Your Latest Non-TF Toy Acquisitions

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
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Ackula
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Post by Ackula »

After selling some TF stuff on Ebay I was finally able to have enough spare change to order the Entertainment Earth Exclusive Joker Squad Star Wars set, which I've been fantasizing about for weeks now.

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That is just a stock image, I'll hopefully have a camera again by the time they get here. They are from one of the Legacy comics, and truthfully they will probably not seem too cool to anyone who hasn't read it, but they are very cool stormtroopers none the less.

My long term goal is to have every unique Stormtrooper mold...ie..ones you can remove the helmet and see its someone different. So these guys are a large step closer for me on that respect.
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bowspearer
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Post by bowspearer »

Knowe the feeling Ackula, trying to get to 100 posts on here so I can do something similar.

Just won a M.A.S.K. Wolfbeast, missing a missile and both masks.
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Ackula
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Post by Ackula »

bowspearer wrote:Knowe the feeling Ackula, trying to get to 100 posts on here so I can do something similar.
Huh? Not sure I understand? You are trying to post until you can get into the selling threads?
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

If he is, he's making more meaningful contributions to discussions than many people. :up:
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bowspearer
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Post by bowspearer »

Ackula wrote:Huh? Not sure I understand? You are trying to post until you can get into the selling threads?
Exactly, mind you that's more me coming into TFA with a heap of cynicism after seeing the worst the fandom has to offer. I have to say though, I'm finding that the atmosphere here seems pretty free from alot of cliquey politics and "net person" garbage, so the experience is definitely turning into a nice bonus :).
Denyer wrote:If he is, he's making more meaningful contributions to discussions than many people. :up:
Thanks Denyer, appreciate the kind words. :)
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Ackula
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Post by Ackula »

Denyer wrote:If he is, he's making more meaningful contributions to discussions than many people. :up:
Can't really argue with you on that point, sadly.
bowspearer wrote:Exactly, mind you that's more me coming into TFA with a heap of cynicism after seeing the worst the fandom has to offer. I have to say though, I'm finding that the atmosphere here seems pretty free from alot of cliquey politics and "net person" garbage, so the experience is definitely turning into a nice bonus :).
This is the only TF forum I have ever really been a member of, but I have heard plenty of stories that would support your statement. I don't really think this is a place that is like that, we're a smaller community than most so I think that helps.
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bowspearer
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Post by bowspearer »

I'll deal with your responses in reverse
Ackula wrote:This is the only TF forum I have ever really been a member of, but I have heard plenty of stories that would support your statement. I don't really think this is a place that is like that, we're a smaller community than most so I think that helps.
Yeah I've noticed that, which is what I meant about it being a nice bonus.
Ackula wrote:Can't really argue with you on that point, sadly.
Well let me put it this way- when I first joined, I had had that many horror story experiences with various boards, that my only intention was to sell off the parts of my collection that I wanted to get rid of and that was that.

The fact is that I tend not to be a good fit in message boards. Either I wind up with the staff clique bullying me and I refuse to sit back and take it, I wind up fighting agaisnt the inaction of staff members when bullying is being allowed, or I stand up for someone else being bullied by the staff- and invariably get banned. I've been banned from about half a dozen TF boards and in every single case it fell into one of those categories.

So considering that in my experience the more established fan communities tend to be the worst in that regard, and TFA is about the oldest out there, I didn't have high hopes.

When I discovered the 100 post limit, I figured I'd have to just grit my teeth and it probably wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.....

Yet I got a really pleasant shock! This board seems to have done what every other established and well known TF board has failed to do- be free of fan politics and actually treat everyone with dignity and respect!

So to be honest, while I came in here with the intention to just sell off my stuff and have the bare minimum contact, it seems what I found was something I never expected- a new home on a really established tf board :).
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Post by bowspearer »

Add MOSC Mayhem's Revenge to that list.
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Zeeks
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Post by Zeeks »

Quick update: Got the following GL figures- Cyborg Superman, Manhunter, Emerald Shield Hal Jordan, and DC Universe Sinestro in the Yellow Corps Uniform variant. More than likely, I will be reviewing some of these in the not-to-distant future.
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Post by Zeeks »

Action Figure Spotlight: DC Direct Green Lantern Series 3 Cyborg Superman

Get your plastic on and enjoy the ride, fellow GL’s- we got another winner here with Hank Henshaw, one of the most unlucky bastards in the DC Universe. Emerging out of the “Reign of the Supermen” arc from years ago, Henshaw was a Reed Richards voyage to space gone really bad with some rather Villainous results. For his specific role in the GL mythos, Henshaw, along with Mongul, destroyed Hal Jordan’s home town of Coast City, which drove Hal mad and allowed the Parallax entity to leech onto Hal’s soul. After Rebirth, Henshaw was found leading a group of the Manhunters (the original police force for the Guardians) in sector 666, and later became part of the Sinestro Corps.

For this figure, the very first thing that struck me as being cool was the multiple yellow rings on the right cyborg arm- they are translucent yellow, and when held up to a light bulb, really seem to sparkle. On the detail side of things, the cyborg anatomy was captured in great detail, especially on the arm where you can see all kinds of servos and mechanisms that make up the machine part of the man. For the uniform part, the “S” was replaced with the Sinestro Corps insignia, which tends to work well- it meshes in quite nicely with the mechanical details. Articulation is standard, but one feature that Henshaw has is an upper torso bend, something I have not found on any other GL figures to date. This upper torso bend is on a swivel- left, right, up, down, wherever you want him to be. Another detial that impressed me was the teeth area of the jaw- it is completely open and three-dimensional, instead of just being a two dimensional carve on the head piece as a whole. Although not quite as long as the DC Universe version of Hank, the cape is quite similar in respect to being made of rubber and pre-shaped into a “wind sway” state with creases and folds. The cape itself has three main attachment points- one on either side of the neck, and a main point on the back, which I’m not entirely crazy about. They could have let that one go, just as they did on Parallax’ cape, and kept the two main points to the shoulder area.

The minuses are few, but important to note in any event- namely, the right ring hand cannot be swiveled, so the hand is always in the palm-up direction. I really wanted to pose the figure for pictures with a “kiss my ring” extension of the hand. The left hand is pre-molded into a fist, which seems to be a similar feature on most GL figures, and one I’m not entirely crazy about to begin with. Henshaw comes with no accessories aside from the standard GL base in green (a feature I wish would be addressed- aside from Black Hand, every figure comes with the same base, and I don’t mind that; I just wish they would keep them color coordinated with the figures, i.e. a yellow base for Sinestro Corps members, violet base for the Star Sapphires, etc). I also noticed that, due to the pre-scult of the legs, the figure seems to be in a constant left side slump. I tried placing the legs in different poses, but I just couldn’t escape the slump.

The one last thing I question about Hensahw is the color of his costume- I understand that he is the Manhunter GrandMaster, and they tried to coordinate the costume to being in tune with the Manhunters’ general color scheme, but it would have been nice to see a yellow version of this since he wields the yellow rings of fear in the first place. Now that the Red Lanterns have been introduced into the mythos, I can’t begrudge a novice for thinking that Henshaw might be a Red Lantern.

Sadly, all this guy ever wanted was death; to be free of the pain he called life. Unfortunately, he never quite got it, but his pathos makes for a great character and story in general, which was adeptly brought to life via DC Direct.

Overall Scores:

Articulation: 7- aside from the unique torso bend, it is standard, which is to say (with DC Direct) minimal at best.
Detail: 8- the cyborg elements really make the figure, and the translucent yellow rings bring it to life.
Price: $14.99- I’ve paid more and I’ve paid less for other GL figures, so he basically falls comfortably in the middle.
Accessories: 2- basically non-existent with the exception of the base and cape, if you even want to consider the cape an accessory.
Playability: he’s tough, the cape is tough, so he will stand up to the very worst the GL’s can dish out in punishment.
Overall Coolness Factor: I was after this guy for months, so I wasn’t disappointed when I got him. Standing him next to a Manhunter just breeds coolness. Definite thumbs up.

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bowspearer
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Post by bowspearer »

Add MISB Dynamo and MISB Vandal to the list (I'm going to have to display my collection on here at some point heh).

EDIT: Volcano, Rhino, Switchblade, Scott/T-Bob, Buzzard and Stinger all arrived in the past 2 days. Man they kick some serious tailpipe :)
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Chogokin ZZ Gundam. Still very undecided, both on the basic design and the toy itself. For the forner, from some angles it's a big hulking monstrosity, a Gundam on steroids drawn by Rob Liefield. From others it's actually quite dynamic and powerful. The scheme is possibly a little too busy. For the latter... it doesn't actually do a bad job at this scale of being functional, and is considerably more impressive than the Z Gundam, being largely sturdy and not slavishly overcomplicated. However, unless I'm doing something wrong, it does seem very back-heavy, which rather ruins the decent articulation. I do like the comedy oversized beam sabers, though.
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Post by Bludgeon-X »

That would be these 4 figures from a certain bionicle toyline

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Glatorian Strakk, one of the known fighters for the Iconox Ice Tribe
Story describes him as a a exceptinally greedy Glatorian from a Ice Tribe.
He´s also know as a mercenary soldier and escorter when nit fighting in the arena. Not known to not be one of the best combatants but he´s got a great personality and white colored characters are among my favorite colors.
The term Glatorian is used for mercenary fighters that fight on behalf for their villages to settle disputes and claim rights to resources in the desert between tribes.

And a few village Leaders who belong to the Agori inhabitant class.

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Metus village chief of the Ice Tribe of Iconox
Skilled trader and Negotiator(almost like Swindle) And he´s know for hiring and training new Glatorian fighters, and always wishes to find a excellent fighter that can help claim victories more often for Iconox.

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Raanu village chief of the Vulcanus Fire Tribe
Raanu is know for a firm and harsh rules for the safety of his fellow villagers.
Unfortunately for him, one of their only arena fighters named Malum was exiled after losing control of his temper and attempting a kill...(Glatorian are only allowed to win by forfeit or defeat)... so Raanu is struggling to hire and train fighters on behalf of Vulcanus which frequently suffers from bad events like lack of resources to claim or villlage gets plundered and ransacked by vicious and dangerous thieves known as Bone hunters.

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Tarduk village chief of the Tesara jungle tribe
Known for his wise ways as a leader. He´s also know for excellent navigation skill which he´s learned and been know for by frequently scavenging and exploring for lost artifacts or treasures in places like temple ruins in jungle or even somewhere in the desert of Bara Magna and he´s quite adventorous like a Indiana Jones character.
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*BARRAGE*
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Post by *BARRAGE* »

1965 Godzilla, Destoroyah, 12 inch Destro, 12inch Snake Eyes, Black Jesus action figure, sigma six Destro... I love Tax returns...
HE JUST WON'T STAY DEAD
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Zeeks
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Post by Zeeks »

*BARRAGE* wrote:1965 Godzilla, Destoroyah...
That's so cool- I just watched the Destoyah movie two nights ago. sort of going through a mini Gojira phase...it was kind of sad to see him die at the end, but at least the torch was passed....

Any pics?
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Post by Cliffjumper »

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I think the only person who'll get that isn't around at the moment... :(

Still, Soul of Chogokin Black Ox all arrived. Decent companion piece to Tetsujin even if I can't get the punching/ red eyes gimmick to work. Nice figure - nearly all smooth, featureless black diecast, and it probably weighs more than the entire TF Animated line put together. A couple of minor quibbles - the elbow joints can't take the exposed wiring part of Tetsujin, while the little figure of Dr. Franken (which has an awesome Trowa Barton quiff) really should be in an exact replica of Shotaro's stance.
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

I basically burned more of my cash, this time on Shinkis. Arnval, Howling and Maochao. Am waiting for their arrival.

EDIT: You can add Waffebunny to that as well.
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Zeeks
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Post by Zeeks »

Action Figure Spotlight: DC JUSTICE Sinestro, Series 1

Surprise, surprise! Yes, I bought another Sinestro figure. I know, it must come as a big shock to you, the reader <insert lols here>. A little off the path from the normal DC Direct/Universe figures, I was at a sort of crossroads on whether to get this specific interpretation of GL’s most notorious enemy, but I bought this figure because there were things I actually didn’t like about it. For a few months, I had been eyeing it in the collector store as it collected dust on the shelves, but I made a commitment to getting all the GL-specific figures I could before purchasing this. Having only one other JUSTICE figure in my collection (that being Black Manta), I already knew I would be impressed with it on certain aspects (likeness, realism) but there were some aspects I didn’t much care for, which I will explain further. I’m dividing this review into three main points: Sinestro as a character design, Alex Ross, and the figure itself.

The first time I ever saw the character of Sinestro was on the SuperFriends Saturday morning cartoon when he was part of Lex Luthor’s Legion of Doom. Even as a kid, I wasn’t totally impressed with him. Truth be told, he looked corny, like a goon clown with that silly triangle design on his shirt. The big head and whiny voice didn’t help matters either. Basically, I saw a low level villain who was less interesting than most of the other villains on his team. His only special power was the opposite of Green Lantern- he could make yellow constructs, which were Green Lantern’s only weakness. It honestly just didn’t make for good story telling, and even on a comic level, it was hard to take Sinestro seriously. He never had any real depth other than being a Green Lantern gone bad, and that scenario had played out so many times before that it just came off as a Darth Vader rip off (even though Sinestro had been introduced years earlier).

So along comes this guy named Geoff Johns, who task it was to put Hal Jordan back in the GL role, which he did very successfully. But the question was: where does Sinestro fit in? Is he still going to be a third rate villain who has occasional skirmishes with GL but is always defeated? Johns’ answer was NO. Finally, we get a worthy villain: one with depth, a constantly developing back story (getting in touch with Parallax during Hal’s insane reign, his relationship with Abin Sur, the formation of his own Corps, his relationship with his homeworld and daughter), and most importantly, someone who was now worthy of our attention. Along with Ethan Van Sciver’s artwork, Sinestro became fresh and new, almost risen from the dead space of the DC Universe, for which he was to become an important fabric of that tapestry. The new uniform (and corps) basically just rocked. Even in the very beginnings of the Rebirth story, his portion of the story would set up for greater things to come. Sinestro became a bit more real, a bit more sinister, a bit more in our faces.

The second part of this has to do with Alex Ross, which most comic fans know as a master of realism within a fabricated world of two dimensional reading material. As a Fine Arts major in college concentrating on realism, I was immediately impressed the first time I ever saw something from Alex Ross, which I’m pretty sure was Kingdom Come. I still rank that story as one of my top ten trades in my own collection. The realism was just incredible- the shading, the placement of figure within background, the lifelike quality given to each and every aspect of any given panel- it was just great. To me, his art speaks in fluidity, constantly flowing while at the same time giving you the big bangs along with the more quiet moments. I could probably write a whole thesis on Alex Ross, but I will save you the torture. So, with this figure being from Ross’ Justice title, there were certain things implied: a realistic three dimensional rendering of characters straight from the comic. They would be faithfully sculpted by Tim Bruckner in relation to every and any aspect of the characters.

So now we come to the figure itself- is it faithful to Alex Ross’ vision? Absolutely. Does it incorporate the realism and detail? Yes. However, I still can’t get past the old version being used. No matter how beautiful Ross’ art is, you can’t really change the core design flaws. This is a pre-Johns Sinestro, utilizing the original dorky costume and big head. Even in realism, this figure just screams “cornball” straight from the SuperFriends show. If one were to compare this figure to the Yellow Corps version of Sinestro from the DC Direct line, the immediate differences are notable: the bulbous head has been slimmed down to be more in scale with the whole body, the new costume design gives Sinestro a bit more serious tone as well as a better detailed overall look. The ears aren’t as exaggerated. In a total redesign, Sinestro looks more “real” than Ross’ realistic interpretation of the old design. Lastly, my least favorite aspect of this figure is the “garter” belt. It just looks rediculous.

Per usual, articulation is standard; knee joints, elbows, swivel head, and hips. As always, articulation is sacrificed for detail, which isn’t always a bad thing, especially if you are just displaying the figure. He comes with a standard display base, and a yellow power rod. One thing I noticed is that the head seems to be on a permanent right tilt, not matter which position you swivel the head into.

For comparing and contrasting, I took a few pics of this figure by itself, and also with other interpreations of the character, namely the two DC Direct GL versions, the DC Universe variant with yellow corps uniform, and the Animated JLU version.

Overall Score:

Articulation: 6- the same as always.
Detail: 10- absolutely faithful to Alex Ross’ artwork, lifted straight from the pages, but a 7 also applies to a badly designed character in the first place, of which Ross had nothing to do with.
Accessories: 7: Standard base and yellow power rod included.
Price: I paid $15 for this, but I also waited until I had acquired certain other figures before purchasing this one. Not an immediate need, but something to pass the time with a review.
Bottom Line: I got it because it was Sinestro, but I own better interpretations, especially the Van Sciver figure. If you are a character collector (focusing on anything to do with one character), then go for it. If not, you can wait.

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"...Working on a specimen the size of Angel is actually easier in many ways."
Mac scoffs. "Easier almost ate me a few days ago."-
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ganon578
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Post by ganon578 »

Zeeks,
You collect any of the "Infinite Heroes" from DC? The smaller (~3 in.) figs that you can find at retail stores? Or do you just stick to the DC Direct figs you can find at comic shops?

I've always seen the Infinite Heroes around, but never pick them up because I'm not sure if they're worth the money. One fig is about $7, but you can find some 2 packs for about $11. Just curious.
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Post by Zeeks »

ganon578 wrote:Zeeks,
You collect any of the "Infinite Heroes" from DC? The smaller (~3 in.) figs that you can find at retail stores? Or do you just stick to the DC Direct figs you can find at comic shops?

I've always seen the Infinite Heroes around, but never pick them up because I'm not sure if they're worth the money. One fig is about $7, but you can find some 2 packs for about $11. Just curious.
To answer your immediate question, I do not collect the Infinite Heroes Line; I was given a Shazam for last Xmas, and that's about it. That being said, there are a couple of sets I wouldn't mind getting once I have the DC Direct GL Line completed up to this point. There is a TRU GL six pack, and a GL/Black Canary/Green Arrow pack out there as well....I have had my eye on them. At this point though, I need to consider economics- I lost my job a month ago, income is basically all but spoken for, and I need to be mindful of my spending. For the time being, I need the following for the dc direct GL stuff:
Hal Jordan
Shark
Batman
Guy Gardner

I guess my only alternative is to evilBay the stuff, which I really don't want to, but such is life.

Lastly, my collecting tends to be irratic depending on whatever is striking my mood at any particular time- I have stayed with the GL stuff since last September. I stopped collecting all other stuff, including Dr. Doom stuff, TF's, and Joe.

Edit: oh, there is one other GL thing I don't have- the 4 pack with Abin Sur and Tomar Re. I can readily buy it, but I'm waiting to give it to myself as a congratulatory gift for when I become employed again.
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"...Working on a specimen the size of Angel is actually easier in many ways."
Mac scoffs. "Easier almost ate me a few days ago."-
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