The chase rarity thing makes some sense when you remember Todd is a sports fanatic and the Collectible Sports Card world is now essentially entirely driven by chase card rarity models.
The chase rarity thing makes some sense when you remember Todd is a sports fanatic and the Collectible Sports Card world is now essentially entirely driven by chase card rarity models.
Heh. That’s even more annoying. I also don’t want sportsball-stuff (or sportsball attitudes) in my action figure collecting. Ugh. I’ve always hated how Todd approaches the business side of things, even when I like the toys he’s making.
Yuck.
That "new" (AFAIK) message on Amazon that says, "this item is often returned" or whatever, cannot be a good look. And I have no doubt McF figs are being returned on the regular for being not the chase, or being the chase, whichever the customer doesn't want. At least he's not selling us unpainted grey plastic figures anymore.
I received my Crisis on Infinite Earths wave today from the McFarlane store. I'm looking forward to cracking them open and building the Monitor. I'll leave my thoughts and impressions after I've opened them. None of these characters are new to my collection as I have prior figures of them from either Mattel or DC Direct / DC Collectibles so I'm certainly not expecting to be overly wowed by any of them.
Best Buy seems to be accepting orders for Wonder Woman, for the moment. May be worth a try:
EDIT: Sold out, now.
Well, I have six Detective Comics 27 Batman and Red Azbats pre-ordered from GameStop and was able when solicited to pre-order a case from EE. If I can't get one of each or at least one of the chases out of this then I guess it was not meant to be. Yep, you bet I plan on returning the extras to the three GameStops I have in my area. Oh and this is all McFarlane's fault for pulling a stunt like this.
Even back in the 90s, I *never* enjoyed “hunting for chases”. It’s stressful, it sucks, and I despise competition, especially in a hobby.
I cannot tell you how validating it is to hear someone else come right out and say that. There’s this prevailing attitude in our society that not enjoying competition is some sort of character flaw or weakness. It’s not. It’s simply a preference. We are perfectly capable of competing when we have to. It doesn’t mean we have to like it, and we certainly don’t want to do it on our free time.
People should know what they’re getting when they place an order. This is yet another failure on Todd’s part to get his head out of the 90’s…and his own rear end. He makes good toys when he puts his mind to it, but he’s probably left almost as much money on the table singing “My Way” as he’s brought in.
Speaking of good toys. Just got the Kilmer Batman and holy shit do I love it! So much in fact that I'm seriously considering putting a more comic styled head (plus a better cape) on it and keeping that figure as my main display Batman. Damn, that Giger-esque suit desing and the plastic color they've used makes such beautiful hand candy. And it can move, too! So much crunch and twist and in all direction right out of the box? I'm impressed. I'm blown away with how much I love this figure.
The only gripe I can find here outside of the shitty cape is that I'd prefer him to have beefier upper arms, even if those he comes with fit the movie stills, he'd benefit from being a big more buff on the shelf.
Even back in the 90s, I *never* enjoyed “hunting for chases”. It’s stressful, it sucks, and I despise competition, especially in a hobby.
I cannot tell you how validating it is to hear someone else come right out and say that. There’s this prevailing attitude in our society that not enjoying competition is some sort of character flaw or weakness. It’s not. It’s simply a preference. We are perfectly capable of competing when we have to. It doesn’t mean we have to like it, and we certainly don’t want to do it on our free time.
Yes. Exactly this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “ooooh can’t you handle some competition, bro?” And it’s like, sure, I can “handle” it, but why the hell would I *want* to? And especially why would I want to when I’m trying to relax and enjoy myself? Ugh. Also, and with all due respect to those who enjoy competition: in my view, it tends to bring out some very base and nasty impulses in many people, and that’s what I *really* don’t want to deal with. Competition or no, pushy “me first!” and “look at me!!” attitudes are not something I ever want to engage with, and certainly not by choice.
Anyway: opened the CoIE wave last night and it’s lovely. No Platinums, though, which is a relief and which also means at some point I’ll have to “chase” Hal and whatever the other Platinum is.
Even back in the 90s, I *never* enjoyed “hunting for chases”. It’s stressful, it sucks, and I despise competition, especially in a hobby. I don’t want to be “the early bird” or “lucky” or “have the inside track”, I just want to buy the fucking toy and play with it. And honestly? I wouldn’t mind so much if it was just as simple as paying $40 for the “privilege” of grabbing a Platinum AS LONG AS IT WAS EASY AND READILY AVAILABLE TO DO SO. What I *don’t* want to do is to have to drop like $100 on eBay for desirable Platinums that I’ll be afraid to even play with because they are so damn expensive and “rare”. And especially when some Platinums are literally the more desired version when compared to the regular, like this AzBats or the Super Powers Mr Freeze or classic Hawkman or (depending on your taste) Super Powers Wonder Woman or classic Captain Carrot. I could go on. Aaaaaaand now we have that McF exclusive Crisis wave, where even the regulars are hard to get and getting “stuck” with a Platinum might be a lose-lose situation: sure, you can “always sell it or trade it” but that’s exactly the situation I hate and want to avoid: I have zero interest in trading and selling collectibles: I just want to own and play with them. Ultimately, at this point I just want to be able to order toys and have them shipped to me, and that’s all.
True, I agree, the hunting part sucks. What I meant to say with my post regarding the 90's, and my fault for not articulating it well enough, was that back "in the 90's" I enjoyed just looking at the pegs and seeing what they had and knowing that there was a good chance I would find what I wanted without having to jump through hoops. If I was after Dark Knight Collection's Tec Shield Batman, there was a very good chance that every store that sold Kenner Batman toys would have one. The same for Arctic Batman or Pirate Batman or any other Batman. Basically, the "chase" in those days didn't exist, or at least was relegated in chasing ones parents around the house enough that they finally bent to your will to take your ass to the store lol Toys were just something that would be found on a peg, any peg, and there was no store hopping required because all of the stores got basically the same stuff. No exclusives, no "chase" figures. There was a Batman line (Legends, I believe) that released a red Azrael Batman labeled Knightsend and a blue Azrael Batman labeled Knightquest; neither figure was an exclusive, neither were locked behind scalpers on ebay, neither were a chase. Just 2 versions of the character released in the wild. That's what I miss, and what I meant to say in my post.
Obviously things changed when the Spawn lines launched, and things like chase figures became prominent. Fuck that, that entire model is terrible. I don't know that I've ever met someone who prefers it to just being able to order what you like. I'm sure they exist, but I've never met them.
Even back in the 90s, I *never* enjoyed “hunting for chases”. It’s stressful, it sucks, and I despise competition, especially in a hobby.
I cannot tell you how validating it is to hear someone else come right out and say that. There’s this prevailing attitude in our society that not enjoying competition is some sort of character flaw or weakness. It’s not. It’s simply a preference. We are perfectly capable of competing when we have to. It doesn’t mean we have to like it, and we certainly don’t want to do it on our free time.
Yes. Exactly this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “ooooh can’t you handle some competition, bro?” And it’s like, sure, I can “handle” it, but why the hell would I *want* to? And especially why would I want to when I’m trying to relax and enjoy myself? Ugh. Also, and with all due respect to those who enjoy competition: in my view, it tends to bring out some very base and nasty impulses in many people, and that’s what I *really* don’t want to deal with. Competition or no, pushy “me first!” and “look at me!!” attitudes are not something I ever want to engage with, and certainly not by choice.
Anyway: opened the CoIE wave last night and it’s lovely. No Platinums, though, which is a relief and which also means at some point I’ll have to “chase” Hal and whatever the other Platinum is.
+1 to this.
I also just received the CoIE wave and didn't have any platinums. I actually do want Spectre Hal and will get it assuming it ends up at like $60 (which is my personal limit for most chase figures). Do we know what the other platinum is?
The only clue to a possible second Platinum I can see is that E2 Superman’s logo is painted not sculpted on his chest. Now, that likely just means that they intend to reuse this body again (as well they should: it’s amazing), but it could be for this very wave. I can think of several decos they could go with: my hope would be that they don’t use up Fleischer studios colors or Kingdom Come on a Platinum with a head that won’t match either style, but Todd has done shittier things than that.
I completely agree with all the points made. Is looking at my collection and seeing a hard-to-get chase satisfying? Sure. But is looking at my collection and knowing that it was gotten patiently, carefully, and most importantly of all- as money-conscious as possible satisfying too? You betcha! I love my figs, but I love being able to eat and sleep too. I don't want to spend every waking moment worrying about getting to X store or to X site by X time, and I certainly don't want to hound and pester any employees or kick any fellow collectors out of the way (literally or metaphorically). More than the hunt, I enjoy the community- the times where a collector will help another out. If there has to be such a thing as a chase, why not help others out? Get the 1 or 2 you may want/need, and if you happen on any more, either save it for the next person, or get it so you can sell it at cost to someone who doesn't have a chance at getting it themselves?
So many characters or variants I was really looking forward to have been locked behind a Platinum sticker lately, and living in such a big place as I do, there's almost never a chance for me to find them. I've lucked out once or twice, but it's either something I don't necessarily want, or simply because the line itself isn't too hot yet (or I go home to visit family, where there's three times as many stores and probably half the people, so the odds are better). Hell, I even had someone snatch something directly from my hands last year for the first time since I can remember. More often than not anymore, whenever I'm checking out the toy aisle, there'll be someone there giving me the ol' stank eye, watching what things I check out, and almost safe-guarding their little area. Used to happen every so often, but now it's probably 8-9 times out of 10.
There's so much gatekeeping in the collecting community- either by fans or the companies themelves. This is supposed to be a hobby of fun and joy and nostalgia. But with all the exclusives and chases and digital whatnot, it's getting tiring. Emotionally. Financially. I'm not losing my desire to collect, but I'm certainly losing my desire to hunt, if that makes sense. I'm gonna go and there's gonna be nothing on the pegs because someone got there as soon as the store opened, or they know an employee, and took every last figure and is flipping it for three times the price. Or I'm gonna get sized up by some fellow nerd and made to feel uncomfortable just for looking at some toys. And it feels like the companies are all encouraging this sort of thing.
Anywho.
I did get the Catwoman/Bat-Pod from MTS yesterday. It's quite nice. I like that the Bat-Pod feels a little sleeker and slimmer than the Mattel iteration, but there's no kickstand or anything to keep it up, and it keeps tipping over on me, which is a bit annoying. Catwoman is nice, but she definitely suffers from her head sticking forward a bit too much. Wish he'd have included swappable goggles; I don't dislike these ones, but I'd definitely prefer the cat ears. Not to mention the lack of paint or detail on these goggles. I'm glad to have her at all, versus having that gap in my collection, but I'm definitely on the hunt for the regular Catwoman. Which I'll probably never have, for all the reasons specified above.
Not to play up to the stereotypes of our chosen hobby but it’s a pretty sad nerd that considers driving to a bunch of stores or pulling out the credit card and buying a dozen duplicates of a mass market item to constitute “competition”. You know instead of something that takes genuine skill or expertise or some such.
Right, like competition implies there is someone who loses. I've never felt like I've lost anything because someone else got a good deal on something, or someone else found something rare. That's just their good luck.
I can imagine this being a thing for reviewers, I guess, since it impacts when they can upload.
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