toy showdown

Mattel registered a trademark on "Collect & Connect" about a month after the second wave of DCUC came out. http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:3u2606.2.24 Which gives it more protection than the "Build A Figure" it's based on, which has not been registered for exclusive use in commerce. I think it's good that BAF isn't in the contract, because it gives them a competitive edge and makes them an attractive alternative to Hasbro. Minimates will make figure of characters that Hasbro won't even consider, and chances are if the figure is in a box set you're going to want the other three figures. If not, three is the most figures you'll ever buy that you don't want to get one you do. And with all the brands available, there's no better time to start collecting. Also, the ladies love Minimates. It is science.

Thanks to OAFE's review, I went ahead and pried that thing off. Helmets, indeed.

The bare chest tag leaves out the Tomb Raider Scavenger Archer, which has the block I'm using on my kitbash Mythic Legions Attlus the Conqueror. I think the Archer accidentally got tagged 'bare feet' instead.

Theft is probably going to be cited somewhere down the road. If two figures are stolen from 1,000 different Kmarts that's an initial $9980 sales loss. A retailer with a 1% profit margin has to sell $500 in merchandise to cover one $5 stolen item. Sears Holdings is currently at a profit margin of around -1.96%. Even Walmart's 3.77% margin isn't that sound. They'd have to be at 10% to limit their liability of one stolen $5 pack to $50. It's a wonder retailers even leave hundreds of Ponies and Minions bags laying around. I'd lockbox them, tape barcodes to the register, and not let the bags see the light of day until they're paid for. Anyway. The Mutagen set is nice, but the green used makes them look a lot more like ghost turtles. The closest I've seen to a Nick-style mutagen figure is the pearlescent translucent aqua Rift Breaker that Glyos made. A Turtles box set in that style would just be... awesome.

Animated Taskmaster would really just be a temporary fix on my real obsession. UDON Taskmaster... one day you will be a real toy and you will be in my collection forever.

Either Eric O'Grady Ant-Man or Kaine Parker Scarlet Spider would make me really happy. O'Grady always seems to get the shaft, though, so betting more so on Kaine.

If DST has animation rights, that should be a whole other line. There are too many good designs on USM to have them all compete for a few spaces. Sure, the Fighter Pods are still pegwarming, but the character selection was great. It's the Pods sculpts that are terrible. USM Taskmaster would be at the top of my wish list. Perfect example of the good kind of "same but different."

Art Adams designed the Toy Biz Mecha-Hulk, which is still an incredible figure more than a decade later and far better-looking than any other canon robots like Cosmic Hulk. I wouldn't mind seeing Robot Hulk repainted in brush metal and pale green with the hairless robot head as the default. Man, that thing was seven dollars at Target. But maybe TRU 20 is an All-Deadpool wave. Pirate Deadpool & Pirate Nightcrawler Major Deadpool & Nuke (with parts for Terror from Terror Inc.) The Deadpool Kid & Outlaw Which leaves Hulkpool and Pandapool for a rainy day.

It's TRU, so I'm not expecting anything new or bold or game-changing. It's probably something like Famous Covers or Greatest Battles, which could be awesome or awful depending on selection and interpretation. But hey, so long as it's anything except Famous Couples Who Are No Longer Famous Or Couples.

My store didn't get them, but others in the metro area did, so I set up the email alert so I can buy them online rather than drive an hour and maybe not even find all of them. Pimp zombie isn't happy with me for not going out of my way to get him his pimp cane, but whatevs.

I was told to check back Thursday morning and to show whoever's working that day the receipt numbers stack32 posted for easy reference. But I'm thinking it may be a week or two still.

I'd blame TRU 20% for their really strange distribution. Two stores in El Paso, TX but nothing within 50 miles of Orlando or Miami? And I'd blame TRU 80% for continuing to use the wrong pictures online. The specialty version should do a lot better with Bloodshot Reborn #1 dropping in April. If I were a comic shop owner, I'd try my best to have people purchasing both the comic and the Minimates set.

I'd vote DareDevil and Squirrel Girl 2-pack. He hasn't had a 'Mate in two years and has a new show. She has a tail that probably couldn't be reused and Playmobil squirrels are good and fairly inexpensive. The set could come with an awkward smelly baby accessory instead (repaint from TWD Prison Lori).

The Hot Toys product page details says that it's the Mark 43 inside. Lego pretty much confirmed a Mark 45. Tony's going to have to change his underwear after the Hulk fight anyway.

Too bad the Hydra wasn't packed with Quicksilver. If there's one guy who could logically appear 50 times in 50 different poses in your display, it's him. Apologies to the person who now has to figure out how to sell off 49 extra Scarlet Witch figures...

If the first series does well, another blind bag set in time for the home theater release could be cool. Mark 45 Iron Legion #3 Is there an IL #1? There are three working in the trailer, and Ultron isn't too kind to IL #4 which is already in the first series. Hydra Henchman Hydra Soldier (variant head from Vision set) who you'll need more than two of... unless you're just trying to recreate that awesome trailer scene. Dr. Cho (Claudia Kim's character seen at the hammer-lifting party; chase figure) This keeps Yet Another Iron Man Figure and Supporting Female Character from pegwarming, keeps the Vision sets from being impossible to find due to army building, and finishes off the Legion which is just a cool set of armors.

I was going to sell off my extra Payback suit, but Wolverobots are a much better idea.

It's a great box set, but that's also the problem. It's a planned purchase, not an impulse buy item. Even though $20 is great for a low-run 4-pack. It would probably be $30 at TRU or $65 at one of their bump-up stores. And they would have replaced your favorite figure with yet another Spider-Man. The single sells alleviate the planning somewhat, but breaking up inventory unfortunately always leads to some sort of inventory issue. The set will sell through eventually. It's doing well for an item with a realistic investment term of three to five years. With all my circles complaining about the costs of printed material, I'm surprised the Marvel insert still exists. One hit for the printing, and another hit for postage if somebody actually mails it in. Seems like diminishing returns at this point.

TRU has free store pickup available on the set, so you can check whether they're in-stock at your store first. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=57537776 In my case, no, so it'll be cheaper to order online than drive 45 minutes to the one that does. Edit: And shipping is about a dollar cheaper going through TRU's eBay listing than their website.

They could do a piano like Sarcophagus, which wasn't technically a figure. Two halves, big enough to store a figure inside. Rowlf with Piano (brown plastic) Dr. Teeth with Piano (black plastic) Maybe include a Lobster Bandito or two per set to make sure you want both sets.

Blinds bags might actually be the way to go with something like Electric Mayhem. You could do all the members, colorway variants for a few members, and include a piece of Animal's drum set with each instead of trying to cost an entire drum set into a 2-pack or 4-pack. The extra figures would give you more band equipment, making it more worth it to buy an entire box.

It's a really clever design, because you can force perspective with it. Male or female, with a big spider symbol on the back, it's a great base design for another Spider-Verse Spidey.

Despite all his Marvel Legends figures still pegwarming, I'm warming up to Space Armor IM. I do think Ronan more than compensates for any lack of love for it. There were three, and they all looked the same, so I figured I'd just buy whichever one is left next week when I check again for the Valiant pack. My Spidey's arms were wonky out of the package. Turned out his chest block was on backward. It's a fun piece to dress down to Peter, and if you don't want it hiding under Spidey's armor, it's unisex enough that a female character could use it. It would have been impossible to cost out all the cool things Spidey could have come with, but I love the figure and I already have enough stuff laying around to tweak him.

In some ways, Kraang's elusiveness has allowed me to enjoy the Foot soldier even more. The clothing restricts motion a little, but it's still hands-down the best action figure of both the ninja and robot versions. April's better than her action figure. I think this is the only Nick Shredder out there with both knee and elbow articulation. I still really need Kraang, but maybe we can get an Invasion of New York box set out of it. One clear, one blue, one Norman, and a handful of little brain pigs. I think we're all just really worried that Karai's going to wind up exclusive to the next Kmart assortment. I think a lot of people will be all right about Bradford being hard to find, but will walk away from this line if they can't get Karai. It would mean the only humanoid Karai figure you can walk into any retailer and buy will be in the preschool line. Pixel Dan even singles out that preschool figure at about 1:36: But looking ahead, Hedorah's arms and legs could be repurposed for Mutagen Man, attached to something like Robot Red Skull's body. I'm trying to visualize how Kuma's overlay could be turned into a Biotroid.

I visited Kmart again, and lucked out with a woman doing a reset on the action figure aisle. She borrowed a handheld scanner and it showed two figures in stock. Never did find them. We looked in all the toy aisles, the cashier sections, and the clearance aisle. She said they could be hidden somewhere but the likely explanation, based on how many My Little Pony figures she's recovered, was theft. The scanner showed them on clearance for $4.69, so I'd say that's about it for checking for series 1 at this store.