"Is Superman too woke?" is a ridiculously stupid question that unfortunately dominated certain unsavory aspects of our news media when the new movie came out; but supposedly there was a similar right-wing push in the wake of Thunderbolts*, trying to hype up or redeem USAgent, an alternative to the liberal namby-pamby Captain America. Supposedly, I say: I heard that, but I'm not seeing it in three seconds of searching, and that's about as long as I care to look for right-wing crap. (BTW, Thunderbolts* was pretty good, but I don't think it did very well between backlash against the MCU and that everyone was waiting for the FF.) Of course, all of this is build-up for a book with USAgent next to me, that I hadn't read before, and I bet you haven't either! From 1993, Super Soldiers #3, "Old Acquaintance" Written by Lee Stevens and Michael W. Bennent, pencils by Andrew Currie, inks by Robin Riggs.

This is still another Marvel UK book, and it's weird as heck to see USAgent guest-star rather than Death's Head II: the latter was probably triple-booked, I suppose. Most of this issue is USAgent kicking the tar out of the series lead Hauer, but you pick it up pretty quickly: Hauer had been part of Britain's own Super-Soldier program, but he and his teammates had been betrayed by one of their own, Childs. (We see Childs briefly later in the issue, and I had thought he was another Marvel UK star, Killpower: he's extra buff, above the usual superhero physique.) Rescued from a cryotube by reporter Sarah Wilde, Hauer had been trying to find his lost teammates, and had just found the MIA Dalton in Vietnam, where he had been lost on mission. Dalton had, over time, shaken off the brainwashing he had been put through to keep him obedient, and decided to stay; embracing Buddhism and martial arts to contain the rage swings the Soldiers called "red moods." Dalton also claims to have been experimenting with astral projection; which was probably a seed planted for later issues, but it would be funnier if he was just dissociating really hard...

About then the USAgent arrives, having been ordered to bring in Hauer, and not having any love for the "commies" in Vietnam. Although Hauer offers to talk about it, that doesn't fly with John, and the fight is on. Over the course of the dustup, USAgent starts to maybe realize Hauer was on the level, and he had probably been lied to by Henry Peter Gyrich, but whatever: he'll just beat Hauer down, and sort it out later. This was also during the stretch where John was still talking to his dead parents; which, oddly, Childs knows: he mentions it while badmouthing USAgent to his boss. Although Hauer gets some good hits in--including piercing USAgent's shield with his adamantium knife--John was both stronger, and craftier, catching Hauer with a shield ricochet throw to the back of the skull. But, then USAgent has to fight back his urge to kill, which he does long enough for Childs and his "Squaddies" to show up and immediately go off-mission, murdering any local in their path.

Pretty traditional Marvel-misunderstanding fight, except that USAgent has the wrinkle of "just following orders." He was definitely going to team-up with Hauer next month, and with the bystanders getting shot up Dalton was probably going to get off the bench as well. We might see more issues of this later, but the series only ran eight issues.

I'm know Gruenwald, John Walker's creator, wrote the stories where he lost his parents; but he still spoke with them like they were alive for some time: I don't know if that was intended to build sympathy for a franky unsympathetic character, or if Gruenwald was suggesting the guys that act the hardest crack first... Read more!

Callback! It's taken years, but we finally have our Player-2 Avengers team; or if you prefer, the boys from The Terminatrix Objective. War Machine has gotten more than a couple figures since our 'callback' picture, and USAgent could do with an upgrade, but today we've got the brand-new Thunderstrike!

I don't know if the screaming head suits him, although it reminds me of Quasar #48, possibly because that's one of the only issues with him I had when they were coming out. I could be wrong, but does his head look like Triple H? Along with his titular mace, Thunderstrike also came with a BaF Mr. Fixit head and an alternate left fist; but his regular left is a perfect drinking hand! Not sure he has any up-down neck movement, though.

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I have never seen anyone in one of those "Anti-Bat" shirts; running from a monster or otherwise.

I needed to research something, so had to dig this one out of the garage; and I noticed a big-ass hole in the wall out there! Like somebody shot a hole in it. Hopefully not taking any shots at this one: from 1990, Avengers West Coast #54, "The Troubled Earth" Story and art by John Byrne, inks by Paul Ryan.

This would be the second of three Acts of Vengeance tie-in issues for the book; as previously the U-Foes had attacked the team from out of nowhere; and now the Mole Man is tearing up Los Angeles. Or, his monster is, in this case Giganto! Best known from the cover of Fantastic Four #1, it may not have had a name before now. Also, it apparently weighs less than 85 tons, since Iron Man is able to pick it up!

While Wonder Man and the android Human Torch backtrack down Giganto's tunnel and encounter the Mole Man--who is confused as to why this Torch doesn't sound like the "witless stripling" he's used to--Hank Pym and the Wasp are bringing the catatonic Scarlet Witch home when their quinjet runs into another of Moley's monsters: Tricephalous! Kirby's version of Ghidorah, although Tricephalous was also from FF #1 in 1961, predating Ghidorah by three years. Anyway, the flying dragon destroys the quinjet, which inexplicably doesn't crash, saved by a mysterious magnetic field...Also inexplicably, Pym thinks said field is somehow related to Tricephalous; but I suppose he's concentrating, since he shrinks it "to the size of a sparrow!" Pretty cool, actually.

The Mole Man thinks he's getting revenge for the Avengers attacking his Monster Island; although a brief interlude with Magneto and the mysterious "lackey" make it apparent that he's been fooled. To convince him, Wonder Man lets Moley blast him a few times; although I doubt Simon was in any danger, it still convinces the Mole Man to withdraw. Still, after multiple attacks from different foes, the Avengers have started to realize something was up.

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Well, USAgent is nicer than ICE, anyway.

Admittedly, he's less aid-and-comforting refugees than trying to recruit them into his army, but it's still an improvement. Arguably. From 2000, Maximum Security #2, "A World of Hurt" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Jerry Ordway, inks by Will Blyberg.

This wasn't going to be so much a full post, as a "yay, I found a mini-series issue I was missing!" And bought it without buying half the rest of the series, too! We checked out the last issue of this crossover last year; this issue is just ratcheting up the tension and getting all the players into position. USAgent doubles down on being a dick, criticizing the way the Wasp was coordinating earth's heroes, then resolving to fight Ronan with the aliens that had been imprisoned on earth. His reasoning is that the aliens "don't want to be here any more than we want them here!" but that may not be true across the board. Many may have been refugees or homeless, gathered up by the "Ruul" just to get rid of them. And I went with the page above just for the Pogo cameo!

Also this issue: Quasar gets the call back to earth, I'm sure that's going to be great for him. The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the Silver Surfer are trying to contain an outbreak of Ego the Living Planet. The Surfer has volunteered to be the host to contain Ego, even though it feels like Reed has told him fourteen times this issue that it could kill him, so that doesn't seem to be a dealbreaker. And USAgent realizes the true identity of the Ruul...somehow, since I was hard-pressed to say he'd interacted with their old form; and I think just barely. But the Agent probably read all the files and briefings. Nerd.

And for good measure, I can't believe this comic was from 2000, or that it's my birthday today! I'm well out of the office, but help yourself to some cake. Somewhere.
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Along with waiting super-impatiently for the new Nightcrawler figure--like, so impatiently. Imagine waiting in line at the DMV while on your third day quitting smoking and on hold with your mortgage lender, that's how cranky I am. Come to think of it, I have to go do two of those three things...But, I also ordered the Beta Ray Bill and Guardian figures. The Guardian looks like quite an upgrade from the old one, which I don't have; Bill maybe a little less so--the old one was great. I may have to get the new Spider-Woman as well, then I'd have most of today's book! From 2007, Omega Flight #1-5, "Alpha to Omega" Written by Michael Avon Oeming, art by Scott Kolins, colors by Brian Reber.

Hmm, technically, in this series Spider-Woman was using the name Arachne; and we saw her get roped into this previously in Ms. Marvel. This was set during "the Initiative," when all good little super-heroes had to be registered under Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony Stark. The plot comes from an unintended consequence of registration: unregistered super-humans were fleeing into Canada and causing trouble, including the Wrecking Crew. And the Canadian government decided they needed a new response team, since Alpha Flight was mostly currently dead: Sasquatch and Talisman may have been the only survivors at the time. While Sasquatch is guilted into taking the reins of a new team, it's too soon for Talisman...until Sasquatch gets beaten and captured by the Wrecking Crew.

Arachne and USAgent are loaners from America, since Canada thought this was largely America's fault. The current "Guardian" wasn't Canadian either, he was Michael Pointer, a mutant that had absorbed a ton of energy after the Scarlet Witch's "No More Mutants" and had been controlled and used to kill Alpha Flight. Or at least some of AF; looking at Pointer's wiki entry Snowbird had survived as well. Still, he had killed Talisman's dad Shaman, so she's not especially keen to work with him. As the Wrecking Crew unleash some demons, another hero arrives, although he wouldn't really join the team; most of them didn't even seem to learn his name: Beta Ray Bill! The demons were the same that attacked his people years ago, so he's ready to stomp the hell out of them.

So I mentioned the other day getting a whole bunch of comics from Entertainmart: I thought I grabbed this, but I got it when I went back to get long boxes. Mildly surprising, since I'll usually jump right away to get an entire limited series in one go, especially for cheaper than the cost of a single issue! This was a fun little series, but by the time it's all set up, it's over; and not much if any of it was followed up again. Pointer may have spent a bit as Guardian or Vindicator, but that might be it. A shame, since there was potential: issue after issue of USAgent complaining about Canadian life while being slowly won over by it. Arachne's daughter loving and excelling at Canadian school. The Canadian government struggling to convince heroes to join a super-hero program with a higher mortality rate than the Suicide Squad. And so on...(A Yukon Jack is mentioned, with Sasquatch noting time-travel had done his head in; but until looking him up I thought that was a joke!)

Another thought: given the glamour shot of 'Daisy' fighting USAgent, I wonder if this had gone to series, if she might not have eventually become a team member: Alpha Flight had a solid tradition of turning minor villains into heroes.
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Quasar just lost his earth privileges, but no, let's make it all about you, USAgent...

I didn't buy this in 2001, but I suppose it would've just made me mad then: Maximum Security #3, "Whatever the Cost!" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Jerry Ordway, inks by Will Blyberg, Paul Ryan, and Mark McKenna.

This wasn't as big a crossover as some: after the Dangerous Planet one-shot, it was three issues and sixteen tie-ins. Offhand, I only recall one of the X-Men ones, featuring the return of Cerise from Alan Davis's Excalibur; except it was set in the middle of that stretch where Nightcrawler was going to be a priest and blech. Ooh, wait: the Marvel Knights tie-in was the Punisher vs. an alien, that was a bit of all right. Anyway, the gist was, the various races of the universe decide maybe earth is too dangerous to just leave alone, and they opt to turn the planet into a prison, dumping all sorts of past alien bad guys on earth!

The whole thing is revealed to be a plot by the believed-dead Supreme Intelligence, involving trapping Ego the Living Planet on earth and draining his power to give to Ronan the Accuser. Actually, at least part of that plan seems to work, with the Kree seemingly moving against several worlds to return to power; but that plot is left open as the Avengers in space are recalled home by the current team leader...USAgent?

It's the riot-cop costume, not my favorite. He mentions federal authority there, but that only seems to apply like every other time for the team...USAgent was actually the viewpoint character for most of this series, having found some of the first alien prisoners; and Busiek walks a line between making him sympathetic (it's his case, after all) and as much of a dick as usual. He defends Quasar until he's able to absorb the essence of Ego and de-power Ronan; but instead of shaking Cap's hand in the end, he throws a little hissy fit about the silent majority that pisses any goodwill away.

Quasar had to leave earth to keep Ego in check, and I'm not sure if that was ever explained before he was killed off in Annihilation. Professor X also returned here, he had only been in space with the mutant Skrulls since Uncanny #379, not even a year.

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Well, as I write this, I just got pissed and logged off Twitter; so I'm doubtless in a perfect mood for blogging. What's within arm's reach...how about Avengers Spotlight #34, featuring "Ashes" Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Al Milgrom, inks by Don Heck; and "The Xenophobic Man: The Ends and the Means" Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Dan Lawlis, inks by Keith Williams.

This was the penultimate chapter of the Hawkeye serial where he got an armored version of his costume, and we saw the conclusion some time back. Hawkeye, with Mockingbird tagging along, is more or less at war with street gang "the Stone Perfs," who are themselves also being hunted by unseen murder vigilante "the Terminizer." Unbeknownst to any of them, they have a third enemy, drug lord/femme fatale/empowered female entrepreneur Lotus, who has the Perfs' meeting firebombed! Hawkeye and Mockingbird are fine on his little skycycle, and Mockingbird manages to punch the bombers up to the point their helicopter crashes, killing the bombers. All wrapped up then, right? No, there's another chapter of this, since Lotus's boy toy lackey Prince Charming was instructed to tag the massacre with the Terminizer's mark, and Hawkeye still wants to figure out who that was.

Next, the conclusion of a USAgent serial, with John Walker versus the titular Xenophobic Man, who was really a border patrolman turned killer attacking illegal immigrants. And seems to be wearing a Dallas Cowboys helmet. Super. Maybe there's more nuance in the prior chapters, but this one does have USAgent literally carrying a cross; which I'm not entirely sure was meant as symbolic in any way and may have just been a set piece. Not a very good one, though: the Agent was more than strong enough to throw that cross into the next county if he wanted to. There's also the standoff traditional to so many action and thriller movies of the 90's, where the hero refuses to kill the beaten bad guy, who then goes for a gun or otherwise tries to kill him, then gets shot or otherwise killed. It's like the end of every movie Ashley Judd was in that decade, I swear.
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Have gun, will travel, to be a total dick.

Somewhat obscure mercenary character Paladin was recently shown in a Marvel Legends reveal, in a somewhat simplified costume. Or a more modern costume: his old one had a sort of padded look, like riot gear, and a lot of purple. As seen in today's book! From 1990, Punisher: No Escape, written by Gregory Wright, pencils by Tod Smith, inks by Danny Bulanadi.

Paladin was usually portrayed as the merc with a heart of gold, who used a stun-gun and super strength and didn't kill; more of a good guy than someone like Deadpool. He's also a bit more money-grubbing, as shown this issue, when a ten million dollar bounty on the Punisher from the Maggia seems to override his ethics. Moreover, the Commission on Superhuman Activities may also be (at least partially) in the mob's pocket, as they set the USAgent on the Punisher as well.

This was during the period after John Walker's parents had been killed but he was in complete denial about it: he was still trying to be a good hero, and shows a little remorse when he accidentally beats a thug to death. After Paladin kidnaps Microchip as bait, USAgent fights the mercenary while the Punisher takes care of the mobsters. The former fight is a bit of a short one, even though Paladin thinks he's as strong as the Agent; he's probably not. USAgent (apparently) breaks both of Paladin's legs with a shield toss, although he still somehow escapes. The Punisher saves Micro, and takes the opportunity to fake his death so he can ditch the Agent, who catches an earful from his bosses for not bringing the Punisher in.

Aside from this issue, I think I've only seen Paladin in his Amazing Spider-Man appearance: I thought he was one of Deadpool's Mercs for Money squads, but I guess not. I think he was picked for an action figure because they could reuse some parts; rather than a character that might need more sculpting and tooling like Stingray...although I'd think Solo or Terror could be more easily made and maybe just slightly better known.
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Nothing worse than a chronic complainer with a legit grievance...except maybe two chronic complainers.

Although I try not to pick up books I already have (usually, just because I can't find them...) I know this issue was at my parents' house: from 1991, Avengers West Coast #69, "Grudge Match!" Written by Roy and Dann Thomas, pencils by Paul Ryan, inks by Danny Bulanadi.

Now, I did get some of the issues before and after this, and they're not super: rather bog-standard fare featuring Ultron teaming-up with another villain (which is weird, but we'll come back to that) and Dr. Demonicus and not-Godzilla. But I love this one, with the long-awaited match between Hawkeye and USAgent!

The heroes had been butting heads over top-dog status for the West Coast Avengers for quite some time, while Wasp and Dr. Pym had been forced into the mom-and-dad role for the team. But they were hoping to get out of that, in team elections. The east coast team already had theirs, and had settled on Cap, Thor, Sersi, Vision, Black Widow, She-Hulk, and Quasar. (It may a coloring error, but Quasar is colored as Nomad; which is sad since Paul Ryan was the original artist on Quasar's book! He had a costume change since, though.)

Hawkeye mockingly asks USAgent "How many votes you figure you'll get from a team you elbowed your way into, Agent?" The Agent had been a government appointee, and figured he couldn't be voted out. Unfortunately for him, the Avengers were now U.N. supported, so the government wasn't going to maintain a representative, and the Avengers would decide their own roster. The Agent throws a bit of a tantrum, but Wonder Man tells him he'll either make the team or not on his own merits.

By team bylaws--and they had a ton of them--everyone got five votes, with the top seven becoming regular team members, the next seven alternates or reserve members. After the count, Dr. Pym, Wasp, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Tigra, and Hawkeye are members; with the (android) Human Torch, Quicksilver, Mockingbird, Machine Man, and USAgent as reserves. (I'm not positive Quicksilver was even looking to be on the team again: he had showed up a few issues back to help out when Wanda went bad...)

Pym and Wasp have an announcement, though: they were going to resign as active members, at least for now. They'd stay on until the team settled, then switch to alternate. Hawkeye delivers yet another burn on the Agent: "Now, if only Pietro, the Torch, Bobbi, and some robot up north all buy the farm, you might get to be a real Avenger yet!"

After the meeting, Hawkeye and USAgent make plans to settle their grudge after school--I mean, later. In other subplots, Mockingbird thanks Hawkeye for voting for her, and he didn't. Scarlet Witch doesn't think she and Wonder Man should date anymore, while Wasp and Dr. Pym deny being a couple themselves right now.

Hawkeye was wearing his "battle armor" at the time, which USAgent quite rightly gets a chuckle out of. But the Agent realizes he could really hurt Hawkeye: he could bench about ten tons, while Hawkeye's a normal man. Still, Hawkeye won't back down: his own past had been shady at first, but he didn't feel the Agent had made amends or even apologies for his, and that he wasn't worthy of following in Captain America's footsteps.

Hawkeye removes his helmet, sets aside his bow, and commences punching the Agent. Which probably hurts, but the Agent still holds back...accidentally knocking Hawkeye off a cliff. Hawkeye uses a grappling hook to save himself, but refuses to quit, even when he's beat down and the Agent is dragging him out of the ocean.

The Avengers arrive then, and are just as mad at Hawkeye for the fight; but even they feel the Agent hadn't earned his spot. USAgent huffs off, with Scarlet Witch wondering if he might not be going bad. I gotta say, Hawkeye did have it coming. But then again, he and the other Avengers have a point about the Agent being a tool, too. And they both seem a lot cooler with each other in later issues. I do think Hawkeye deserved 65, 70% of the asskicking he got, though.
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"The End" Week: Avengers West Coast #102!

You may remember where this one goes if you've read old "The End" posts, but figured I should get a non-Batman one in: from 1994, Avengers West Coast #102, "The Avengers West Coast are Finished!" Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, pencils by Dave Ross, inks by Tim Dzon.

The Vision shouts out the title on the splash page, since he's called a review of the branch, which the East Coast team seems to view as somewhat of an embarrassment of late. Although Hawkeye was out after the recent death of a Skrull Mockingbird; Wonder Man and Iron Man haven't shown up yet, leaving Spider-Woman, Scarlet Witch, USAgent, and War Machine to be chewed out. Vision suggests placing them all on reservist status, but Hank Pym--a former WCA member--wonders if maybe they couldn't compromise, perhaps with "a committee of long-serving members to administrate both teams." A perfectly workable answer that won't work in a superhero book, yeah: Scarlet Witch immediately protests that she's served longer than the Vision, when Iron Man arrives. Before Hercules and USAgent can come to blows, Jarvis announces lunch is served.

Jarvis is torn between his loyalties to Tony, and the team; and Tony assures him his place is there with the mansion. Rhodey, however, has had enough of Tony and "endless spandex politics!" and flies off in a huff. Although Tony tells Cap it was personal, Cap tries to tell him to talk it out with him. Before Tony can protest he did, USAgent gets in Cap's face, and Tony has to keep things from becoming physical. Tony asks for a vote, and gets it, with Cap, the Black Widow, Black Knight, Hercules, the Vision...and Iron Man voting for disbanding the Avengers West Coast! Tony tells Cap the team couldn't function with their "resentment and lack of support." Cap suggests absorbing the members on a reservist basis, but the Scarlet Witch immediately quits. Iron Man follows suit: his vote to disband was to create a clean break between them. USAgent follows, as does Spider-Woman, who notes if they won't have the Witch or Iron Man, there's probably no room for her there. Hank is left to lament that really went well...

Outside the mansion, Iron Man asks Spider-Woman and the Scarlet Witch to meet him later, in regards to creating their own team. USAgent, on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, heaves his shield and uniform into the drink. Later, Wonder Man shows up at the Avengers West Coast compound, only to be told by Iron Man that team doesn't exist anymore...setting up the new book Force Works, which as we saw before, wouldn't quite last two years.

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The best "leg" plans of mice and men...

A timeline:

10-30-2008 I bought the Target exclusive Marvel Legends Union Jack. Part of the Red Hulk Build-a-figure wave, UJ runs me $9.99 plus tax. He comes with the torso piece, but I have no intention of building the Red Hulk.

12-28-2008 Marked down to clearance, I pick up Adam Warlock and Spiral for $6.98 each. That gets me a leg and a head.

12-30-2008 Possibly from the same Target location, I get Black Costume Spider-Man and Black Costume Wolverine. Also $6.98 each. Why didn't I pick them up two days ago? I could not say. Why didn't I pick up Silver Savage, the last figure I needed to complete the Red Hulk? I don't recall--it may not have been in stock, or I may have thought it would be there later. I put together the pieces of the Red Hulk that I had, minus the last leg. You can just see it, under the bumper of the Mach 5, on the third annual Year in Toys post.

05-2010 The Red Hulk's identity and origin is finally revealed in Hulk #22-23. Spoiler alert: he's General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross!

06-24-12 The Red Hulk appears on the 35th episode of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, "Nightmare in Red."

09-23-12 Red Hulk returns in "Code Red," ironically, as a pawn of the Red Skull.

10-07-12 "The Deadliest Man Alive" culminates the Red Hulk's A:EMH appearances; as he attempts to replace the Hulk on the Avengers. His plot and identity are revealed, and the disgraced General Ross is arrested.

02-02-13 I finally get the final Red Hulk piece, the right leg that came with the Silver Savage, finally completing the Build-a-Figure.

Today: I realize, to the best of my knowledge, I have to date never actually read a comic with Red Hulk in it.

About 51 months from the first figure to completion, which I think is the slowest Build-a-Figure completion yet! For comparison, the first series DCUC Metamorpho and the recent Hasbro Marvel Legends Terrax took me 20 days start to finish. Trigon took me about a year and a month, Grodd and Ronan the Accuser over two years.

Recently, I sold some Ares BAF pieces--the head, torso, and a leg--from the Walmart exclusive wave of 2008, right about the same time as the Target exclusive Red Hulk wave. Initially, the Red Hulk figures were $15 each, but they were "corrected" to $9.99 pretty quickly, and I think clearanced out before 2009. The completed Ares figure, however, is crazy expensive. Part of that may be because it was more figures, and stronger characters: Crossbones, Kang, Guardian, Vision, Ultimate War Machine, Heroes Reborn Iron Man, Scarlet Spider, and the Human Torch. Kang was a reissue of an impossible to find Fantastic Four figure, and he and Crossbones were both pretty great.

I may consider looking at more Build-a-Figure, Collect-and-Connect figures later. None of which took this long...
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The sound of suddenly being upstaged:

Yeah, USAgent, what's that noise? Well, the entire issue was devoted to the sudden and unexpected return of the original android Human Torch...

...and completely upstaged by the sudden and unexpected return of Iron Man! From Avengers West Coast #50, "Return of the Hero" Written and drawn by John Byrne, inks by Mike Machlan.

A roundabout link trail here: Battlegrip posted a link to ActionFicturePics.com's "Too Late for Xmas but Not for You" and twelve figures under twelve bucks; including the newest Marvel Legends Iron Man, the 90's "neo-classic" or "coffee-can" armor. Which I got for $5.90, but seems to be $13.22 as I type this. It's a nice figure, and while I'm not sure it's my favorite, I fondly remember it as being the Iron Man from the classic 1991 Data East Captain America and the Avengers game!


It's not as good as the Konami six-player X-Men, but I think I love the Avengers' music more...

Anyway, I need to dig up another AWC panel with "Tony" later, since it's a bit I kind of liked that'll seem super-dated now.

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The Seventh Annual, Random Happenstance, Year in Toys!

No Mayan apocalypse this year, just another pile of action figures! Time once again for one of my favorite posts to do, the Year in Toys!

For new readers: next to my desk at work is a little yellow notebook, in which I have been keeping a running total of every action figure or toy I buy. I started December 2005 and haven't filled it yet, so apparently I'm not buying enough figures. Hopefully, each entry has the figure, 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.) Totals will usually include postage and tax. Usually. This is by no means a "Best of" list or anything, just what I bought.

As always, most of this list was kept up at OAFE.net, and here's links for 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. Seven years of data...of my spending habits, which probably tells you nothing, but still.

1-5 GLC Manhunter, $8.80, Toys R Us.

1-13 Batman Legacy Catwoman classic, $16.99, Hastings.

1-20 Loose DCUC Timber Wolf, $13 w/free shipping, eBay.

1-23 Nightcrawler figurine, $7.16, eBay.

1-24 Battlestar Galactica Tigh and Gaeta, $9.99+.97 postage, Hastings.com.

2-8 DCUC Samurai, $9.74, Wal-Mart.

2-16 Lego Minifigures 6 Mechanic, $3.24, Wal-Mart.

2-17 Marvel Legends Steve Rogers and Ghost Rider variants, $14.99 each, total $32.43, Target.

2-23 Lego Alien minifigure, $3.23, Walmart

2-24 ML Constrictor and Hope Summers, $14.99 each, $32.59, Target.

2-27 Lego Astronaut Girl, $.99 + $1.50 postage, $2.49, eBay.

3-2 DCUC Toyman, $5; Winter Combat Captain America, $3; total $8.72, Walmart.

3-6 ML Stealth Iron Man, $16.29, Target.

3-7 ML Klaw, $16.78, Wal-Mart. (Completing Terrax!)

3-9 DC Heroics Superman, $.97, Wal-Mart.

3-14 DC Direct JSA Starman (Legion), $7.50, Hastings.

3-16 ML2 Captain America (Bucky-Cap), $16.29, Target.

3-20 Thundercats Cheetara (six-inch), $7.58, Wal-Mart.

3-25 ML Fantomex, $16.29, Target.

4-11 DCUC Hawk and Dove, $15.99 each, Target, total $34.63.

4-17 Two DC Action League Martian Manhunter/Deadman packs, $1 each, Wal-Mart, total $2.19.

5-1 DCUC Indigo Tribe Atom, $8.84, Fred Mayer.

5-13 DCUC Star Sapphire Wonder Woman, $6.79, Fred Mayer.

5-17 DCUC Orange Lantern Lex Luthor, Sinestro Corps Scarecrow, $6.79 each, total $13.58, Fred Mayer.

5-19 Green Lantern MM unmasked, $4.31, Ross.

5-20 (?) Anti-Monitor head, crotch; $.99 +$6.87 postage, eBay.

6-15 Movie Masters Jim Gordon; Wal-Mart, $16.50.

6-16 or so: DC Direct Saturn Girl, $1.99+$2.45 postage.

7-2 Anti-Monitor left arm, $4.00+$5.00 postage. DC Direct Nite Owl (modern!) $8.50+$7.99 postage.

7-13 Watchmen Rorschach--masked and unmasked! $1.38+$5 shipping, eBay. Toy Biz Marvel Legends Venom, $7.99, eBay. (AKA "Dinner Jacket Venom.) Spider-Man Venom (Gargan), $7.99, Grocery Outlet.

7-24 Batman Battle Shield Robin, $1, K-Mart.

7-26 ML Drax, $10, Wal-Mart.

8-6 Movie Masters Batman, Bane, $12.79 each, K-Mart. ($25.58 total.)

Red Azrael Batman, $15.50, eBay.

8-10 Batman: Power Attack Two-Face and Mutant Assault Batman; $8.97 each, $17.94 total, Wal-Mart.

8-16 HALO Cortana, $2, Wal-Mart.

8-10 Aztech Toys Silent Screams Graf Orlok, $7.50, eBay.

8-22 DCUC20 Sinestro, $8, Wal-Mart.

8-24 Young Justice Red Arrow, $10.80, Ross.

8-31 Young Justice Aqualad, $10.80, Ross.

9-20 DCUC Shark (loose), $3+$3 postage, eBay.

9-26 Movie Masters Catwoman, $16.99, Fred Meyers.

9-28 DCD Hal Jordan/Spectre (loose), $0.95+$4.50 postage, eBay.

10-1 DCUC Blue Lantern Kyle Rayner (loose), $9.99, free shipping, eBay.

10-4 DCUC Elasti-Girl (loose), $16.99+$13.99 postage, eBay.

10-9 MM GCPD Blake, $8.99, Fred Meyers.

10-11 Regular Show Mordecai & Rigby, $21.67 w/postage, Toys R Us. (Website.)

10-23? DCUC Uncle Sam (loose), $11.03, eBay.

10-30 TMNT Metalhead, $8.88, Wal-Mart.

10-31 ML USAgent, $17.99, the Comic Book Shop.

11-20 MM R'as al Ghul, $17.99, Hastings. Completing the Bat-Signal!

12-5 MOTUC Battleground Teela, $13.09, $18.96 shipped, mattycollector.com.

12-14 Rorschach (loose), $9.99 shipped, eBay.

12-14 DCUC Azrael/Battle-damaged Batman, $12.99, $14.04 with tax, Ross.

12-22 NECA Robocop (with holster!), Christmas present from my girlfriend! (She also got me Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden's Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, which I've wanted to read for some time. My girlfriend rocks!

12-24 Power Attack Total Destruction Batmobile, $14.99, Fred Meyers.

12-28 ML Iron Man (90's Neoclassic), $5.90 shipped, Amazon.

2012 total: $706.32. 2011: $564.71. 2010: $966.10. 2009: $558.16. 2008: $555.16. 2007: $426.00. 2006: $620.00.

Although I'm usually pretty solid in my record keeping, I know this year I didn't keep track of garage sale purchases; like the as-yet unidentified robot seen with the DCUC Manhunter. I know I didn't spend a ton on yard sales, either, but still. Likewise, I bought multiple Hot Wheels/Matchbox Batmobiles, Bats, Mystery Machines, and so forth; both for myself and the boys and my nephews. And the same for the Avengers Chibis, Marvel Bonkazonks and Squinkies, vending machine toys: little things seemed to fall through the cracks, then.

Still, I'm mildly surprised the total was up a little this year; since there seemed to be long stretches where there weren't a lot of figures floating around, and the usual gloom-n-doom about the action figure market collapsing or drying up or imploding or whatever. Somehow, I still managed to come up with a ton.

eBay made a bit of a comeback in terms of my purchases as well; partially because I picked up several figures loose directly from China: Azrael-Batman (although I bought him domestically as well), Uncle Sam, Blue Lantern Kyle, Timber Wolf, Rorschach, and possibly my favorite figure of the year, Elasti-Girl. "Dinner Jacket" Venom was an older figure, but also loose from overseas.

eBay and happenstance also played a part in completing one of this year's three Build-a-Figure/Collect-and-Connects, the Anti-Monitor: four figures bought at various degrees of clearance plus two parts from eBay, for a total of $46.07. The other two, Terrax and the Bat-Signal, were finished from retail purchases. The six figures needed for Terrax were a combined $98.25. The Bat-Signal's math takes some walking-through: you needed the six Movie Masters figures to build it, but a seventh, broken piece came with Commissioner Gordon! And Dale hooked me up with Alfred! Out of the seven figures, one was a gift, three were marked down, three full price, for a total of $86.75.
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