It's Random Happenstance's Third Annual Year in Toys!

Three years, huh. Almost getting some history now. Here's 2007 and 2006 for comparison and catch-up. Some of this list (like all) has also appeared in the forums at OAFE.

Not to put too fine a point on it, or get into the bloody details, but 2008 was a bit crap of a year. I suspect I'm not the only one, and I know a lot of people have it a capital-L lot worse, but I'm glad to see the back of it.

But, that's one of the nice things about toys: even with this list, I won't look at say, Crossbones, and think, "Oh, yeah, I bought him while I was scrambling to find a new place to live! Ha, good times." I'll be thinking about old Captain America comics, or the homemade strips I made with that figure (they're coming!) instead. Times may be tough, and everything sucks; but hope, and toys, survive.

Oh, enough preamble and bitching, let's get to the list: where possible, there may be links to homemade strips a figure appears in. I try to list off the brand and name of the toy, where I bought it, and the price. Price may or may not include tax. Because, that's why.

1-2 First toy of 2008: Marvel Select Mephisto! $12.99, Suncoast. Also, Mole Man, Hasbro Fantastic Four, $3, Wal-Mart.

1-11 Demon, Orion, DC Universe Classics. $9.99 each, Target. 2 of 5 Collect and connect "Element Man" (Metamorpho).

1-30 Catchup: First Appearance Iron Man, $6.25 with postage, eBay. HFF Namor, $5, Wal-Mart. (The Oldest got Dr. Doom!)

1-31 Batman, Red Tornado, Penquin, DCUC, $29.97 Target. Completed "Element Man."

2-1, 2-2: Spencer's Clearance: Pirates of the Caribbean Captain Jack, DC Direct Batman Beyond, Planet Terror Cherry and Dakota; $5 each, $20 total.

2-15 DC Direct JSA Hourman, $3.75, Hastings.

3-2 POTC Captain Barbosa, $3.75, Hastings.

3-7 Hasbro Marvel Legends Hydra Agent, $9.99, Wal-Mart.

3-16 Superman: Through the Ages boxset, $12.50, Hastings. (That's about $3.13 a piece for four different Supermen!)

3-22 Iron Man, movie MkIII, $9.99 Toys R Us.

3-25 2 Superhero Squad Spider-Man's, (for the Youngest and myself), and Super-Soaker candy, $6.49, Target.

3-28 Iron Monger (first edition), $9.99, Fred Meyers.

5-3 DCUC Firestorm, $13.99, the Comic Book Shop, 1 of 5 C&C Gorilla Grodd.

5-6 Movie Masters Batman, $11.47, Wal-Mart.

5-8 DC Direct Superhero Squad (Earth-2) Batman, $14.99, Suncoast.

5-16 V for Vendetta, NECA, $7, Hastings.

5-31 Zoidberg, Futurama, $6.99, Hot Topic.

6-1 DCUC Aquaman, $9.99, Toys R Us. 2 of 5 Grodd.

6-3 Legendary Heroes Panda and Clownface, $5, Wal-Mart.

6-15 Happy Father's Day! The family got me Black Manta (the Comic Book Shop, $13.99)...he killed Aquaman's kid. Huh.

6-17 Speed Racer Big Sounds Mach V, $7, Wal-Mart.

7-1 DC Direct Jonah Hex, the Comic Book Shop, $15.99.

7-17 Target Exclusive HML Hulk, $6.48. Diamond/Art Asylum Star Trek II Admiral Kirk, $9.66, Suncoast.

7-29 Vacation backlog: Doc Samson, HML Hulk/Fin Fang Foom wave, $14.99; Batman sticker pack PVC, 2.99; Target, MT.

7-30 Storm Hawks Dark Ace cycle, $3.74, Target.

8-7 Legendary Heroes Stryker, $10.99, Rite Aid.

8-14 DCUC Green Lantern, $10.99, Target. 1 of 5 C&C Solomon Grundy.

8-15 Superhero Squad Iron Man set, $5; LH Judge Death, $3, Wal-Mart.

8-22 Superhero Squad Deadpool/"Captain" Punisher, $6.83, Wal-Mart.

9-6 DC Direct Animal Man and Wonder Girl, $9.88 total, FYE. Iron Man Captain America armor, $5, Wal-Mart.

9-8 HML Banshee, Hercules, $1 each, Wal-Mart.

9-19 Hellboy 2 Mezco Mr. Wink, $16.99, Hastings. Traded in a pile of junk for credit, but he's a lot of toy for the dollar. Sadly, I mailed in for the replacement head, but moved shortly thereafter...

9-20 Grindhouse Rapist #1 Quentin Tarentino, $.94; DC Direct 52 Batwoman, $6.44; FYE.

10-3 Stargate Major Carter, $3.75, Hastings. (If I still have the "gun-banner" up, you can see her in the bottom right corner!)

10-7 DCUC Deathstroke, $10.99, Target. I totally blame Poe and Pete for that one.

10-30 HML Union Jack, Target, $9.99. Yeah, $9.99: I think Target may have recanted and dropped the Red Hulk prices; the Fin Fang Foom wave was "on sale" at like $14.39, if I recall.

11-01 Walmart Exclusive HML Kang, $10.37.

11-14 Wal-Mart HML Crossbones, $10.44. (It's too bad, the strips with Kang, Crossbones, and Deathstroke won't be up until later!)

11-16 Marvel Select Thor, $19.99, Hastings. I've been trading in a ton of old books and whatnot there, and had a credit. I haven't even really read the new Thor comic--I'm more a fan of the Simonson era, but I just had a feeling it was now or never for that one. (On a recent visit to the same store, I saw MS Hulk and Iron Man, but no more Thor.)

11-18 Revoltech Fraulein Pocco, $24.99, Hastings. Again, traded stuff for credit, since there's no way I could justify cash for that one.

11-19 DCUC Wonder Woman, $13.99, the Comic Book Shop. Worth it just to be done looking. Not sure if I'll keep going for Despero, I still haven't finished Grodd.

12-1 Wal-Mart HML Heroes Reborn Iron Man, $10.44.

12-10 Mattel Movie Masters Bat-Pod, Target, $14.99.

12-16 DC Direct 52 Isis, $4.94, First Appearances Atom, $3.44; Marvel Select Zombie Colonel America, $4.94. With tax, $14.46 at a local FYE that's closing. I used to work there when it was a Sam Goody, so it was fun to pillage for toys again, and I saw an old friend while I was there. Isis I probably could've held out on--whatever's left will probably go 75% off after Christmas--but her package was torn open and I don't think she would've made it. And that new Atom is the definition of mediocre, but for that price he's good for crowd scenes.

12-24 Art Asylum/Diamond Select Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Captain Sisko, KB Toys, $5.

12-26 NECA Saw III Jigsaw (pig-face), $4.97, Spencers. This was a bit of a debacle: I had a $5 Spencer's Rewards certificate that I had to redeem before it expired, but didn't feel like getting anything more expensive. So, I try to get it, but since it's less than five bucks the computer won't let them ring it up, or they couldn't figure out how to do it. I ended up having to buy some Razzles, so it cost me three bucks to get a "free" figure; but hey, candy and gum.

Art Asylum/Diamond Select Star Trek: the Next Generation Commander Riker with chair, $8.09, FYE. That's first season, beardless Riker, a FYE Exclusive. It doesn't look like that store is going to get down to 75% off, they might just box up whatever's left now. No editorial comment, but the Call of Duty figures, Guitar Hero, and most of the Heroes line hadn't moved at all, even at 50% off...

12-28 Indiana Jones/ROTA Indy, $3, Wal-Mart. Held out buying any of those until now, and now that I have, it really underlines how much I don't wanna go back to 3' 3/4 scale.

Hasbro Marvel Legends Adam Warlock and Spiral, Target exclusive, $6.98 each, $13.96 total.

12-30 HML Black costume Wolverine and Spider-Man, Target exclusive, $6.98 each, $13.96 total. That's five of six for Red Hulk, heck, reckon I'll put him together now and see if I can find Silver Savage later.

Total for 2008: $555.16. My 2006 total was about $620, and my 2007 was $426. Still, by my reckoning, about eighty bucks there was from trading in old CD's and books at Hastings or FYE. I probably won't be able to do quite that level again, but I also probably got some stuff I otherwise might've had to let go. In fact, there are doubtless more figures this year from both of those stores, and Suncoast, but I usually only buy from there if something is marked waaaaaay down, if I have some kind of buyback or credit, or if I absolutely can't find it anywhere else.

What else does the list show us? Counting by figure (meaning a four pack like the Superman box set or the Iron Man Superhero Squad count as four!) Wal-Mart barely beat out Target, 20 to 19. A surprising third place showing by Hastings with 11, then the sinking FYE with 8, Spencers 5, the Comic Book Shop 4, Suncoast 3, and Toys R Us 2. An eye-opening low for Toys R Us there: it's not conveniently located for me, but I do get out there every so often; but they don't seem to be coming through for me.

FYE is probably not going to appear on next year's list, and I have my doubts for Spencers as well: the figures I bought were all marked down to the five-dollar range; and to make room for more Playboy merchandise and bongs, the selection gets sparser all the time. (I just had to take three seconds to look up if it's sparser or more sparse...)

Since I'm running late now, "Timing" will be back on Monday. But, if you have a list of your own for 2008? Leave a comment, and let me know!