F For Fake

The cards on these figures are notoriously shoddy. And it's not exclusive to Walmart. I got my retro card Storm Shadow and Zartan from Hasbro and they were fairly bent up. Wish they'd use a sturdier cardstock.

You're absolutely right, I will partially walk back my comment. I'm specifically referring to his 7" DC Multiverse figures. The Super Powers figures are a lot of fun and priced reasonably, and though I don't collect them, the Batman 66 line is pretty neat. But his mainline DC figures have me very nostalgic for Mattel and DC Direct.

Thinking about McFarlane makes me sad. Hope they give up the DC license soon, but it seems unlikely. Their stuff is really terrible these days.

Oh, that's good to know, maybe they course corrected after wave 2. Flint and Lady Jaye both went without, which was a big letdown after Duke in the first wave. This is good news!

Mutt and Junkyard were my very first Joes, so they will always have a place in my heart. And this Classified set is really terrific. Yeah, Supet 7 Ultimates are really only in scale with themselves, and even then it's kind of a crapshoot. You really can't display them with any other line, though you can intermingle the various Super 7 Ultimates (Joes, Silverhawks, Turtles, etc) to a certain extent.

I bet we'll get those sooner rather than later, at this point. They are some of the oldest omnis not yet reprinted, and with Midnight Sons/Blade/whatever possibly coming in MCU, the title should be back in focus. I had all of the ToD omnis when they first came out, read them, and eventually sold them when prices went nuts. I had recently been buying the MMW's, but it'll take forever to complete the series at one masterwork per year, so i may be tempted when they reprint the omnis. Hopefully they'll use the restorations done for the masterworks, as they look terrific. I bet you get your wish soon! Good luck! I personally went with West Coast Avengers 1 & 2 as my priorities. I simply passed on them back in the day, and now, 10 years later, I'm trying to finish my Avengers run in omni form, and those are pretty pricey. So, holding out hope there. I've stripped my collection back recently, and with Marvel and mostly just getting Avengers, Cap, Daredevil and X-Men omnis. Even restricting it to those titles, there's still PLENTY of stuff to buy, sheesh.

Adam Strange and Doctor Light were the first two I thought of, so glad to see them here. Has anyone said Kanjar Ro yet? The fin was a little more pronounced on the animated version.

I'll let Whisp answer for himself, but I'll throw my two cents in: Classified is by far the better value. When you consider the paint apps and articulation, coming in at about half the price of a Ultimates figure, it's really no contest. Super 7 has the advantage on size (they're considerably larger than Classified), on packaging (Super 7 has always been better at packaging than figures themselves, and their Ultimates are really gorgeous in bo), accessories are kind of a wash, as both lines tend to come with quite a few accessories, and of course, if you're a big fan of the Sunbow/cartoon aesthetic, Ultimates is the way to go. But at $55 it can be a tough pill to swallow, especially considering the lack of paint apps. Super 7 is increasingly relying on molded plastic instead of actual paint on flesh parts, and it leads to some lifeless looking figures. Also, the articulation is usually mediocre to poor, especially in comparison with the super-poseable Classified line. When Ultimates are clearanced for $20-$30, i am all over them, they're great. But at $55, it's a pass until they go on sale. $220 for a wave of 4 figures is nuts. Get them down to around $100 or even $150, and I'm in. Classified is just a much better value, and arguably the best domestic toy line going these days. $25 or so for a super articulated, paint-heavy figure with tons of accessories, it doesn't get much better than that. I do worry about the future of both the GI Joe and Transformers Ultimates lines, particularly TF. They both launched with a wildly diverse lineup of characters, each wave featuring a mainstay, but also some VERY obscure choices. However, with Transformers they very quickly moved into re-decos (we've now had THREE Starscreams in just FIVE Waves), and the waves are getting smaller (Wave 4 was down to three figures, Wave 5 is just two, and they're both repaints). Joe seemed to be doing a bit better, as they continued to do unique figures in the waves, but the most recently announced wave is down to three figures, each a repaint. So, there may be cause for concern there as well. And I can only point to the price as the reason. If they could get these guys down in the NECA range, more like $35-$40, and keep up the unique character selection, I'd buy every one that they made, because I'm a cartoon-look guy through and through.

Ha I get it. I'm mainly a horror guy, so I tend to have a lot of gross stuff around, but these are particularly gruesome, I'll admit!

@WolverineX great timing, Omar just put up the reprint poll today! So head on over and make your voice heard! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMcH_yT2zgKjtinzayBeLhOAKPeaVhaSfHVzKtfNhBcc5p0w/viewform As a reminder to everyone, Marvel actually does listen to this material, Omar is tight with their collected editions department, and books making the top 25 tend to have a VERY good chance of coming back. So go vote and get your book reprinted!

Ha! Yeah, I'm a huge fan of the film and the designs, but even while handling the toy I kinda felt like "eeeyuck!"

EE has some of the wave 2 GI Joe Ultimates for $22. I understand people balking at the $55 price tag on the Super 7 stuff, but for $22, these are a steal. If you like the Sunbow designs (which is my personal preference) then you can't miss with these big, chunky figures. Beautiful cartoon accurate sculpt and tons of accessories. https://www.entertainmentearth.com/s/?query1=gi+joe+ultimates They also have most of the 2nd wave TF ultimates for $32, and the third wave for $41, which is well below the regular retail, and I think a very fair price for such nice, large figures. Grimlock is ENORMOUS and is a real deal at $32. https://www.entertainmentearth.com/s/?query1=transformers+ultimates They did have a free shipping code going for orders over a certain threshold, I believe it was WINTER79, but you may want to double-check that.

Finally got around to assembling the NECA Ultimate The Thing Dog creature set. Beautifully sculpted, but man alive, like with many NECA products, a pain in the butt to assemble. I never thought I'd see the day when I basically had to have a hair dryer on hand whenever I got a new toy, but that seems to be the way it is. Still, gorgeous piece with lots of display options, so for the price I really can't complain. I like the nice cardboard backdrop of the kennel as well, nice inclusion. Hopefully they'll take a stab at the Norris and Blair Things in the future. I liked McFarlane's takes, especially at the time they were released, but they are now brittle and under-scaled, and could use the NECA touch.

I don't recall seeing it on the schedule so far for the next year, but I do know that it's been reprinted at least a couple of times, so I'd assume there's a good chance it will come back again, eventually. it seems to be one of the "evergreens". But since we're already getting into 2025 with the upcoming announcements, and it hasn't been mentioned, you may have to wait a couple of years (or more) before it comes back.

Oh wow, hell must have frozen over! That's kinda crazy. I'll be picking those up when they come out, because who knows how long the goodwill will last, and they go OOP?

Awesome, had no idea, thanks for the heads up! Pretty easy choices for me. Batman Caped Crusader/Dark Knight - far and away my #1 choice. The trades are all finished and I think nearly all OOP, it's time to fill in this run in OHC form! Suicide Squad by Ostrander - Another one LONG overdue. Can't believe we've had two SS feature films and they STILL haven't released a tie-in omni. Hellblazer pre-Ennis - Yet again, gobsmacked we don't have this yer. Legion of Super-Heroes post-5yl - At the moment, there are two Legionnaires fat trades that get you partially into the post Threeboot/Archie Legion era, but not much. These need to be collected in some form, would love the omnis to continue. You could finish up all of LoSH and Legionnaires in a couple of fat omnis. Legion of Super-Heroes Bronze Age - We have most of this stuff in standard trim HC, but we need it omni'd to fit nicely in between the three SA LoSH omnis, and the 5Yl books. Honestly, they just need to take the files from those Superboy and the Legion books, along with the two pre-Darkness books, and the two long oop OHC Great Darkness Saga and The Curse books, and cram them all together. Would come out to, what, two thick omnis? Give us that, then give us the Baxter Legion. pretty please! There are a lot of other books I'd welcome (all the Batman, Hellblazer, etc as well ast JLI V4, though that material is pretty dire.) But these are some of the biggest empty spaces on my shelves!

Yeah, this is why i got out of carded Joes several years ago. Broken rings, figures bursting through the bubbles, there are just too many things that can go wrong. I may occasionally pick up a later, cheaper figure on card, like mid-90's Battle Corps stuff, because you're usually only talking about $40-$50 on those, so if they break, it's not the end of the world. But spending $$$$ on carded Joes just seems insane to me, they are plastic time bombs. I had a few carded figures graded several years ago, but I got rid of them early on, and am glad I did so. Loose complete is the way to go with Joe, or recarded examples for those that like the carded look without the concern.

Grades in! My method this round was to glance at the pics for about 5 seconds, then throw a dart at the laptop. We'll see how I did.

Sorry about that, grades in!

Still so odd to see someone other than Hasbro making 4" Joe figures, but I guess with Super 7 Reaction, Hiya Toys, and now McFarlane, this is how it will be. These all look pretty cruddy to me, but at the price point I guess they're not so bad? Not for me, but if it snags the eyeballs of some kid out there, it's a good thing.

Nice list! Always enjoy your thoughtful and in-depth posts. I think it was a good year for Legends! I don't do MCU/live-action figures, and I am X-Men and Avengers biased, so my list would be a bit different, but definitely has many similarities- Black Widow - Target Excl: Just a great action figure with exceptional poseability, sculpt, and accessories. Blob: Perfect update. Pretty Boy: One that I never thought we'd see, so close to having all of the Reavers now! '97 Wolverine : Another simply update done well. Hawkeye w/ Sky Cycle: Classic looking figure with an accessory I'll actually use! Spiral: Another perfect revisit. Corsair: Bring on the rest of the Starjammers! This is such a great costume which translates so nicely to toy form. Rogue Outback: We're getting closer and closer to my favorite look (green tanktop, punk belts, boots) so she will have to suffice for the time being. Wonder Man (leather jacket version) - my favorite design for this character. West Coast Avengers Box Set - it's cheating to include a set, but I don't care. So wild that we've lived to see this sort of thing released for sale!

BBTS's daily sales have been very nice lately, especially since they're now letting you add sale items to your Pile of Loot. I try to remember to check these every day, last week I guess I missed out on some MAFEX X-Men. At any rate, today they have the MAFEX Cyborg Superman and Steel figures at $62, which is a nice deal. That Cyborg Supes is a gorgeous figure. Today's sales https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Search?Theme=37043&o=1 https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/171506?o=1 https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/202534?o=1

Makes sense to me! I will keep an eye on her for sure. The novelty of such a thing existing at all is nearly reason enough to make the purchase.

I'd definitely trust your judgment over mine on all things "statue", and I will be curious to see what the final total is. Far more popular characters like Scarlet Witch, Rogue (I guess she's a Comiquette, not a PF), Storm, etc were what? 3k-4k edition size? And they have sat around for a while (not a critique of the piece themselves, mind you. I have the Scarlet Witch and the Rogue, and love them both.). Dazzler is much more niche character, and there isn't even a definitive look for the character that the fanbase can agree on (for instance, the blue body suit will always be MY Dazzler.) So, I'm really curious to see which way they go with her, edition wise It's one of those that could sell out super fast, or could linger for years and go on clearance, and neither result would surprise me!