Random Happenstance

No pictures today, so how 'bout a load of rambling about toys?

Over in the forums for Toy News International, poster Tom E. put up a little checklist for the projected Hasbro Marvel Legends and Mattel DC Universe Classics coming out over the rest of the year. (Oh, and some of the Iron Man movie figures, since those are close enough to ML scale.) Let's try a link here, and I must say, it's not only a sharply made list, there's a lot of neat stuff coming.

A lot. A lot of lot. To ballpark some numbers, the average figure is about $9.99 these days. Ignoring the SDCC Exclusives, I believe the two packs would be $15 each, maybe? And the Hulk Wave is allegedly also going to be $15 a piece, literally in that case: the Fin Fang Foom build-a-figure is supposed to be huge.

Ballparking the numbers, based on my guesswork prices above, the whole list would run around $620 retail. Ooh, I don't have DCUC wave 2 yet, so you could probably tack another fifty bucks on there. (Particularly since I really kinda want Magorilla Grodd...what?)

Did anyone else hear a booming THOOM! Like a vault door slamming shut?

Admittedly, your financial straits may vary, but that would chew up a huge chunk of my toy/comic budget, and I could pretty much kiss off driving...and eating.

Some warnings: my pricing could be completely off and are at best vile speculation. Especially on the two-packs, I think. Any or all of this list could conceivably be delayed, repackaged, or go completely vaporware. Prices above don't include tax. And of course, even though it would be ever-so-swell, I have no intention of buying every damn thing on this list. It's a shame, but I could end up with even more orphaned build-a-figure pieces than usual on this one.

The Hulk waves are a little disappointing for me, since it looks like Valkyrie's dropped. She may turn up in a two-pack or something further down the road. Incidentally, that reduces the number of female action figures on this list to seven, out of about seventy-three. (And at least one of those is a reissue, I think.)

Out of the rest of the Hulk batch, the only one that's absolutely positively guaranteed buy-on-sight...for me anyways...is Doc Samson. Hey, I have plans for Doc Samson. That tool.

Iron Man movie stuff...there's an Iron Man car, that if scaled right, could be kind of interesting. Or suck. It's fifty-fifty. The only other one I'd likely get is the Captain America one, which is getting a lot of mileage out of a.) a fake-out promo piece for the end of Civil War and b.) The same Iron Man mold as Satellite Armor, Stealth Armor, Easy Bake Oven Armor...but, oh, it does look cool, and I can always use another shield around here.

For DCUC, the third series could be a short one for me: Green Lantern's a definite, but the rest I could maybe skip. I have the old DC Direct Hard Travelling Heroes GL, and he's past due for an update. But Sinestro, Robin, Nightwing; the old figures may be good enough for me. Deathstroke...I just don't like him. (Which is kind of odd, if you consider I'm a huge Deadpool fan, and Wade started as a bit of a knock on Deathstroke.) Then the two-packs: probably the Azrael/Batgirl one, probably not the Orion/Lightray.

Target Wave: Definitely Union Jack and Adam Warlock, and that Infinity Gauntlet had by God better be a removable piece. (I'm still kicking myself for not getting the Thanos Marvel Select: a great figure of a badass villain I love, and that Gauntlet would be getting passed around like a cold.) Silver Savage and Spiral are maybe's, and black costume Spidey and Wolvie...probably not. Unless there was a sale or giftcards involved, or I get a bee in my bonnet to build Red Hulk; and I gotta say that seems doubtful.

DCUC Series 4: Foo, I have the DC Direct Captain Atom and Batman Beyond. Wonder Woman's a definite, and the variant, Artemis, would be nice; if it shows up and isn't immediately scalped. Wave 5's a Wal-Mart exclusive, and it might just be the Atom and Black Lightning on that one for me. The Eradicator's in that one, though; which just leaves one more to complete "Reign of the Supermen," and...yeah, that's probably gonna be it on that score.

The ML two-packs, aside from Ultimate Cap and Nick Fury, aren't really twisting my arm. Except maybe Forge...he could be a fun character in terms of being the mad scientist plot device: when your characters need a time machine or a bionic arm or that special gun or a killdozer, Forge is a good guy to have around. Sure, no one cares about Forge for Forge's sake--he's an accomplished mystic as well, you know! He has other interests beside prosthetics and killdozers, but I don't care either.

DCUC Six has Hawkman and Mr. Miracle, although, if you read the comics, who knows who's going to be either of those characters by fall. Hawkman in particular could be two midgets with a pigeon taped to their back by then.

And lastly on the list is the Marvel Legend Wal-Mart exclusive wave, which was originally supposed to be non-exclusive and on sale right about now. That was one of the few waves I was excited enough about to plan on getting the whole lot, but December might as well be a hundred years away from today.

Of course, I have to doubt everything on this list is going to make it out this year--something's going to get pushed back sometime in there. And then there's probably going to be at least one or two figures that get short-packed or scalped to the point that I never even see one. And while this is where the bulk of my toy purchasing will probably go, it seems like there won't be new toys around here for months. Ah, well. In the meantime, there's clearance, I guess...

Using the Wife's computer today, so no pictures today, but we'll have a real post tomorrow. In the meantime, if there's any toys you think I absolutely have to buy, or if you know anyone that'll pay top dollar for donated pancreatic bilge or spinal fluid...