I’m in two minds about the next Haslab, on the one hand I’d be happy if it were Primus as I would ignore it and save some money. On the other hand, I’d love a Grandus to go with Star Convoy! However, it’s now been confirmed at NYCC we won’t find out until next year which means I will have sold more than I’ve spent this year!
Anyway, the current Haslab. I started opening Liokaiser. First the jets, mostly because I wanted to look at Leozack. I think they’re great. A little simplistic maybe, but that’s not an issue for me. I think this set has come at the perfect point in the nostalgia cycle for me - I was watching Victory about 20 years ago and these guys got a good amount of character development. I could do without the chunks on the side of Leozack’s feet (could they have swivelled behind?), but I like these guys so far. Leozack balances a lot better with his breastmaster attached, otherwise he is slightly inclined to fall backwards. Anyway, I am very glad to get a Leozack - he was a really important character in the cartoon. I would have been happy with a retooled POTP Starscream but to have them all the same size is even better.
The other three members are also really good, the leg guys remind me of pod vehicles for Thunderbird 2. And the combined mode is…… also amazing! I was pretty set on keeping them individually but am very tempted to keep it combined. Deathcobra is the icing on the cake, a whole lot of kibble but a good looking figure. It’s 3/3 for the Victory Haslabs for me.
With Thunderwing expected next year it got me thinking, give us a Road Caesar (and maybe an update of Octopunch and Stranglehold), and 1989 is looking pretty complete. (If you ignore the other pretenders and Micromasters like me.)
Realised that the new Vision series is starting soon so thought better get going on the most recent series of Daredevil. I find it difficult to get into it, I enjoy it but I’m not really about the violence. I don’t need gritty realism, I need escapism. That said, after the new Spider-Man, I think it’s time Punisher got a permanent space on my display shelf. He will need to borrow a gun from someone though……..
Doc Samson has arrived. This is a bit of a milestone - I think I’m done with Marvel Legends! I’m sure I’ll end up buying the odd new figure here and there, but in terms of having a toy of every character that I want, I’m done. The smiling face he comes with scares me slightly but I like the determined face. I have Luke Cage on my desk at the moment so I can see they share torso tooling, it works though. Whoop! Galactus better watch out. (Punisher had a little word with Bucky before this picture and Bucky agreed to lend him his guns.)
Tailgate and Joyride arrived, nothing too surprising since they’re both repaints. Happy to get another addition to the 1988 lineup, though it also really needs its own gun. I like Tailgate more than I expected - the headsculpt didn’t look great in online photos but I like it well enough in person.
Saesee Tiin was announced at NYCC!Finally! I thought I was pretty much done with Star Wars and 6” but looks like this is really finishing up my lineup (I’ve given up on holocomm Palpatine). In Transformers news, as well as the Haslab update, Guzzle and Nautica look decent, and a hint that Transformers Mark wants to ‘complete’ Machine Wars. Promising. Nothing from McFarlane about Mortal Kombat Klassic. So, not a lot of news, but a few promising bits at least.
