Groot & the Guardians!

It's been a while since I bought all the figures in a Marvel Legends series for a Build-a-Figure, but I thought this one was worth it.  How do you buy ANY Guardian figures without building Groot?!?

 

Groot measures in at 9" tall, which puts him 50% taller than the other Marvel Legends.  He's skinny, but VERY tall...kind of like my cousin, Bret.

Groot is an excellent figure.  He could have used a bit more detail on his paint apps, but for Hasbro, this is going all out.  Great sculpt, good posability (for a tree), and great size.

And, of course, wherever you find Groot, you'll find his little buddy, Rocket Racoon.

Here's a bonus shot I had to take.  Remember in Lord of the Rings when Treebeard is sad about losing the Entwives and the little Entings?  I think he just found one!

Last but not least, I give you the Guardians of the Galaxy (and friends)!

Guardians of the Galaxy: Iron Man

One of the last figures I'm in the market for is another Iron Man and if there wasn't a BAF involved that I really wanted, I would have probably passed on this one.  That being said, this Iron Man shares a scuplt with the previously released "Bleeding Edge Armor" figure and I kind of wanted that one.  After I opened the package, I was happy to have him.

As the most recent Guardians of the Galaxy series started, Tony Stark had wanted a break from the Avengers, and the Earth, and had joined up with the Guardians for some interstellar adventuring.  This figure shows off Tony's latest deep space-ready armor.

Unlike the other Marvel Legends Iron Man figures since about the middle of the Toybiz run, this Iron Man is a good size.  They have seemed undersized for a while now, which is not what you want from a figure that is supposed to be a regular sized guy inside a larger suit. Below you can see how this new figure matches up to the original Marvel Legends Series 1 suit and with the Hulkbuster armor from a later Toybiz series.  He's just a tad smaller, but I would expect Tony's armor to have become more sleek since his earlier designs.  I think the new suit fits in great with my Stark armory.

Check back soon for a post featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy series Build-a-Figure: Groot!

The Armory - Instagram Style

I decided to thin back my Iron Man collection today, making it less of a "crowded mall" look and more of a "suits lining the walls of the armory" look.  I know these aren't great for details, but I think Instagram makes some cool effects.

Just a little fun on Tuesday night.

And yes that is a CUSTOM Tony Stark.  It was really simple.  I just took an extra Tony head that came with one of my Marvel Legend Iron Men and glued it to the body of a Dark Knight Harvey Dent action figure.  I think it makes for a great focal point to my armory. :)

Eventually I want to have a larger display area dedicated to the many suits of Mr. Stark, but for now, he's got this little nook decked out with what I think are the coolest and/or most important armors from his history.  

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.

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.