"Case."

So I was going to try to be a bit more selective in my figure purchases, and maybe try to avoid buying some characters I already have maybe more than one of. And then I buy this new Spider-Man 2099, because he is a bit of improvement on the old one: perhaps taking a cue from the Spider-Verse movies, Miguel is a bit beefier than Peter. He probably has a more forceful voice than Peter usually would, too.

I mostly just wanted to establish some of the regulars were out, but I am curious about Howard and Death's Head's case; we'll see if I ever make it back to that.

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"Patrol."

I think a lot of places sell 1/12 Fed Ex boxes, but I'm not sure they come out much better than printing them yourself! 

Also, I'm not sure I've seen Forge post-Krakoa? I suppose like Kurt, I hope putting something like that together would be fun for him, not a hassle: "...build you web-shooters? How the hell would I even begin to do tha--unless...yes. Yes. They'll be ready Tuesday." And, do you recognize Kurt's web-shooters? I had multiples of those!

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"Disgusting."

Years before they were banned outright, there was a bar in my college town that went smokeless: this was both a good idea, and bad business. I saw some good bands there, but between sets everyone would go outside to smoke, rather than drink! Even the people that didn't smoke would be out there to socialize. I've never been a smoker, save for a brief stretch dicking around with cigars, that probably weren't as terrible as Howard's: whatever you would consider the cheapest, foulest, rankest cigar on the market, Howard's brand is probably still worse. 

I haven't seen Mamma Mia, although I think I heard a fair amount of Abba as a very young kid? Nor have I ever had ouzo...to the best of my recollection. It does feel like something I might have tried at a party, made a face, then got trashed on something else. 

This one actually took me a bit, because I was trying to find if I had a cowl-down piece that would work for Kurt with his Spider-mask off. You can picture it, right? Wolverine has a bespoke, specific one; I feel like Cap figures might've had one, or the MCU Ghost. Couldn't find one handy in black, though.   .

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"Investigate."

Probably my personal favorite Fantastic Four run is the all-too-short Walt Simonson era, which guest-stars Thor and Iron Man for a few, until oops, they lose them in the time stream on their way home. (FF #341! Get it.) Reed seems to shrug it off, since on TV they see the guys, so they assume they made it home too, but he's wrong about something there...Anyway it was a long trip even if it took no relative time and everyone's tired, so they all hit the sack! Deal with them later...I feel like Reed probably tries to underline the seriousness of it, but Ben, and Johnny, and possibly even Sue, are all ridiculously blasé about time-travel; but Reed only has himself to blame there. (Sue might feign concern for Reed's benefit, but...) 

I believe Howard was a private investigator in his most recent series, if not elsewhere. And P.I.'s are supposed to be licensed and bonded, although that is mostly a Simpsons reference, going back to "Mr. Plow." Death's Head is right, though: I don't see anyone asking him for anything, if they can help it.  

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"Goody."

Looking it up, Daimon Hellstrom was still using the "Son of Satan" name well into the 80's--I'm not sure I have it, but I seem to recall him appearing in West Coast Avengers (#15, if not elsewhere) with a more superhero-styled costume and a shorter trident. It...didn't feel like a good fit, really. But his, and Satana's, dad was retconned from the capital-S Satan, to "Marduk Kurios," which is an immense downgrade; even if on the short-lived Helstrom series, Marduk was played by Mitch Pileggi, best known as Walter Skinner from the X-Files! Marduk's Marvel wiki mentions, at the end of the Warren Ellis Hellstorm series, I think Daimon had knocked up a witch, in exchange for learning his dad's true name to gain power over him, but Marduk was going to be reborn on earth as his kid! The series was cancelled at that point, and while Marduk appeared since, otherwise that plotline was dropped; unless Daimon...took care of it. 

Probably can't call it research, but I spent a week going down a rabbit hole of somewhat grotty 70's era Satan movies on Tubi; most of which weren't great but maybe have moments. Haven't seen the Omen or Rosemary's Baby in a bit, either; or their assorted sequels. 

Also, is this the first time we've had Selene from the Hellfire Club out? I got the Club box set but missed the Hellfire Guards entirely: I don't think Hasbro made big enough runs of those or the Skrull army builders.

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"Encounter."

Last strip of the year! 

I had to go make a correction--and it took me a couple tries--but Bearface really is a Canadian whisky that's supposed to be pretty good. And thematically appropriate for Logan, since the bottle appears to have claw marks on it! Except I keep wanting to call it 'Bearclaw,' which hopefully is a knock-off version a couple of shelves down in Canadian liquor stores. 

Have we ever seen Howard the Duck go all Ghost Rider-y? It definitely feels like something that would happen to him, and he'd get like the most embarrassing flaming vehicle possible, like an electric scooter. Anyway, this isn't based on any actual continuity, I just thought maybe it's tough to put out hellfire once it's lit. Can Wolvie tamp down the rage, or even the general annoyance? Or will extreme measures be needed...?

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