Looking at my preorders/expected spending for 2026, and whilst it’s down on 2025 (ignoring selling), it’s not gone down quite as much as I expected. That said, it seems 2026 will be the end for a lot of the things I’m collecting (with the notable exception of Transformers). Ghostbusters and Streetfighter will be done. Lego minifigs look like they’ll be done. Lego builds, there’s a couple of potential things I would buy, but who knows if or when they’ll do them. Marvel Legends will be done in terms of ‘really want’ (there will be still be a few things I would happily buy - blue Angel, non powered up versions of Human Torch and Iceman, and a Thorbuster armour). Star Wars black and vintage are pretty much done, but again a couple of bits I would buy (Saesee Tiin). I don’t really know what’s happening with Mortal Kombat but if they’re focusing on MKII then there’s not too much. Non-transforming Transformers stuff I’ll be done once I get plush Swoop. It’s at the point where I wouldn’t be too worried if any of the lines got cancelled. That just leaves a lot of actual Transformers wants!
Excitingly Evan from the Transformers team confirmed there were plans for Throttlebots at MCM! Amazing news. They are the figures that have been on my wish list the longest so it’s great to hear they should be along soon. Also, should celebrate a little about getting all the (deluxe) Insecticons as they were on my wanted list for a long time. Dug out some old photos, here they all are! Goldbug looks a little lonely, definitely needs his mates.
Anyway, have finished my Poison Ivy custom (again), I changed the hair, gave her green lips plus a bit more eye makeup. The base figure was perfect, but the head wasn’t (it was a fairy type character). Definitely an improvement but not completely sure I’m happy. I also made a Harley Quinn - bit more happy with her, eyes very tricky though. That’s all my Batman villain customs complete! For my other projects I did a round of mould making and resin casting, but they didn’t work out. I always find it a bit stressful in case it goes wrong. I’ve added two new projects to the original 16 to make 18, but over halfway through them now.
Got a bit more Kombat - Sub-Zero. To be fair, he looks great. I’ve been giving which characters to collect a bit more thought. With my 3.75” figures I went for a Mortal Kombat 2.5 lineup - mostly MKII, but including the MK3 cyber ninjas and my Jax custom has metal arms. So with my 7” lineup, it would make sense to do Mortal Kombat 1.5 - mostly MKI (but the characters have their MKII designs), I’ll include the new earth based characters from II (Jax, Kung Lao and Smoke), and the most important characters from a story perspective (Kitana and Shao Kahn - a little nod to the 1995 film). 15 characters in total (slightly more than Streetfighter!), of which they’ve done six. So I need nine more. Regardless, I could be tempted to get the next few two-packs to complete my set of backgrounds. Sorted!
Here’s Jax, who I’ve added a belt to and redid his back - I’ve added a bit of sculpting so the metal parts are raised. My art teacher would be very impressed - I remember him pressing upon me the importance of making 3D objects look 3D (somewhat ironic since when the actor who played Jax was in costume the metal bits were simply painted on).
I did my first transformers custom in over 10 years (not including making Misfire a bit more IDW accurate). Waver(ider)! Just a bit of painting, looks a bit rough in the photo as it’s so small but looks fine in person. Finally, a complete set of Masterforce pretenders. I think if I got most of the figures on my current wishlist I’d probably end up adding the ‘88 gang to it, especially as there’s so many subgroups. The ‘87 gang is one step closer to completion as preordered Sureshot (as well as the next two Combaticons). There’s a little part of me thinking about the Dr Wu Overkill and Slugfest just to properly finish it off. Okay, fine I’ll order them……
(Quite the improvement over the last third party ones I had!) I finally assembled Superion and Devastator. Actually pretty happy, they are to blame for such an expensive couple of months! Just need Defensor. Retro Brawn and Seaspray arrived, they look great. Just need Windcharger and Powerglide to wrap up the ‘84/‘85 Minibots (and Swerve, Tailgate and Outback for ‘86). If we could wrap up triple changers (Broadside and Octane) as well then as well as Metroplex that’s all the redos I want done.
And that wraps up Transformers for the year! Unless I suddenly have a wobble on something that’s done. Still plenty of Marvel Legends to come, starting with Shuma Gorath. He’s Gargantuan(os)…… he looks great, I’ve got him on my desk and I can’t stop looking at it (I think it’s giving me the eye), possibly my favourite figure of the year!
