LONG STORY SURPRISE: Mutt/Junkyard, Imperial Guard #2

 So, yeah, long story involving someone else’s packages going missing for a month and then showing up randomly post-replacement means bonus toys!

IMPULSE BUY: NECA Mirage-Style TMNT Casey Jones

 Sometimes, all your reasons for “no” stop mattering.

FIG PHOTO: “Gettin’ Handsy” a.k.a. “The Heaviest Petting”

 First, I want you to know that it wasn’t my intent, but I do recognize this is the most Rule 34 / “This is definitely someone else’s fetish” toy pic I’ve ever done. I just thought it was funny.

I am Not Technically A Goro Bro

 

I understand that the rules dictate that the Goro Bros must purchase an original Mortal Kombat 1 Storm Collectibles Gotor, and ideallhy they must also be.a professional wrestler goaded into purchasing it at it’s ridiculous secondary market price by peer pressure. But I’m at least a Goro Second cousin now.

DISPLAY UPGRADE: Acrylic Risers

 

So, I had this shelf…

ANOTHER PREORDSER: Jada Street Fighter Ken

 

Goddamn I love me some Jada Toys Street Fighter.

MORE PREORDERS: Spider-Man Retro-Card Villains

I do love a classic comic / animated style Spidey figure. In fact, I’d go so far as to say if circumstances ever cause me to cut back and reprioritize my collecting, classic comic / cartoon Spidey stuff would be the first thing to keep and the last thing to cut.Which leads us to Tombstone and Jack-O-Lantern.

PREORDER ACQUIRED: Patch and Joe Fixit

 

I blame Marvel Puzzle Quest.

GAME PASS FAIL: Diablo 4

 AGne Pass Fail is when a game you were looking forward to, a game you should like, gets uninstalled the same day you install it. Hi, Diablo 4!

Admittedly, my garbage eyes do lead to more fails than most people. Interface and text size are big deals for me. I’ve uninstalled many a game upon learning that I couldn’t play it.

But Diablo 4? On the border. Its largest text size was pretty good. I could at least manage. But I started playing the game on lunch break, stopped to go back to work, came back a little later, and learned that because its always online, it doesn’t work with Quick Resume.

And that’s a goddamned dealbreaker. My schedule and my attention span demand some form of quick resume. It’s the best feature of modern consoles. So, faced with the prospect of starting over at the beginning of the first cavern or saying farewell to Diablo 4, it was an easy choice. Sorry, Blizzard.

THE REST OF MARCH: Part 2 - Wrestling Accessories!

 

Got a whole bunch of ring accessories from Figures Toy Company on or around my birthday.

THE REST OF MARCH, PART 1: More Preorders, Etc.

 

Preorders are coming in faster than I’m making new ones, which is always a good place to be. Although the new Masters of the Universe cartoon drops blew the ratio a bit.

STUFF ACQIRED: Stuff!

 

Stuff! I like it! I get it! Sometimes I preorder it and it comes! Sometimes I’m buying a pile of stuff and this other stuff is on sale! And sometimes I preorder it from one place, and that place fails me, and as part of a continuing effort to order less stuff from the Failure Place, I cancel that preorder and luckily find it somewhere else. STUFF!

SUPER7 Transformers: Exactly What Meets The Eye

 So, remember how I bought those He-Man cartoon figures?

IN-STORE: Penta Oscuro

 

I try not to get too many variations on the same wrestler, but sometime you gotta.

iMPULSE BUY: He-Man Cartoon Collection

 

I swear I should just make a Robo’s Fault display at this point for stuff that’s in my collection because I saw Robo playing with it and decided I wanted it too. From Mancakes and Beef Boss to the Fwoosh Skeleton to the Game On arcade games to these goddamned He-Man figures. As much as I sneer at influencer culture, I’m certainly being… influenced.

Or at least I’m finding out about stuff I would have wanted anyway? I’ve dabbled in He-Man stuff on and off for like three decades now - mostly “updated” versions that tried to bring some legitimacy to the property. I’ve been repeatedly tempted, for example, by MOTU Revelations toys from the latest reworking, but they’ve never quite clicked over for me. And then I saw the Cartoon Collection.

Six inch scale figures with modern, if not quite super-modern, articulation (ball joints, single elbows and knees, wrists, ankles, etc.) but proportions, looks, and accessories lifted straight out of the Filmation cartoon, full cheese factor intact. Apparently the Origins line has been doing this with the original toys forever, but the cartoon adjustments push it over the line into “Yeah, that’s the Masters toys I’ve been wanting.” And the 20 buck price point does not hurt.

I assume the price is because the toys were based around reusing bodies with just new heads and armor overl

ays, and the cartoon followed the toy designs, so they’re relatively cheap to produce. But they’re well made, the accessories are cool and plentiful, and while there’s not a lot of paint, that’s again accurate to the cartoon’s level of detail.

He-Man comes with his regular sword, a back scabbard for it, and an episode-specific bonus sword. Skeletor comes with his staff, his sword, and a couple of weird “masks” that are in fact replacement heads, again≈

from a specific episode. I am a sucker for deep-cut, very specific cartoon accessories even when I’ve never seen the episode they’re from, which is a weird quirk, I guess.

Man-At-Arms and Teela are similar, although at first I was worried about the scale because I opened Teela first and she is TINY. You can see that in the photo above. Plus they pose the figures weird in the packaging to make them look like the original toys, which makes them even smaller. But no, they’re just proportionally small and in the 6” scale. I’m assuming eventually the Teela body will be used for Evil-Lyn and The Sorceress. Man At Arms comes with his Stasis Ray, which he used to fight dragons, so out came my Golden Axe Dragon Mount to be stasisized. And his club (not shown).

Teela has her sword and shield and little training drone thing. Not to infantilize a hovering sphere with a gun and a kinfe, but it’s still a little training drone thing.

I did not get the whole line, becaus, because the characters I’m invested in in He-Man is a pretty small sub-set of the total. There’s a Trap-Jaw and a Beast-Man that don’t matter to me already, and a Stratos on the way I could care less about, but I think I gotta be in for Mer-Man, whose dopey-ass look perfectly captures the cartoon’s ridiculousness.

So, I guess, I have some of the power?

Also this sent me down a “create another hole in the collection I then immediately filled” rabbit hole that was slightly embarrassing in size and expense, but that’s a story for another day.

THE ARCADE GROWS: Star Wars, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

  

Nostalgia is weird. Sometimes you see a thing and a flood of… not memories as such, but pure, unbridled RECOGNITION floods your soul. That’s how I felt, when I idly revisited GalacticBasic’s Etsy site where I’d picked up that Mortal Kombat machine last year and I saw this. I absolutely had to have it.

LONG PREORDER ACHIEVED: Fwoosh Yokai Skeleton

 

November, 2022. It was a simpler time.

And hey, I get it. Indie toy companies take time to get stuff made, get stuff shipped, get stuff out. But man, when I ordered this Yokai Skeleton (Jack O Lantern Edition) from Fwoosh Toys, the guy I thought of as the face of the channel was still associated with the channel.

ACQUISITION AND PHOTO SHOOT: Super Action Stuff GAME ON!

 

I love the Internet. I hate the Internet.

I saw these on the main YouTube toy guy I follow (Robo, now RoboDon’tKnow, formerly Fwoosh) and I had to have them. First, they’re 1/12 scale arcade machines, which is one of my things. Second, they light up. Third, they’re chock full of a wild assortment of weird accessories for 6” figures, all of which I thought were hilarious.

No, did I need both of them? Only sort of. I mean, they come with all the same accessories, except that many of them are available in different colors. But Cyber Dagger had the colors I wanted most, and Cats With Knives 2 is CATS WITH KNIVES 2, and there were in fact some things I did want doubles of. So there you go.

I also needed an intensive project to really get the hang of my new workflow that incorporates Affinity Photo 2. So I decided to do an elaborate photo shoot of all the accessories, for a sufficiently loose value of all. Some were exact duplicates. Some didn’t quite deserve multiple photos. And so far I’ve lost three of the accessories. Because they’re tiny. But get ready, this is gonna be a long one.

NEW TOYS: The Normal-Ass Purchases of February

 

OK. So here’s the deal. February was a relatively light month for purchases but a very heavy month for photographs and Generally Being Busy. Most of that is tied to one specific purchase which requires one very long post which I’ll be working on soon, and then March stuff can start being photographed this week, but in the meantime, three just normal-ass toy purchases.

SPACE SHIT (PSVRZ2)

 

Been on a big Space Shit kick on PSVR2.

FIG PHOTOS: “Dawn Of Hookhausen Remaster”, “Danhausen Debut”

 So, yeah, here’s the new version of The Arena and the new tools paying off.

NEW TOOL: Affinity Photo 2 (iPad)

 SO MANY TINY ICONS.

ACQUISITION: AEW Authentic Scale Ring Featuring Sting

 

So, yeah, I bought a second ring.

THE ARENA (Version 2)

 

Now, we’re getting somewhere.

FIGURE PHOTO: “The Meme Trilogy Is Complete”

 

This idea has reached its logical conclusion.

Three Danhausens. Three Spidermans. All pointing at each other in the Spider Society lobby from Across The Spider-Verse. 

There exists an alternate universe where I made a bunch more of these in different poses and scattered them all over the background in different sizes, but I did the effort to reward calculation on that and decided against it.

Official List (Left to Right):

• Marvel Legends Amazing Spider-Man 2 Andrew Garfield Spidey (No Way Home Wave)
• Ringside Collectibles Exclusive VNVE Danhausen
• Marvel Legends Spider-Man Tobey Maguire (No Way Home Wave)
• Unrivaled 14 Danhausen
• Marvel Legends Final Swing Spider-Man Tom Holland (No Way Home Wave)
• Hookhausen 2-Pack Danhausen

For reference, the rest of the trilogy:

IMPULSE CLEARANCE… GIFT? Mario Movie Toys

 It was an impulsive idea to see if the Mario movie toys were on clearance anywhere and it was a place someone had given me a gift card to. So. Mario!

SEMI-IMPULSE BUY: The Rest Of The D&D Cartoon

 

If you are some kind of eidetic-memory wunderkind, you’ll remember that last year, I bought the first wave of D&D Cartoon figures, along with the Dungeon Master / Venger 2-pack, on clearance at Target.

FIG PHOTO: “The Ascent Of Groot”

 

Look, I got all the Groots, at least until they get around to doing super deluxe Kaiju Groot or King Groot. All currently known Groots, so here they are, in age order. 

I tried one in chronological order but not gonna lie, it looked so wonky I didn’t even keep it as an alternative. And all it does is move the last Groot to the first slot. Not that interesting.

Anyway, for the sake of completionism, it’s the Potted Baby Groot and Baby Groot from the Guardians 5-pack, then Teen Groot from Love and Thunder, then Young Adult Groot from GOTG 3, then Adult Groot again from the Guardians 5-Pack. 

I thought about doing the Ascent of Man thing where the middle ones were more stoopy and bent over, but one, I would have had to get out stands, and two, you can’t do anything with the potted and baby Groots, so again it would have looked wonky.

At Long Last, R2 (AKA At What Price, Preorder?)

So I finally got the new Black Series R2-D2, and he’s fantastic. But man, what a hassle. And emblematic of the very small problem of possibly needing to change up how I preorder, and who from.

MORE STUFF: Marvel Legends

 

Right. Still got some new stuff. First, a trio of Marvel Legends, each from a different place, at a diferent price, for a different reason.

WRESTLESTRAVAGANZA PART 4: Two Clearance Things From Target

 

Right! Time to get back into posting some shit instead of buying it and photographing it and ignoring it or setting it up and photographing it and ignoring it or just buying it and ignoring it. I know my role, as I was instructed to do by the WWE Ultimates The Rock I found for nine bucks at Target.

WRESTLESTRAVAGANZA PART 3: Filling In Gaps Part 2

OK, I’m as sick of saying this as you are of reading it, but last time - I don’t love or even like any of these compositing jobs. But they’re good enough.

The last of my immediate post-Xmas wrestling acquisitions, although there was also, um, a trip to Target on Monday that we’ll need to discuss. But this is Private Party, who just returned to TV, so good timing.

FIG PHOTO: The True Mega-Powers

This is why I needed two scarves. 

WRESTLESTRAVAGANZA PART 2: Filling In Gaps Part 1

YOU GOT TO GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!

 As I mentioned before, not particularly happy with any of these pics, but I’m not doing a whole new setup to fix the problems just for new wrestler toy shots. Next round with more infrastructure should make me happier.

WRESTLESTRAVAGANZA PART 1: Gifts!

 NOTE: I’m not happy with any of the backgreound removal or compositing in any of the next few wrestling posts. It’s a new process and I’m working out the kinks. But they do show off the new figures.

First up, Unmatched 7 Thunder Rosa.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The Arena

So, this is starting to get out of hand…

The Non-Wrestling Post-XMas Clearance Toys of 2024

 I bought a whole bunch of cheap stuff after Christmas, but most of it was wrestling, and For Reasons, those will all be in a separate post.

The Final 2024 Preorders Of 2023!

It’s a new year! Which means I can no longer receive 2024-scheduled preorders in 2023! But the toy companies knew that, and that’s why, in the week between Xmas and New Years, I got four toys I wasn’t supposed to get until the first three months of 2024. Still no goddamned R2-D2, which I have been hosed on a second time, yet another Entertainment Earth “pre-order” that suddenly becomes “sold out” without me getting the figure. Anyway.

MORE GIFT: Snow Job!

 

 

When it comes to GI Joe, I dabble. I dip in and out, mostly out. I’m looking for for individual toys that strike me as odd or cool or vaguely nostalgic. Which is why I was so disappointed that Serpentor was both expensive and quickly sold out. But anyway, this is Snow Job.

GIFTS: Super7 Ultimates That Were On Sale!

 

Ah, Super7’s Ultimates. A line I enjoy mostly from afar, until sales, gifting opportunities, or, ideally, sales AND gifting opportunities bring the price points in line with my misgivings.

First up, a couple of Zords. The Green Dragonzord and the Red Tyrannozord from Mighty Morphin’ Power Ragners. I have the Zord Ascension Project Megazord from Hasbro, and speaking of disappointment at a price point… 

The level of jank in the ZAP Megazord means I’ll never take it apart to use the Tyrannosaurus separately, so I figured I might as well get the 8-9” Ultimates one. Similarly, while they made a ZAP Dragonzord, reviews weren’t great. So, again, Ultimates. On sale.

And like most Super7’s, they look great, have good accessories, and get there by sacrificing articulation. I mean, they’re Zords, they don’t move much as a general rule, but you’re not going to get a lot of dynamic posing out of either of these. But they do come with lots of hand, including the truly excellent missile firing hands of the Dragonzord, metal Power Coins, and mini Power Rangers to carefully balance on their heads. 

Last year’s Lion-O and Mumm-Ra The Ever Living are joined this year by standard, scrawny Mumm-Ra, who, again, is very nice. Hands, some accessories, a wired cloth cape, and, somewhat inexplicably, a plastic cape for freaks who want to take a reasonably articulated figure, limit all his movement, and stick him on a shelf looking like a cartoon. That ain’t me.

Now all I gotta do is find the wrong-bin I put Lion-O in.

Y'all know the answer. So all the free thinkers can all throw your hands up. Ain't no coincidence, this shit isn't random. I'm blaming everything on Cobra Commander

The absolute best of the group? Classic cartoon Cobra Commander, because I got sick and tired of waiting for Hasbro to make one. And boy, does he make up for his single elbow and kknee joints with a cloth wired cape, extra head, all the hands in the world, and a metric asston of accessories lifed straight from the cartoon:

SNAAAAAAKE! WRAPPED AROUND A GLOOOOOOBE! I mean, come on. He’s pretty fucking awesome.