Marvel Legends collector showcase: Derek's

An old friend from Uni dropped by recently and while the wives were having a chat, we discovered that we shared a common interest... Marvel action figures!

Derek collects anything and everything that's churned out under the Marvel Legends banner and more. He's a MOSC/MISB collector but I'm trying to convince him to get a few extra loose figures for display as it does make a difference when displaying.

Here are a couple of pictures from his awesome collection...

Check out the awesome collection of HTF ML variants that he has. I do believe he has many more. He'll soon complete his ML collection in no time.

Now all Derek needs is a very BIG wall to hang the whole lot on!

Toybiz's Stealth Wolverine

You just can't fault action figures produced by Toybiz. I found this 2005 Stealth Wolverine during a shopping trip to Target with the wife today. Having had a bad day with Hasbro's Spidey 2099 figure, I seriously just had to get myself some good old Toybiz goodness. What's more, this figure was going for half its original price as it was the last Toybiz toy left standing in the aisle.

Packaging-wise... Stealth Wolverine left much to be desired in terms of design. I'd rate the design a 5.5/10. However, when it comes to the toy itself... I'm nothing but smiles.

Wolvie comes with a superb 35 points of articulation... much like, in fact it can be mistaken for, a toy from the Marvel Legends series. You can pose him almost anyway you like. The sculpting of this figure is just typical Toybiz... it is excellent. The facial sculpt captures a serious Logan (aka Wolverine) without his usual rage. It suits the figure well considering that this is a stealth Wolvie.

With this figure you'd get a set of night vision goggles (made of rubber) which fit snugly when not in use on Wolvie's forehead or when placed on his eyes... much like the real thing. His holster and ammo pouch attached to his thighs are made of similar rubber and they're glued down permanently. The gun is very realistic looking (made of hard plastic) and fits into the holster with ease. It's held down by 2 rubber straps connected to 2 individual grey plastic pegs. Wolvie comes with his usual claws which are made of flexible plastic for child-safety reasons.

Paint job for Stealth Wolverine could be improved upon a bit as mine came with a little missing paint on the joints. Thankfully, the plastic beneath wasn't much of a contrast to the surrounding paint.

Overall, I'm extremely satisfied with this purchase. I really miss Toybiz's Marvel Legends figures now that Hasbro has taken over the rights to produce the new Marvel Legends toys (saw Hasbro's Marvel Legends series 1 figures and I think they've taken a step backwards while pricing has gone forwards). Anyhow, I'd rate this figure a big fat A+!

Hasbro's ORIGINS Spiderman 2099

Having collected Marvel Legends for a bit, my expectations for action figures have risen a little higher in terms of what I'd expect an action figure's minimum level of articulation, paint job, sculpt, etc, etc should be. Sooooo... having such an (maybe unrealistic) expectation, I recently bought myself an Origins - Spiderman 2099 after having read a bit of the comic and getting kinda hooked on this "new" Spiderman (the 2099 series was released in '93 if I'm not mistaken).

This Spidey has an awesome paint job that just screams for attention (well, to me it does) so I just had to get it when K-mart offered it at a discounted price. Hasbro's introduced this new metallic paint and it's just fantastic. You get sparkly bits here and there and it just makes me all dizzy and happy. Ha. Kiddin'.

Sculpt's pure and simple... there's no need for much detail as this is supposed to be some sleek full body suit that the Spidey dude is wearing. Paint application on Spidey's face and torso is fair with slight smudging in some areas. The colors blend well and look heaps better than Toybiz's Spiderman 2099 (refer to picture below) that was released quite a long time back. A little improvement (or effort I should say) could have been done by sculpting spikes to the forearms of Spider 2099 as depicted in the comic book.

Accessories? You get a silver cape (with black web prints) that's deliberately torn in places to make it appear like it's made of good ole Spidey's webbing. It's held to the figure by elastic bits attached to the elbow and shoulder. The cape's removable but if you take if off, the back of the figure would be so bland as there's nothing else printed on the figure's back... everything's all just dark metallic blue.

Now we come to the bit that ticks me off... the articulation. Toybiz's Marvel Legends has set the benchmark for figures and I'm afraid Hasbro just can't make the cut (yeah, yeah... I know this is not a Legends figure). The figure from waist upwards appears to be very Legends-like in terms of poseability. I was happy with it till I saw what we had waist downwards... each leg only had 3 points of articulation and there are absolutely no ball-joints! The bl**dy feet are fixed to move only slightly upward/downwards and angled such that if you'd raised the legs upwards to pose it in a squat (more like sitting position), you get feet that angle themselves awkwardly inwards such that Spidey cannot be posed without toppling over.

If this toy was released 10 years back, I'd be more than happy with the articulation... but considering this day and age, this is just not acceptable for a figure of this price range. Oh, you get a lame little circular stand to place Spidey on. It has a big "Spiderman 2099" sticker covering the whole top bit of the stand. The sticker wasn't even pasted well as there were heaps of bubbles under it. I just had to throw the ghastly thing away.

So my recommendations? Buy this figure only if you're a hardcore Spidey fan... otherwise, don't bother. It wasn't worth the money I'd paid for it... and I got it on a discount! B-

Remakes and K.O.'s

Transformers toy collectors are growing steadily in numbers... there is such a huge demand for the original toys that we're now seeing an influx of K.O. (knock-off) "reissues". It's just unbelievable. I recall the early to mid-90's when there weren't that many collectors... prices for Gen1 Transformers were high (but not as high as they were a couple of years back) and you could still grab great deals.

Around '96, I remember haggling with a seller for the 3 powermaster cars... Slapdash, Getaway and Joyride. I got them for around 50 bucks each MISB (boxes ranged from a C7.5 to C9). A year later, I was offered more than 200 dollars per piece! This was before the big toy companies (Hasbro & Takara) realised the vast untapped market of adult toy collectors who were still hiding in their closets.

Then came the official reissues... they were a good idea on one hand. Collectors who'd missed out on their favorite TF toys during their childhood could now easily purchase one to make up for that loss. Thing is, that drove the prices of the originals down quite a bit... initially. Good or a bad thing? Depends on whether you're a seller or a buyer. The good thing was that the toy companies did NOT attempt to reissue the toys completely... the toys were the same ('cept for certain exemptions due to recent toy safety regulations in the US) but they came in new packagings and designs which differentiated the old from the new. So in a way, old time collectors were respected in the process and prices for the original toys remained steady (over time).

Now... we're seeing unofficial "reissues" which look and feel like the original thing AND come in boxes which are an exact replica of the originals. The K.O. people started out with a big release of the Decepticon tapes with collectors lapping up their initial stock. These toys came with diecast parts, professionally airbrushed paintjobs, sticker sheets, etc, etc... just like the originals. It was hard to tell em apart... seriously. What this has done is to bring down the prices of toys on the secondary markets and in the process killing the joy of hunting down certain figures which to me, is one of the main joys in toy collecting... the hunting... yeeeesssssss.

I find it a sad thing... I can picture some diehard collector buying himself an original Gen1 TF Swoop that's MISB for some ridiculously high price and having that gleam of satisfaction last for only a short while when he realises that there are fakes floating around at a fraction of the price! Or worse still, realising that he'd bought a fake for a premium! I'm just glad that I'd off loaded most of my MISB Gen1's before this K.O. craze went out of hand.

Well, it just brings us all back down to the fact that we're collecting toys and toys are what they are... so yeah.

Oh, just a heads-up for those who don't know... the K.O. folks are going to be doing a remake of Gen1 Mirage (so get rid of your MISB Gen1 Mirages now!). They've just released K.O. boxes of Gen1 Soundwave (only the boxes... no toys as the toys are currently being reissued by Hasbro... Takara's a little more expensive an option). AND they're gonna start with a project on getting the Constructicons released soon.

Gotta admit that I AM so very tempted in getting myself one of these "reissues"... gotta resist em tho. Argh.

Kamen Riders (aka Masked Riders)

The Kamen Rider (KR) concept was created by the late Ishinomori Shoutarou in the 70's (he passed away in the late 90's if I'm not mistaken). Each Kamen Rider series which sometimes comprise of over 50 episodes, have a storyline that's usually independent of each other. They may be set in the same time line or in a different time/universe. Oh, Kamen Riders are tokusatsu's... they're a live-action series and not cartoons.

The Kamen Rider would be the main hero of the series (although later works would incorporate a couple of other riders along with the main one). Occasionally, you'd get a bad KR thrown in for added spice.

Each KR almost always rides a souped up motorbike which transforms when the actor transforms (or in Japanese, "henshins") into his alter ego. The KR activates his transformation via his belt and becomes this super-hero... which in some series is a cyborg, while in others the KR is a chap wearing some futuristic suit.

Most, in fact close to all KR's are bug-like in appearance. Considering that KR was released in 1971 (refer to the 2 KR's to the left and right of the above picture... they were the very first KR's), I find their designs just revolutionary for their time. Take a look at their suits and bikes... I think they look really cool now and that's like a 35 year old design. Just imagine how the kids reacted to the shows then in that time!

Most KR series have a rather dark, melancholic storyline which I find more suitable for teenagers and adults than for little kids. KR's aren't like the Power Rangers shows (although concept-wise it is closely related). However, these days, in order to compete with the numerous entertainment shows kids get these days, the newer KR storylines have been significantly watered down to reach out to the broader market (the kids!) so that more products (toys!) may be sold.

I'd recommend KR Agito or KR Faiz as a good start to getting an intro on KR's. The current KR Den-O (which is currently being broadcast in Japan) is very Power Ranger-ish and a thumbs down in my opinion.

Got it!

So after much hunting, I've finally gotten myself a Classics Jetfire (got hooked on the design when I caught the DW comic).

It took me ages to acquire this bot locally as stores weren't stocking up on the newer stuff.

Gotta say that this bot beats the rest of the TF Classics series in terms of design and accessories. His helmet is removable (helmet's designed to replicate, to a certain extent, the original Macross toy design which the Gen1 toy is based on)... the head mold is that of the original cartoon version of Jetfire aka Skyfire in the series. The guns and side armor are removable, and the booster jet packs on the back open up to cannons.

There are heaps of reviews online 'bout this awesome bot so I'll skip that. Mine is on display without the helmet on as I prefer the original 80's Skyfire-look. A definite "must-get" if you're a Gen1 fan.