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!
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