On 3/20/2025 at 11:37 AM, Reno said:I missed the pre-order for X-Factor Jean as it's sold out, but I'm not terribly torn up about it as I wasn't crazy about the figure anyway.
However, Target seems to be getting pretty bad about having their exclusives sell out online quick and never getting stocked in physical stores (at least in my area).
I'm getting really tired of Target. Agree 100% with you for online. In-store, the waves appear 1 to 3 times each, and then they vanish. The only way I can keep up is swing by the store a block from work. If the pegwarmers are up, I know I just missed it and I've 1 or 2 more chances.
On 3/26/2025 at 10:35 AM, TheArrow said:Yeah, I want that curve to touch--it actually has a couple of times in other lines, but only very sparingly. You cite a very good description of the situation. There's a LOT of placeholders in their lines and a lot of "Malibu Stacy's with Hats" too.I bought the ToyBiz stuff from the start, and I still have a bunch in my collection. So figures therein have, imo, never been surpassed, or have been upgraded only so marginally as to be not worth the effort to get.Lockjaw is an interesting case: I thought the Mezco: ONE-12 Blackbolt set had ( initially) a leagues better Lockjaw. Uh-uh.The Hasbro Lockjaw is more articulated, by a bit---it just lacks the light-up feature.
Haha, the Hasbro Lockjaw proves my asymptote theory. To get close to an end-all Lockjaw by Hasbro, it would need that light-up feature! (And maybe better articulation. We can dream LoL)
I do have a handful, and I mean literally 5 or less, of the old Toybiz Legends: Ultimate Iron Man---I thought this was really great at the time, until I checked under the lid and found Tony's ridiculous looking tiny head! I leave it on him---Beast w/articulated jaw, Professor X, the other 2 I can't recall.
On 3/26/2025 at 6:00 AM, RandomRaccoon said:I try to stay upbeat about it. I mean, can you imagine years earlier, buying the farm, only to have lived through the TOY BIZ era as the highlight of one's collecting experience? We're in a golden age of sorts. I got Crystal/Lockjaw recently. Sure wish Lockjaw's legs were a little more articulated. But in this case, who knows when Hasbro will get around to rereleasing a retooled "super-posable) Lockjaw, so I'm grateful.
Yeah, I want that curve to touch--it actually has a couple of times in other lines, but only very sparingly. You cite a very good description of the situation. There's a LOT of placeholders in their lines and a lot of "Malibu Stacy's with Hats" too.I bought the ToyBiz stuff from the start, and I still have a bunch in my collection. So figures therein have, imo, never been surpassed, or have been upgraded only so marginally as to be not worth the effort to get.Lockjaw is an interesting case: I thought the Mezco: ONE-12 Blackbolt set had ( initially) a leagues better Lockjaw. Uh-uh.The Hasbro Lockjaw is more articulated, by a bit---it just lacks the light-up feature.
On 3/25/2025 at 12:01 PM, TheArrow said:It feels more like a "what can we get away with for cheap?" than a "what can we add to this to make it really special?"kind of thing. And Hasbro always does this, it's a historically overriding product philosophy, and we are suckers for it, because we keep buying the stuff. It''s a constant series of small omissions and missed opportunities---corners cut, basically.
Hi, fellow tiny-plastic-people collector LoL
You're 100% right about the small omissions/missed opportunities=cutting corners thing. I believe one more thing is going in, and it's what keeps us buying.
In JRHS algebra, we learned about an asymptote, "a line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at anyfinitedistance."
An exercise had us charting the curve on an x-y axis, and sure enough, with each change on the x variable, the curve got a fraction closer to the line, the y axis. In other words, the curve will NEVER touch the line.
Hasbro's continuous rollout of Spider-Man figures--- and let's be honest, this goes for EVERY figure they make, in EVERY line---will never result in the end-all, 100% complete ultimate base Spider-Man figure, because if that happened, a lot of us would stop buying them.
Instead, they put out one Spider-Man figure after another that's always missing SOMETHING. The paint/shading is off, no pizza slice, no other alt hands besides fist/"thwip" hands, alternate heads that look almost the same, no unmasked head, unmasked head that looks wonky, no web/not enough web accessories, etc etc etc. We'll never reach that line, but we keep getting closer. And closer. And closer. For eternity. WOMP womp LoL
Look at what they just did with X-factor Jean and her boots error! (Yes, we can paint it, but we're not supposed to be buying DIY figures, either) At some point, they'll roll out her red uniform with the corrected boots, but who wants to bet the yellow will be a shade off from the yellow on the green uniform?
I try to stay upbeat about it. I mean, can you imagine years earlier, buying the farm, only to have lived through the TOY BIZ era as the highlight of one's collecting experience? We're in a golden age of sorts. I got Crystal/Lockjaw recently. Sure wish Lockjaw's legs were a little more articulated. But in this case, who knows when Hasbro will get around to rereleasing a retooled "super-posable) Lockjaw, so I'm grateful.