Gotta vote "no" on the trading card idea. What was said above is correct: It's a waste of space at best, an excuse to raise the price at worst.
I have one of those clear plastic baseball card boxes for Todd DC figure cards (I can't bring myself to throw them even though I don't really want them) and I told myself once that reaches capacity, I've got enough Todd DC figures. It's almost at the top. (Now he's throwing in stands for the cards for an additional $5. UGH!)
Where my interests are concerned, they somehow blew by New X-Men. They're at least committed to making the Astonishing team, though. Coipel Thor isn't far off, either.
I know they are near and dear to you... but man, those Morrison/Quietly X-Men looks were the shittiest costumes the X-Men have ever had. Just straight movie style inspired pleather garbage. Even the terrible Ultimate X-Men looks were better than those. I was never happier than when they retired those god-awful costumes and slowly reverted back to more comic booky outfits.
Whilst I definitely wouldn’t want that kind of look to replace the more costumed approach, I like them quite a bit myself. more than the movie costumes definitely - the bigger splash of yellow, and as someone said, the style personalised variations. And they’ve got the Morrison/Quietly weirdness poking out - raver platform shoes here and there etc. Love Jean’s look in particular.
The Marvel Legends team seems committed to making as many post Y2k era versions of our heroes and villains as they can and it started back during the Cho'd wave. Since then we've gotten more and more astonishing era, civil war, New Avengers and so on and so fourth. we're still getting our fair share of 90's era characters but those are mostly isolated in the retro carded releases. the BAF and anniversary waves are more committed to ensuring that more modern looks for these characters flourish.
SDC is right - the price will go up when they want it to go up. No one in the ML team is stupid enough to think they could throw in something like a trading card and use it to justify a price increase - more likely, next time they have to raise prices due to *actual* inputs going up and/or a corporate mandate to earn more, they'll think about things with marginal costs they can add to up the perceived value. Or, they'll recognize that it's a relatively cheap thing they can include that some people might be into, and those that aren't won't be hurt by it.
Just received Venom and if I'm being picky I have two gripes with him. One, I wish the white pads on his hands were a little wider like the 3-pack version (a black dot would be cherry). And two, I'm not a fan of the dumbbell neck joint. I might be in the minority, but I don't see the appeal of them because of the lack of range. Other than Venom the only other figures I have with the dumbbell neck is Walgreens Baron Zemo and RYV Spider-Man. It seem to work well for Zemo, but it's terrible for Spider-Man. Are most dumbbell neck joints this bad?
Yeah, the barbell neck joints are mostly awful, because the bottom ball never gets the right amount of range. Too much plastic around the neck.
@h-bird Or they could be going the opposite direction and slowly, but surely, eliminate "extras" in the package for individual figures. We are already seeing a shrinking parts count for accessories in some cases, and the BAF waves seem to be fewer than before.
I know that the ML team mentioned they are always looking to fit BAF waves in where they can, but I also don't doubt that if there was a directive to start the gradual "shrinkflation" of the BAF wave they wouldn't come right out and tell they were doing that.
If that is the case it could give them a bit more time before having to up the prices again.
And two, I'm not a fan of the dumbbell neck joint. I might be in the minority, but I don't see the appeal of them because of the lack of range.
It's the main reason this new version could be seen as objectively worse than the symbiote 3-pack version. I mostly bought it for that McFarlane-style smiling head, but otherwise the figure is mostly a wash with the 3-pack Eddie. The diaphragm joint gets so little range that the forward range is barely any better with this version from the previous one. Because of the limited neck range I may end up using the 3-pack version in displays more than this one, but that new head is so nice I'm not too disappointed with this release. Custom heads usually cost $20 to $30, so paying $25 for a full Legends figure when I only want one of the heads usually doesn't bug me.
You can certainly get far more range with a dumbbell neck joint given that both Medicom and Bandai use them with their Mafex and SH Figuarts import high-end figures, but usually the Legends dumbbell necks have very little range. Medicom and Bandai also usually have dumbbell joints at both the top and base of the neck, and together those two joints usually get AWESOME range while Hasbro rarely uses a second dumbbell at the base of the neck on Legends--although they usually do use them for their GI Joe Classified Series figures. Their usual answer for why the neck gets so little range is their higher standards for safety and quality control under the rougher usage of kids, but some of their dumbbell necks are REALLY good, so I don't know why the results are so mixed from them or why they're still not making bottom-of-neck joints standard.
If you want to see a Legends dumbbell neck that's well done look at Endgame Thor. His range is fantastic with a single dumbbell joint, and on top of that he has really soft plastic for his hair so it doesn't limit articulation as much as you'd think it would. But about 80% of the time dumbbell necks from the Legends team are terrible.
The throne awaits the All-Father’s arrival…
Only the All-Father may sit on the Hlidskjalf. Hail Odin!!!
Only the All-Father may sit on the Hlidskjalf. Hail Odin!!!
is that the name of a new display case from IKEA?
I got Wolverine in the other day. It's always a trip to replace one of the signature Toy Biz-era Legends.
He's not perfect by any stretch; I think he's too tall, the head articulation is seriously pathetic, and I would prefer him without the yellow patches (though they're growing on me). Outside of that, though, he's really good. I don't think he's better than MAFEX Bane or NECA Elkhorn, but I'd slot him immediately after in the figure-of-the-year conversation.
It's one of those Legends that looks import-quality on the shelf. He's right up there with MAFEX's brown-costume Wolverine and Marvel Legends' retro brown Wolverine as the best Wolverine figure ever made.
An updated Astonishing team has been a long time coming. Hasbro isn't disappointing.
As a quick aside, I got the McFarlane Swamp Thing in at the same time. I don't want to walk into the lion's den and complain, so I'll say it here: what a piece of junk. I can hardly get him to stand. Somehow McFarlane is going to have me purchase a 10-year-old figure to fill the Swamp Thing-sized hole in my collection. I've purchased three McFarlane figures since they relaunched the brand a few years ago, and I've hated each one more than the last.
@tsi I feel you. I've been on a tear, rebuilding my DCUC collection piece by piece (and adding some I missed out on the first time to boot).
Pulse getting ready to charge for Hulkbuster!
And now Amazon is shipping Odin to be delivered Monday!
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