This Week In Your Plastic Crack, Action Figures and Toy Collection 26 26

[F For Fake]

I mostly stick with X-Men related characters when it comes to Marvel Legends, but lately I've been getting into Avengers. Finding all of those 60th anniversary sets for half off was a spark, and then Amazon had decent deals on these for Prime Days, so I picked them up. I can't believe I've lived long enough to see a West Coast Avengers box set released. What odd/great times we live in, as toy fans! Keeping these boxed at the moment as I wait for a few more members of the roster to show up, then the great unboxing will begin.

[whisp]

So the first dice tower had the platform for the cards and is more for the gm of the game and not really movable around the table.  So I decided to make one for the other players.  This is it so far.  I am trying to do more intricate design.    Made of cardboard, egg cartons, glue sticks and eventually paint.  Cost will be $15 when I am done.

Edited October 20, 2023 by whisp

[Dave2739]

@Namtak Any progress lately on your Alien? 

[Namtak]

On 10/21/2023 at 9:51 AM, Dave2739 said:

@Namtak Any progress lately on your Alien? 

Yes ,but i have 4 issue at home waiting me..ill find the time next week and send some pics.i started the tail and its disapointing will have to modify it at some point.

[Namtak]

Did not continue yet,the tail is more than halfway and its ugly the way you can see the craks defining each pieces glued together, chatted with others on the alien project and its the same disapointment with them too.will have to cover all cracks polish it and repaint.anyway here is the catastrophe so far for the tail.more pics this week if i can.love doing that project ,theres always a way to improve it

By the way the tail cannot articulate.still a great project,will look spectacular with a bit of thinkering.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Namtak

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 10/22/2023 at 4:24 PM, Namtak said:

Did not continue yet,the tail is more than halfway and its ugly the way you can see the craks defining each pieces glued together, chatted with others on the alien project and its the same disapointment with them too.will have to cover all cracks polish it and repaint.anyway here is the catastrophe so far for the tail.more pics this week if i can.love doing that project ,theres always a way to improve it

By the way the tail cannot articulate.still a great project,will look spectacular with a bit of thinkering.

Still looks decent, with some twinge of yellow/green/black, I see it was multiple pieces fastened together. I can see big picture will come together well, longer than I expected, and thin, but other than cracks? Any other complaints?

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 10/22/2023 at 4:54 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Still looks decent, with some twinge of yellow/green/black, I see it was multiple pieces fastened together. I can see big picture will come together well, longer than I expected, and thin, but other than cracks? Any other complaints?

All things considered and having not seen it in a while, it does look decent or formidable. 

I was curious also if it'll hang low or straight out from the alien, or if it is a straight up kind of deal maybe that is why there is no articulation... ? Still looks well put together and sturdy. 

 

[Namtak]

On 10/22/2023 at 5:54 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Still looks decent, with some twinge of yellow/green/black, I see it was multiple pieces fastened together. I can see big picture will come together well, longer than I expected, and thin, but other than cracks? Any other complaints?

Only that it is not articulated,wich is sad considering everything else is well articulated.im pretty sure its gonna be awesome once finished.

[whisp]

Finished the second dice tower.  This one also when not in use can hold some of the figures from the game at the top of the tower.

 

This is comparison of the first one made vs the new one.  

Now to start painting some of the figures. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by whisp

[Yorick]

On 10/22/2023 at 3:09 PM, Namtak said:

Only that it is not articulated,wich is sad considering everything else is well articulated.im pretty sure its gonna be awesome once finished.

With the scale of it being as large as it is, it should have been pretty simple to make each link/bone interlock for full articulation.  Tail position and movement is essential for posing an Alien figure. 

[Cat]

On 10/24/2023 at 4:57 AM, Yorick said:

With the scale of it being as large as it is, it should have been pretty simple to make each link/bone interlock for full articulation.  Tail position and movement is essential for posing an Alien figure. 

I think it was probably more the cost. Each new piece of articulation requires a new mold, which costs more, so that's probably why they cheaper out. Shame, hopefully someone on the Prop Replica Forum steps up and makes a segmented one. 

[F For Fake]

Well, Haslab Giant Man funded, made it to the first incentive tier unlock, and only came up about 120 short on the second tier. That's a bummer. To be honest I probably wouldn't have often used the Skrull parts, but for the folks that wanted them, it must sting to come so close and just not quite get there.

Will be curious to see what the next Haslab ML will be, as they've now tried a couple of different approaches with the most recent offerings. Engine of Vengeance didn't fund, and people complained about there being in-demand figures locked behind tiers, the price, and several other things. So with Giant Man, they went much cheaper, didn't include any extra figures, and revealed everything up front; still yet people complained, and he wasn't quite the slam dunk I expected. So I wonder what direction they'll go in next. Can't imagine the much requested Fin Fang Foom would sell much better. This is an A-lister Avenger, and looks like a beautiful figure, and he still wasn't quite as successful as hoped. Oh well, I'll be happy to have him. And boy they aren't kidding, they charged me as soon as the campaign ended! Gimme that cash, sez Hasbro! Now we wait a year or so for Big Boy to show up.

[fantastic_four]

My guess is that the Marvel Legends team will take a break from Haslab next year, although if they go even cheaper down to the $100 to $150 level that could work.  There are no other large characters that would fund, and vehicles barely matter for superheroes.  Vehicles are absolutely critical for GI Joe so it's an evergreen source of Haslabs for that franchise, and they're pretty important for Star Wars, too, although not so much for any Jedi or Sith.

Fin Fang Foom would be expensive, and he's not at all popular.  Marvel Legends collectors assume he's popular for the wrong reason.  Hasbro made a build-a-figure of the character back around 2008, and his price on the market for years has been VERY high.  However it's not high due to popularity, it's high due to scarcity.  That wave was one of the first Hasbro made, and the quantities were low.  There were also distribution issues.  There aren't many copies of that BAF on the market as compared to most of the other Toy Biz or Hasbro build-a-figures.  Someone in China made a knockoff of it, and even with that supply added into the marketplace the overall supply is still quite low.  If they made him a HasLab he would be quite expensive to do at scale, and fans would just constantly point out "but we can get him on eBay for $100 to $200"!  There's also a big issue with the name that I won't go into but will if someone wants to discuss it.

Maybe a cheap-ish Punisher van could work, but Marvel has backed off of him recently due to the violence endemic to the character so who knows if they'd even approve it.  Maybe an X-Men Danger Room or some other diorama.  All of this would be less popular than the current three successful Haslabs though which is why I'm guessing they just take a break next year.  If they do people will be much hungrier for a new project in 2025 or 2026.

[fantastic_four]

I backed Giant-Man and can't wait to get him.  Very disappointing to not get the Skrull head, and I hope they either just throw it in, that some international numbers get added in and take us over the finish line, or that they extend it another day or week in which case it would be guaranteed to fund.  My guess is that one of those three things happen.  There have been a LOT of comic Skrulls released over the past few years including grunt Skrull troops, the Skrull Queen, and two different Super-Skrulls, and a Giant-Man Skrull would be an incredible centerpiece to support displays featuring Skrulls vs. the Avengers, SHIELD, or the Kree.

[F For Fake]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:39 AM, fantastic_four said:

My guess is that the Marvel Legends team will take a break from Haslab next year, although if they go even cheaper down to the $100 to $150 level that could work.  There are no other large characters that would fund, and vehicles barely matter for superheroes.  Vehicles are absolutely critical for GI Joe so it's an evergreen source of Haslabs for that franchise, and they're pretty important for Star Wars, too, although not so much for any Jedi or Sith.

Fin Fang Foom would be expensive, and he's not at all popular.  Marvel Legends collectors assume he's popular for the wrong reason.  Hasbro made a build-a-figure of the character back around 2008, and his price on the market for years has been VERY high.  However it's not high due to popularity, it's high due to scarcity.  That wave was one of the first Hasbro made, and the quantities were low.  There were also distribution issues.  There aren't many copies of that BAF on the market as compared to most of the other Toy Biz or Hasbro build-a-figures.  Someone in China made a knockoff of it, and even with that supply added into the marketplace the overall supply is still quite low.  If they made him a HasLab he would be quite expensive to do at scale, and fans would just constantly point out "but we can get him on eBay for $100 to $200"!  There's also a big issue with the name that I won't go into but will if someone wants to discuss it.

Maybe a cheap-ish Punisher van could work, but Marvel has backed off of him recently due to the violence endemic to the character so who knows if they'd even approve it.  Maybe an X-Men Danger Room or some other diorama.  All of this would be less popular than the current three successful Haslabs though which is why I'm guessing they just take a break next year.  If they do people will be much hungrier for a new project in 2025 or 2026.

I'd tend to agree on all counts. Foom would be cool, but I can't see him possibly doing as well as some folks seem to think. Giant Man may not be a household name, but he's a great sculpt of a classic and integral character to one of the most popular teams in comics, and he still had to fight to the finish. Galactus made sense because he's such an iconic huge character, and Sentinels were the perfect example of a necessary figure which had built-in army building potential. I can't think of any other large character that would have any of those traits.

And yeah, as far as vehicles, I can't think of any I'd need. Even stuff like the Blackbird, or the Quinjet, or the Fantasticar, I'd be pretty lukewarm on, and yet those are the only really obvious examples I can think of. They'd have to be enormous to scale with the figures, so I'd imagine the price would be unattractive.

[F For Fake]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:44 AM, fantastic_four said:

I backed Giant-Man and can't wait to get him.  Very disappointing to not get the Skrull head, and I hope they either just throw it in, that some international numbers get added in and take us over the finish line, or that they extend it another day or week in which case it would be guaranteed to fund.  My guess is that one of those three things happen.  There have been a LOT of comic Skrulls released over the past few years including grunt Skrull troops, the Skrull Queen, and two different Super-Skrulls, and a Giant-Man Skrull would be an incredible centerpiece to support displays featuring Skrulls vs. the Avengers, SHIELD, or the Kree.

Yeah, it only came up short, what, a little over 100 sales? Seems like they could rummage around and "find" some international orders or something to push it over.

[Azkaban]

got these out of our warehouse before we shipped them out to the stores 

[fantastic_four]

On 10/24/2023 at 3:04 PM, F For Fake said:

And yeah, as far as vehicles, I can't think of any I'd need. Even stuff like the Blackbird, or the Quinjet, or the Fantasticar, I'd be pretty lukewarm on, and yet those are the only really obvious examples I can think of. They'd have to be enormous to scale with the figures, so I'd imagine the price would be unattractive.

They could do a FantastiCar without it being a Haslab.  Could be a deluxe release between $40 to $80, or it could even be a build-a-figure packed into a wave of figures if it's the original one shaped like one big oval.  If they did the 80s version that would be a deluxe, and in fact Toy Biz did a deluxe release of that version back in the 2000s.  I have it, and it holds up fairly well.  Not the best engineering, but it works and I really like it.  It's also usually available on eBay for well under $100 which is where I got mine new in the box.

Here's a video review of that old Toy Biz Fantasticar where they use modern Hasbro figures in it to demonstrate that they all still fit into the seats, Thing included.

 

[fantastic_four]

A few other future Haslab notes:

• The most likely large character that could possibly fund is a huge Apocalypse.  His primary power is the ability to manipulate his own body at will including growing in size, so a big version of him makes sense.  Toy Biz did a build-a-figure of a big Apocalypse in the 2000s that is still decent.  I have it, and it's still my favorite action figure form of the character.  However I don't think it would even do Giant-Man numbers unless they just kill it with the design, so they'd need to adjust the cost so that they needed less than 10K backers.
• To really overcome the space and storage concerns of most collectors of a Quinjet or Blackbird they'd have to really design the crud out of it.  I wouldn't buy one unless the top half of either was removable so that the bottom half effectively becomes a diorama that you place somewhere, but if you like you can also put that top half back on.  The possibilities are vast to make it more attractive, but the design complexity could become daunting to overcome most collectors' space concerns over those big vehicles.
  Think about the first Haslab, the Khetanna.  That one is inherently more space-functional than the Quinjet or Blackbird because it has an upper deck that you can place figures on for display.  They further enhanced the display capabilities by making the sides removable so that you can have even more display storage space on the lower decks.  GREAT design on that vehicle, and they'd have to put similar thoughtfulness into a Quinjet/Blackbird to enhance the appeal to space-conscious collectors, which is the great majority of us.

Edited October 24, 2023 by fantastic_four

[Buzzetta]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:44 AM, fantastic_four said:

I backed Giant-Man and can't wait to get him.  Very disappointing to not get the Skrull head, and I hope they either just throw it in, that some international numbers get added in and take us over the finish line, or that they extend it another day or week in which case it would be guaranteed to fund.  My guess is that one of those three things happen.  There have been a LOT of comic Skrulls released over the past few years including grunt Skrull troops, the Skrull Queen, and two different Super-Skrulls, and a Giant-Man Skrull would be an incredible centerpiece to support displays featuring Skrulls vs. the Avengers, SHIELD, or the Kree.

At the number they were short, it is almost being petty not to throw it in or find a means to offer it. 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Buzzetta