Hasbro Made-to-Order Figures

I love those old layouts and cardbacks with ROWS AND ROWS of new figures. Only two women on two pages is extremely disappointing and it's a shame we haven't completely moved past that.

I don't know if I ever opened the Sentinel's chest. I have no recollection of that action feature. I wonder if I left someone inside... 😬

I mostly didn't care for action features, but one I still love is the ToyBiz Xena that can draw her sword. Mine is still on display and still works. :)
 
altcunningham said:
I do have to ask if you're familiar with his work? You've specified "that one". Have you not seen his creator owned work, let alone the other Wizard and Catwoman covers of the era?
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No, AFAIK, I haven't read any book he was on. The only reason I'm familiar with the name is because I've heard folks request a "Balent Catwoman."
Misfit said:
I was one of those kids who never liked action features.
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I think there were a lot of us, based on this board.

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I will defend toy companies a little bit on the female figure thing back THEN, only because I do think the conventional wisdom that 'female figures don't sell' was probably largely true at a time when 99% of action figures were being sold specifically to kids and 90% of those sales were to boys.

5 of the 15 mainline figures in Series 2 back in 1992 were Wolverine. So the lack of female representation can, in part, be written up as not so much a 'not enough females' issue as a 'Wolverine is a 3rd of the entire brand right now' issue. That relates back to female characters because you can really see how hard they were trying to hone in on what they thought pre-teen boys wanted for action figures. Even today, some of the choices they made for action figures are baffling beyond 'someone thought a young boy would think this is cool.' Ahab, Tusk, Random -- these were nobodies even in the comics at the time, but they're cool-looking. As opposed to Prof X, who didn't come out until wave 5 (two years into the line) even though he was one of the MAIN characters of the cartoon. We didn't get Morph until like... '95 or '96? That's crazy. But also he's fucking boring-looking, so is it all that surprising?

Now, the really shitty part is that toy companies still use this kind of 'boys don't buy toys of girls' logic on action figure lines they're selling to 40-year-old men. And that's just fucking stupid.
 
Damien said:
I will defend toy companies a little bit on the female figure thing back THEN, only because I do think the conventional wisdom that 'female figures don't sell' was probably largely true at a time when 99% of action figures were being sold specifically to kids and 90% of those sales were to boys.
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Thanks to the Wizard nostalgia here, spent lunch with a friend looking at old figures. They're newer to the hobby.

It's kind of funny looking at the Legends Wanda, Rogue, Widows, just any of the women because before Legends existed you had the movie figures and qualifying for the time, those were good.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
No, AFAIK, I haven't read any book he was on. The only reason I'm familiar with the name is because I've heard folks request a "Balent Catwoman."
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When he was on interiors he had a good cinematic eye for action and drama.

Sadly he just kept leaning into the cheesecake and eventual porn. I get it, especially if that's your brand in artist alley where you can be liquid and murky to the government. Butter that bread bread. At the same time I roll my eyes at him, Adam Hughes, and Frank Cho at this point not even out of feminism or male gaze but just... They're not doing any new tricks at all while other artists I like grow. Frank Cho especially keeps writing that spider-gwen outrage over butts and always works in bathroom and sexual humour to every f****** commission. But that's the brand and that's what most people want.

I think when most people ask for a Ballent Catwoman they just mean that purple outfit because it's synonymous with that run, less the actual proportions.
 
I collected statues back when Bowen statues were the biggest name and the most sought after. Eventually things went into 1/4 scale which is pretty large on it's own and takes up a sizable footprint. 1/3 scale is almost too much for me with space considerations, though I've considered a few if I had to have a definitive character I loved that was portrayed in such a phenomenal way I couldn't pass it up. Lately I've put the brakes on entirely as most of my storage is statue boxes one needs to keep if you ever want to move the statue to a new locale. Plus all the extras inside that you aren't using at the moment. There have been a few more recent ones like Sideshow's Archangel and Cable I'd buy but don't have room for, and the Iron Studios 1/4 Wolverine in the Savage Land that I'm presently talking myself out of.

We dither over $100-$200 dollar figures and then I have to remind myself "no you don't need that $800-$1200 slab of polystone to store in the corner."

 
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
Lately I've put the brakes on entirely as most of my storage is statue boxes one needs to keep if you ever want to move the statue to a new locale.
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Just had a conversation with the comic shop owner last week about a house full of statues that he went to evaluate. Lots of great pieces, in good condition, they agreed on a price and then my guy was like, "Well, let's pull the boxes out of storage and get them packed up". The seller didn't have a single box for any of these high-end statues. Shop owner had to walk away from the deal.
"WTF? I can't transport these in a garbage bag."
 
RichardSimmonsRobot said:
I collected statues back when Bowen statues were the biggest name and the most sought after. Eventually things went into 1/4 scale which is pretty large on it's own and takes up a sizable footprint. 1/3 scale is almost too much for me with space considerations, though I've considered a few if I had to have a definitive character I loved that was portrayed in such a phenomenal way I couldn't pass it up. Lately I've put the brakes on entirely as most of my storage is statue boxes one needs to keep if you ever want to move the statue to a new locale. Plus all the extras inside that you aren't using at the moment. There have been a few more recent ones like Sideshow's Archangel and Cable I'd buy but don't have room for, and the Iron Studios 1/4 Wolverine in the Savage Land that I'm presently talking myself out of.

We dither over $100-$200 dollar figures and then I have to remind myself "no you don't need that $800-$1200 slab of polystone to store in the corner."

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Don't you love the logic we work with when we change formats.

"Well, 600 for a statue is a pretty good deal."
 
Red Ogre said:
Just had a conversation with the comic shop owner last week about a house full of statues that he went to evaluate. Lots of great pieces, in good condition, they agreed on a price and then my guy was like, "Well, let's pull the boxes out of storage and get them packed up". The seller didn't have a single box for any of these high-end statues. Shop owner had to walk away from the deal.
"WTF? I can't transport these in a garbage bag."
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I've contemplated trashing the boxes as it would make so much more room. But as you said, if you ever plan to move or sell them they want the boxes, even if they were trashed by the shipper. Eventually I plan to get a place that has rafters in the garage and I can wrap each box in a trash back and just store it up there where dust and heat wont be an issue for just cardboard and styrofoam, obviously after I remove all the accessory piece and store them in the display room somewhere.

Though I have had smaller boxless pieces shipped to me in moving boxes filled with foam peanuts, foam rubber, paper towels, fabric towels, newspaper, plastic bags, pretty much ever alternative to having the actual box. Nothing prevents breakage and paint rub/scratching like the original box and packaging.
 
altcunningham said:
Don't you love the logic we work with when we change formats.

"Well, 600 for a statue is a pretty good deal."
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Trust me, $120-$200 used to be the norm, with $250 being an "expensive" piece in the later 90s / 2000's. Now I have a Colossus statue I paid $900 for that people want anywhere from $1200 - $3k (before the most recent recession on Ebay) for if you're trying to buy it now.

At least I know I don't need any more Colossi statues for quite a while as most don't outshine it.

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Most expensive I did was 450 on a Sideshow Rogue.

But there was a time I was really tempted to splash out on a Red Sonja. I have a very small statue collection, and it's just iterations of Rogue and X-23 and the Bowen Dazzler.

I got the X-23 at Disney World of all places because it was numbered 2 out of the production. I don't know how serious people take those numbers, but I just felt being at Disney World who owned Marvel, maybe there was something to it being number 2.

Plus it's just a baller statue.

Edit: your statue is sick af, though. Worth.
 
Red Ogre said:
These damn Sentinels need to sell out faster. I didn't love their look during the pre-order period. I've kinda grown to like them, but really don't have the room. I need these off the market before my resolve is exterminated.
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I mean if you make your decision quickly enough, you can raffle it off as a secret Santa gift next year. I’m sure that in a years time this group will eventually host those kinds of events as we did on the fwoosh


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