bought/read, but like Hickman, I find his stuff to be vastly over-hyped in general. That said, I’ve definitely been enjoying Crossover. So much so, that as a piece of extreme rarityI bought a variant cover. Spawn on the cover…and she’s reading Spawn#1. I justify this getting a "pass" because it’s NOT Marvel or DC, and I’m actively collecting Spawn, and I intend to display this issue rather than pack it away in a box or letting it languish in a stack somewhere.

Fire Power, like Walking Dead, seems to be better in chunks of issues. But with the way the series was rolled out last year, I’ve been snagging each issue as it comes out and reading/keeping up with it. It’s follow-able and NOT gory or ultra-violent in the way Invincible was, and there’s just something about it that I simply LIKE. It’s a "comfort food" sorta title that I’m glad to get each time a new issue comes out.

Walking Dead Deluxe is another Image book this week, and another Kirkman book, at that. This issue presents the concluding chapter of the first arc in color, and I can definitely say that I’m presently on-board for the long haul…as long as I can continue getting the "A" covers with no real hassle. I don’t approve of the NUMEROUS variants every issue. HOWEVER, I absolutely love that the variant cover IMAGES seem to be in a gallery of full-page presentations in the back of the issue–additional "Deluxe Content," I guess–but it allows me to HAVE the standard/"A" cover but still get to see the "full size" alternate art/images commissioned for the series. The back cover showing off the art from the ORIGINAL edition is also wonderful. New cover art original to the current deluxe/color edition; show off the original edition’s cover; and a gallery of new art by other artists; AND the entire issue is colorized instead of being a mere reprint of the black and white…THIS is the way such books should be handled, in my opinion.

I continue to snag the "facsimile edition" reprints when I can. This Captain America #117 one is an anomaly for me, though: I also have a copy of the original printing. This gives me a clear, clean, modern copy to READ, though…and to have a comparison for once. (Offhand, prior facsimile editions of issues I already owned have been much more modern and so far less difference for comparison).

It appears that I’m on the Amazing Spider-Man train for a bit…this being the third issue in 4 weeks or so that I’ve picked up new off the rack. We’ll see, though. I think I just "miss" Spider-Man, and the Bagley cover for #54 certainly points to that, as it was the blissful familiarity that prompted me to get that issue!

And then, though I’m pretty much resisting the Future State stuff, I wanted to give the Swamp Thing book a look (and may extend the same to whatever the one Robin thing is that I think I saw something about). Swamp Thing is a weird one for me…I’m not terribly INTO the character/titles, but there’s been a certain nostalgic fondness on my part going back to a comic in a 3-pack I got as a kid. Probably ALSO helps that the character isn’t exactly over-exposed…and yet has quite a history.

Finally, The Next Batman: I wasn’t planning on getting this one, but it was in with my pulls and I realized yeah, I’ve got Batman on my pull list, so it makes sense to have the ‘main’ Batman title from Future State. And it’s bi-weekly, too, so…c’est la vie! However…the thing is $7.99! I probably should have paid more attention a month or two back…and need to determine pretty quick where I’m actually officially gonna stand on Batman going forward. And if this was put in my stack so I could choose if I wanted…well, obviously I bought it, so ZERO complaint from me. Let’s just see how the story itself holds up/worthwhile.

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Here’s my actual edition Captain America #117 next to this week’s facsimile edition.

I accept "branding" stuff but not so keen on the modern Marvel logo being added, and would sorta appreciate the barcode being on the back cover. That being said…at the same time it’s good to have the modern touches like that…since many back issues are bagged/boarded and such, the barcode hidden on the back and the lack of modern Marvel logo could make it all too easy to pass the facsimile off as the original.

Over the first weekend of the new year, I was able to snag half a dozen Dragonlance RPG books. I’d swear I typed up something about the whole thing, but I’m not sure where, so now i’m "re-typing" about these!

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These were found at Half-Price Books for…well…half-price. However, they had several other volumes for something like 150% to 200% cover price, which drives me bonkers. Suffice it to say that I’m interested in the main campaign setting book, as well as the other main hardcover books…and definitely Dragons of Winter (paperback, though).

I spent more on these than I would have preferred, but I passed on several a few years ago and swore to myself that I would not miss out on them again.

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I also snagged this oversized hardcover gallery-ish volume collecting a bunch of Kevin Eastman art.

And the Booster Gold figure was a good price, and looks excellent, so got it as well. That its packaging is falling apart will likely be incentive to just open the sucker and display the figure loose.

I’d also come across Final Faction toys at Dollar Tree…I’ve detailed that in another post over the weekend already.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Final Faction

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Walt

Seems to be getting to be an annual tradition for me, unexpectedly "discovering" some new toy line in January of a new year.

In 2019, it was Lanard’s Primal Clash line of dinosaur-riding soldiers.

Last year, in 2020 it was again Lanard but with an Alien Collection.

Now in 2021, it’s Dollar Tree‘s Final Faction.

During the first weekend of the new year while browsing a local Dollar Tree store, I happened to notice some generic "GI Joe-like" figures. I’m not sure what actually caught my attention…perhaps the packaging, perhaps the logo alone, perhaps the sheer quantity of figures on pegs. Maybe it was the Mech character. Whatever the case, I ended up flipping through figures on the pegs to see what the assortment was like, and noticed that the back of the cards showed several characters.

While there were none of the alien/villain characters…they had all 5 of the "good guy" Alpha Team 1 characters, so I figured for the whopping $5 to get one of each figure, not bad…and bought ’em.

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There was a QR code on the back of the cards referencing some cartoon–and maybe that was also a selling point for me?–but the overall packaging was a definite draw.

Each character has a unique card front, which seems like a definite rarity in "dollar-store toys." Even better, each card has a unique back with a "profile" and the classic "clip and collect" note…hitting a huge nostalgia point for me.

The scale of the figures is great, too–3.75"/4" so they’re right on-par with most other figures, and likely could fit right in with modern retro GI Joe or even Star Wars figures.

Another bit of nostalgia/classic-ness is that in addition to the basic figures themselves, there are multiple accessory packs. Most of the characters come with accessories as-is, but these packs let you outfit the group with even more weaponry or add onto the A.C.R.M. and such.

While the A.C.R.M. profile indicates it’s a singular unit piloted by a single specific character…I see it as something cool for a "good guy army-builder," which seems a bit of a rarity to me.

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Here are the five unique "good guy" (Alpha Team 1) figures out of their packaging.

They’re not overly-articulated…you basically have the classic 5 points of articulation–arms and legs move, and head rotates. You also have holes for pegged accessories…particularly on the ACRM.

In watching some YouTube review of the figures, someone compared these to Happy Meal toys, and I think that’s a great point/comparison. These aren’t heavy figures by any means, and definitely DO seem to be well on-par with (if not significantly surpassing MODERN HM toys)…but they’re ONLY ONE DOLLAR EACH.

I’m not ever sure you can buy "just the prize" from McDonald’s for $1.

And the lack of articulation–to me–is a benefit. Less articulation is less points for the figures to break. Less moving parts to destabilize the figures in displaying them. Less for whatever meager paintjobs to gum up and incite the individual into accidentally breaking their figure while trying to get an articulated joint to move.

And below are the "profile cards" for these Alpha Tea 1 figures:

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profilecards_alphateam1_sgt_steel

profilecards_alphateam1_spc_shift

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And what line of toys is complete without some cool villains?!?

We have five "hero"/"good guy" characters…but only three unique Kharn/alien/villain figures.

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However…these seem to be generic alien/villains. None of them are named characters. So it’s basically three classes of alien invaders. The basic Drone…the much beefier Brute…and then the mechanical Synthoid.

And considering the mere $1 price point per figure…these are excellent to "army-build!"

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I’m content with the Brutes and Synthoids…but I feel like the Drones should at least match, if not outnumber the Brutes and Synthoids combined, quantity-wise…which means I’ll be interested in getting at least 9 more Drones.

The Brutes and Drones come with handheld blasters, while the Synthoids don’t come with any additional accessories.

That’s definitely where the accessory packs will come in–adding onto the Drone and Brute, but interchangeable alternate arms (literally!) for the Synthoids.

Below are the "profiles" of these:

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profilecards_kharn_brute

profilecards_kharn_synthoid

I’ve assembled this quick collection with a visit to a whopping six different Dollar Tree stores. I particularly wanted multiples on the Kharn, BUT even as cheap as these are and plentiful if in stock at all…I didn’t want to "clear the pegs" at any of the stores, so snagged several from each store, to leave stuff to be further discovered by others.

Though one store only had the heroes, another only had the aliens, and only a couple had the accessory packs.

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Considering the price of even ONE modern GI Joe Retro figure ($12.93 at Walmart IF even in-stock there at all and being ‘scalped’ online for up to $40-something), or the price of a single larger figure (Marvel Legends in the $20-25 range up to $30+ each or $50+ for 2-packs) or NECA singles ($27-30+ for single figures, $50-$53+ for 2-packs, etc) my entire 26-figure collection of Final Faction for under $30 is extremely gratifying. Even allowing for an additional $10ish for 9 more Drone figures (in time) isn’t bad. And a bunch of accessory packs aren’t bad.

Especially considering the sheer quantity and bulk of the collection as a whole vs. merely getting UP TO FOUR figures for any other line.

And while these are Dollar Tree exclusive…based on looking the up on the chain’s website, figures are something like 40 to a case. Forget that 6 to a case or 12 to a case nonsense of stuff at Target or such. These may be exclusive but they don’t seem RARE, and they’re certainly not one-per-store or something that’s disappearing in SECONDS to MINUTES from the store with crowds of people hanging out waiting for the store to open to get in and get ’em etc.

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I saw some $5+ individual figures listed by third-party sellers on Amazon, but that’s somewhat to be expected…being on that platform at all IS going to be third-party and marked up, since these aren’t just available for ANY store to order. (Though $5 + s/h while knowing these are $1 figures is rather steep and DOES technically constitute 500%+ markup from retail price).

But "scalping" and such is a topic for some other post.

These figures are apparently pretty new–from what I can tell, they’ve only been out since November 2020 or so. If your local Dollar Tree doesn’t have them in-stock, presumably they’re coming (or already sold through?). That said…if their site actually FUNCTIONS (it did not, for me, initially, and I’m actually glad it didn’t) apparently you can order certain quantities or full cases of the figures.

I "assumed" there was some whole "season" of multiple episodes out there…but from what I’ve found/seen, there’s really only 1 episode and then a gallery of the figures, and a gallery of the characters.

The episode is listed as "episode 1" suggesting more, but…time will tell.

For price, product, etc…even just a week’s novelty of hunting down these figures in these quantities and a random (if cheesy/laughable) mini-movie as made them VERRRRY worthwhile to me, and I’ve gotten MY money’s worth…even if I get no further Drones…or any more figures for the line, period.

But two particular characters from the cartoon that are not represented are Churro–the dog with a dog-mech, and the Kharn’s specific big-boss. Part of the appeal of these figures is they’re $1/each…but for a larger boss and a dog-with-mech, I’d certainly gladly spend $5 each!

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

The Weekly Haul: Week of December 30, 2020

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Walt

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First post of the new year…but the last weekly haul of the old year!

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With an otherwise small-ish week, I opted to go for Wolverine #8 of the current iteration of the series (6th series? 7th?) for the legacy #350 aspect, figuring hey..maybe it’d be standalone-ish and worthwhile. It wasn’t as "historic" or reminiscent as I’d’ve hoped, though its prologue short was sorta in that vein. As a one-shot (for me) I’m NOT totally disappointed with the purchase, though at $4.99 it won’t be a regular thing…nor will hunting previous issues due to numerous printings AND variants.

Batman Annual #5 mayyyy be my last issue of the run. With #105’s conclusion of the current story recently and discovering that post-Future State the price is getting jacked up to $4.99/issue (not sure if it’s staying biweekly or going monthly) with backup stories continuing in another series that I’m not buying, I might have to let the title go as I will NOT pay $4.99 an issue for that crap.

Usagi Yojimbo: Wanderer’s Road #2 is the second issue of the second "color classics" "run" of the series from IDW. I’d much rather simply a 1:1 colorized reprint run to go alongside the new series, but…whatever.

I wound up with this Last 52 issue…I think I’d meant to get Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Metal, but…again, whatever. Maybe I’ll read it, maybe I won’t. Winding down on DC anyway.

And I decided to give in on the hype with Amazing Spider-Man #55, having bought #54 already, and wanting to be able to "judge" stuff for myself.

Then for $15ish, I couldn’t pass up The Complete Clone Saga Epic vol. 3, especially after just last week getting vol. 2. Unfortunately, seems vol. 4 is gonna be a major PITA to get ahold of for anything even resembling cover price, let alone a "discount" price.

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Taking advantage of a sale, snagged a bunch of Marvel Comics Presents issues that were already really (comparatively) cheap anyway.

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Ditto for X-Men Adventures and X-Men Adventures Season II. Also snagged several X-Men: Legacy issues.

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Then at the other shop, further sale stuff, including splurging on a couple of "the" Carnage ASM issues (#361 is apparently going on the GRAILS list). Then for the sale and heckuvit, grabbed the Marvel Milestones edition of Giant-Size X-Men #1. And a highly-pleasantly-affordable Giant-Size X-Men #2!

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Then a bunch of X-Men Forever and X-Men Forever 2 issues for less than the price of two "regular" modern Marvel issues.

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And a couple more Wolverine (4th series? 5th series?) issues and more X-Men: Legacy issues.

As some added stuff just because of grabbing a screenshot tonight before deciding to get this post written up…

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Looking up that Amazing Spider-Man #361 issue…I was rather "shocked" at the prices from Lonestar/mycomicshop.com! Alllll these (and MANY MORE not in the image!) consignment copies of CGC and CBCS graded issues at such high prices!

I’ll be happy for a very low-grade copy just to have the issue at all and "raw" at that!

But with there being THIS MANY copies available in these higher GRADED conditions…and SO MANY on "consignment"…I gotta wonder if the market is a bit "off" or OVERLY OPTIMISTIC?

Then again, I’m certainly NOT the target demographic/market for stuff like this. But it’s like so many people have the issue–and graded–but are trying to SELL it. And with this many available, it’s NOT like the issue’s being snapped up just for BEING LISTED.

It’ at least looks to me like there are way more copies like this at these prices than people actually buying.

But what do I know?

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, 2021 Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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