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My End-of-May Bargain Acquisitions (part 2 of 3)

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Walt

Heading into Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S. a couple weeks back, Half-Price Books sent out emails to remind members of their mailing list (which I willingly signed up for ages back) of a weekend sale: 20% off. Which, when stacked with the half-off most things are to begin with, makes for a functional 70%-off price for most things.

I wound up buying a couple randomish comics I’ve yet to read, an Archie book I forgot I never got around to buying/reading, as well as the rare prose novel purchase: two Aliens novels I’ve kept “passing” on assuming I already had them, when in fact I did not (until now). This whole bunch cost less than 3 contemporary Marvel comics.

hpbhaul0524

Also falling over Memorial Day weekend, the comic shop at the Great Lakes Mall–Comics and Friends–organized the Lake Effect Comic Con. I went in planning/hoping to find a couple specific books and some bargain-bins. A quick walk through the venue yielded no worthwhile bargain-bins of single issues, and none of the bargain-books bins seemed to have what I was after.

I did come across several Superman volumes in a $5 bin…and it IS Superman, so…I bit. I might’ve been happier with “just” the Daily Planet volume, but after getting re-exposed to the Phantom Zone stories in Superman vs. Zod recently, I figured other “classic” stories couldn’t hurt too much.

And given my interest in the hardcovers of major X-stories of late, finding Fall of the Mutants for 60% off made for an eye-catching splurge-purchase.

lakeeffectcomicconhaul01

One dealer had a table of old ’90s X-Men toys (most of them classic X-Force in particular). I did find a couple figures to buy. For the price of a single contemporary Marvel issue, I got both of the below:

lakeeffectcomicconhaul02
After a couple days away (and a great visit with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages) I returned home to find a package waiting for me: the Omnibus volumes I’d ordered off eBay a couple weeks back:

omnibiifromebay

I was fairly surprised at the condition these arrived in…really not bad at all, considering the price. And the GI Joe volume with 12-13 issues’ content cost the same as one of the single issues at cover price a few years back!

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Justice League Toys at Target?!?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Walt

justiceleaguesupermanTonight while walking through Target, I actually stopped short at the sight of some toys I hadn’t even had a clue were coming.

A new line of Justice League figures.

Of course, I was immediately disappointed at the larger size of these figures–I’ve come to MUCH prefer the 3.75-inch variety, and to this day have still never found any news or anything about the official cancellation of the Infinite Heroes line (nor the reasoning why it went away…though I have some ideas, as listed in a post last Friday).

As far as I can tell, there are only FOUR figures in this line: Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern. There are no other characters shown on the backs of the cards, anyway. I saw no vehicles/playsets, nor any other accessories other than what comes with each figure. There are no villains. AND the line is Target-exclusive (at least based on that sticker on the fronts of the packaging).

justiceleaguesuperman

justiceleagueflash

justiceleaguegreenlantern

About the only thing really going for these to me offhand is that even at the bigger size, they’re “only” $7.99 (compared to, say, the $9.99 of the various Marvel (Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man 3) figures or Star Wars or $10 GI Joe: Retaliation figures. (Granted, less detail and articulation surely helps keep the cost down).

Still…I was sorely tempted by the Superman figure; but on closer inspection it looked rather sloppily put-together, with a gap in the shoulders where the cape is held in place (on the figure). I tell myself now that I’ll wait until I can 1. afford to and 2. buy both Batman and Superman in the same purchase to really strongly consider actually buying these. (Tonight the Target I was at had 3 of the 4 figures, missing only Batman).

Next to the Batman Unlimited/DC Unlimited $16 figures I’ve seen several times, this is the first “kid-affordable” instance I’ve noticed of the New 52 versions of things making it into general/common toys’ appearance, 18 months after the comics’ relaunch.

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Toys as a driving force for cartoons???

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Walt

sameoldfigs_smallI read an article on Bleeding Cool the other day about how the lack of toy sales seems to have killed off the Green Lantern animated series. I’m not sure I want to get into the stuff about how the (lack of) toys affect the continuation of a series.

But I’ve had some observations, where I myself wonder at factors that make or break a toyline…at least for me.

#1 – If there are only a few figures constantly on the pegs with no true assortment (i.e. only 2 figures out of a 6-figure wave and the other 4 are never present), that would suggest TO ME that the stores would see that as a line not selling. Maybe those other 4 figures fly off the pegs…but especially if stock is automated, the sale of whatever instances of the other 4 figures may not be enough to trigger a reorder…and the lack of sales on the 2 most common figures everyone that wants ’em already has might suggest no one is interested (when it’s actually that no one is interested IN THE PEG-WARMERS).

#2 – Ten years ago, I was buying the 6″ Marvel Legends–large, hyper-articulated figures with cool packaging including a comic book–for $6-$8 apiece. I know prices go up, the cost of materials has gone up, etc. But $9.99 for a 3.75″ figure nowadays? HARDLY appealing, especially for the vast majority of the figures out there. I know I personally would prefer less articulation for cheaper figures. The Marvel Universe line, Avengers movie tie-in figures, Amazing Spider-Man movie tie-in figures, and I think the Iron Man 3 figures run $9.99 or so. These days I’d rather pay a couple dollars more for a Lego set with a mini-figure and something to build (and some of the $10 Lego sets are about the same SIZE or bigger than these 3.75″ figures).

#3 – I don’t want six different costumes for Spider-Man, or 11 different costumes for Batman or 17 different armors for Iron Man. Yeah, the hero’s name is in the films’ titles…but darnit, I’m NOT looking for umpteen variations on the hero. I want more variation in there being a bunch of different characters that are available.

#4 – I don’t want to have to “chase” “basic” figures. Take a character and their standard costume, make the costume a different color and pack that as a “ratioed variant” if you must. But don’t make the CHARACTER itself a “chase figure.” Don’t short-pack certain characters likely to be popular while over-packing other characters. If there are 6 figures in the wave, pack them equally.

#5 – Well, when I started typing I had more than 4 points. Perhaps a follow-up post will finish things off when they come back to me.

Final for now – When a store is obviously over-stocked on what seems to be massive quantities of the same figure and “clearance” is less than 15% “off” (less than 50, even)…I’m probably still not gonna buy, where 50% off I might give in.

sameoldfigs

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A New Wave of TMNT figures, but I’m not buyin’

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Walt

tmntbackinstockattargetOver the last few weeks, I’d actually begun to fear that the new line of TMNT figures had been dropped by BOTH Walmart AND Target…as both chains seemed to have no stock of the figures, and were filling the pegs previously marked for TMNT with Power Rangers and Ben10 and other lines.

I even did some digging online just to try to find some information, and found a couple discussions suggesting it was that the toys had sold exceedingly well during “the holidays” and neither chain had yet restocked…which makes sense (for the most part).

Also made sense that the stores would spread other stock out to avoid the constant empty pegs. It was just a wonder (to me) to consider that a chain would not be able to get something restocked more quickly.

Then a couple weeks ago I noticed a handful of figures again at a Walmart, and the other day spotted a restocked selection at a local Target (pictured to the left).

While it’s good to see the line back in stock with some numbers (rather than just an isolated single figure here or there) I continue to be rather disappointed at the selection. I bought the entirety of the first wave of figures, and bought the next three the first time I saw them, the third wave of figures seems to consist simply of “Ooze variants” of the four turtles.

oozelaunchinleoWhile I am not a huge fan of endless variants, I was guilty of snagging several variants of a character from the 2003 line, and had a slew of Leonardos from the ’80s line. But for $9/figure I’m NOT buying into the variants…especially as stupid as these.

Maybe I’m still just in the mindset of the ’80s stuff, but to me, the turtles should want nothing to do with the ooze; that contact with it again could revert them to “normal” turtles.

Regardless…the fact that the figures themselves–made to utilize actual ooze–do not even come with a small “sample” of ooze puts me off all the more. I don’t mind that the ooze is sold separately in “bulk,” but if I’m buying a $9 figure I’m not exactly inclined to want to have to spend another $4-7 on a container of figure-compatible ooze product.

I also continue to be entirely unimpressed with the “vehicles,” save the Van, which I have the intention of snagging “eventually,” though kinda bummed that Target’s bumped their asking price from $29.99 to $32.99. Discounts’ll suck me in…making stuff more expensive than the “regular” price you started with is NOT going to entice me.

I believe there’s a Leatherhead figure coming soon, and I have no idea what else–I’ll probably snag that figure, but for the most part I’m not all that interested in the “oozed villain of the week” characters introduced on the tv show so far, and it’s going to take something more interesting than slinging ooze to get me to buy variants of core characters.

oozelaunchinleo

Continue reading →

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’80s TMNT toys: Sword Slicin’ Leonardo [card]

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Walt

About a week ago, I came across a couple of old “cards” from my old TMNT toys from the late-1980s. These were from the “Wacky Action” turtles–motorized action figures that…well, gave them action. Nothing fancy, but quite a time capsule, and a reminder of how sorely disappointing most contemporary toy lines and card designs are to me.

Well, this card’s a bit worse for wear compared to the Mouser one I posted the other day.

While the mouser was fairly cool as a unique figure (despite being horribly out of scale) this is “just” another Leonardo variant. And from what I recall of the figure itself, unlike the Mouser’s walking action, this figure’s arm simply spun, giving the “slicing” action.

wacky_action_leo_front

Though the front’s pretty torn up, the back’s just fine:

wacky_action_leo_back

I can appreciate the alliteration of the accessories–Menacing Mace, Wacky Whip, Silly Sword–even if they seem ridiculous for this character–what possible reason would the character have for using any of these? All the more as rigid items…I guess that leaves plenty to the imagination, though.

wacky_action_leo_blueprint

Again, I appreciate the alliteration on the Portrait card, even if the phrasing all seems awkward and pointless. (Sorta gets me thinking and wondering about the GI Joe profiles on those toys back in the day).

wacky_action_leo_portrait

Unlike the mouser, here we seem to have the FULL lineup of Wacky Action Turtles–with Leo, Shredder, and Splinter added to the mix. The figures are all terribly familiar, so I’m pretty sure that between what I had and what a friend had, we probably had the full subseries.

wacky_action_leo_wacky_action_all

And there’s Napoleon Bonafrog. I think of the figures shown here, the only ones I never had were Wingnut & Screwloose, Genghis Frog and Usagi Yojimbo. I’d love to be able to re-acquire or simply acquire the Mutanimals characters (Mondo Gecko, Wingnut & Screwloose, Leatherhead, Ray Fillet (Man Ray) and whatever others there were (I don’t think there were ever figures for all the Mutanimals).

wacky_action_leo_good_guys

I don’t think I ever had Scumbug, General Traag (my friend had him, I believe), Leatherhead, or Rat King. I do have the Rat King from the 2003 line, though. It’s interesting to look at this version of Krang–I believe this was before the oversized Android Body was released, and I believe a later series shrunk the Krang-in-Android-Body to a standard size single-piece figure.

wacky_action_leo_bad_guys

…and of course, the legalese. Looks like this one may’ve been from 1990, possibly meaning the mouser was a LATE 1989. I never knew anything about Panda Khan, but seeing the separate copyright notice (Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo I’m familiar with) led me to a quick search online; looks like a first issue of Panda Khan is available from the original creators here.

wacky_action_leo_legalese

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’80s TMNT toys: Wacky Walkin’ Mouser [card]

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Walt

About a week ago, I came across a couple of old “cards” from my old TMNT toys from the late-1980s. These were from the “Wacky Action” turtles–motorized action figures that…well, gave them action. Nothing fancy, but quite a time capsule, and a reminder of how sorely disappointing most contemporary toy lines and card designs are to me.

First off…what I consider to be a decent-condition card front, given the toy’s long-since been opened, the blister pack or whatever-it’s-called taken apart. The card is larger than the “regular” figures were–about an inch taller and an inch and a half wider, I’d say.

mouser_front

The back is where I find many contemporary lines (specifically Marvel’s) and what I can think of on Star Wars) seriously lack: it’s essentially a full-color catalogue of the entire line. I count 21 unique figures shown here…and you have a mix of “good guys” and “bad guys” instead of just endless variants, or only seeing 2-3 other figures that exist.

mouser_back

The “blueprint” seems like a bit of filler, but it’s also directions to working the “wacky action” of the figure.

mouser_blueprint

The “Portrait” was a fun feature I recall on most (if not all) of the ’80s/’90s TMNT toys…and I remember indeed “clipping and collecting” these until I took ’em to school with me and they got lost. After that I vaguely recall just hanging onto the full cards (which would seem to account for this one at least).

mouser_portrait

From what I can tell, these were the “first wave” of Wacky Action turtles, as we’re missing Leo, Shredder, and Splinter from below:

mouser_wacky_action_all

While I never appreciated the range of now-memorable characters (especially ones I believe came from the Archie comics), it was still quite an incentive to see all the figures available to try to collect. I don’t believe I ever acquired Genghis Frog, I did have the later-released Napoleon Bonafrog. I honestly don’t recall if I ever actually had this version of Usagi–but I at least remember seeing the figure a few times…and got the one from the 2003 toy line.

mouser_good_guys

While I really don’t (except in a bit of nostalgic reflection) care for Bebop and Rocksteady, it’s still also cool to see a range of villains for the line–beyond the RIDICULOUS-looking and atrociously-posed Shredder. Shame, though, that Baxter Stockman was relegated to being best known as a fly, as opposed to the creepy scientist of the comics.

mouser_bad_guys

And spotlighting the other segments of the back of the card, here’s the legalese of the card, including the “Pizza Points.” I don’t recall if there was ever anything to redeem these for–but hey, anything to add ‘value’ for us kids cutting up the card, right?

mouser_legalese

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Pricing in Context: Thrift Stores And collectibles

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Walt

20121203-153710.jpgI went to what looks like a thrift shop–think Salvation Army or Goodwill or such–but it’s actually stocked with unclaimed baggage from airports.

So most stuff is “used,” some is new, and prices vary from bargain to more expensive/comparable to Walmart.

While there, I came across a small selection of ’90s comics for 99-cents apiece (numerous copies of Ghost: Comics’Greatest World Week 3ish and Deathmate: Black amidst ’em), but all were what I’d consider quarter-bin fare so didn’t buy any.

Most surprising/morbidly amusing I came across this Uncanny X-Force Comic-Con Exclusive set. The store has it priced at $99 (from “$199 Retail Price”). I would value it at most in the $60-70 range and expect it to be in the $30-40 range.

As-is…I simply took this photo and left it on the shelf. I find the $22 price for the Marvel Universe 3.75-inch 3-pack to be rather high, and don’t care these days for Marvel Legends.

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TMNT at Walmart and Target (2012)

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Walt

After seeing bare-bones presence of the new TMNT toys at Target, they seem to have finally joined the ranks of the “regularly stocked,” as I’ve now seen these multi-peg displays at 5 or 6 different Targets.

I still don’t care for the “sound FX” figures, and would actually be sorta interested in the “TMNT Classics” line (at least for Leonardo).

The photo below was taken at the Target in Willoughby, OH:

tmntattargetwilloughby01

I was actually fairly surprised when I saw the following in the Eastlake Walmart recently. Though “late” to the party, that Walmart had a better stock of figures than most of the Targets I’ve seen–though not all visible here, all 9 unique “basic” figures were on these pegs.

tmntatwalmarteastlake01

At the “Super” Walmart in Brimfield, OH, the aisle tag isn’t quite appropriately placed, but it caught my attention, so served its purpose. I was beginning to REALLY doubt Walmart’s support of these new TMNT toys, but I guess I didn’t need to.

tmntatwalmartbrimfield01

And I’m not quite sure what to make of these bare pegs…the “display” looks pretty shoddy and bare…but that’s hopefully because the things are actually selling.

I’ve often had an “issue” with toy lines for their “peg warmers,” and it does seem like the turtles themselves are filling that role so far: it’s Shredder, the Kraang, the Foot Soldier, and April O’Neil that seem relatively rare–and even Splinter.

tmntatwalmartbrimfield02

The ancillary stuff–the role play kits, the talking/FX turtles, and the vehicles seem pretty common–for what little attention I’ve paid. Continue reading →

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TMNT Action Figures 2012: Out of Their Shells

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Walt

…and here are the TMNT 2012 figures, out of their packaging!

Raphael, April O’Neil, Donatello, Michelangelo, Splinter, and Leonardo:

photo(TMNTAprilSplinter)

Shredder with Foot Soldiers:

photo(ShredderAndFootNinjas)

TMNT vs. Shredder and the Foot:

photo(TMNTvsFoot)

The Kraang:

photo(Kraang)

And just cuz I could, 2003 TMNT side-by-side with 2012 TMNT:

2003and2012TMNT

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TMNT Action Figures 2012: Clip and Collect Profiles

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Walt

The new TMNT figures based on the 2012 Nickelodeon animated series are out…and after scouring local Toys R Us and Target stores, I’ve managed to snag the entire first wave of basic figures. Here are the profiles from the back of the cards:

Profile(Leonardo)

Profile(Donatello)

Profile(Raphael)

Profile(Michelangelo)

Continue reading →

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