fantastic_four

NONE of the MCU content is little kid-friendly, so I wouldn't suddenly expect She-Hulk to be. I'm on vacation in San Francisco and I re-watched it on the plane and my son listened in. A bunch of cussing so my significant other promptly chewed me out.

I didn't know who she was until I saw her in Albert Nobbs, that movie where Glenn Close plays a man. Casting McTeer in that film makes sense--she's so big it's easy to mistake her for the man she plays in that film, so when she flashes her extreme curves to Glenn Close as evidence she's actually a woman the credibility is instant. That scene blew my mind.

There are a few celebrities with a curvy Amazon body type. Janet McTeer is probably the tallest actress I've ever seen with that frame at 6' 1". Uma Thurman, Claudia Schiffer, and Elle MacPherson all have it too but are all slightly under six feet. I was hoping they'd find a younger and prettier Janet McTeer body type to play Wonder Woman--McTeer is 61 now--but meh, Gal Godot is fine I guess but not that curvy and shorter than I was hoping for at 5' 9". Godot is about the same height Lynda Carter was before she got older and shrank a bit, but Carter is much closer to the body shape I was hoping they'd find.

I was thinking of that scene as well when he pointed that out. Banner taking longer also makes some sense. Since he was losing himself in his Hulk persona he absolutely, positively didn't want to transform so I figured he was fighting it, but when he transformed at the end of Avengers he wasn't fighting it--he transformed because he had to. Since Walters doesn't lose herself once transformed she also chooses it, so having it go quickly seems fine.

Gotta also point out that I have an additional bias towards this show. She-Hulk in the comics and the CGI in this show is a greatly exaggerated version of everything I love about my own ideal female body type, so it helps a lot that I spent most of the episode thirsting over that type. My own significant other is a similarly exaggerated-from-the-norm type at 6' 1" and a top-heavy 145, and even after a decade of being around it I can still watch tall, thin, and curvy all day every day--it's one of the main reasons I follow some WNBA and volleyball stars. I remember thirsting that same way over Byrne's depictions of her in FF as is readily visible in that pic Werner just posted. So given that bias I'm liking everything in the show MUCH more than most others would. If you saw the trailer there's a moment where she picks up a guy in a bar and carries him off who seems smitten with her in the same way I would be, so I heavily identified with that scene. Tatiana Maslany is also REALLY cute and charming, so that helps with my bias. Although it feels odd because in human form she doesn't do much for me, but when she transforms BOOM she's my type again but with bad face CGI, so it's a semi-conflicted kind of thirst.

I couldn't finish Ms Marvel because it didn't have enough action, but wow, this whole first episode was probably more action than any single episode of any Disney Plus show. And it all felt really fun with the banter between Mark Ruffalo and Tatiana Maslany as they fought. Agree that the trailer set expectations perfectly. I liked that trailer, and surprisingly liked the show even more. But having said all that I felt the same way after the first episode of Moon Knight, but that got much slower and had less action after the first episode and by the end I was bored. So maybe that happens here as well.

Weird that they had her hair change so much back and forth during transformations. It grew and shrank, and went from curly to straight and back. Hair out of your follicles has no living cells so it doesn't make much sense to do it that way.

Really liked it. Unlike most other Disney Plus there IS a mid-credit scene, and it's quite funny.

I haven't opened mine yet so I'll have to compare mine to your notes. I mostly bought him for the articulated eagle to put on either Falcon or Cap's shoulder. Just saw a pic on Reddit today of someone who did that exact same thing. Love how the eagle comes with swappable folded-up or fully-extended wings. I bought Crocmaster almost entirely for the croc, Storm Shadow mostly just as a ninja to fight for HYDRA or against/with Daredevil in displays, and the COBRA officer as a HYDRA agent in displays.

You can also put in the sunlight for 20 minutes and it goes away. Don't keep it out there too long as it will fade but 15mins usually does the trick. Weird. Or at least it's weird to me not understanding the chemistry of what's happening. Does it come back after being exposed to sunlight, or is that a permanent fix?

Both Target and Walmart definitely aren't stocking Hasbro Star Wars like they used to, but both do still stock it. For example that Saw Gerrera figure I mentioned is at most of my local Targets, I just haven't been to one in over a month so I haven't picked him up yet; I only know he's everywhere locally because I can order him for 2-hour pickup at all of my local stores, and that only happens when they have something in the store. Plus he seems like a peg-warmer so I'm also waiting to get him on sale or clearance. The last Black Series Archive wave was definitely at both Target and Walmart as well. But the same is true of Marvel. For whatever reason this year Target has dramatically increased the number of McFarlane DC figures and dramatically decreased the number of Marvel Legends, including having no pegs on the second quarter Marvel planogram at all for ANY Legends aside from the 3.75" simple retro figures they're doing now. Target's third quarter planogram added a few pegs back for 6-inch Legends, but still nowhere near as many as the 10+ they're giving to McFarlane. But Target is also mis-managing the living daylights out of what they actually do stock in stores, too. All of the Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness figures were released and then put on clearance within 1-2 weeks of being stocked--and BEFORE the movie even came out. That's just clearly poor planning no matter how you slice it; any intelligent planning would have been either never stocking them at all or at least keeping them at MSRP until the movie came out a few weeks after they clearanced them. Target has also been ordering cases of 8 of the same figure from a wave instead of getting one or two boxes of 8 that include all the figures from a wave, so every Target for the last year or so has had massive quantities of peg-warmers from waves. That was just dumb in every way; there was no way 8 copies of D'Spayre or America Chavez were ever going to sell out in every Target in America. My best guess is that ever since McFarlane entered the market and had so much success in keeping their price at $19.99 and $24.99 for figures with a BAF part is that they're just winning out at mass retail over Hasbro's figures. That doesn't fully explain why there are so few Star Wars figures as compared to two decades ago; certainly that's just mostly increased competition and fewer movies that collectors wanted figures for. Most of the figures from the Episode 8 and 9 bombed, and that's when Target and Walmart seemed to retreat from Star Wars figures. And that's why I say the licensing fee no longer deserves to be as high as I keep hearing it is.

This is my #49. Got it for $613 in February 2003.

If you mean the copy that half a dozen collectors around here have been razzing me about for years because they saw it moments after I bought it then that's the book pictured below. My records tell me I got it for $750 on a Buy-It-Now in 2002. That was over triple Overstreet NM at the time so it's understandable that the seller didn't list it for more if he was unfamiliar with the multiples CGC books were getting which was new, controversial, and not widely-known among collectors at the time. The seller actually messaged me after the sale saying he had gotten a dozen higher offers after I bought it--and I got multiple higher offers as well via DM including one from Bob Storms--but the seller said he'd honor it anyway. Definitely the best buy of my life given the value then and ESPECIALLY the value now. I track the annual percentage yield (APY) on all my CGC books which is right around an 8.5% increase for every year I've owned them, and this one really helps boost all of the others up. I used to buy every high-grade copy of FF 52 I saw. I forget how many I have but it's at least four or five raw copies that I assess between 8.5 and 9.x.

They do. Supposedly the reason all of the figures have single-jointed knees and elbows instead of double-jointed like most every other line has these days is because the Lucasfilm rep insisted on it. The team does so much great work that I can't entirely tell how much is their fault and how much is Lucasfilm's fault. For example ALL of the Bad Batch figures are absolutely awesome. So are the Clone Wars figures released in 2021 as Target exclusives; the Anakin and Obi-Wan from that set are my favorite Hasbro versions of those characters. The Clone Wars Ahsoka is also superb aside from the bad elbow, knee, and ankle articulation most of which is Lucasfilm's fault. Last year's Return of the Jedi deluxe Boba Fett is also terrific. More figures are outstanding than bad, so it's clear they can do good work at times. The new Saw Guererra looks superb as well although I don't have him yet to be sure of it. Loved Fennec Shand from last year as well. Hasbro's work on Star Wars definitely deserves some scorn due to the high pricing, numerous repaints, and articulation issues. But they do so much outstanding work that I just can't tell how much is their fault, and I could easily attribute everything to Lucasfilm by coming up with 5 to 10 very specific questions about the Lucasfilm relationship and getting honest answers--which I wouldn't expect on most of those hypothetical questions.

I haven't sold anything over the years so yes. Why? I'm not up-to-date on the market aside from updating values on my top 50 or so most expensive comics in my collection which I've continued to do over the last decade just so I'm not completely out of touch with the market and what I have invested in it, so aside from the big recent increases in keys like Giant-Size X-Men #1 I have no idea what the Bronze market is like these days. It's insane how much keys and desirable Silver issues have jumped since the pandemic started, so I'm definitely curious about what's going on with Bronze. But either way I have no current plans to sell. I have long had a plan to half-retire and use my collection as a part-time job, but I'm nowhere near ready to do that yet. Maybe once my kids don't need daycare anymore in a few years.

Were you able to complete your HG run? To my own satisfaction, yes, although my #1 is only a 7.0. I could have kept upgrading everything and going for a better copy of #1 but didn't feel particularly inspired to after I finished the run in mostly 9.0 or better. My registry sets are still up to date because I haven't bought anything since 2011. It shows me as updating them more recently than that but it isn't correct. I think those registry set update dates get automatically bumped up when they do some kinds of software updates. I could see myself getting back into it but not yet. I mostly quit in 2011 due to going into a new relationship, moving twice in 2013 and 2014, and then having twins in 2015. Right now I'm mostly collecting Marvel action figures from Hasbro and a Japanese company called Medicom Mafex. That hobby is so related to comics I can easily see myself getting back into upgrading at some point--particularly once my 6-year olds can read and if they get into comics themselves since there are so many lying around the house for them to try.

If only they gave 1/100th of a mess about Star Wars. My, how the tides have turned. My understanding is that the licensing fees for Star Wars are the highest in the toy industry, so that line is severely hampered by what they're able to do and fit into the price point people want to pay. I keep expecting Hasbro to just dump Star Wars entirely due to the difficulty of paying the licensing fees. I get that the audience is the oldest due to the Kenner toys defining action figures with their Star Wars line, but that franchise no longer deserves to be the most expensive license anymore. At best I'd put it on par with DC, and I say this as a HUGE lifelong Star Wars fan who generally enjoyed the original trilogy, LOVED the prequels unlike many hardcore fans, and generally enjoyed Episodes VII through outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed But the license has lost its sheen under Disney aside from anything revolving around Boba Fett, the Mandalorian, Grogu, and Clone Wars.

#37 is a sneaky tough book in high grade. Agreed. I rarely ever saw high-grade copies for sale during my prime FF collecting years between 2000 and 2011. Finding a 9.2 was rare, and I don't recall if I ever saw one above that grade aside from maybe when Doug Schmell sold his collection.

Ever notice how the shape of Namor's head kept changing over the years.... For most of my life I assumed Bill Everett was going for a Japanese look for the character due to the look of the facial features and the infamous strength of the Japanese navy in conquering most of the Pacific islands and Chinese mainland for centuries up until America disarmed them after World War 2, so I was surprised when I heard within the last decade or so that he was going for an Elven look for Namor. I can think of multiple reasons why a Mayan look for his race may make more sense, but I won't have much opinion about that until after I've seen Wakanda Forever and heard some of the details for Namor and his kingdom's back story for the MCU.

I bought all of those for Marvel displays, and yep, all four are awesome. Really almost every Classified Series figure is great. Hasbro is killing it with this line.

Most Hot Toys human faces fall into the Uncanny Valley, but Harley is a little easier for them to avoid it because of the heavy makeup that exaggerates her features. So you're right it looks absolutely stunning.

That discolouration happened shortly after release on some of them. Some people reported it being a powdery substance they could wipe off, while for others it was a permanent change in the plastic. It happens because of poorly mixed plasticisers in the plastic, and Mattel around this time was notorious for it. It's a common issue across toy lines. A small number of Hasbro's Marvel Legends in 2021 also had the plasticizer powder on them. If you wipe it off--or do what I do and just run water over the figure--it usually comes back later, so I don't even bother. It's a pretty minor thing I barely care about on the figures I have that exhibit the issue.

I was not aware of that company. Thanks!!!

Never read the comic, don't know anything about Sandman aside from the Netflix trailer for the show. Glad to hear in the thread that it's a good translation so I'll check it out.