F For Fake

Yes, the early plan was to do two spin-off origins movies, one for Wolverine, and one for Magneto. I'm not sure what lead to the cancellation of the Magneto flick (probably the lackluster box office of the pretty terrible Wolverine: Origins flick) but some of the -script elements from the Magneto flick were incorporated into the "First Class" -script. To be sure, I liked "First Class" quite a bit, but like I said, I'd have gladly traded that for an entire movie of young Magneto kicking nazi tail!

Sometimes my hands don't obey my brain when I'm typing. Or sometimes I'm just dumb. Take yr pick.

The best parts of "First Class" were the "Magneto: Nazi Hunter" segments, which were lifted from the Magneto Origins movie that was in development alongside Wolverine Origins. I liked First Class all right, but would have vastly preferred a solo Magneto story along those lines, as planned.

Good to know. I hadn't kept up with it recently, but I know the sports deal was a big headline early on. Interesting that Disney still went after it so hard with that not being a factor anymore. I guess they're betting big on the streaming deal!

Well that's interesting to hear, because all of the early reports I read mentioned that as one of the major factors in the decision. Did that change once it came under DOJ scrutiny?

Precisely so! Disney is launching their own streaming service to compete with Netflix. This deal has much more to do with Fox's catalog + Fox's Hulu shares on that front, as well as shoring up Disney's flagging ESPN networks with Fox's regional sports networks, etc than anything else. The X-Men/FF thing is fun to debate, and will be a nice feather in Disney's cap, but it's not as central to the deal as most of us nerds want it to be.

Agreed 100%. I see no reason to shoe-horn the X-Men into the MCU. There are too many characters to juggle as it is. Infinity War is going to be take movies to tell one story, and it still feels like the majority of the characters are short-changed on screen-time. Cramming the X-Men into the mix is a recipe for a cluster-. However, I agree that the FF and Surfer could probably be integrated pretty smoothly...ten years or so down the line, once the stink of three failed FF movies has finally blown away. Studios can only release so many movies a year, and there are only so many weekends and slots available to launch these mega-budget flicks. No matter what happens with this Fox/Disney merger, I don't see Marvel rushing to double their output just so they can get mutants involved.

I love those first six Hulks. The stories are pretty terrible, but there's something about Marvel 10 centers and those covers. Never owned a #1, but have bought and sold 2-6 many times. Need to finally get a keeper set.

We shall see! I'm going to a local Joe show next month and have some stuff on my want list. I picked up the 25th anniversary figures for a while but while they looked cool on card, I was super turned off by the feel of the figures themselves. I had a couple of Pursuit of Cobra figures that I thought were pretty cool. Look, I could be talked into this. Don't talk me into this. My wife won't forgive you.

Ugh, I hate the Jim Lee Rogue. I had the first PF they made, but sold it once prices went nuts, because I don't like the outfit and the lazy eye thing. So that'll be a wait and see for me. I actually dug the SS Zatanna, so I have her on flex pay as I'm in no hurry to get her. We'll see how she looks when she shows up. I am on the fence about the Prime 1 Ivy. Looks really cool, though I'm not really a fan of huge ornate bases. I just like nice sculpts of the characters themselves. There's also the consideration of where the hell I'd put something that large. But I'm giving her some thought, as well as Catwoman.

My problem with contemporary Transformers is that I'm apparently simply too dumb to figure out how to transform them. The few that I've picked up seemed much more complex than what I grew up with. Maybe kids today are smarter and can figure them out, but they're a mystery to me. I also have no connection to the property these days, absolutely hate the movies, so I haven't kept up with them to know much about them. Also, though I definitely believe you, I never had an issue with my Transformers or Joes breaking when I was a kid. Maybe I was more delicate with my stuff than most kids, but I never had any of those problems. Never broke a single piece or had any damage whatsoever to any of my Transformers. I had one Joe with a broken crotch, maybe once or twice snapped an O-ring (and I mean literally once or twice) and I never had any broken thumbs or cracked arms. I know now as an adult that these were apparently common issues for a lot of folks, but I never saw them. (Side bar: what the hell were you people DOING with these things? Throwing them off of tall buildings?) At any rate, I love the articulation and hard plastic of the vintage Joes. The modern Joes feel rubbery to me, and the articulation is gross and difficult to work with. Just a personal preference. The Joes have neat accessories an cool sculpts, but they don't "feel" right to me, so I don't buy them. I don't have kids so the durability of the modern figures isn't an issue or concern for me either. Tl;dr: vintage toys are better because I like them better. I'm a simple caveman. Your modern world frightens and confuses me.

Always loved this book. I've got the big oversized "original art" edition signed by Simonson as well, and it is a beauty.

Cool, I may be on board with that Emma. Didn't care for the last one. Interesting to hear about a new Rogue. I haven't been keeping up, do we know which version they're going with? I pray it's not another Jim Lee bomber jacket version, and also hope that she doesn't once again have a Jack Elam style lazy eye.

Yes, that is exactly the layout I recall. Into the store past the party supplies and junk toys like rubber snakes and such, around the corner and then the first "main" aisle was floor to ceiling board games, the consoles in the cases on the right (I remember staring at Nintendo's Robby the Robot every time I went in!) then the next aisle over was the game slips, and I think the next aisle past that was bikes?

Dave was a pleasure to deal with. Communicative, fast/safe ship, very happy, thanks again!

HOLY thanks so much, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was on that dude's head! Now I feel like an insufficiently_thoughtful_person, but an INFORMED insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

I think it's Quantum Leap? The crew jackets are interesting. I'd pick up that Little Shop of Horrors promo piece. I used to have the huge standee from the home video release, wish I still did.

Personally, I'm a Lowlife collector. I'd have cards printed, but no one would take one from me.

Aw man, snagged the Rifleman in a Let Go Lot, that's awesome!

That check list/fact sheet is interesting. As a rule of thumb, I'd always gone by what my local postal workers had told me, which is that comics couldn't go media because they contain advertising. Therefore, graphic novels/trades were fair game for media. At least that was my interpretation, and was how I'd operated for years. Interesting to see that the distinction is not solely due to advertising, but also because the books are primarily made up of pictures. Odd. My standard has always been to ship comics first class if they'll make it under the weight cut-off, or priority if they won't, but I've been shipping trades as media mail for 20+ years now (I think it was "Bound Printed Matter" before it was Media Mail, does that sound right?) Never had a package inspected or returned in thousands of shipments, but I thought I was doing the right thing anyway. Never intended to cheat the system.

Beauties. Mirage was my first Transformer, but Prowl followed very soon thereafter, and was my long time favorite.

Aw man, we had Children's Palace, and it was amazing, just floor to ceiling packed with the best toys ever. Eventually it closed and we got Toys R Us. I remember going to TRU for the grand opening, and they had a parade with Geoffrey and He-man and all sorts of characters marching through the store. I'm sure my memory is colored by the fact that I was a little kid at the time, but I just remember how HUGE and LONG those aisles were, and how they were totally stacked with Joes and Transformers and so much more. Even though my local TRU underwent several transformations before inevitably closing, I still remember the precise location of all of my favorite stuff, and the exact path I would walk through the store to get back to the action figure aisle, through the video games, past the bikes, to the right and back. So many great memories.

Now that you mention it, I don't think i had the Muppet Babies either. I've got the Porker, but it's not in great shape. It was just a placeholder until I could track down a better one, before I decided to throw in the towel on the whole project. I'll still pick up the frame books if I find them in dollar boxes in nice shape, but I'm not actively hunting them anymore.

Yeah, I was trying to put together a nice NM raw set for a time, but eventually gave it up. I think it was Heathcliff that was the real pain.

My experience with local auctions, at least over the last year or so, is that people have lost their minds. Or, more accurately, they have no idea what they're doing. The sports card guys are back, the speculators are back. They see a comic that is 20 years or more older, and assume it's a goldmine. Although I'm talking about much, much smaller potatoes here, just this past weekend, for instance, a pile of drek that in past years would have sold for 25-50 cents a book, maybe $20 for the whole lot, was getting choiced out and selling for $20+ per book. And I mean, like, real garbage. People have no idea. They're just buying any "old" comic they see because they assume it's valuable, and they are going to get burned. And when that happens often enough, the crash comes.