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Robins Update

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Walt

It’s been awhile, but I have a new Robin in the collection. It’s actually been several weeks now, but…whatever.

I don’t even remember now how I came across it, but I was able to order it from Amazon (and it actually came in decent shape!)

robins_update_april_a

I’m not all that familiar with this costume, or even if it’s "canon." The shape of the "R" tells me this is Damian, though, so not AS much preference on my part. I prefer the Tim Drake Robin…but have found that for me, to SOME degree…"Robin is Robin," regardless of WHICH Robin it is.

robins_update_april_b

So this new Funko Pop vinyl joins a dusty display-top that is dominated by Robins, while sharing with some excess Supermen.

In their own way, these Robins are themselves "excess," not really fitting well with stuff inside the display case.

robins_update_april_c

I’m keener to have the smaller figures and figurines and minis and such in a display case so they’re better ‘contained’ should any fall over or such and start a domino-effect or such.

But as of this typing, as of this post, this is the updated Robin collection (with a glimpse of some Supermen and some other miniatures and figurines).

robins_update_april_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, 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.

lightning_collection_mmpr_full_nonlightning_collection

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.

lightning_collection_mmpr_deluxe

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.

lightning_collection_mmpr_full_nonlightning_collection_left

The left part of the main shelving…

lightning_collection_mmpr_full_nonlightning_collection_right

…and the right part.

lightning_collection_mmpr_blogtrailer

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

Recently Redone Action Figure Shelves (Early April 2018)

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Walt

Along with recently redoing the setup of my comic space with new bookcases and such (which I will "eventually" be showing off here), I’ve been working on redoing some action figure shelves.

tmnt_shelves_april05

I now have a shelf set up with the various TMNT villains, and another for variants of the Turtles themselves as well as allies. (Some folks might notice a potential villain in with the allies, but to me he is one of the Mighty Mutanimals and thus an ally!)

tmnt_display_april05

I also have this old wall-display shelf I "rescued" from the attic of my parents’ old house. It’s perfectly-slotted to display the three "generations" of TMNT so far, along with Splinter and April. Whether this display remains somewhat permanently or not remains to be seen…especially with a new "4th generation" line due out soon (for better or worse).

superman_shelf_april05

Then there’s my Superman shelf. Previously, I’d had most of these crammed onto one shelf on the same level and couldn’t even see many of them. Redoing the display, I’ve been able to incorporate a tiered system that allows for better overall display and visibility of the various figures and such–from the 12" figures to DC Direct to Multiverse to regular size to the various miniatures and such…as well as a statue and even a Heroclix figure.

…And these are not even all of my Supermen! But I barely got these to all fit into one shelving slot, and with other figures that I will eventually have displayed and such, it won’t hurt to still have Superman mixed in with those as well!

I have several other "shelving slots" to fill, but have to get more supplies yet for my "tiered system" so my efforts were put on hold for a bit. Given events going on in my personal life, that’s not a bad thing, and it’s certainly not a rush to get done!

I’m sure I’ll show off other shelves in the near future. (And those of you who follow me on Twitter, you probably recognize the above photos from me sharing "in the moment" as I finished up the displays!)

recently_redone_action_figure_shelves_april_2018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Showing off a Refreshed Shelf

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Walt

Awhile back, an accident with my display cabinet resulted in basically every last thing inside it knocked over…and until this past weekend, I’d not bothered to go through and clear everything out to set up the display again from scratch.

The thing in shambles was really grating on my nerves, just knowing it was in shambles and all, so I finally took the time to get stuff set up again, and rearrange slightly (as well as add several new acquisitions). I also had to remove a "Mopeez" plush that refused to remain upright.

buncha_minis_09172017

I think this is my favorite shelf in the cabinet (though the shelf above it has a much more personal element, with a bunch of Warmachine minis I painted myself seven years ago). This has the bulk of my Robin collection, though several Robins (including the Mopeez) don’t work inside the cabinet.

And I won’t even try to cram my Superman collection in, as that has outgrown an entire crammed top of a bookcase!

top_of_display_cabinet

These are on the TOP of the display cabinet. Three more Robins, the tallest Supermen in my collection, and so on. As far as scale–the standing Robin is one of those 12" figures. The Superman in the back is around 20" or so!

The much larger size of most of these make it not very practical to try to contain them inside the cabinet…and the two standing Supermen and standing Robin flat-out won’t fit standing up inside. The giant-size Dorbz Robin and the two bust banks are large enough that it’s not really practical to cram inside, either, as so little would reasonably fit that way.

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

More for the "Art Wall" – June 9th

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Walt

I think I started what’s become my "art wall" back in January or so. Basically, I’d had some small posters in these "gallery frames," and I decided to put ’em up on a wall, using push-pins. Then it occurred to me that some older posters I had that I was having trouble finding frames for would work in these by flipping the "backing board" of the frame over to essentially provide a "black border" and I could simply position the smaller poster within the area.

This ended up working for a bunch of old posters that had come from comics–bound in the middle of whatever issues, where I’d not found any reasonably-priced option before.

And long story short, I started adding more to this wall such that I’m actually sorta concerned it’s gonna fill up before I’m ready!

One of these days I’m going to attempt to get some photos of it for this blog, but at present, I’m having a major issue with reflection off the glass in everything, such that at the angles I’d need for the camera, I’d wind up either showing off a restroom, or otherwise have too much showing too clearly in the reflection and not enough of what I actually want the photos to show.

However, at the correct sort of angle I’m able to minimize reflection and glare…so here I’m showing off several that I’ve recently put into "gallery frames" but have yet to actually get put on the wall itself.

posters_voltron_and_riverdale

Got the Voltron poster at the Lake Effect Comic Con last weekend; they also had this Riverdale poster, though I’d gotten mine at Kemore weeks ago. I hadn’t actually watched much of Riverdale at the time, but now have finished the season (thanks to Netflix!) and quite enjoyed it, despite the massive departures from the source material. That’s a subject for another post, though for now–I’m hoping the series gets a second season, and look forward to seeing what they do with it!

And I’ve yet to watch more than a few minutes or an episode or so of the new Voltron–I’m more familiar with Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and far prefer the original Megazord…but can’t deny simply enjoying the notion of the individual machines joining together to form an even bigger one, and I’m close to giving in and buying some of the toys, though I’ve thus far held off the temptation. But as a poster and liking the image, well worth putting on the wall!

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Then, at half the price of specific comic-sized frames, I’ve found that these "document frames" work very well for single-issue comics that I want to show off. As I’ve said in previous posts, this is where I’ll give in occasionally on variants–treating them as "prints" to be hung on a wall and displayed, not merely owned and filed away in the abyss of an accumulation I call my "collection."

I’m not sure how well thicker issues or squarebound issues/annuals would fare like this…but since I’m not big into variants anyway, it’s not something I expect to really have to deal with.

I have some other issues I’m thinking of framing in this way, though…but this sort of gets into different territory than the posters and prints. I suppose that’s a matter for some other time, though.

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

25 Years of Spawn

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Walt

Spawn recently had a 25th-anniversary Director’s Cut issue published, as part of the Image 25th anniversary year releases.

I initially bought the McFarlane cover (an homage to Ultimate Spider-Man #1), enjoying the homage and ‘tradition’ of homage covers of the title.

I wound up buying a second copy (different cover) in a RARE case of finding a worthwhile variant.

spawn_25_years

The cover’s a painted version based on the original #1 issue’s cover. And having a 2nd copy of #1 anyway, I realized I could put together a great little "art piece" utilizing the two issues, and so treated the purchase of the 2nd copy to be akin to buying a print.

And here in an 11" x 14" frame (the perfect size for bound-in comics posters or 2-panel wraparound covers and such) (or in this case, two distinct/separate issues), I have a copy of 1992’s Spawn #1, and 2017’s Spawn Director’s Cut #1.

Of course, being in the frame like this still physically protects the issues–they’re held tightly in place better than they’d be in a bag ‘n board; but the frame’s glass can be simply popped out with a little effort, so I still have "access" to these AS COMICS along with having this on my "art wall."

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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