it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
If there's one good thing about all those Christmas shoppers, it's that they clear out the pegs of old stuff so all the new stuff can be put on shelves.
For the last few weeks, I've been hunting like a madman for the last pieces I needed for my Toy Biz Marvel collection. With Hasbro taking over next year and me not continuing on to that (I've seen packaged pics, and the toys suck) I'm going to end with TB's last series, 15- the Modok wave. I first found this wave in early November, and I bought the ones I could- I found the variants of Captain Marvel, Moon Knight, and Spider-Woman, and I also picked up the regular edition of Wasp and the only Beta Ray Bill that was there (BTW, he's the only figure in the series without a variant.) I still lacked Thor Buster Iron Man and the regular Spider-Woman, but I managed to find them tonight, as well as Electro from the Spider-Man line. So now, my Marvel collection is done. I didn't buy everything, and I did buy some characters I didn't want to build the BAFs, but I like it all, and my hats are off to you, Toy Biz, for offering such a great line for so cheap for so long*.
*- part of the reason I'm not continuing on to Hasbro Marvel is the price increase. ML started at around $6-7, and only in the last two years has it gone up to $8-9, due to plastic costs. (Plastic being derived from oil and all.)
Next year, new Marvel figures will be $10, I'm sure due to Hasbro having to pay an extra licensing cost which wasn't present when TB was making the toys, since they in a way owned the characters. Maybe in time Hasbro will figure out how to make these properly, but it took them years to figure out how to do Star Wars correctly.
I also found Mirage and Grimlock from the great Transformers Classics line. If there's one line Hasbro usually does extremely well, it's Transformers. I picked up Jetfire last week, and now that I have all of wave 2, I'm caught up. Hasbro could offer this line for a good long time if they wanted to. I'd like to see them marketed like the Alternators line is- it gets stocked alongside the current incarnation of TFs, but is a wholly seperate entity. But I'm thinking that this line won't be revisited after the movie, unless the movie and its toys totally bomb and Hasbro decides to kiss mucho fanboy ass by offering all sorts of Classics. But that's probably not going to happen.
Another thing that's great about the holidays- lots of people in stores with lots of money. Which is probably why Hasbro and Target picked last weekend to offer the Star Wars Imperial Shuttle. It's a Target exclusive, which makes it a little easier to obtain that the last time this was available (for $100 or more in 2002 at FAO Schwarz stores. I've only ever been to the one in the Mall of America, and I'm not sure that's even there anymore.)
This thing hit shelves late last Saturday night, and I picked one up shortly thereafter. I knew it would be one of my last Star Wars pieces, and there's really no better note to go out on. It costs $60, and it's likely gone from your local Target already. It's a ship-only-once deal, the type of thing Target could stick in their circular to get people in stores. I stopped in my local Target again tonight and they were gone and the endcap they were on was replaced with something else. I only saw six that night I was there, though I'm sure they had more, but not many more.
It's a big, imposing piece to own, though it's nearly useless with modern Star Wars figures. The pegs in the rear hatch were never modified to accomodate the smaller pegholes on modern figures, instead being the perfect size for the vintage figures.
Both styles of figure sit well in the cockpit, so that's a plus.
The only thing I was genuinely preturbed about was the laughable attempt at a ramp on the bottom of the Shuttle. I thought the landgin gear would have given enough clearance for a Vader figure to stand at the base of the ramp, but it doesn't work for either a vintage or modern Vader figure.
Where this vehicles truly shines is in dioramas, surrounded by Imperials. On the top shelf of my desk, I have the Shuttle on the far left facing left, and 32 Imperials arranged in front of and around it. Six Royal Guards, two Dignitaries, one Death Star Gunner, two TIE pilots, three AT-AT Drivers, one each of Vader, the Emperor, Jerjerrod, and Veers (sure, he was never there, but of what other use is Veers when your AT-ATs are in storage?), six Biker Scouts, seven Stormtroopers, and one lowly Imperial Scanning Trooper. And it looks great. :)
I guess this pretty much means I don't have anything to hunt for anymore. Which is good news, since now I have to buy Christmas presents. :P
For the last few weeks, I've been hunting like a madman for the last pieces I needed for my Toy Biz Marvel collection. With Hasbro taking over next year and me not continuing on to that (I've seen packaged pics, and the toys suck) I'm going to end with TB's last series, 15- the Modok wave. I first found this wave in early November, and I bought the ones I could- I found the variants of Captain Marvel, Moon Knight, and Spider-Woman, and I also picked up the regular edition of Wasp and the only Beta Ray Bill that was there (BTW, he's the only figure in the series without a variant.) I still lacked Thor Buster Iron Man and the regular Spider-Woman, but I managed to find them tonight, as well as Electro from the Spider-Man line. So now, my Marvel collection is done. I didn't buy everything, and I did buy some characters I didn't want to build the BAFs, but I like it all, and my hats are off to you, Toy Biz, for offering such a great line for so cheap for so long*.
*- part of the reason I'm not continuing on to Hasbro Marvel is the price increase. ML started at around $6-7, and only in the last two years has it gone up to $8-9, due to plastic costs. (Plastic being derived from oil and all.)
Next year, new Marvel figures will be $10, I'm sure due to Hasbro having to pay an extra licensing cost which wasn't present when TB was making the toys, since they in a way owned the characters. Maybe in time Hasbro will figure out how to make these properly, but it took them years to figure out how to do Star Wars correctly.
I also found Mirage and Grimlock from the great Transformers Classics line. If there's one line Hasbro usually does extremely well, it's Transformers. I picked up Jetfire last week, and now that I have all of wave 2, I'm caught up. Hasbro could offer this line for a good long time if they wanted to. I'd like to see them marketed like the Alternators line is- it gets stocked alongside the current incarnation of TFs, but is a wholly seperate entity. But I'm thinking that this line won't be revisited after the movie, unless the movie and its toys totally bomb and Hasbro decides to kiss mucho fanboy ass by offering all sorts of Classics. But that's probably not going to happen.
Another thing that's great about the holidays- lots of people in stores with lots of money. Which is probably why Hasbro and Target picked last weekend to offer the Star Wars Imperial Shuttle. It's a Target exclusive, which makes it a little easier to obtain that the last time this was available (for $100 or more in 2002 at FAO Schwarz stores. I've only ever been to the one in the Mall of America, and I'm not sure that's even there anymore.)
This thing hit shelves late last Saturday night, and I picked one up shortly thereafter. I knew it would be one of my last Star Wars pieces, and there's really no better note to go out on. It costs $60, and it's likely gone from your local Target already. It's a ship-only-once deal, the type of thing Target could stick in their circular to get people in stores. I stopped in my local Target again tonight and they were gone and the endcap they were on was replaced with something else. I only saw six that night I was there, though I'm sure they had more, but not many more.
It's a big, imposing piece to own, though it's nearly useless with modern Star Wars figures. The pegs in the rear hatch were never modified to accomodate the smaller pegholes on modern figures, instead being the perfect size for the vintage figures.
Both styles of figure sit well in the cockpit, so that's a plus.
The only thing I was genuinely preturbed about was the laughable attempt at a ramp on the bottom of the Shuttle. I thought the landgin gear would have given enough clearance for a Vader figure to stand at the base of the ramp, but it doesn't work for either a vintage or modern Vader figure.
Where this vehicles truly shines is in dioramas, surrounded by Imperials. On the top shelf of my desk, I have the Shuttle on the far left facing left, and 32 Imperials arranged in front of and around it. Six Royal Guards, two Dignitaries, one Death Star Gunner, two TIE pilots, three AT-AT Drivers, one each of Vader, the Emperor, Jerjerrod, and Veers (sure, he was never there, but of what other use is Veers when your AT-ATs are in storage?), six Biker Scouts, seven Stormtroopers, and one lowly Imperial Scanning Trooper. And it looks great. :)
I guess this pretty much means I don't have anything to hunt for anymore. Which is good news, since now I have to buy Christmas presents. :P
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