Thursday, June 27, 2013

Marvel Select Iron Man 3 (Mark XLII)



Today I picked up the Marvel Select Iron Man Mark XLII figure based on the new armor featured in Iron Man 3.  I was hesitant to buy this figure, if for no other reason than I already have so many Iron Man figures.  Iron Man is an easy character to collect because he has so many armors, but at some point you have to get choosy.  I passed on this at the comic store earlier in the day, but by 6:30 I was back at the store picking it up...and I'm glad I did.  I thought it couldn't get any better than my MS Iron Man figure from the 2nd feature film, but after posing and photographing this new find, I can definitively say, it's the best Iron Man figure in my collection.

For those who aren't familiar with the difference, Marvel Select figures generally stand at least 7" tall, while the more abundant Marvel Legends figures average around 6".  My Marvel collection features both, because it makes sense for some figures to be larger than others.  Iron Man, Thor, & Hulk should be noticeably bigger than Cap, Hawkeye, and Spider-man.  I have both lines represented in my Iron Man collection, but again, with so many armor options, I feel the varying heights only add to the visual of the overall armory.

Enough about that though!  Check out this awesome figure!



This figure comes with two heads; masked & unmasked, and two sets of hands; open and closed fists.  I thought the Iron Man 2 figure had a great Robert Downey Jr. figure likeness, but this one is even better.  Look further down below to see RD Jr. from Iron Man 3 talking to RD Jr. from Iron Man 2.







Now here are a few comparisons of the Mark XLII against some of my other favorite armors.  Below are my 3 Marvel Select 7" figures.  Iron Man 2 suit (left), Iron Man 3 suit (center), & Ultimate Iron Man (right).



This one is a comparison of the Marvel Select 7" Mark XLII against the classic 6" Marvel Legends Iron Man.  Very different styles, but both awesome toys representing two very different periods in the character's development.


And now my favorite part of these posts...the funny stuff.





This figure is a great mix of likeness and pose-ability.  An excellent figure that is actually worth it's $25 price tag.  This is a must-have for Iron Man fans.



Thursday, June 6, 2013

Lil' Masters of the Universe



This week, the popular toy brand, Pop Vinyl (by Funko), released a Masters of the Universe series and I was waiting for 'em!  The series includes He-Man, She-Ra, Skeletor, Hordak, and Spikor.  Being that I am (apparently) not made of money, I settled for just bringing home the first three.  Maybe I'll pick up the other 2 when they go on sale.

The packaging for these cute figures is really nice and features illustrated likenesses of the toys, both on front, and showcasing the entire series on the back.


Now enjoy some closeups of each figure.  This company does a great job of matching each characters likeness with a very simple character style.  I've checked out their work on the Rocky movie figures and it really looks like Stallone and Mr. T!  This toy line has a very fun look and I'm going to try not to keep buying them...we'll see.




Thanks for checking out my fun, new Pop Vinyls!



Saturday, June 1, 2013

MOTU Classics She-Ra!


FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!!!

He-Man's sister, She-Ra, has long been on my to-buy list, but at $27/each for figures in the MOTU Classics line these days, I just had a hard time biting the bullet.  Luckily I found her in great condition for only $15 today at the Gulf Coast Toy Show in Deer Park, Tx! 

Mattel once again does the impossible, creating a female figure who is both strong-looking and feminine.  Few toy companies can pull this off!  



She comes with 2 head choices, her power sword, shield, & axe/hair brush.  The brush and extra head were pretty dorky, so I didn't even bother taking pics of them.  



After finding her at such a bargain, I was happy to finally reunite the "power twins".



MOTU Classics Shadow Beast!


I scored a great deal on a Mattel Masters of the Universe Classics Shadow Beast today!  He stand close to 10" tall and towers over the rest of Skeletor's forces!  The dim-witted, but powerful creatures were often used in the cartoon as muscle for Skeletor's schemes, controlled by the henchman, Beastman.



Mattel keeps the high-quality of this figure line going strong here.  Check out the pictures below.  Everything from his fur to the wood rings on his club are expertly detailed.  This is a very slick addition to my MOTU Classics collection.



And look how BIG this guy is compared to Beastman, She-Ra, & He-Man!





1967 "Vintage" Avengers Figures




Today the family and I visited the Gulf Coast Toy Show in Deer Park, Tx.  While there I spotted what I believed was an unbelievable find, a set of 4 vintage Marvel plastic figures from the 60's!  I talked the guy down 25% on the cost and left feeling very pleased with myself.  As I prepped for this post I found this article: http://spidermancollector.net/wordpress/?p=177.  Here I found that, though the original Marvel figures were released in 1967, they were light gray.  Subsequent releases followed until, finally, bootleg versions were released in the 80's and are easy to spot do to their hard, red plastic.  Today I bought a set of bootlegged 80's reproductions.  That being said, the figures are very cool and I still feel like I got a decent bargain.  Check out the pics below.  I LOVE the sculpt on the Iron Man.









You win some, you lose some.  I had hoped to have snagged a set of the first Avengers figures produced, but at least I got a cool retro-looking set of figures for a decent price.