Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Go Figure

Hey all, I'm having a bad time at the moment, hating the hobby and everything else, but here's a draft from last November I haven't gotten around to posting yet.

I try to keep my collection cards-only due to storage/space/money concerns, but occasionally I venture out of the 2D realm and pick up a figure-type collectable. I recently scored a couple that I figured I'd show off on the blog.

I gotta say that I generally don't like Funko Pops. It's specifically the dead, black eyes that creep me out. But occasionally they put one out where the eyes get spared that treatment and those ones typically look ok, like this black suit Spider-Man I picked up recently. My first (only?) Funko.


I'm not in it for the investing, so I unboxed. It has some imperfections anyways.


With great glowing comes great responsibility. This guy has now been added to the glow-in-the-dark bathroom/museum I've got in the works. I already had a glowing Venom comic on display, so I figured a Spider-Man version of that would suit me just fine make a good counterbalance.




When I think of my favorite toy lines as a kid in the mid/late 80s, the crown goes to G.I. Joe and (the Real) Ghostbusters, but MASK is somewhere high in the top 10, too. I didn't realize how popular MASK was until joining a FB join with fans from all over the globe actively collecting the things. Sadly, I didn't keep much of my childhood MASK collection (I owned the big Boulder Hill playset and many vehicles), but I dipped my toe into collecting them as an adult by scoring this Condor recently.


MASK was kinda like a hybrid of GI Joe and Transformers. Army guys with regular vehicles that you could change into weaponized vehicles (and the gimmick was the guys had special helmets). Condor was a motorcycle that transformed into a helicopter. I remember having this as a kid and loved it. I might try slowly rebuilding my childhood collection, picking up the toys I remember having or longing for.



I was really into Pee-Wee's Playhouse as a kid, and still like it a lot as an adult. I had a couple of the toys as a kid. But the toy line didn't come out until season 2, and by then production had moved from NY to LA, and with that change, Captain Carl set sail to never be seen again (as Phil Hartman stayed in New York because of SNL). So when these retro toys were released a couple/few years back, I had to pull the trigger on Cap'n Carl here. (Not exactly a recent purchase, but for the purposes of this post...) It's my first of these type of things, but I can see myself coming back for more at some point.

So there you go. Part of me wants to build a toy collection resembling what I had as a kid-- and what I wished I had-- but man, those pieces of plastic ain't cheap today, so barring a lottery win, I won't be going too hard in that direction. But if anybody has any Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters, He-Man, M.A.S.K., Sectaurs, Army Ants, Rock Lords, Visionaries, Go-Bots, Bionic Six, or Pee-Wee toys that you might want to part with for some cards, just let me know.

10 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear you are not happy right now. Been there more times than I'd like to admit...it's always a battle.

    I enjoy the action figure posts. I collected action figures full time until 2007. I do have some of the modern (1995-present) Star Wars figures available, none of the original line though.

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  2. I'm disillusioned with sports/sports cards myself, and it seems like we're not alone.

    Buying back your childhood is fun. I haven't looked beyond SLUs but I definitely had some He-Man, TMNT, TransFormers, and Dino-Riders that I wouldnt mind seeing again.

    That glow in the dark Spidey is neat, but Captain Carl is fantastic. It looks brand new!

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  3. Captain Carl is cool!

    Sorry to hear you're in a but of a funk. Hope everything's ok!

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  4. A lot of folks aren't enjoying the current state of card collecting, and the things they don't like about it are unfortunately going to keep getting worse for the foreseeable future. I am sorry to hear that it has gotten to you too, though.

    I'm right there with you on the Pops, and for the same exact reason, the eyes. They make every figure look kind of the same, and if I'm gonna spend that kind of money on something, I'd prefer that it not look like everything else.

    I don't know if you've looked at the prices lately or not, but 80's toys have gone up considerably too. If possible, you might want to consider holding off on building that childhood collection, well, that is unless you don't mind paying through the teeth to get them.

    And finally, in regards to the modern Pee-Wee figures, I don't know if you remember them or not, but if you're looking for some cool Pee-Wee toys, I'd recommend going back and taking a peek at the '87 Matchbox Playhouse line. I'm sure that some of those have increased in price too, but there are some really great pieces in that line, some of which might actually be worth paying a little bit more for.

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  5. oh you youngins, to get back to my childhood figurines you'd have to go to Evel Knievel, stretch armstrong , and six million dollar man as a pre-teen.

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  6. Hope things get better for you as soon as possible. I started collecting Funkos, because I liked the uniform look... but quickly realized they took up way too much space. I kind of feel the same way about all action figures... although I pick up a Star Wars figure or two here and there. And I love the look of the ReAction line. I just never see them in stores.

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  7. Hope things get better for you soon. Even as a kid I preferred to go deep into one or two things rather than spread my interests around. For figures that meant Star Wars and Transformers. I don't have my Transformers but I still have all my old Star Wars figures (very heavily played with).

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  8. I got some tough 'real world' news today... Then I saw the Captain Carl and laughed! Thanks for brightening my day.

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  9. First, I hope some good hobby vibes head your way soon! I had completely forgot about MASK! I wonder if it's available on any streaming platform...

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  10. MASK was good times, but I was too invested in Transformers to collect them. My brother had the truck and the orange jeep (had the boat inside). I had the black van (that became...a black armored van?).

    The lack of retail cards is making me sad too. I was just at Target to see if I could get lucky with cards and they had the Heritage High Number Hobby boxes for $120. Oh boy. We're all hoping it gets better.

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