"Well, look at that. 'Start Ragnarok, all die.' Even had it underlined."

I watched the last season of What If? over the holidays, and while it didn't knock my socks off, I don't know why it's ending, either: plenty of other stories out there, although I suspect they're limited by what actors are available to use. (Just use voice actors! They usually do a better job anyway.) Here's a recent one, that maybe could've used a Watcher, to ask, what was Loki thinking? From 2023, What If..? Dark: Loki #1, "The Song of Mjolnir...in minor..." Written by Walt Simonson, pencils by Scot Eaton, inks by Cam Smith and Scott Hannah.

This was "What If...? Dark," not "Dark Loki," and I think there were a few one-shots here that were all downbeat endings. I was flipping through old Journey Into Mystery covers, since I thought this might be based of a story from that era; but it didn't immediately jump out. (Maybe around Thor #138!) While Thor fought Ulik, Loki steals Mjolnir, having used enchantments of his own and from Karnilla so he could lift it. He then stabs Dr. Donald Blake in the back with Mjolnir's walking-stick form, and murders Sif for good measure! Then, he makes a quick trip to Nornheim, to kill Karnilla before she could take back her magic. Three murders so far, and Loki's just getting started! He's mildly annoyed that Mjolnir doesn't return to his hand and he has to dig it out, but as the hammer sparks lightning while he holds it, he thinks Mjolnir is starting to learn who was boss.

Spying on Odin, Loki sees how Ragnarok usually goes down, starting with his torture, then the death of Balder. He opts to move up that timetable, using Mjolnir to force-grow a sprig of mistletoe into a mighty spear, with which he backstabs Balder, right after he got the bad news about Karnilla. Loki then frees Fenris, and rallies his allies: the Frost Giants, Hela, the Midgard Serpent Jormungand, and Surtur. Heimdall gets clobbered by Mjolnir before he can sound the alarm, and Loki's forces storm Asgard almost without a fight. Odin is eaten by Fenris, and Loki is now in charge...for about three seconds, as Surtur was going to light his sword, and burn all of the Nine Realms. Somehow this comes as a surprise to Loki; and he can't throw Mjolnir hard enough to stop him; nor can he turn the lightning on Surtur. Instead, Mjolnir lightnings Loki into ash. Surtur lights his sword and destroys everything; even himself. But, a flash of lightning heralds a new universe.

Feels like Loki should have kinda seen this coming; but gods might be locked in on some of their actions. Still, he had been on a roll; did he really need Surtur? All he does is show up at the end to set everything on fire; maybe leave him on the bench. This issue would've been on the racks just prior to the first episode of the second season of Loki, and feels like a conscious choice, to remind readers when Loki was consistently an amoral monster. Read more!

There is currently a lot of hype over the newest New Gods books, and while Ram V has done some stuff I liked, I wonder if the hook isn't going to be like the recent-ish Green Lantern crossover Godhead. (From ten years ago? Geez.) In that, despite the absence of the "evil" Darkseid, the "good" gods of New Genesis were still locked into a war mindset and were not really any better than their counterparts, covering their decisions with platitudes like "hard decisions" and "for the greater good." Which, honestly, you don't have to look super-far to see parallels in today's culture for that, huh? Although, my enthusiasm for any New Gods stuff might be tempered by the fact that I have a drawerful of assorted last issues for them, but let's check one I grabbed at random: from 1996, New Gods #10, "Sacrifice of the Gods" Written by Rachel Pollack, pencils by Stefano Raffaele, inks by Brian Garvey.

The story opens with guest-star Superman, in a situation not unlike he would face in his own books: with earthquakes and angry electrical storms hitting Metropolis, he flies into action, frustrated at "choices," having to prioritize figuring out the problem rather than simply helping people. When a Boom Tube appears, Supes assumes it's going to be a Darkseid-thing, but instead receives a message in the form of Highfather's colossal face, who tells him to come to New Genesis, where the real problem was. Metropolis appears to be able to see Highfather's projection, so the effect is that of God seemingly summoning Superman away, which I feel would be a weird look for him. Travelling through the Boom Tube, Superman arrives to find Darkseid, and gets zapped by his Omega Beams before he can throw down, but Highfather tells him Darkseid wasn't the problem here. Instead, it was S'ivaa, the "dancer of destruction," a force from the "timeless time between the death of the old gods and the birth of the new." With the Source out of balance, only "sacrifice" could stop S'ivaa from destroying the universe; and Darkseid and Highfather had to prepare before giving themselves to the Source. (I really don't think Darkseid would be trustworthy on that sort of thing.) They need Superman, to help Orion stall S'ivaa.

Orion, for his part, isn't keen on Superman's help, but if Highfather says so, then whatever. They don't do well, and S'ivaa tears a hole in space, through which Superman can see multiple, seemingly tiny worlds, and hear them screaming as they burn. Orion's Mother Box advises them, to use Superman's heat vision and Orion's astro-force, to "cauterize" the universe-hole. This leads to a somewhat lengthy sidebar: to Orion, all other universes were "mere bubbles" in the one true universe of New Genesis. Superman argues no, but Orion goes on: that includes Superman's universe as well. But, wouldn't Superman be microbe-sized in New Genesis, and Orion a massive giant on earth? Nah, the Boom Tube adjusted sizes to relative conditions. Supes is seemingly befuddled by this revelation, which I think Kirby did a couple times as well, to underline the fact the New Gods were up there, and not just costumed baddies for fight scenes. On the other hand, is Orion a trustworthy source, as it were; or is he repeating the dogma?

Both Apokolips and New Genesis were being shaken by S'ivaa's incursion, as we see some Parademons try and stop some "Lowlies" from performing their own pagan sacrifices to the fire in the hopes of salvation. Meanwhile, Highfather and Darkseid have seemingly completed their preparations, which for Highfather appeared to mostly be lamenting that he couldn't kill Darkseid right there. But, greater good and all; and he and Darkseid fly into the Source Wall...Darkseid? Hey, Darkseid, you here? Yeah, Darkseid bails, laughing as Highfather gets sucked in. But, would that be enough sacrifice to save the universe...to be continued! Pollack would have one more issue, before John Byrne took over with New Gods #12: somewhat surprisingly, instead of a new #1, that would be a ninety-nine cent issue. The series would only continue to #15, though; before relaunching as Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1. The cycle continues to continue... Read more!

"Dubstep."

Even though it's a week between strips, how long has this plotline taken? A long evening, perhaps? A shorter installment today, since I'm behind from the year-end stuff, and have some housekeeping-type stuff to take care of. Read more!

There's no Justice...in this comic, appearances notwithstanding.

For "The End" week this year, one of the books I didn't get to in my pile of last issues was Justice #32, the last issue of the New Universe title. And spoiler alert, it's not very good: we've mentioned before how that title had been massively retconned midstream, but while there's a couple decent supporting character beats, Peter David gets really referencey-jokey, even for him, here; and Lee Weeks had moved on: the art was by Alan Kupperberg and feels rushed. Of course, I also say in that post, don't buy Justice out of the quarter bins, it will just hurt you; but of course I'm not one to take my own advice. That said, we've got something else today, but close: from 1987, Nightmask #8, "Transfer Point" Written by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Rich Bryant. 

Nightmask was one of several New Universe books cancelled at the twelfth issue, and although Marvel has tried to bring a redesigned version back, I don't know much about the character, Keith Remsen, except that he could enter people's dreams. Which seems tapped into the zeitgeist, "Dream Warriors" would have been having their moment in 1987! The series didn't appear to have a consistent art team--which could lend itself to dream interpretation, or could make every issue feel like a fill-in--ah, there's a Kyle Baker issue in there! It also wasn't consistently written, either: this would be the last written by series creator Archie Goodwin, and it ties into another New Universe character he created: Justice. Who appears here, as an implacable serial killer with a laser hand. Even though Keith knows it's out-of-character for him, he sees Justice murder most of his supporting cast, while coming for him and his sister Teddy.

To try and pump himself up in a chase on a subway train, Keith manifests his Nightmask costume, while awake, which he hadn't been able to before. Because he was in a dream, duh: he had been trapped in the nightmare of a young thug, whose older brother had been a drug dealer killed by Justice in his first issue. The thug had seen the murder and understandably been a bit traumatized, but in trying to help him, Keith's own survivor's guilt over the deaths of his parents transferred "Justice" to him, and he has to work through that guilt and his fear to survive. Granted, "it was all a dream!" but it's still a much more solid comic than the New Universe rep would lead you to believe. We've actually seen Nightmask before on the blog, but in his own series, he appeared to need his sister as an anchor to reality; that was probably phased out after his title was cancelled, because we know it's traditional as hell to lose your supporting cast when that happens...!

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If the timeline is so bent out of shape you're starting to notice...you might be a Legionnaire.

This issue is the first of a six-part crossover, but it's mislabeled as "End of an Era: Conclusion" on the cover. But, that'll be the least confusing part of it! From 1994, Legionnaires #17, "End of an Era, part one: History Lesson" Written by Mark Waid, pencils by Chris Gardner, inks by Dennis Cramer.

If you're not up on your Legion history, this would be a dive into the deep end; as it was the start of the crossover with the main Legion of Super-Heroes title and Valor, that would wrap up about five years of the "Five Years Later" storyline begun by Keith Giffen, as well as about 36 years of continuity as they headed into their first reboot. By this point, there were two versions of much of the 30th century team: the somewhat bleak older versions, and the "SW6 Batch" younger heroes that had been found when they escaped from the Dominators during their occupation of earth. (Which had since been blown up! The moon too.) There weren't still two versions of everybody, though: after three Legionnaires capture a deranged Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn trying to rebuild earth, most of both teams had gathered on the funeral asteroid Shanghalla, to mourn the loss of the younger Laurel Gand. (Who was a post-Crisis continuity patch replacement for Supergirl!) Unfortunately, the mourning period is stepped on by the arrival of both Brainiac 5's and Invisible Kid. (One Brainy looked much, much older; after a battle with time-travelling baddie Glorith.) They've got some bad news, about the end of the universe...

Put simply, both in-story and in publication, the Legion's timeline was completely flarked; and they appeared to be turning into the skid here pre-Zero Hour. Long-time supporting character and time-travel researcher (and secret GL!) Rond Vidar points out recent changes, like the sudden and unexplained arrival of young versions of Star Boy and Dream Girl: everyone had been acting like they had been there the whole time, but if they really thought about, they maybe just showed up last week? And another more recent supporting character, former P.I. Celeste McCauley had Green Lantern energy powers previously, now she was a Darkstar? (She's drawn to resemble a female version of the bald, reddish-skinned one from the Travis Charest ads for that brief series; even more than just having the elaborate costume!) The Legionnaires aren't really shaken by this yet, feeling that "the heart of the Legion still holds!" Until, the older Brainy leads them to a funeral marker, for Superboy, whom half of them don't seem to remember. (That wasn't across old/new lines, either, just some did and some didn't.)

The Brainy's explain, the timeline keeps shifting, but since they keep shifting with it, they aren't necessarily aware of it. To illustrate his point, the marker for Chemical King is briefly replaced by Chameleon Boy, as Chemical King switches with him for a moment. The timeline problems had started--allegedly, we know they'd been around longer--when the SW6 entered stasis; which brings up a sore point: so far, it had never been firmly determined what the SW6 was. The obvious answer would have been some kind of clones or duplicates created by the Dominators, but they weren't. There was even some proof that pointed at the younger versions being "real" and the older versions "knock-offs," as Leviathan indelicately puts it.

Before a fight can break out between the two versions, some actual villains appear from nowhere, and a pretty powerful lot: Satan Girl, Urthlo, and the adult Legion of Super-Villains Cosmic King, Lightning Lord, and Saturn Queen! (Sun Boy--the younger Sun Boy, who might have been using the name Inferno? He gets popped in the mouth before he can point out 'Satan Girl' was a duplicate of Supergirl--who, in the updated continuity, would've been Laurel Gand, but that wouldn't work without a lot of rejiggering: Satan Girl was created by Supergirl being affected by Red Kryptonite, and the Daxamites didn't have an analog to that...ah, continuity.) The adult LSV from Superman #147 might even be one of the first Legion continuity problems, as they had attacked an adult Superman, but were stopped by adult versions of the original three Legionnaires. By the way, big shout out to DC's old digests like Adventure Comics and Best of DC Blue Ribbon, since that's where I read reprints of a lot of the classic Legion stories referenced!

The brief fight is just a distraction, as the new power couple Mordru and Glorith have captured Rokk Krinn, and disappear. Luckily, the Legion had Dawnstar--minus her glorious wings, but she still had her tracking power! She could find Rokk anywhere in the universe...except she just disappeared mid-sentence. Super. There's a slight bit of logic to Dawnstar disappearing, beyond "narrative convenience," but get ready for way more of that as the story continues! Some characters will get final moments or big goodbyes, and others will just poof! Be gone, off-panel, when you weren't looking. Which maybe feels like a metaphor for the Legion, somehow. Read more!

I'm sure I'll put the others together. Sometime.

Wuh-oh. I was going to post this real quick, the first figures to arrive in 2025--even if I don't always count minifigures like this, shut up--but it also appears to be sold out now on Wal-Mart! This was from "DABINFIGURE" and was labeled as X-Men Mini Figures, though I'm not positive they were properly licensed. (Like I'm the licensing police!)

This was an eight figure set, but of course I bought it just for Nightcrawler, duh. And technically it's a nine figure set: Bishop, big-M Magneto, Mr. Sinister, Sunspot, a small Sentinel, Morph, and Goblyn Queen Maddy. But, Maddy also comes with a wee baby Cable! He was so cute at that age; I don't know what happened. 

Anyway, next week, back to comics; but the first one in the pile today was too much to jump into straightaway.

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As usual, the first comic you read will set the tone for the year...as usual, hmm.

It's not a minty-fresh copy, but let's be honest, I'm not super-minty-fresh myself. (Spine damage, faded colors, pretty sure I too am missing a staple...) From 1968, Not Brand Echh #10, cover by Marie Severin.

This was a "worst of" issue, but it opens with a great one, "The Silver Burper!" from Not Brand Echh #1, by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Frank Giacoia. That was from May 1967, and it was a riff on Fantastic Four #57, on sale 09/08/1966! Well, it's probably easier to spoof a recent issue, the plot's maybe still fresh in mind. A picture of that one, rather than cramming it in the scanner, but that panel is a favorite.

Also this issue: "Peter Pooper vs. Gnatman and Rotten" Written by Stan Lee, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Frank Giacoia. (With a guest-panel by John Romita!) Man, we mentioned Marie Severin last week with Alf, but she was on point for years! Posting this so you'll know when I inevitably steal "SKLUNCH!" and here's some panels that were maybe stolen--er, homaged--in my favorite Spider-Ham story in Marvel's later What The--?!:

Well, this bodes well for the rest of the year! (Something had to...) Read more!

The Nineteenth Annual, Random Happenstance, Year in Toys!

Feels like a weird one, this time around: I can't remember the last time I was so glad to see a year gone yet so not looking forward to the new one! But we won't let that rain on the Year in Toys!

For new readers: For years now, I have been keeping a running total of every action figure or toy I buy. Hopefully, each entry has the figure's name, the line, the price, and where I bought it; and possibly a link to a cartoon or strip that toy was used in. (Unless that figure's unloved or unphotogenic, I guess. Or I'm lazy...) Totals will usually include postage and tax. Usually. Any prices or totals listed in parentheses were purchased with store credit or points instead of paying money, and aren't counted towards the actual total spent. This is by no means a "Best of" list or anything, just what I bought. For reference, here's links for 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. 

1-3 Marvel Legends Kingpin, $8.16, Target. 

1-6 Jada Mega Man, $21.79, Entertainment Earth. 

1-23 ML Super-Adaptoid, $26.23; Marvel Select Super-Skrull, $11.23; shipped $50.38, Disney Store.

1-27 G.I. Joe Classified General Hawk, $20.70, GameStop. 

2-1 ML Rogue, $9.99; X-Men villains set (Stryfe, Random, Zero, Vertigo, Pretty Boy) $69.99; shipped $93.88, Kids' Warehouse. 

2-2 Dungeons & Dragons Edgin, $13.18 shipped, Wal-Mart.

2-18 New Adventures of Batman Commissioner Gordon and Bat-Mite, $13.15; GameStop. 

3-4 2 X-Men '97 Nightcrawlers, Goblin Queen; $24.99 each, total $38.61, Amazon. 

3-10 Apex Legends Caustic, $2.99; G.I. Joe Classified Snake-Eyes and Timber, $11.99; total $16.33, Ross. 

3-14 ML Clea, $24.99; Entertainment Earth. 

3-16 McFarlane Super Powers Blue Beetle Bug, $25.88, GameStop. 

3-19 ML S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent/HYDRA Agent, $34.99; Avengers Hawkeye/Skycycle, $29.99; total $78.26, Hasbro Toy Store.

3-25 Mezco One:12 Shadow, $142.78 shipped, Mezco. 

3-26 ML Hallow's Eve, $8.53, Amazon. 

3-30 McFarlane Black Adam with throne, $4.99; ML Longshot, $5.49; total $11.89, Ross. 

Star Wars Micro Galaxy A-Wing, $13.97, Wal-Mart. 

4-13 G.I. Joe Tiger Force David L. "Bazooka" Katzenbogen, $5.99, Ross. 

4-19 ML Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr), Karnak, Ms. Marvel, $10.00 each, total $30.00, Wal-Mart. 

ML Angel, $35.23, GameStop.

4-27 Transformers R.E.D. Optimus Prime, $11.99, Ross. 

5-4 2 McFarlane Batman: the Animated Series Batcycles, $8.99 each; Batman (C&C Condiment King), $24.99; total $46.53, Target. 

Jakks Universal Monsters Lugosi Dracula, $24.99, the Comic Book Shop. 

5-5 Super Powers Blue Beetle, $5.02, GameStop. 

SP Kilowog, $9.99; 2 SP John Stewarts, $1 each, total $11.98, Wal-Mart.

5-11 Apex Legends Revenant, $3.25, Ross. 

Toy Show: ML Avalanche, $10; bases, $5; Toy Biz Spat & Grovel, $10; total $25.00. 

5-13 Toy Biz ML Mojo tail, $10.10 shipped, Mercari.

5-19 ML Multiple Man, $0, Amazon. (I don't remember how much he was at the time!)

5-24 ML Cable, $23.74, GameStop. 

5-30 ML Red Widow, Wolfsbane, Ikaris, Black Winter, Ka-Zar, $24.99 each; $118.40, Amazon. 

6-1 Funko Re:Action Rocketeer, $5, Lilac City Comicon. 

6-28 ML Count Nefaria, $24.99; G.I. Joe Classified Mutt & Junkyard, $22.49; total $51.42, Target.

6-16 Super7 Sesame Street Yip Yip Martians, $22.31, Target. 

 7-6 ML Guardsman, $5.60, EntertainMart. 

Jakks Monster Cereal Count Chocula, $10.99, Ross. 

7-13 ML She-Hulk, $24.99; NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Kirby, $34.99; total $64.95, Target. 

7-23 ML Captain Marvel, $10, GameStop. 

SWB Mandalorian Privateer, $24.99; SW Jedi Adventures Nubs, $3.49; DC McFarlane Nekron, $19.99; total $52.83, Target.

7-26 ML Marvel Boy, $4, Wal-Mart. 

8-4 Anime Heroes Chainsaw Man, $19.99; WWE Lucha Low Rider, $39.99; total $62.11, Target. 

McFarlane Ambush Bug, $22.99, total $25.06, another Target. 

8-6 Ordered another Death's Head, $39.99 and Moon Knight (Strange Tales/Fist of Khonshu) $24.99; total $78.43, Hasbro Pulse.

8-8 McFarlane Sgt. Rock, $24.99, GameStop. 

8-11 McFarlane Super Powers Booster Gold, Metamorpho, $9.99 each, total $19.98, Wal-Mart. 

8-15 Entertainment Earth order: G.I. Joe Agent Helix, $24.99; ML Commander Rogers, $24.99, ML Daimon Hellstrom, $24.99, ML Death's Head, $39.99; Super Powers Booster Gold, $9.99; total $136.17. 

8-17 McFarlane Batman '66 Alfred, $19.97, GameStop. 

8-26 ML Warbird, $24.99; Super7 Sesame Street Oscar the Grouch, $20.99; Transformers blind box Megatron, $14.99; total $65.91, Target. 

8-31 ML Captain America (with wings) $24.49; McFarlane DC Manhunter, $22.99; total $50.33, Target. 

SWB Tala Durith, Indiana Jones Dr. Jurgen Voller, total $19.10, GameStop. (B1G1) 

8-31 Clearance: ML MJ, Matt Murdock; DC Multiverse Vampire Nightwing, 3 Super Powers Blue Beetle Bugs, all $3 each, total $18.00, Wal-Mart. 

9-11 ML Black Knight/Sersi, (34.88) ML Rogue/Destiny, (49.99), total $64.04, Amazon. 

9-12 Teeny Tinies espresso stand, $5, $11.64 shipped, Five Below. 

10-6 NECA Alf, $25, Wal-Mart. 

10-9 ML Weapon of Vengeance, (24.99), McFarlane New Adventures of Batman retro Batman, (17.99); total $32.21, Amazon. 

10-19 ML D'spayre, $24.99; ML Hydra Cap, $7.99; total $32.98, EntertainMart. 

2 G.I. Joe Classified Grunts, $7.99 each, total $16.94, Ross. 

10-25 ML Giant-Man arrives. 

11-1 ML Guardsman, $5.27, ML Sharon Carter, $6.66; total $11.93, EntertainMart. 

 Netflix Ultraman, $10, Wal-Mart. 

11-2 Toy show! Amazon Art Asylum Star Trek Captain Kirk with chair, $10; DC Direct Batman: the Animated Series Creeper, $10; ML Dracula, Lilith, $24.99 each, total $54.04; ML Odin, $5; SWB Zeb Orrelios, $20; total $99.04. 

11-8 ML Bloodstorm, Brother Voodoo, $24.99 each, total $30.52, Amazon. 

ML D'spayre, $22.99, the Comic Book Shop.

11-15 Anime Heroes Chainsaw Man Denji & Potchita, $15.47, GameStop.

11-22 ML Crystal/Lockjaw, $69.99, Entertainment Earth. Total order $108.98, pending Epic Hacks Red Sonja. 

SWB Pirate Captain Brutus, $25.88, GameStop. 

11-26 ML Beyonder, $24.99, Target. 

12-7 Ross haul! Jada Monster Cereal Franken Berry, $11.99; McFarlane Pacific Rim Otachi, Raiju, $3.99 each; Apex Legends (white) Pathfinder, Mirage, Wattson, $2.99 each; ML Spider-Shot, Iron Man Model 9, Iron Man Midnight Sons, $12.99 each; total $67.91. 

12-9 McFarlane Pacific Rim Crimson Typhoon, $3.99; Apex Legends Loba, $2.99; Aquaman 2 King Kordax, $4.99, total $11.97, Ross. 

12-11 SWB Mandalorian Shriek-Hawk Trainers, $31.46, Nite-Owl, $15; total $50.63, Wal-Mart. 

12-12 ML Deadpool, $27.99, Comic Book Shop. 

12-14 SWB Mandalorian Shriek-Hawk, $24.99, Target.

12-17 Star Wars Attack Fleet Yoda's Starfighter, $4.99; Batman '66  unmasked Batman, $4.99; total $10.78, Ross. 

12-21 ML MCU Bruce Banner, $12.99, Ross.

12-27 Used Minimates bag! $19.99, EntertainMart.

SWB IG-12/Grogu, $17.28; ML Warlord Xavier, $6.72; Dabinfigure (faux-Lego) X-Men (Nightcrawler, others) $13.99; total $41.40, Wal-Mart.

Total: $2483.11. 2023: $3565.82. 2022: $3604.09.  2021: $3449.00. 2020: $2345.67. 2019: $2472.30. 2018: $1752.31. 2017: $1968.71. 2016: $1753.72. 2015: $1895.35. 2014: $1523.25. 2013: $1101.93. 2012: $706.32. 2011: $564.71. 2010: $966.10. 2009: $558.16. 2008: $555.16. 2007: $426.00. 2006: $620.00. 

As happens here and there, I had to go back and add some figures that I could see on my shelves, but didn't remember entering, like the Yip Yip Martians! And the spare Death's Head I ordered: I wanted him right away, and ordered from two different places to see which got here first. And...I don't remember which got here first, and the box I opened was actually in better shape than the second one, so I have to transplant him...just making work for myself at this point. 

This seemed like a bit of a down year as far as Build-a-Figures: we finished Mojo and Totally Awesome Hulk, both from years past; then from this year Zabu and Blackheart. Still, there were a couple like the Super-Adaptoid and Lockjaw that surprisingly weren't Build-a-Figures. 

So, what, if anything, have we learned this year? Feels a little less expensive than usual, but there wasn't a big HasLabs Sentinel or Galactus this year: I know I sprung for Dragon Man, but I don't think I was charged for him yet. (We'll count him whenever he turns up!) That One: 12 Shadow figure was the most expensive thing I got this year: it's really nice, but also has a lot of extras I'm not currently using anyway. I went all-in on Zabu and Blackheart: I'm going to be really mad if Zabu is available separately later (or worse, with Shanna) since I didn't love Red Widow or Black Winter...although, that Cable's maybe winning me over. Blackheart himself was a bit disappointing: his tail takes up a ton of room. I don't know if that Brother Voodoo figure is any different than that last one? And modern/red armor Dracula...is not my preferred look, no. 

Couple of figures there, Count Nefaria, maybe even the two packs (Rogue/Destiny, Crystal/Lockjaw, and Sersi/Black Knight) I probably could've held out and possibly got for cheaper. Maybe not a lot, but it might be worth it to try and stretch that dollar next year; assuming things don't completely go to crap and buying toys is still a not-unreasonable concern. But...I'm still having fun! I won't say who, but there's a figure I got early in the year, that I had zero ideas for until today! There were also a couple figures that haven't been in homemade posts yet, because we're still in the "Seasonal Affective D'Spayre" storyline: it's mildly concerning that a storyline (sorta) about depression has been running for three months now, and that I could end up with more D'spayre figures before it's over! 

I still have a few figures unopened, I think I'll knock off now and see about that.

Read more!