More of the same

I'm anticipating some tough decisions when the Siege figures come out, I have the Classics 'white Prime' version of Ultra Magnus as well as the Combiner Wars version. If I get and keep the Siege version can I justify keeping all three? I like having a version which is a white Prime. Do I keep my Classics Prime? Megatron and Starscream I'm ready to part with, but others like Sideswipe, finding the Universe figure is a special memory (as is Magnus actually). What to do?!

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Having spent a heck of a lot of time deciding whether to get particular Legends figures, I think I've got deciding whether to get a figure down to a fine art. Is the character important, do they appear in repeated media? Do I like them? Then, what does the figure have? Compared to the 3.75" figure mostly. Does it have a better headsculpt, does it have a better costume, does it capture the character better? So, Silver Surfer, great character, I like him, he has his own series. But the 3.75” is fine, it’s a silver dude on a surfboard. Job done!

I have found deciding whether to get particular X-Men the most difficult, the main cast from the 90's was an easy decision, the other X-Men who guest starred are much trickier. Iceman and Angel were original X-Men so they seem important, also, one's a man made of ice, and the other has a great big set of wings. Nightcrawler is my favourite blue character so he's in (mostly because of X-Men Evolution and the X2 film). Colossus is also in, he appears in every series, is made of metal and is one of those quintessential characters. Forge as he doesn't have a 3.75" figure, and finally, Bishop as his 3.75" figure doesn't quite have the physical presence that I think the character should have.

All are quite visually distinctive characters. The resulting list is I think exciting, but doesn't feel overwhelming in terms of how much it will cost. That feels like the right balance!

What I am about to write feels ridiculous, but it’s the sort of thing I spend my time thinking about so I might as well get it down. I want to put together a group of figures which best represent the Avengers: EMH lineup. Iron Man is in his classic armour, but it is a somewhat updated (stylistically) version in that it looks like armour rather than spandex. It is somewhat more inspired by the movie design. Further to that, the updated armour in the second series is inspired by the second movie. So therefore, the best figure for such a lineup are the movie figures. The same ones I decided not to get since I already had a 3.75” versions of them.

So I’m now in the market for the 6” Mark III and VI armours. But, the little voice in my head says, what about War Machine? As well as, well if you get those armours, do you not also need the Mark 42? That way you’ll have a suit from each film Iron Man appears in. If I can resist getting the other four armours as well (Mark I, II, IV, VI) it will be a miracle!

Having said I’ve got deciding which characters I need down to a fine art, I had my moment of clarity after ordering Venom and Cable. They’ve arrived. Venom I wasn’t sure about, I liked the look of Carnage, so quite liked the idea of both characters. Venom just seems to be lacking something. It’s possible that I like monster Venom more, but he seems a bit too over the top. I’m just happy with my 3.75” figure really. He was a bit of a dodgy call in the first place, I’m only getting heroes, so I optimistically labelled him as an anti-hero. I like the headsculpt but don’t think he’s essential for my collection.

Now, Cable is a tricky call. In my mind I initially put him on a level with Bishop, so I enthusiastically added him to the list. Then took him off again. Several times. Bishop is an X-Man, mostly only in the future but still, he hangs out with Forge. He also appears in Wolverine and the X-Men, and Days of Future Past. Cable isn’t an X-Man in anything I’ve seen and is just a bit grumpy. Sorry Cable! It was good to check out the figure though.

I had decided to get movie versions of the Guardians (and in fact I have), but looking at them on the shelf it has struck me that they are, well, a bit incompatible. I previously realised I like comic based toys because of the variety of colours.

The movie guardians are just a bit dull! There is also something of a discrepancy in the level of detail. Comic figures have large patches of bright colour, mostly of a spandex nature, but bright. Movie figure are a variety of mostly quite dark detailed figures. Try as I might, I’m in the comic book camp.

That leaves me in a tricky position. Star Lord and Groot I’ve got covered since I already have comic figures, I can pop the Chris Pratt (which is rather good) head on Star Lord and move on. Rocket, I could use the 3.75” version, but there are BAF and Entertainment Earth versions available. Gamora has one expensive figure available. Drax is complicated. I want the look of the old comic book figure, the build of the newer versions, plus possibly an MCU headsculpt. Can I be bothered to put together some sort of custom?

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I've ordered the Mark III and 42. And the Mark VI. Okay, so this is a bit of a milestone, I have (on the way at least) an armour from each film Iron Man appears in. I quite like the idea of displaying each figure with its respective film cover. One major setback in this plan would be the fact I don't have any of the films on DVD, but it would be cool. (I'm holding out for a cool box set once the third phase is finished.)

I now have the Homecoming Mark 47 set. I like the colour scheme on this one, it is apparently an homage to the Ultimate Armour, which I only really am aware of from the 3.75" figure. It is an identical sculpt to the Mark 46, but it looks nice. It also has an alternate empty head to show Tony is piloting it remotely. The Spider-Man figure is the same sculpt at the Civil War figure, but in a lighter colour. He also has a masked head with a squint which I quite like but the shape of the eye is still sculpted in which looks a bit strange.

The Tom Holland headsculpt is very good, although perhaps a bit big for the movie body. I now have it on the regular comic body and it works much better. (It strikes me how serious he looks, too serious for pizza perhaps?)

As you can see I now have the RDJ head on the Mark VII, and that seems a little small. The armoury is coming along nicely though! (I am using the Mark VII as my 'main' armour since it's the closest to the A:EMH armour, but more posable than the Mark III which I don't actually have yet.)

Nick Fury and Black Panther have turned up. Samuel L Jackson is fantastic as Nick Fury, but I do like the classic 90's Nick Fury for that cartoon look. I might get a SLJ head for special occasions. Black Panther is the Walmart exclusive version, he's a fantastic fit for a A:EMH lineup. Will get a Chadwick Boseman head for him at some point as well. The artwork on the box is pretty special as well, very reminiscent of the Black Panther series from the 2000's. Both figures are on the same mold, but I think it works.

Keeping calm

The news that Takara is making a Dai Atlas set has sent me back into thinking about Transformers, I am very excited about Dai Atlas! I love the idea of having a complete set of Autobot leaders in the Classics aesthetic. (It's also is making me think about Titans Return Fortress Maximus again.)

Siege is also seeming more and more exciting with the Decepticon NYCC reveals. Despite the fact it contains characters I've already 'ticked off the list', getting Voyager Soundwave and seekers is great. I think I will be content to keep my coneheads as deluxes since, really, they're fairly minor characters. I have high hopes for Soundwave. Leader Shockwave is also great, it makes me happier with my decision not to get the Masterpiece. Flywheels is also fantastic news, I'm not too worried about his components not having their own robot modes.

At this rate I think I'm down for almost every figure, Shockwave is a definite want, Ultra Magnus I want to have a look at. Soundwave is a definite. Prime, Megatron and Starscream I want to look at. Reflector and Flywheels are definites. Sideswipe, Ironhide, Hound and Prowl are all on the interesting list. I'm thinking that I might as well get the Targetmasters and Micromasters. The ones I'm not so sure about is Cog, Sixgun and Brunt. Lucky I decided to pass on those Masterpiece figures!

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Legends 90's Jubilee was also announced at NYCC, another figure for my X-Men cartoon lineup. Bit tempted by Forge as well.

So after a period of self-analysis, I did order the Mark 46 Marvel Legends set (the battle damaged civil war one), but I have sold an unopened Transformers Masterpiece figure to compensate a little. Probably need to sell a few more bits really.

Anyway, in terms of my Legends collection, I'm happy with the characters I’ve chosen to collect and am just about content not to add any more. That said, characters have gone in, I decide there's too many and so they go out again. I try and justify their inclusion to myself based on how much they appeared in various cartoons, and how much they mean to me. I've rewritten this blog several times as I decided to add and takeaway again. What I've finally got is a fusion of 90's cartoons, and Avengers: EMH, with a bit of MCU thrown in. Perfect for the time being.

I bought a Spider-Man, he was an easy purchase. It's the retro style Legends figure with pizza (the 'Pizza Spidey' mold). I opted for this version because it was cheaper and I prefer the lighter blue. What a great figure. I love the poses he can do! (It's good to find reasons to justify decisions I've already made.)

The armoury: the Mark 43 3.75" sculpt wise compares very well with the 6", and there's not actually much difference in the articulation. The plastic on the 6" is more of a cherry colour, compared to the 3.75" which is more of an actual red (quite similar in fact to the Mark 50). Both have a slight metallic sheen in the plastic, though more so on the 6". The 3.75" version looks very impressive from a slight distance, but close up looks a bit cheaper because of the plastic. I wonder whether a wash to bring out the detail might help. The eyes and arc reactor are flat white so a little circle of light blue might also help. It's just occurred to me that the Lego Iron Man I have is the Mark 43, I've got three versions of it now!

At one point I was considering the 10th anniversary Mark I/Tony Stark set. I instead bought the previously mentioned Civil War set. So glad I did! Though the RDJ sculpt from the 10th anniversary set is better, for less money I got an armour I wanted (in a cool battle damaged deco), a Steve Rogers headsculpt (which admittedly looks nothing like Chris Evans), and a cap shield which is quite a fun accessory since Tony took the shield after civil war. I could even add the Spidey to the armoury since the suit was designed by Tony. Overall, a great value set for me.

Incidentally, talking about headsculpts, the 3.75" Mark 43 set came with Nick Fury, there was also another set with Cap and Widow, the Cap headsculpt is too small and not very good, and strangely looks a bit like John Tracy from Thunderbirds.

It's quite interesting having three 6" armours. As well as Iron Man, they show the evolution of Legends over time. The Mark 43 just has feet which more up and down. The Mark 46 has ankle rockers, and the Mark 50 has ankle rockers plus a proper thigh swivel rather than the funny ball joint/swivel. The ankle rockers make standing the figure so much easier, and the thigh swivel greatly improves the posability (making the classic Iron Man pose much easier/actually possible). Colour wise there is change as well - the cherry red of Mark 43, a dark red for Mark 46 and a bright red for the Mark 50. I've ordered the Mark VII, and so the Mark 47 will be my next target!

I find it funny how much of an Iron Man fan I've become, an armoury in two scales, plus a Lego Hulkbuster and a 12" Legends figure. If I come into some money I think I'd probably need the Legends lifesize helmet you can get! In some ways I think it would be a fantastic dramatic end for Iron Man and to get killed off in the next Avengers film, on the other hand, it wouldn't be the same without him. Perhaps he could come back as an AI?

I found Cyclops at a local comic shop! Much cheaper than anywhere online. Cyclops to me is the X-Men, so it's great to pick him up. It's strange though as his 3.75" version was one of the most perfect Marvel Universe figures, still the 6" X-Men need their field leader! Actually this reminds me, Wolverine and the X-Men is a great series, but I feel that Wolverine and Cyclops' roles should have been swapped round. Wolverine is (was) not a leader, yet it was Cyclops who was acting like a grumpy teenager. That aside, it was a good series. I don't really even like Cyclops, but he is a leader.

Similarly, having Hulk as a team leader in Agents of Smash is even more ridiculous. It seems that if a character is popular then they have to be the leader. Again, I don't like Red Hulk, but you would kind of expect that a General might have some better leadership qualities. Children's cartoon not meant for me, okay fine........

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I’ve been continuing to think about addiction. It occurs to me what motivates my spending: it is an irrational belief that my life will be better if I own these things (which I believe is a common part of shopping addiction), but combined with a fear that said items won’t be available in the future, or if they are then at a greatly inflated price. One of these things I know definitely isn't true, the other plays on my mind something rotten.

The Mark VII arrived, I wasn't too taken initially, but it has grown on me a lot. It has a few paint splodge so that made me a grumpy, but then I got it into a pose I was really happy with and so much happier. The paint has more of a metallic sheen to it than the other figures I have. It's a great looking figure.

I bought Gamora and Rocket. (Did I mention I decided to get the Guardians as well?!) The Guardians are about the newest characters that appeal to me, such is the quality of the films. They guest starred in Avengers: EMH, but strictly speaking that was a slightly different team - Star Lord, Groot and Rocket were present, but Gamora and Drax were not. As it happens though, they both appeared in the 90's Silver Surfer cartoon so I'm covered. Uniform wise, I like their comic look, though I don't think they wear it anymore. I have them in that uniform for my 3.75" collection, and really I mostly have a connection to their MCU selves so, I've decided to make an exception for them and get that version of them. (There was a 6" Entertainment Earth comic set, but only Star Lord and Rocket were in the uniform.) They are mostly in blue anyway, so the MCU versions are closer to making them look like a team.

I have that EE version of Star Lord (which I used for my Groot custom), so I might restore it to as it was, since MCU Star Lord is the only one not in blue. The EE Rocket looks like an upscaled version of the Universe - still with no leg articulation so that's an extra argument for going MCU.

So Gamora is a great likeness of Zoe Saldana, looking extremely calm in comparison to Rocket (and Drax). She comes with a good weapons. Rocket comes with a mini Groot, is well articulated and comes with guns. Good stuff. I feel like I have most of Mantis as well, but she didn't appear in the (old) cartoon so she's out. I've ordered Star Lord so am almost there with the Guardians. (I'm going to use the Marvel Select Groot which I already have.)

Finally, have just ordered Captain America, Hulk, Daredevil and the Spider-Man homecoming set (the Mark 47). Think I've made some good progress getting the figures I want that are already out, though the ones left are probably more expressive. Doh. I'm conscious that there are a lot of Transformers coming out soon that I want!

Addiction

Addiction is a curious thing, typically as a society we think about addiction to alcohol or drugs. Things which can really take over and ruin your life. I think there is a second type of addiction. One which does not completely take over, where the addict can still lead a normal life. But, where the addiction can cause someone to make particular decisions that in isolation are not that obvious, but looked at as a whole constitute a pattern. The person who needs a drink when they get home from work for instance.

I think toy collecting for me is like this. I’m not so addicted I don’t have money for rent and food. I’m still aware of what is most important. I spend quite a lot of money feeding my addiction, which over the course of several years could equate to a nice holiday or a new car. However, these toys make me happy and in comparison to how much my partner spends on clothes, I really don’t feel too guilty (mostly).

I think where the real impact lies is with time and my perception of it. We as human beings worry about things, sometimes unnecessarily, but mostly because we need to do something, a preventative action perhaps. I am somewhat preoccupied with toys, in my waking life I spend a lot of time thinking about them. This affects my home and work life because I’m not as focussed as I could be.

It makes me feel me busier than I really am and therefore more stressed. I still do everything I need to, but I don’t plan for things effectively. Everything becomes more rushed. My decisions are not optimum and so it subtly affects my life.

The result? I don’t spend so much time taking exercise, seeing friends or family. I am not as good at work as I could be. Perhaps I don’t sleep as well because of the stress. How to balance this then? Something which makes me happy, but at the same time takes up just a bit too much time.

As I write this I am contemplating buying the Marvel Legends civil war 3-pack, I should perhaps be doing something more productive. (Though I could argue self analysis is useful in and of itself.)

That is the nature of addiction, you don’t always make the best decisions. Someone who is addicted to food, they know they don’t need that extra chocolate bar, but they can’t stop themselves. It plays on their mind. If I had the answer I would be a rich man. The first step though I think is self awareness, if you can be aware of your own behaviours, you can try and do something about it.

Fantastic Legends

I'm feeling pretty good about my decision not to buy Masterpiece Megatron and Shockwave. I was thinking I should start saving for them, so it's a massive burden off now not to have to do so. I've always liked regular retail figures the most. High end stuff looks great, but there's too much fear of breakage for me. Still saving for Dinobot though!

I see that the Target exclusive Bumblebee movie set with Buzzsaw and Frenzy is going to be available at Argos in the UK. I was undecided about getting Titans Return Rumble since I am rather fond of the Perfect Effect set, but looking at the headsculpt, it is a half decent figure even if it does have Rewind's proportions. Ordered! Bring on Eject and that's another set of third party figures I no longer need.

The only other Prime Wars trilogy figure I might still pick up in the future is Fortress Maximus, I want to see what they do with Scorponok first!

Various things have happened to make consider my stance on unofficial toys - replacing my Perfect Effect cassettes, potential Encore versions of the Japanese exclusive cassettes (I have KO's) and buying Marvel Legends. With the latter there are temptingly cheap figures available from China, they are either KOs or rejects. For custom projects I'm not so bothered, but if they're for direct display then I am. I don't think I'm ever truly happy with unofficial toys, I always want to replace them with legitimate figures. The problem with that is that it's not very exciting so I find it harder to spend my money doing it, despite wanting to.

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I've decided to also collect a team of Avengers, the lineup from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, naturally, mostly because I will pretty much have the team anyway (I already have Legends Ant-Man and Wasp for my 3.75" collection). Captain America and Hawkeye have (or will have) recent classic releases in the 'vintage' line, and Black Panther had a nice Walmart exclusive last year which seems to be still widely available. Thor seems a reasonable bet for the vintage line in the future.

Beyond that, I want to get the Guardians. Though they appeared in A:EMH, not surprisingly, I want more of a MCU take. That will give me the four main Marvel teams with my favourite lineups, plus some MCU favourites.

Have ordered Mr Fantastic to go with Human Torch. I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about my Iron Man armoury and which figures to get in which scales. My thinking is that 3.75" is my default scale, and that I should only get the 6" version if there's a particularly good reason.

All of the armours after the Mark 43 are only available in 6" so they're definitely needed. The Mark 43 comes with an alternate head where the mask is flipped up so I need that as well. (Also, such a collection makes sense from a continuity perspective because all of the armours get destroyed in Iron Man 3.) I've got a few 3.75" armours to pick up as well then I've got the set. Okay, Mark 43 is ordered as well. Twice! (Once in each scale.)

Mr Fantastic is here, he's a bit more of a sea green than I was expecting, but I love the alternate arms. It's lucky he has such good accessories as he's not a character I think of as needing much posing.

One question that I've asked myself is whether I would have bought into
Legends had Universe still been going strong. I think the amazing high resolution pictures were what finally sold me, but ultimately, I think I would have still bought them. With many of my other collections (Transformers, Power Rangers, Ghostbusters, Thundercats, Turtles, and even Nintendo), I have larger versions of either my favourite or the main characters, so really this just makes Marvel consistent with them.

Human Torch is also here! I think I would rather have had a flame-off version, that said, I do like the way the colours are done in this version. Phew, need to calm it down a bit now.

Armoury Mark II (6")

I want to collect the movie Iron Man armours. I have the Mark I-III, VI and 42 in 3.75" scale. Of the others they made in that scale, there's also the IV, V, VII and 43 (up to and including Age of Ultron).

Do I get the missing armours in 6"? The missing armours are the Hulkbuster, Mark 46, 47 and 50. Shall I get all of them perhaps?! The new Mark VII 10th anniversary figure looks pretty sweet, perhaps that figure would be a good starting point.

In thinking about this I realise why I love the Internet, what I particularly enjoy. It's having an idea, doing a bit of research and then working out what I want to buy. Which usually ends up with going on eBay or Amazon. It's all about wanting and buying. My favourite websites are those about my favourite franchises, but ultimately what I really want is news about stuff I can or want to buy. I'm utterly addicted to the cycle. Collecting the movie armours is the idea, but much like Classics Transformers or 3.75" comic Marvel, it's not contained to one toyline, there's exclusives, there's box sets, there's more to it.

Sometimes when I have one of these ideas, I find myself trying to find out about lines from years ago (2008 in the case of some movie armours) and wishing I'd bought them at the time. If I could send a message back in time to myself, what would I say? (Ignoring the practical stuff like lottery numbers and for god's sake ask that girl out.) Top of the list would be ignore third party Transformers. In the end an absolute waste of money. There are plenty of figures I've bought which have been superseded, but that's part of the journey, part of the fun. But third party transformers were mostly expensive and overly difficult to transform (which some people appreciate, but not me).

I'm not sure whether I'd advise my younger self to collect Marvel Legends. It's clear to me that I love Marvel more than I did in 2009 (or thought I did). I'm not keen on the Toy Biz aesthetic for the most part (funny hips and frequently funny faces), and again, most of them have been superseded. Get into Legends when Hasbro started producing them? I still agree with my 2009 self that 3.75" was the way to go considering I don't really care about a lot of the characters.

What then is the all important message for my younger self? I think with Transformers start from the end. The end is Beast Wars, collect all of characters who appeared in the cartoon. Then move onto expensive Japanese G1 (Masterforce, Victory and Zone). Those are the characters who mostly haven't had Classics updates.

Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent. Movie Iron Man armours. All of them? Well, I might as well give it a go. With toys I will never be happy with what I've got, it will always be a process of trying new lines and seeing whether they stick. (Kreo, I recently realised did not.) If a collection is completed by expensive or hard to obtain figures then so much the better. My interest is maintained by new stuff.

Having already decided to buy the X-Men, I have this gnawing thought in my mind; don’t I need the Fantastic 4 as well?! This is the problem, one idea leads to another. I have rewritten this section several times as I have changed my mind and changed it again. I have now settled on collecting the main characters from the various 90’s cartoons (X-Men, Fantastic 4, Spider-Man, Iron Man and Hulk). Then, having realised how many figures that is I tried to decide between the armoury and these classic cartoon figures. I then realised there is a third way. Money and space are always the main concern. What if I didn’t buy Masterpiece Megatron and Shockwave? Jointly they will cost about £320. That’s a good number of Legends figures! What if I make my Masterpiece collection Autobot only? Yes. I only really got into that line because I like the real car alt modes, so it really does make sense.

Like any collection, a toy collection is something that is refined over the years as you work out what you want, but also what you want evolves as your interests do. Marvel Legends 90’s cartoon characters and an MCU Iron Man armoury it is then.

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I’ve got me some Marvel Legends! Wolverine and then Deadpool have arrived (I made an exception to the cartoon for him because he's the complete package). I then bought the Mark 50 armour and Iron Spider, remarkably both still available at UK retail.

I’ve looked at Legends figures before, but I have to admit the detail on these things is fantastic. On Iron Spider particularly, the texture is something you’d never get on 3.75”. I really liked Iron Man, but after opening Iron Spider he looks a bit plasticky. Overall though, very impressed. The Legends armoury starts here!

Opening Deadpool, I realised he has shoulder/chest articulation. Looking at Iron Spider, he also has it. These are just amazing to me, I am a total convert. It's going to take all my willpower not to buy more! Okay, so I just ordered Vintage Spider-Man and Human Torch. Anyway, very impressed. That Wolverine's claws are separated really lifts it above the 3.75" version. So much character! It's funny, the thing that ultimately really sold the line to me was the high resolution photos of these two.

I have found a reason to include Deadpool (I like to find tenuous reasons for my spending if I can). In the X-Men cartoon, Morph was also a member of the team, at one point he briefly turns into Deadpool. It's not Deadpool, it's Morph!

Incidentally, I realise it's a strange case of history repeating itself, when I started collecting Marvel Universe, it was when the Wolverine Origins line was also out. The first two figures from that line? Wolverine and Deadpool. My first few figures from Universe? Iron Man, Spider-Man and Human Torch.