Black Panther and Dinobots

Improving the 3.75" versions of my favourite Marvel characters is still occupying my mind! Found an easy fix for Blade - the MCU Falcon head with goggles. I do think of Anthony Mackie when I look at it, but I think it works for me. Might need to do some skin tone matching on the neck. I've also ordered a AOA Magneto so I can do some parts swapping to make a better Magneto. One without an ab crunch sadly, but really, Magneto is more about looking menacing than the dynamic poses.

I've ordered a Spider-Man Noir to give Ghost Rider a new body, and finally a 1:18 scale bike. I enthusiastically bought another Chameleon only to realise I've already several spare. Oh well! Have ordered a Poe Dameron to make a MCU Bruce Banner (with the afore mentioned Chameleon body) and a Mutt Williams for a Peter Parker head. I've also planned out a white costume Storm.

Finally found the Prime Masters at TRU - Skullgrin, Metalhawk and Cloudburst. I have fine deluxe versions of the first two of those so not sure how I feel about them. Cloudburst I rather like. They're very simple, but do the job for characters I want but am not too worried about. They also double up as Targetmasters of sorts so I might give them to my deluxes to hold as such.

I've also bought a Heroclix Supreme Intelligence. I did have some vague plans to make a custom. A bit smaller than true 3.75", but it works for me. I've always liked the more obscure characters, preferably those of a non-humanoid nature. Good to have a leader for my Kree, particularly whilst I haven't got round to a custom Ronan yet. Looks good!

************

Once again I think I've got it sorted. Having decided I want to make my favourite characters the best they can be, I've also planned out in more detail a couple of ideas I've had. I wanted to make a gold tee Luke Cage, one of the problems being that I wasn't even sure which buck to use - the released version looks quite skinny, but I think that's mostly the legs. I think he should be big compared to most, but not quite god (Thor/Hercules) level. Might have to try a bit of parts swapping to find out.

I've also planned out a Gorgon, Crystal and Maximus. Maximus is tricky because I only really know about the Inhumans because they've guest starred in other shows - the Fantastic 4 cartoon for instance. Maximus is as important to the Inhumans as Loki is to the Asgardians, the difference is that he's nowhere near as iconic looking. It seems he started off with a strange green outfit with headgear then moved onto a moody grey outfit with trench coat. (The look they went for in the recent TV series.)

I also need Polaris, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy to complete my cartoon X-Force lineup. Wolfsbane is a Scottish mutant who turns into a wolf, that's something I need in my collection! I think Lady Deathstrike is also needed. She's a cyborg. Every collection needs a female cyborg.

Thinking about these ideas, I think it's a mixture of important, completing a team or lineup, interesting and iconic, with perhaps just a touch of the custom being reasonably straight forward and not requiring the acquisition of multiple parts. I'm not particularly interested in figures of civilian characters - J.J. Jameson, or really even villains who don't wear costumes, Sebastian Shaw or William Stryker.

It really is time to stop now!

**********

Popped my old Magneto head and cape on to the new AOA figure. Again might need a bit of colour matching, but it works nicely.

The Decepticon clones have arrived. Again, I can't quite believe they made them. They seem very cartoon accurate. I think I like the alt-modes more on the G1 figures.

Bought a Finn head for Black Panther, here he is with Bruce and Peter. Also, here's how Ghost Rider is shaping up with my new additions.

Had an excellent day today - saw Black Panther and found the deluxe Dinobots. I enjoyed Black Panther, it was a particularly beautiful and well shot film. The cast were brilliant, I particularly enjoyed the Dora Milaje. M'Baku and Klaue were great fun. I think my only comment would be that I was slightly unsure of Killmonger's intentions. Of the opinion that Wakanda should help other countries more, get involved with international affairs - sure. Angry about colonialism - sure. Why did he work with Klaue? Overall though, Black Panther is one of my favourite Avengers so it was great to see him properly on the big screen. I might have to paint some facial hair on my Finn head to give him a better likeness!

The Dinobots are too small but the headsculpts are great, just need time to open them. Yay Black Panther and Dinobots!

Big is beautiful

I ordered the 12" Marvel Legends Iron Man! I think he has a fairly flexible place in my collection, he is my favourite (original) Avenger so he can stand on his own merits. But the nature of the character, always building custom armours means he could easily just be a Giant Man-buster armour. Or even a Transformers-buster armour (like in the crossover comic they did a few years back).

I really like the figure, not worth the original asking price, but for £25 I'm very happy. Big is beautiful. It is sometimes interesting to get characters in different scales, larger or smaller can make you look at them differently. There's something about large toys which make me very happy, weirdly I got a feeling similar when I opened the supersize TB3 - a great appreciation for everything I have. I'm glad I've got one of the 12" scaled figures, but happy for it to be the only one.

Finally got round to sticking (literally) Gamora's sword in her hand, pretty happy!

Toy fair is coming up soon, I'm not sure what to expect really, combiner wise, Piranacon and/or Monstructor seem likely. In terms of deluxes, Slapdash and Joyride would be great (and I think easy because they could be repaints of each other), voyagers I'm not sure on, Shockwave perhaps. Leader is where the interest is for me, the current gimmick seems perfect for Star Saber. Equally, I think Thunderclash could easily be done from Rodimus Prime. Just have to wait I guess!

*********

Not for the first time, Toy Fair was a bit rubbish! Almost nothing on the 3.75" front, a Ryu figure from Hasbro, maybe they'll do a M. Bison? The 6" Marvel Legends look awesome. I think I actually regret going for the smaller scale now. 90's era Jim Lee X-Men figures, Ghost Rider with bike, Thing, they all look amazing. It's quite sickening!

Transformers just showed actual versions of the new toys rather than any new information. Predaking looks alright, a bit more cartoon accurate in his proportions. Might have to display him individually. Abominus looks good. Nothing else to comment on really.

The surprise item for me was the 5.5" Funko Thundercats. 5 POA I think, but the sculpt and paint look very good. I am extremely tempted, though I'm not sure where that leaves my Mattycollector figures. Maybe I'll go MOSC with them, especially if the packaging is vintage style.

**********

I've just had a strange journey through Marvel Legends. After seeing all of the great 6" figures from Toy Fair I made a list of all of my favourite characters, all of the figures I would 'need' to buy if I made the jump. There's 36 heroic (ish) characters, 16 of which are X-men.

Some of them I am perfectly happy with the 3.75" versions, but a few (eight), the 6" is better. I want unmasked Spider-Man and Black Panther. I've never been happy with the Blade face sculpt. I need a bike for my Ghost Rider. I want a white costume Storm and a Jean Grey with a neck. Bishop needs some definition and not be so shiny. Hulk needs to be taller. I need a Bruce Banner figure (I have Red Hulk and Thunderbolt Ross). I have worked out what is wrong with my 3.75" versions of my favourite characters. Then it struck me, I could just find unmasked heads, make a few customs and buy one of those 1:18 bikes for Ghost Rider. So I will!

Then I started thinking about the villains, something about (the original comic pack) Magneto and Apocalypse doesn't quite work for me either - they both need to be more imposing. I intend to get the upcoming BAF Legends Apocalypse, so he's sorted, but I will give Magneto some more thought.

I might try and get a Chris Pratt head for Star-Lord from the new Jurassic World toys, and given I have 6" Legends Ant-Man and Wasp, I might have to get them some unmasked heads (I like the Paul Rudd grinning headsculpt). I also quite fancy a Browning custom from the new Cyberverse Megatron. Maybe Toy Fair wasn't so rubbish after all.

Also, having said all that, I think I still might get a couple of 6" Legends that take my fancy! Spider-Man, Venom, Carnage, Wolverine and Deadpool for starters.