This year's Toy Fare has come and gone, and there were a ton of great reveals and a lot of stuff I'm personally looking forward to getting. Still, I was a little disappointed that more credence seems to have been given to my theory, that Marvel is actively not supporting characters not under the Marvel movie umbrella, like the X-Men or Fantastic Four, who both seemed to miss the proverbial boat this year.

There are pros and cons to that: I freely grant that I don't need another Wolverine figure, and if benching the mutants means getting a Misty Knight or Thundra figure, it may be a small price to pay. (Although, it just occurs to me, I would've thought Thundra would fall under the Fantastic Four characters, which Fox has movie rights to. If they have the Skrulls, why not her?) And in some ways, it seems natural to let some properties lay fallow for a bit while heavily pushing another--this is an Avengers year, no doubt. But just outright refusing support to long-time Marvel mainstays, just to try and undermine Fox? That seems less reasonable and possibly even damaging in the long run.

Checking Comics Alliance's supermovie timeline though, the FF movie is later this year, and the next X-movie May 2016, so maybe the toy pegs will be clogged with X-figures late next year. I don't recall if the 2007 Rise of the Silver Surfer movie figures took off or not; so that could be another reason why there doesn't seem to be figures for the new movie at this time.

All of this is to try and explain why I was so surprised to see a particular Star Wars figure today: from Big Bad Toy Store, check out Hasbro's "2015 Star Wars 3.75" Black Series 01 - Set of 7"--with Clone Commander Doom! The green hood is a great homage to Doctor Doom, from out of left field. Hey, you can order it separately if you like! It seems like a little bit of Marvel/Disney synergy; that oddly makes me feel a little better about things. I'm not sure why either, but there you go.
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Ah, the Inhumanity!

From Comics Alliance, we see the first images for Marvel's upcoming Inhumanity event, which as some wags have already pointed out in the comments and elsewhere, doesn't seem to feature that many Inhumans, and kinda looks a lot like Earth X. "Following the events of Infinity, the Terrigen Mists are released throughout the world, causing the activation of previously dormant Inhuman cells in millions of people," blah blah blah. We're only mentioning it because there's a Nightcrawler on the teaser image!

Marvel would really be doing me a solid if this is our regular Marvel universe's Kurt Wagner back, and not a clone, a Skrull, a previously unmentioned sibling or son, or the Nightcrawler of earth-398 or something. Also, it would be just smashing if he came back and wasn't a priest, or Angela's herald or apostle or some such. Hell, if they really wanted to grant my wish, I would love it if Kurt quit the X-teams, as he threatened to before his death in Second Coming.

I do kind of like the Inhumans as well, although I still hate the way every writer that gets to use the Inhumans, has seemingly only read the classic Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four issues with them...and mmmmmmaybe the really, really good Jenkins/Lee miniseries. Their other appearances, hell, their most recent appearances? Will probably be completely ignored. Prove me wrong, Marvel; I'm probably already on the hook for this one...

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WildC.A.T.s? How the hell is that typed? S.H.I.E.L.D. is easier to keep typing...

As someone who wasn't a big Image/Wildstorm fan, my first thought when I saw Grifter and Voodoo were getting new DC number ones...was there go a couple of wasted slots. But that's not really fair: the WildC.A.T.s characters may not be to my taste, but that's not to say they couldn't possibly be used in good comics. And, on further thought, while I don't plan on running out and buying them, I have enjoyed just about every comic I've seen with Grifter and Voodoo! Weird...

First up, they, and the Wildstorm Universe, guested in the thirteenth issues of Marvel's Heroes Reborn books. Which reminds me, I need Spartan and Voodoo and heck, even Zealot figures. (I don't know Zealot's backstory, but she should just be slotted in as an Amazon. Her warlike nature would make Wonder Woman's peaceful mission stand out more...)

I'm pretty sure it's somewhat intentional, but Spartan is hysterical to me. He's the robot teammate, like the Vision in the Avengers or Red Tornado in the JLA; except Spartan is treated as completely disposable. That, and it's pretty obvious that Voodoo (and the Scarlet Witch in the crossover!) are using him as a sex toy. Which would be a bit creepy if the genders were flipped, but here it makes me laugh, for some reason.

Anyway, the WildC.A.T.s also crossed over with the X-Men, in a four-part series that I only read the issue that had Nightcrawler in it. (I know Warren Ellis wrote the fourth issue, but I've read enough Days of Futures Past X-crap over the years without actively hunting it down...) And Warblade comes across well here: while he looks like an EXTREME version of Wolverine, Warblade is nowhere near that into it, and seems like he'd be more than happy to go home and watch TV.

Then there's the JLA/WildC.A.T.s crossover, written by Grant Morrison. The heroes fight the Lord of Time, Superman is electric blue and Majestic looks more heroic, Grifter and Batman contrast methods, and Void trips Kyle right out. Another solid issue. And, although I recall most of that series as being about the Youngblood or Cyberforce characters, the WildC.A.T.s are in the Image superhero crossover Shattered Image as well.

What I like about the WildC.A.T.'s, even without reading a lot of their comics, is that the characters are archetypes--there's your Punisher-type, your Wonder Woman character, your Wolverine homage--but they're archetypes you can break. I have several issues from the quarter bins of Wildcats 3.0, and they are pretty far afield from where those characters started. (So far afield that there's been a reboot, even before whatever Grifter's DCU status is...) In theory, you should be able to do things story-wise with Grifter, that you couldn't do with Batman, since you don't have the burden of seventy years of continuity and fan expectations and licensing restrictions and so on. In theory, of course. After all, Grifter and the WildC.A.T.s are nearly twenty years old. We'll see if it pans out...
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DC Relaunch/Retcon/Retread thoughts:

Sooooo...this is the big one. But first, some thoughts on DC's other in-comic changes.

Now, everyone has their own tastes, which means everyone has their own things that they would like to see in DC's new 52 number one issues. I personally would love to see Doom Patrol (previously cancelled five or six times), Warlord (cancelled three times and a miniseries), the Creeper (cancelled three times and a Vertigo mini where he was a French chick?), the Vic Sage Question (Um, once, then a quarterly, a limited, and other stuff), and the Ted Kord Blue Beetle (geez, I think Ted got cancelled a couple times at Charlton...). Maybe it's just me, and maybe those characters didn't set the sales charts on fire before, but why the hell not? DC's rolling back the odometer on a bunch of other stuff, and they're giving another shot to Firestorm (cancelled four times?), Captain Atom (one prior series and a mini, but he gets the shaft every big event they can shaft him in: Armageddon: 2001, Kingdom Come, Countdown: Arena...), Grifter (at least twice solo), and Hawkman (yeah, you tell me).

That's why I'm a little disappointed in some of DC's choices for new number ones. (So far, there's still a few left to be revealed.) A lot of these have had books before, and I'm not sure they'll do any better this time around. I wish all the best to Resurrection Man (28 issues), OMAC (depends what OMAC you mean...) and Aquaman (guh) but trotting them out like they're going to save comics this time around is just dumb.

Now, they were a few that were surprising choices, and by surprising I mean baffling. Mr. Terrific gets his first first issue ever, and that name's been around for over 70 years. I, Vampire is another interesting choice: I know that was a J. M. DeMatteis scripted series running in House of Mystery in 1982-83. Of course, now it looks like Twilight: the Anime, and if I'm the first person to make that joke I'll eat an issue of it.

Then there's Batgirl. Man, this is a tough one. There's no denying that Gail Simone is probably the best choice for the book, and is legitimately excited to be writing Barbara Gordon. But, she's back as Batgirl, not Oracle...and apparently, no longer in a wheelchair. (Jill Pantozzi has a great piece at Newsarama on this.)

Now, comics have a tradition of bringing characters back from the dead, of rebooting them, taking them back to their root; and yeah, Professor X has been in and out of his wheelchair more than a couple times. But...Barbara getting to walk again doesn't feel right, really. Like she shouldn't get out...unless everyone else does, too.

And Barbara as Batgirl has the unfortunate consequence of displacing Stephanie, who displaced Cassandra: I think Bully's suggestion of Batgirl, Inc. may have been the right track...and J. Caleb Mozzocco of Everyday is Like Wednesday pointed out that with Batwoman (who is newer, and possibly younger?) and Barbara both in costume, that's two red-haired Bat-femmes tearing about concurrently.

But, that is going to be the trouble with an undertaking like this: someone's favorite character is always going to be left out, altered, short-changed, or otherwise burned. Some have noticed the absence of Tim Drake as Red Robin, so far. Some would prefer Damien be removed--if Batman's being made a little younger, when did he have him? There's the possibility Lois and Clark will get the Mary Jane/Peter "One More Day" treatment. And that's just the big ones.

DC did get people talking, that much is true. Even if a lot of that talk is "...why?" or "...really?" Still, it's a start.

One last thing: I don't know about bringing Grifter, Voodoo, and possibly the whole Wildstorm Universe into the DC Universe; since they already have folded in Charlton, Quality, Milestone, maybe Red Circle and the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and who all else in there. Hell, I'd rather they gave one of those slots to a Milestone book, anyway.
(EDIT: And of course, since writing this, Red Robin is going to be in Teen Titans, which looks...yeah; and Static will be back.)

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"My Greatest Disappointment."

I knocked this strip out on Thursday while watching Rodan. But, per blog law (said blog law from the law blog of Bob Loblaw...) we're expected to discuss DC's new post-Flashpoint reboot plans. Even if it's all vile speculation, and I'm not a retailer, so I'm only guessing how DC's planned day-and-date digital distribution plan is going to work. (Check out the updated list of the 52 books at Bleeding Cool!)

If I'm honest, the first thing I thought of when DC announced all this, was that all the heroes would be WB-ized younger, edgier versions, like the 200th episode of Stargate feared. No, not the bit with the puppets...

Now, some are worried that day-and-date is going to be a nail in the coffin of comic shops. That may depend on the pricing of the downloads; but good comic shops rarely exclusively sell comics: they usually feature games, cards, t-shirts, action figures, and so forth. Some shops might be hurt by losing sales to downloads, but others will have diversified into other revenue streams, and better weather the storm, 'kay? (There is a question of whether DC is dicking over comic shops, which I can't answer. Maybe? On the other hand, if comic shops and the direct market were doing a bang-up job of selling comics, DC wouldn't have to do this, would they?)

Over at Comics Alliance, David Brothers' had a piece on 'Do you own your digital comics?' I personally would be reluctant to pay $3.99...$2.99...hell, even ninety-nine cents for a download that I can't save, can't transfer, and/or can only read on certain machines. The analogy is, if you buy an MP3 online, you can save it to your hard drive, burn it to a CD, transfer it to your iPod, whatever. With a comic, you're paying for the right to read it under certain conditions and usually online. Really, check out the digital comics articles over there; it seems like a bit of a mess yet, and the pricing for something you don't really have.

To completely armchair quarterback DC's digital plan, here's what I would do: I wouldn't throw 52 books out at once, for one damn thing. Thirty, tops. But, I would keep the "hold the line at $2.99" but shorten the main features in most books while adding 7-8 page backups. (I probably would keep, say Batman and Justice League full-length, if not longer...) I don't think the market will support throwing Captain Atom, Firestorm, Justice League Dark, among others, into the field all at once. I'm not sure how well received the recent back-ups were received (I enjoyed Metal Men in Doom Patrol, for one.) but DC has a tradition of such: it's a good way to try out new things, and to build your audience. Come for Superman, stay for Frankenstein or something.

I would also throw DC's digital pricing plan--same day as the comic in stores, $2.99; a month later it drops to $1.99--right out the window. Forget the how of this; but I would price books at thirty cents a download--but you only get to keep them or get access to them for thirty days. At thirty cents a pop, you might need to sell more, but do you think that will be a problem? Really? People will be far more apt to try out a new book, which gives that much more opportunity to hook a new reader on the comics habit. Moreover, when the issue expires after thirty days, some readers will want to spring for it again later, if they want to read several issues at once.

There's other things I'd fiddle with, on the digital end: the $.30 downloads would be bare-bones, no backups; with a more "special edition" version with backups and extra features like backmatter, script, or even uninked pencils. (All of which would be relatively inexpensive to add, by the by.) The backups could be collected later, say three or four parts at a time. I would offer sales as well, but not for the best-sellers like the top forty books, but the next forty. That way, the mid-tier books get a bit more push, until they work their way up, stirring up the chart.

But, so comics shops aren't left out, DC should offer discounts and coupons going both ways: purchase four downloads, get a markdown coupon for a proper comic. Purchase two comics, get a free download of some other book. Go nuts. Mix it up some, since I don't think DC has gone far enough, on this issue anyway.

By the way, My Greatest Adventure #1 is on the schedule of new #1's, and it would be a bit of a slap in the face if it didn't at least guest the Doom Patrol. (The Doom Patrol first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80.) And "Doom Idol" strips will return, as Robotman and Negative Man still haven't found a replacement for Elasti-woman...

Are we done with this? Not yet! More later, on the books!
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Let's see, upwards of 980+ pages, not counting the trade...carry the three...

I don't know much about how comics are purchased on the direct market, or market-sales strategies; but I do know a steal when I see one: the other weekend at Hastings, I picked up several of DC's recent reprint books, marked down from $7.99 to $.99. Then, there was also a "Buy 2, get 1 free" sale; so I have a couple hundred pages worth of books to read now.

Got nine of those, the first issue of Deadpool MAX, JSA 80-Page Giant, an issue of Atomic Robo, and the second Crisis on Multiple Earths trade. Per the receipt, I saved $89.47; so I don't know if that's a sustainable business model, but it works for me.

Everyday is Like Wednesday mentioned being surprised the DC Comics Presents books weren't selling better, and admittedly I wouldn't have purchased this lot if they hadn't been sixty-six cents a piece; but it makes me think comic books have become a closed system. If so, then there are only so many consumers that will pay for comics, and said consumers only have so much money: if super-amazing Book A puts out two issues this month, the consumer may pass on lower tier Book B, leaving comics no net gain. So, these reprints may be swell as hell, but it's tough convincing a lot of comics buyers to cough up for them; especially when they've been conditioned to buy the big "important" crossover books. Vile speculation, and I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong.
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'Vikor vs. Conan' sounds like a legal thing...which I could see, honestly.

This was originally going to be a much shorter post: I tried to buy the Masters of the Universe Classics Vikor figure from Mattel's website, and it sold out in about three minutes. The end. Except, it wasn't: with part of their shipment delayed by the weather, they didn't have all of them available the first time; and had to have another go around. I was a first-time user of MattyCollector.com, but it went just fine. The second time.


There are a ton of good, proper, Vikor reviews out there: Infinite Hollywood, Geek News (with Lemonjuice McGee), It's All True, Michael Crawford's, Poe should have one if he hasn't already. So, as usual for around here, we won't be doing a proper review, but just some impressions. Mainly, comparing him to 2007's Marvel Toys/Legendary Heroes Conan!

I was surprised how closely Vikor and Conan matched up in terms of articulation: Conan has a little more, with double-elbows and knees, rocker-ankles, and wrist-hinges. In practice, they're very evenly matched there. Both even have their neck articulation hindered by their hair, but Vikor does have the option of popping his head off and removing his cape. Supposedly. I haven't yet...Vikor's a smidge taller, even allowing for the unremovable helmet; and a bit thicker, particularly in the shoulders.

Now, the downside: from MattyCollector.com, Vikor is twenty dollars, plus postage. Which was what, ten bucks? And then some tax or something in there, so I believe the total was $31.20. He did arrive really quickly, but even so. Checking my records, I found I bought Conan on Halloween 2007 at Wal-Mart, for $19.45. But, while Vikor came with an axe, a sword, and a shield; Conan came with an axe, a sword, and the Devourer of Souls, Wrarrl. Hell, Wrarrl came with a removable helmet, bag of worms, and a sword.

So, while I am happy to add Vikor to my collection, he all but underlines my misgivings with Mattel's handing of MOTUC. If Vikor was sold in stores, he still might have retailed for fifteen bucks or thereabouts, but without postage; and I have no doubt at all that he'd be a hit with a wider audience. But between the website sales, and the DCUC/MOTUC two-packs (which are running about $35 right now, I believe) I think Mattel has lost faith in the Masters of the Universe reaching a younger audience, especially without a cartoon or movie tie-in; and is content to sell figures to older fans who remember the original show's glory days. And sell them at a bit of a premium price, at that.

That's not to say Vikor isn't a damn good figure: he is, and he's at least the equal of the MT/LH Conan. But Vikor could be more than a figure that was sold online for a couple of days once. In the same vein, while I'm not real up on my Masters of the Universe continuity, I'd love to see Vikor worked in there. Maybe they find him frozen in an iceberg or something...


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Azazel? Seriously? What...the...hell?

I've seen this more than once now, but I don't know if other sources are picking it up from Bleeding Cool: actor Jason Flemyng is cast as Azazel in the X-Men: First Class movie. What...really?

Maybe someone can explain this to me, but I know some studios, like Sony for Spider-Man or Fox for the X-Men, still have movie rights despite Disney's purchase of Marvel Comics. They had them first, and I believe if they don't use them, the rights will revert to Disney/Marvel. That's why there's a bit of a rush job coming on say, Ghost Rider 2, for example.

Everything I've heard about the upcoming X-Men: First Class sounds like a bit of a disaster, though: it seems more like a reboot but still seems to be called a prequel, even though there are a ton of characters in it that were used differently in the other X-Men movies. And there are a ton of characters in it (check the wikipedia, I'm not typing all that) that weren't in the original five-man band: I would've thought it would be easy enough to get a movie's worth of material out of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Beast, Iceman, Professor X, and Magneto; without bringing in Darwin, Banshee, Havok and a seeming cast of thousands. I mean, Kevin Bacon's in there somewhere? Why?

So, I've been wondering...the rights to these characters is going to revert to Disney/Marvel at some point, aren't they? If so...would it behoove Sony or Fox or whoever to pursue a scorched earth policy? Eventually, Spider-Man/the X-Men/whatever character they lose the rights to, is going to be competition to those studios and whatever their current franchise schedule movies will be. For example: Fox makes an awesome X-Men: First Class. It and however many sequels they can crank out are huge hits, and then the rights go back to Marvel. The next summer, Fox puts out Movie Y, and gets crushed by Marvel's new X-Men flick.

But, what if Fox decides to burn that bridge? Make an utter tripe X-Men film, kill the franchise stone dead for a few years or more? What's stopping them? Even if they sink a bit of capital into making and marketing a bad movie, they could probably still recover a bit, while taking out some future competition. There are doubtless a bazillion things wrong with my theory...but still, it's a niggling doubt.

(This is going under the "vile speculation" tag, since that's how I think it works. Maybe if Fox keeps making X-Men movies, they get to keep the rights? I don't think that's the case, still pretty sure Marvel/Disney gets everyone back at some point.)

Back to Azazel, who I still think may be a red herring for X-Men: First Class. Or someone told them they needed more action figure ready characters; because there's little other reason to use him. He sure as hell ain't a fan-favorite or anything...

For those of you who aren't familiar with the character, or have blocked the memory out: Azazel was introduced as Nightcrawler's father in Chuck Austen's storyline, "The Draco." He first appears in a flashback in Uncanny X-Men #426, set twenty years ago...which would make Nightcrawler still a teenager, so he's aging backwards at about the same rate as Kitty Pryde.

The woman that would eventually be known as Mystique is living a good life, as the wife of a German baron. (There is virtually no technology to be seen in this issue; which doesn't date it as much as make it seem impossibly rustic.) Everything would be perfect for Raven, except for one thing: she can't get pregnant. And not for lack of trying; with her husband, with in vitro, with strangers she changes form to seduce.

Then she meets Azazel, in a human form. Devilishly handsome, they hit it off quickly, and it's implied that he gives Raven her nom de plume of Mystique. He praises her as magnificent, far beyond anything as petty as merely human, and in short order gets her to reveal her true form, before seducing her in a church.

Raven is both smitten and knocked up soon thereafter; but Azazel then rebuffs her, telling her to go back to her husband and raise his son as the Baron's. The Baron, however, is understandably dubious about his wife getting pregnant so suddenly after Azazel's arrival and sudden departure. He proposes a paternity test, and Raven answers by stabbing him to death and ditching the body.

Now completely alone, Raven gives birth, to a blue baby boy. Which would normally be a bad sign, but Kurt was obviously a mutant from birth. That's disturbing the delivery team enough, before Raven reverts to her usual blue form, and gets denounced as a demoness. Forced to flee her formerly "perfect" life, Raven curses Azazel for not loving her, for leaving her with "nothing of any value whatsoever," and she drops baby Kurt over a waterfall. (A "BAMF!" is seen, presumably Azazel saving Kurt.)
This was actually a fairly decent start of the storyline--Austen is virtually reviled now, and the rest of "The Draco" would bear that out. There's Nightcrawler's half-siblings Abyss and Kiwi Black, among others; there's Angel's healing blood that burns Azazel's spawn; there's Azazel trapped in some pocket dimension that he can occasionally get out of for booty calls...yeah, it gets terrible pretty quickly, and has been all but swept under the rug. And for some reason, despite no one wanting to bring it up, there's some question on whether Azazel is an early mutant, like Apocalypse; or an actual bona-fide demon of some sort.

Well, this post has gotten out of hand; so today's scans? From Uncanny X-Men #428, "How Did I Get Here?" (The title and title page seem very Claremont.) Written by Chuck Austen, pencils by Sean Phillips, colors by Dave McCaig. Sean Phillips carries this one a bit further than the later issues, with Philip Tan art. And tomorrow? A helluva shorter post...

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Unfounded speculation about Wonder Woman's new costume...

Disclaimer: all of today's post is from someone who doesn't regularly read Wonder Woman, and should fall under the heading of unsolicted guesswork. But, apparently we have to talk about Wonder Woman's new costume, 'cause everyone's doing it.

What surprised me about the change, is that it didn't seem to be leaked or hyped or anything, until just before the issue came out? Is that right? I mean, usually, a big change like this (putting aside the relative permanence or not of the change) is trumpeted for months ahead of time, isn't it? Maybe I wasn't paying attention and missed the hype, or maybe DC thought "Hey! Look! New costume in three months!" would step all over the tailend of Gail Simone's run. But I know there was some hoopla over J. Michael Straczynski taking over the book...

To be honest, and this is a pretty nerdy issue, I would've thought more people would be more upset about Straczynski altering Wonder Woman's timeline, even if that's going to be temporary. Are we not supposed to mention that WW's continuity is a bit dicey? Like, Hawkman-level dicey? OK, originally post-Crisis, Diana didn't arrive in man's world until, what, the Legends mini-series? Was she the first Amazon to arrive here, or did her mom come over around WWII? Was Diana a founding member of the Justice League of America, or was she not a a member until a brief stint with Justice League Europe? Comics Alliance's WW writeup mentions that retroactively altering Wonder Woman's timeline also retroactively jacks up Donna Troy's and Wonder Girl Cassie's to boot.

And that's the problem I have with it, the timeline: altering Diana's timeline would have a ripple effect on the entire DCU, but probably not for long: someone as important as Wonder Woman, who's been at least peripherally involved with dozens of extinction-level events for earth and the entire universe; can't have crucial moments in their history altered without catastrophic results.

...and since I'm not a Wonder Woman fan, I can't think of any, so maybe JMS is on to something; but hear me out: look, if Wonder Woman wasn't there at the right time to save the day, then maybe the day wasn't saved, and everything could be different as a result. Of course, the timeline's being altered by the gods, and it's going to be changed back at some point (probably) this still bugs me since it would affect other books. Or at least it should, but it's not going to.

(An example of that was Black Canary's use in the Justice League, especially in JLA: Year One, a book I loved to death that seems to have been removed from continuity. Since at the time, Wonder Woman didn't come in right away, Black Canary was moved up to her spot as a JLA founder. So, in old pre-Crisis Justice League of America stories that were still in continuity, if you saw WW, she was Black Canary retroactively. This is kinda problematic in that BC had a completely different power set than WW--Canary can't pick up a car, for example--and that this fix wouldn't make allowances for the stories with both characters. Whee! Poking holes in old comics is fun!

It does occur to me that that is a pretty dicked-up way to treat women, even if it's not intentional: can't use Wonder Woman in a story? Ah, just throw in Black Canary, and tell the colorist to make sure she's blonde...

Off-topic, but hey, one thing Crisis got right? Cleared up Black Canary's origin like Proactiv. Have you read the old one? It's got Earth-1, Earth-2, and some kind of limbo in there, and her living in her mom's body or something. Just terrible.)

ANYWAY. As is often the case around here, we're way, way off topic. Back to Wonder Woman's new costume: y'know, when I first saw it, the picture was only from the hips up, so I didn't realize she had pants now. I thought she was wearing a little black dress. And I approved. Practicality be damned...

Of course, the acid test for this costume, will be how quickly it gets an action figure. Both Blackest Night and Star Sapphire versions of Wonder Woman got figures pretty quickly, as such things go.

And I'm fully aware that this change is probably hoping to drive more clothing sales than action figures...or comics, but there you go.

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Retro Toy Week: Spider-Sense Peter Parker!

Sometimes, an action figure might end up in storage when the character it's based on loses popularity, or the relative scale of the displayed figures might change, or a better version of the character might come out. And sometimes because it's just not a great figure.

From Toy Biz in 1999, Spider-Sense Peter Parker tries for that iconic 'tingling spider-sense' look--I don't know how much it's used in the comics these days, but I'm pretty sure if you read the newspaper strip for a week you'll see it.

Historically, Peter is almost a missing link of action figures: sure, he's got a doofy action feature--squeeze his legs and his arms pump--but if you look closely, you can see the paint wash on the pants and the Spidey-side of his head, so the manufacturers were making some effort at something new there. And I know there was a J. Jonah Jameson figure around the same time (actually, the same wave) so Toy Biz maybe might have been testing the waters to see if civilian figures would sell. If Petey here had flown off the shelves, maybe we would've seen Spidey's supporting cast get figures before Marvel Legends. Vile speculation, that.

Then again, he comes with some garbage cans (to throw, since he can hold the handles) and a camera which he can't hold. It's more likely Pete was just thrown in to fill out the wave.

I'm almost positive I bought this figure for $3.33 at KB Toys, because I spent a long time slaving in a mall, and bought a lot of figures in lieu of food. It struck me to remember when figures used to go on something called 'clearance.' These days, a line like Star Trek or Terminator or even Avatar might be cleared out in the bigger stores, to make way for the next batch of movie toys; but...it feels like superhero toys aren't moved like that. How many of you action-figure hunters know exactly what stores near you aren't getting new figures because they've had pegs full of Captain Cold or Secret Wars Spider-Man/Thunderball for the last six months or more. (Is that Secret Wars pack a pegwarmer? Eh, not compared to Captain Cold, anyway...)

Ah, let's step down from the internet ranty box, and have some action feature fun!

Um...yay?
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Who's flying the damn ship? Cadets?

Click to magnify!

Now, if you hit up a good online retailer like Big Bad Toy Store, you could probably get the second wave of Playmates Star Trek 3-3/4" figures, which would include the ten additional pieces you would need to complete the previously available Enterprise bridge playset/mat. BBTS has a preorder available here, which may very likely be the only way to go if you're interested: the first wave was heavily stocked. Heavily. To the point that I suspect a lot of retailers aren't going to be jumping up and down at the chance to put more on the shelf; and no doubt the second wave is going to be underordered.

That said, the 3-3/4" figures aren't great. For a dollar each, I'm not complaining (much) but I don't think I'd go in with both feet there. I have seen the bridge set marked down a little so far, but I probably wouldn't pay more than say, five bucks for it: it's a mat with a captain's chair, viewscreen, and a lot of empty spots for the consoles and chairs that come with the figures. A mat. I mean, really: a plastic base that the consoles could attach to; that would be tempting, but a mat? For one thing, there's no way to set up the bridge, then move it.

Wait, I do believe the bridge also comes with a Captain Kirk figure, but you have to buy another one to get the console piece; and I think they're the same yellow-shirt version. (I had forgotten until recently, Kirk doesn't even wear that uniform until the very end of the movie...oh, "spoiler.") Not only is that kind of a burn on customers who are buying up the whole set; but it seems like making the bridge version a more desirable variant possibly would have pushed sales more. Some Kirks in other uniforms are coming in the second wave, but the bridge one could've been battle-damaged or shirtless or something, I don't know.

I must confess, that completed bridge does look moderately sharp in the photos (one more link to BBTS!) but I don't know if I've seen any reviews or anything for it. If interested, I would recommend buying the clearance or marked down figures, and cobbling it together on the cheap; unless you're the anal detail-oriented fan who can't stand the idea of an ops console where the science station should be.

In other news, this weekend the Youngest cracked me one in the face with my Jabba the Hutt action figure. Jabba is hard plastic, not squishy as one might hope, and it bled a little. In the Youngest's defense, he did warn me a couple of times that he was going to "whack daddy." He did get a stern talking to, I can tell you that...
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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... Read more!