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A Couple Waves of Super7 TMNT Ultimates

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Walt

In continuing to show off still-packaged figures, we’ve come to the Super7 TMNT Ultimates line.

Wave 1 arrived sometime last year; and Wave 2 only juuuuuuust arrived a few days ago!

super7_tmnt_ultimates_wave1

Though they’re still packaged, I absolutely love the display aspect for these! When one factors in the slip-cover AND the cardboard box around that, let alone what you see here…these are clearly designed FOR display!

These things are HUGE compared to the original, vintage figures they’re modeled after.

And I really dig ’em…from this first wave, Baxter Stockman is easily my favorite…despite my never having cared for the fly motif. But there’s a certain bit of nostalgia there as he’s one of the earlier non-TMNT-themselves characters I acquired as a kid, and I remember the specific trip getting him–I was annoyed because Dad wouldn’t let me open it in the car…I had to wait til we got home. And we were stopped at a train crossing for one of THE SLOWEST TRAINS EVER. I think it even slowed to a stop and then reversed…one of those.

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These are even MORE premium-priced than the NECA figures. These individually are only about $6-7 cheaper than the NECA 2-packs.

And yet, they’re TMNT so I’ll make an exception…I wouldn’t pay $45 for just any figures, that’s for sure!

But I’m ALSO willing just for the sheer SIMPLICITY of getting them.

Place order, and wait.

That’s it. From the start.

No chasing around to half a dozen Targets 20 times or so. No stress, anxiety, frustration, and other feelings that should not ever come into play as an adult collecting adult collectibles.

I’m looking forward to additional figures in this line, as well as (eventually) finding the shelf space and opening these and displaying them loose!

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

A Couple Years of The Lightning Collection

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Walt

Despite it being pretty much my absolute favorite tv show for a time back in the ’90s–particularly 7th/8th grade–I never really had any of the TOYS from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

I had a fair bit of licensed stuff–folders, paper pads, stuff with imagery from the show–but other than a McDonald’s White Ranger/Falconzord from the movie, it wasn’t really until maybe 2009/20010 or so that I got a Megazord or my own, and it was awhile before I discovered and acquired any of the Legacy Collection line.

Then a couple years ago the MMPR property apparently was sold, and Hasbro got the license and rather than continue with that, they started their own line…the Lightning Collection. lightning_collection_mmpr_sides

Due to already having a (for me) huge collection of MMPR stuff that doesn’t even fit onto TWO shelves’ space combined…I’ve been acquiring Hasbro’s Lightning Collection figures when they’ve had the Mighty Morphin’ characters. I don’t care for the later iterations…MY sweet spot, my nostalgia-spot, is Mighty-Morphin’! I’m also loathe to pick up on anything based on the Boom Studios comics, as I still–FIVE YEARS LATER–refuse to buy stuff from them in my one-man-protest against their handling of the initial release of their MMPR comics.

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Anyway…for lack of shelf space, I’ve yet to OPEN my Lightning Collection figures. And since they’re pretty much display-ready as-is, they’ve remained in their packages, as I’m showing them off here.

lightning_collection_mmpr_basics

2 years in, having just received an apparently-out-of-print/out-of-production Mighty Morphin Yellow Ranger (bought as "not mint" and I expected a beat-up box but even the BOX is in as good or better condition than the others!) I now have all the Rangers I’m interested in.

Red, Blue, Black, Pink, White, Yellow, and Green.

Also have Goldar from (I believe) a Gamestop release (though I’ve seen the character elsewhere since, so I’m not sure now if it was exclusive or exclusive-for-a-time). And Lord Zedd was–along with the White Ranger–part of the initial wave a couple years ago, if I recall correctly.

While they might LOOK cool, I don’t need any variants like a Dragon-Shield Red Ranger or such. Just HAVING the single-figure packs of these characters mean pretty much the only other figures I might care for would be a single-pack Rita Repulsa, Finster, Squatt, and Baboo.

Yet those might be just as well in multi-packs or such.

Ditto for putties–army-building generic figures seem to me to be better to be part of a multi-pack than taking up limited slots in single-figure assortments. And simply AS generic things, better to get in bulk anyway!

lightning_collection_mmpr_twopacks

With the White Ranger being a single-pack figure from the start, when I saw a Green Ranger (albeit "Fighting Spirit Green Ranger") I leapt for it. Bonus…it came with a Putty! I wasn’t about to buy multiples just to get more Putty figures, but hey…I only ever had a single Foot Soldier with my classic TMNT figures, so hey…it is what it is.

Later there was a 2-pack release of Putty Patrollers that I got; though of all the figures, this is the only one not to have a window box display! Perhaps it was cheaper that way; and for bulk generics, it’d make sense. I only ordered the single pack, though as I type this I consider perhaps I should have ordered another.

Then there’s the Lord Zedd & Rita Repulsa pack. I’d actually more or less FORGOTTEN that I had a single-pack Lord Zedd when I ordered this; but not being aware of a single-pack for Rita, and being annoyed at lack of other similar-price-range figures being available to purchase from NECA, I ordered this from Gamestop partly out of spite toward NECA.

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I’d come across this deluxe pack/2-pack of Alpha and Zordon at some point and snagged it. I don’t recall if it was from Walmart or Target, but I suspect Walmart.

More recently I snagged the Pumpkin Rapper and King Sphinx deluxe packs. Given the general lack of villains ANYway in Power Rangers toys, I hadn’t really even NOTICED the lack of villains in the Lightning Collection.

Most of the "monster of the week" ("monster of the DAY?") monsters were largely forgettable and hardly as enduring as the Rangers themselves, or the "main" villains. Forgettable–so why do them at all? On the other hand–as an "of the day" or "of the week" there’s a HUUUUUUGE quantity of these things to have made!

On one hand, I could almost say that with some of the single-pack figures "out of print," they could be re-released with some villains a la NECA’s TMNT 2-packs. Buuut…already having all the Rangers, I would hate having to re-buy them just to get a villain.

If they re-released the Rangers as 2-packs (i.e. Red & Yellow, Black & Pink, Green & Blue) that wouldn’t really affect me. I could see them doing Ranger vs. Putty packs…which would not be ideal for ME but at least passing on Putty figures I wouldn’t be passing on unique monsters.

I’ve also snagged several of the Lightning Collection "prop" releases: White Ranger Helmet, Red Ranger Helmet, Power Morpher, and Dragon Dagger. I’d gladly buy a Lighting Collection counterpart to the long-outta-print Legacy Collection Power Sword. I don’t think I’d care for any of the other weapons outside of POSSIBLY the White Ranger Tiger Dagger (Saba?). And other than a Green Ranger helmet, I don’t know that I’d necessarily care for the other Rangers’ helmets. Particularly with my vastly-decreased display space for anything. (decreased due to sheer volume of acquisitions the last 2 1/2 to 3 years).

I’d also be VERY interested in Zord releases, especially toward an Ultrazord. But I suspect some of what made the originals and Legacy Collection Zords work was Bandai and Hasbro may simply not have the ability to duplicate that? Who knows.

Because I’d taken the photos anyway…here are closer-up images of the current-configuration of my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers shelves.

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The left part of the main shelving…

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…and the right part.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

A Year of DC 3.75"/4" from Spinmaster

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Walt

Last year, I started seeing some new DC action figures from Spinmaster. (Also from McFarlane Toys). The Spinmaster figures are smaller–3.75" or 4" scale, I’m not actually certain which…but considerably smaller than 6"/7" figures like the DC Multiverse or Marvel Legends figures.

Due to increasingly limited shelf-space…and already having a shelf jam-packed with loose Superman figures–I didn’t immediately open the Superman that I got. And then I chased down a black suit, bearded variant. And then over the past year, I’ve occasionally snagged another figure as my eye’s been caught.

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Having the "actual" Superman (Rebirth-era without the trunks) I’m not bothered by other variants. I’m actually hoping for a version WITH the trunks! I’m not overly-keen on Lex Luthor, but liked the appearance with the packaging and actually having the "logo" for his name. The "tech" Superman or whatever reminded me of the Cyborg Superman, so while obviously not that, I snagged it. Captain Marvel, Flash, and Aquaman were cool. After the Mattel 3.75 Infinite Heroes Wonder Woman standing out in my mind as one of those figures that would not stand on its own, I only got her figure to go with Superman and (separately) Batman.

But it’s been more than clear to me that Spinmaster‘s (and DC‘s!) HEART lies with BATMAN. Soooo many more figures, where the general DC ones seem–by comparison–to be token action figure presence to claim presence, perhaps to maintain a license or some such? Stuff over MY pay grade.

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Robin (Tim Drake) is one of my favorite comic characters, and over the last few years I’ve wound up with quite a collection of Robin figures and such.I like to think that these variant Robins are intended to be the various characters–Tim, Damian, and Jason, at least.

I finally caved recently-ish and snagged the most NORMAL-LOOKING/most-comics-accurate-looking-to-me Batman. Nightwing and Catwoman for obvious ties to Bat-stuff.

And an apparently armored Batman putting me in mind of Dark Knight Returns, but perhaps intended more as Batman v. Superman. Whatever. It’s bulky and cool.

Then there were some of the big, bulky villains! Killer Croc, Bronze Tiger, King Shark, and Man-Bat.

Somewhere along the way, spotted Talon and figured for this line, and being (relatively-speaking) pretty cheap (1/3 to 1/2 the price of the larger Multiverse scale figures), I’d rather have more characters, so grabbed it. Same for Killer Moth. I even grudgingly bought Batwoman figuring she’d go well with a grouping of Detective Comics: Rebirth characters at least.

And that golden Joker…happened across that and initially figured I’d get it as "trade bait," but have since more or less settled on keeping it for the heckuvit, at least for now. There’s another Joker variant that I may keep an eye out for as well. Despite this, I still think it’s rather stupid to have limited chase variants in action figures; but all the more when they’re functionally UNPAINTED figures merely done in some alternate color plastic!

But as said…with this scale and the possibility quantity-wise, I’m more ok with stuff than I’d be if these were DC Multiverse or such.

And these are just "basic figures," without getting into any of the multi-packs and such that have even more recently caught my eye.

I see plenty of activity in a toy group I’m in on Facebook about the Multiverse figures…but I feel like I don’t/haven’t seen much of anything for this line.

Fine by me–if the only figure(s) being "chased" for this line ARE the solid-color-unpainted variants, that leaves more of the actual figures for me to be able to get without dealing with…shall we say…"resellers."

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TSR Comic Spark: Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer Arrivals!

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Walt

A couple weeks back, I posted about my "TSR Comics Spark 2021"; and the other day I included the Birthright issue in with my Weekly Haul: Week of January 27, 2021 post.

But now I also have the (I believe!) full run of Forgotten Realms from DC back in the day, as well as a chunk of Spelljammer…which leaves the remainder of Spelljammer as well as Dragonlance to snag!

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Forgotten Realms #s 1-9;

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Forgotten Realms #s 10-18;

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Forgotten Realms #s 19-25.

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TSR Worlds annual that apparently brought Spelljammer into things from Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance; and Spelljammer #s 1-2, 4-5, 7-8;

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Spelljammer #s 9-11, 13.

I don’t know if there are any "variant" covers in the mix with these…they certainly were never on the level as Man of Steel #1, and I believe otherwise pretttttty much pre-dated the ’90s stuff of variants, alternate editions, and "enhanced" covers or "Collector’s Edition" vs. "Newsstand Edition" crap.

But that makes it a loooot easier for me to intend to stick to this DC line of TSR comics without pursuing into the modern iterations and such.

Time will tell ultimately, though!

I’m grateful to be able to hit this large a chunk of the issues simply by ordering online. Especially if conventions aren’t likely to be much of a "thing" this year, similar to last year. Plus, I don’t know that there are any particularly-pricy issues overall; no major first-appearances or other "firsts" or "keys" in the grander scheme and TV/Movie/Streaming "optioning" or such. These may not be particularly plentiful in back-issue bins and such…but at least they’re not exactly "hot items" in general beyond smaller communities.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of January 27, 2021

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Walt

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Another week, another batch of comics. A sorta diverse week publisher-wise…while wholly lacking in any DC product!

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First is the new issue of Spawn…#314. I believe the next issue will mark 60 issues–nearly 1/5 of the entire series–that I’ve been buying the monthly issues! I was NEARLY tempted into buying a variant for this issue–as an additional piece–but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. I’m happy to support the $2.99 price point–which is what helped KEEP me in 5 years ago once the cover of #256 drew my attention. But I’d rather have a secondary title at $2.99 to support than variants.

I have to blame Chris Sheehan (Chris is on Infinite Earths / X-Lapsed) for my snagging this issue of Deadpool–#10. And that little shark character. I suppose it helps that this is "only" #10, and I believe the final issue of this iteration of the title, so a little bit of blah/laissez-faire or whatever. Even as a $4.99 issue, I’m apparently going a bit "soft" on the price point for certain issues.

Then the latest Amazing Spider-Man, which I think I’ve pretty well had my "current-year/current-week" Spider-Man itch scratched the last few weeks. This is a frequently-shipping title and I’m not ENJOYING it AS a title the way I would want, so I’m ready to bail…I might determine the immediacy after I’ve read this one, though.

Then we have the third issue of the second iteration of a "color classics" Usagi Yojimbo. I think I even missed an issue or two of the main series, and not sure if I got around to READING any issues past the main IDW Usagi Yojimbo title’s second issue. I see it–sort of–like a companion title to TMNT, but I’m waffling on whether to stay with it or catch back up or what. I don’t want a "mini-series" for every single storyline…I’d much rather see color classic volumes at least matching the original publishing runs–sure, do new #1s when it gets to what was originally published by Mirage, and then when the title went to Dark Horse–but not for each 6-7-issue arc!

A friend had mentioned Kaiju Score recently-ish and I came across the first two issues, so noticing that #3 was out this week, I went ahead and bought it. I’m not keen on its $4.99 price point…but as I continue to bristle at a lot of DC stuff and looking to walk away from that publisher, I suppose I’m wanting to find something else to follow…or at least check out titles I maybe wouldn’t pay attention to otherwise.

I bought the previous issue of Wolverine–#8 (but apparently the 350th issue if you add up alllll the different volumes of the series over the years). And that was gonna be IT. But I’m sort of curious about what the cover depicts–an auction apparently for Wolverine’s hand (including claws!) being auctioned. Seems to me that should be impossible, knowing firstly that there’s been no hype over the character being permanently maimed (like losing the hand Age of Apocalypse-style) and secondly that the adamantium should prevent this. And perhaps thirdly, some nostalgia kicking in and there’s something more interesting to this iteration of the title to me now than some earlier volumes years back.

And finally, as a possible Bought it For the Cover candidate, seeing two issues of apparently the same title caught my eye. Heroineburgh. (Though in the moment I had a bit of a hard time making out the actual title with the coloring of the logo on the cover of the first issue). Some design issues (to my eye) there, but whatever. I flipped briefly through and it didn’t look horrible. Then I noticed a name on the cover and realized that this title’s something truly indy–and figured it was something hand-distributed by a creator (with the issues signed as a ‘bonus’) and decided to give it a shot, cuz hey…why not? And if I’m gonna be grumpy at "the big guys" and their stuff, might as well check out some stuff like this. What little research I did after the fact to see what I could find out about it did not impress me–this is apparently comic adventures bridging seasons of some YouTube video series, so I already wonder (not following nor having seen or heard of said video series) how much the story’ll hit me. Family ties with Pittsburgh, and it’s NOT New York or some other common comics-city, so…we’ll see.

And this week’s Comic Shop News features The Marvels with a pretty picture and I’m reminded that while I like some of the concepts and such the last couple years with stuff recognizing the 25th anniversary a year or two back of the original Marvels series, it just seems like it’s a branding that’s being highly diluted and stretched way too thin for me (all the more with having been sucked in a bit with Marvels X thinking that to be more X-based when it was a prequel to Earth X!).

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Along with randomly picking up the Heroineburgh issues, I checked back-issue bins for Dragonlance. I didn’t find any, but being in the generic "D" section gave me Dungeons and Dragons, which in this case was the distant "cousin" of what I was looking for, and I found a #1 for some mini-series and decided to grab it.

And while not part of the actual weekly haul, a rigid cardboard mailer had arrived just before I went to the comic shop, and opening that revealed the Serpent’s Eye…I mean Birthright…issue I’d ordered from some Amazon seller a bit over a week ago.

So these’ll go in the TSR comics collection (though I doubt I’ll go far on IDW D&D…time will tell in the end).

With this post, I think that’s 4 or 5 weeks in a row now hitting each week’s haul. Also looks like this is the 9th post out of 10 weekdays…a post rate I haven’t had in ages.

Let’s hope that 2021 doesn’t blow up like 2020 did after I was getting on track like this last year!

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Lanard Predator Collection (Hunter Series) 2021

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Walt

THIS YEAR, in addition to their Alien Collection, Lanard also has a line of Predator figures!

We have the 7" Jungle Hunter Predator:

lanard_predators_7inch_jungle_hunter_front

front of the packaging…

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Back of the packaging.

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Then there’s the City Hunter Predator.

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…and the back of its packaging.

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The Berserker Predator front…

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And the back.

I’m hardly as well-versed in Predator lore as Alien…so I’m far less discerning on differences in details.

To me, these are simply cool figures and obviously Predators in various gear and all that. For the $10/ea price….that’s fantastic and I’m maybe even MORE of an ideal target audience for these as such than for the Alien figures.

In addition to these 7" figures…

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There’s a 12" deluxe figure of the Jungle Hunter Predator. This is essentially the Predator counterpart to the Alien Queen.

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As a 12" figure I think this will fit in well with a number of other 12" figures, as well as be quite the individual piece on shelves of smaller Alien/Predator figures.

I don’t feel that this one’s all that necessary in the way the Queen is for the Alien line…but for $20 it’s a remarkable figure and seems well worth its asking price to me, while exceeding any personal desire for NECA versions.

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As said, I’m less familiar with the Predator characters and figures, and so I’m going to be just as happy with what MAY amount to "less" where I don’t even know what I’m "missing" with a "kids’ toy" vs. some hyper-detailed screen-accurate version that’s still 10% more expensive than this 12" beast of a figure.

While I do plan to get some duplicates of the Alien figures to customize, I don’t know that that’s necessary for me for these.

I also find it interesting that these carry more of the "familiar" Predator branding than the Alien line.

Whatever…for such great figures at an amazing price-point, I’m sure as heck NOT complaining!

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

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 »

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