action figure

Heros In Flight - Costume Delight

Ok, CQ folks. Today we have come to fulfill your ultimate nerd fantasy. Walk to your closet. No – actually run, because this event will be blow you away – literally.

Go get your costume. Don’t argue with us, we KNOW you have one. Come on down to New Paltz and unite with other Superfriends as you soar above the universe.

For more about this amazing event which our friends at FunList put together, read on…
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For anyone who’s ever wished they could fly, we’re offering the next best thing – the chance to free-fall while wearing a Superhero costume.

On Saturday, Oct. 24th, join us for a day of pant-soiling & skydiving near New Paltz, NY. Everyone is encouraged to bring a costume and prizes will be awarded to the best dressed. People dressed as themselves will be rewarded with non-stop ridicule.

Afterwards, we’ll take our renewed appreciation for life to the town of New Paltz for a few drinks. FunList will provide everything you need for this trip, including transportation from NYC and new underwear.

Included

• Transportation
• Skydive (training, gear, instructor, etc)
• New Underwear

Not Included

• Your Creative Costume

Departure/Return Info
Our group of about a dozen will depart from 37th/10th, in Manhattan, at 10am. We’ll be traveling about an hour and a half north, via our 15 passenger FunList van.

After our afternoon of skydiving and evening in the quaint town of New Paltz we’ll head back to NYC, arriving around 9pm. Upon our return, we’ll drop you off anywhere in Manhattan.

RSVP Info
This event is made available to you by Elizabeth Kressel, founder and CEO of Collectors’ Quest.

To RSVP, simply Register on FunList and click on the RSVP button for the Superhero Skydive event.

Zombies are everywhere and everything. Unlike pirates or ninjas, the endurance of the zombie seems to be as persistent as they themselves are in their unending trudge for brains and/or human flesh (depending on the mythology you subscribe to). It took me a while, but eventually, I became a zombie for zombies.

They might be all meat-and-skeleton, shambling across shopping malls and leaving trails of blood. They might be a slightly paler, smellier version of their former, living selves. They might have supernatural powers. They might want to eat you, and they might just want you to join their little club. No matter which kind of zombie you love, you can find collectibles to suit your desires.

So, when 3A’s Boiler Zomb arrived last week, it presented a vast and interesting contrast between itself and other 1/6th scale zombies, as well as every other 1/6th scale figure I’ve ever seen. Given the fact that I was exploring GoHero’s Buck Rogers in such detail last week, it’s worth looking at the exact opposite end of this spectrum.

Your typical 1/6th figure places a huge focus on creating lifelike, realistic features, and almost every single one of these figures are explicitly human, and usually fairly handsome, with a few notable exceptions. This is where the Boiler Zomb presents such a stark difference, in just about every way.

3A Toys are slowly working their way through the complicated mythology of Ashley Wood’s comics and paintings, which primarily focuses on robots, naked women, and zombies. We’ve been promised action figures of all three, and so far, we’re on robots and zombies. While many of the comics are beautiful but terribly unreadable, I’ll never hesitate to grab anything that Ashley Wood creates. The bizarre network of websites that somehow incorporate Ash Wood’s art and products are almost equally as impossible to navigate and understand, and feature things that exist one day and bear no traces the next, so there’s always a weird shroud of dystopic mystery surrounding his whole universe, whether it’s intentional or not. Is he using this twisted mess of websites as a way to emphasize the postapocalyptic, abandoned landscapes of his art, or is he just lazy and disorganized? Who knows. It hasn’t driven me away, so keep it up.

Boiler Zomb comes packaged in an exquisitely simple cardboard box, which is a far, far cry from the elaborate wooden packaging of last week’s Buck Rogers. Inside the cardboard box, the Zomb is held in place with a single piece of molded plastic, making it very easy to remove and replace.  It’s the simplest packaging I’ve ever seen on a 12” figure, and it works great, even if it inevitably beings to mind the kind of plastic packaging that you find at the dollar store, glued over a dangerous and bizarre action figure of ‘Spidered-Man’.

The body that 3A uses under that huge red jumpsuit is a solid, nice 1/6th scale, male body that can hold a pose and has a ton of flexibility. I look forward to seeing it on more neat figures. When it comes to that jumpsuit, I’d imagine that a giant, baggy set of coveralls are the simplest kind of figure clothing that one can make for this scale. It’s so much larger than the body that it would be unacceptable were the figure not already an undead mess, and honestly, it’s completely true to the Zomb art that Ash Wood has painted. The suit itself is very well weathered and peppered with holes and dirt. So well, in fact, that none of it really looks manufactured. A month on a factory floor would be a suitable equivalent for this damage. I’d love to know how they accomplished this, and if the people assigned to damaging these things had as much fun as I’m imagining.

The jumpsuit includes a working zipper, revealing a brand-named T-shirt underneath. Alas, there are no pants to complement this.

Of course, the most fascinating aspect are the hands and face. They’re sculpted with such an amazing cubist weirdness that you’d never expect it to work in three dimensions, much less on a small toy. This again comes in contrast with the ridiculously accurate sculpts that these toys usually have – which is part of the reason that the designer toy community is starting to pick up on this stuff that us oldschool toy geeks have known for ages. The potential for awesome 12” figures that extend beyond war and fantasy characters is huge, and this makes it more clear than ever before.

Boiler Zomb comes with a robot head, presumably severed in some kind of battle, and bearing similarities to some of the previously released, huge, expensive robots that complement this figure.

I’m not completely sold on the fact that this meets all of the expectations I’d have after paying $87 dollars, especially given the fact that the figure is not exclusive and is seeing considerable production numbers. In some ways, it feels like paying designer prices for a beautiful, but truly simple, figure. I’m forced to compare this to Sideshow Toys’ 1/6th zombies. While the intent is different, they’re also far more accessorized, slightly more complex, and cost about the same. I’m not unhappy with this – just forced to by hyperconscious of the toy budget.

Now, I can’t wait for the arrival of my half-dozen awesome Ash Wood robot action figures that I pre-ordered long ago. For now, check out the keeno gallery of the Zomb in his many moods.

It’s time to check in with the bi-annual Batman watch. I mean, it’s a pretty hourly thing for me on a personal level, but I choose to make it public twice a year – for your benefit.

We’ve finally seen a healthy ebb in the Batman Returns merchandise that Mattel had clogged the local toy shelves with. Wal-Mart can only carry so many slightly different variations of Christian Bale’s Cookie Monster Batman and not-even-close-to-Heath Ledger 4” Jokers, which have pretty much dominated more shelf space than they ever had the right to. Unless you stumble upon a super-rare Movie Masters ‘Unmasked Batman’ or ‘Fear Batman’ with the all-black ghoul mask, these aren’t worth squat. Even the Movie Masters Jokers, which exploded in secondary market value shortly after Heath Ledger’s death, are now commonplace as they’re no longer serving as creepy personal memorials.

New from Mattel, however, is the super adorable ‘Action League’ Batman, based on the ‘Brave & the Bold’ cartoon. While Hasbro pioneered the chunky ‘Superhero Squad’ style of simplified figure, which was quickly emulated by every other toy company, Mattel enters the fray with the most animated, clean bunch of figures.

Collectors and completists, please note that there are three different Batmen in this line at this time. Two Batmen, both in classic blue and grey, come in two different fightin’ poses – one holding a Batarang. They’re available in single packs for around $5, but also come in two-packs with villians. A third Batman, decked out in his grey and blacks, comes with the Batmobile set, which also includes the Clock King and retails for around $20. For my money, the Action League blows away the sloppy paint and occasionally goofy sculpting that Hasbro launched the aesthetic with.

UK’s Eaglemoss Publications, responsible for the popular Marvel Classic Figurine Collection, has recently started releasing DC Comics characters into the US – starting with a 4” lead statue of Batman, which I couldn’t resist. They’ll run you about $10 a piece, are planned to span a huge amount of characters., and all come with a pretty impressive glossy magazine that details the minutae of each character’s developments, statistics, enemies, and a ton of pictures. Most of these pieces are great – heroic poses, clean paint and excellently sculpted – but there’s also the occasional piece that doesn’t exactly fill the mold and will come out warped, completely broken, or will get painted blindly. As a result, it’s best to know what you’re looking at before you bring it home. Also, don’t eat it.

The next two Batmen of significance both come from DC Direct’s statue lines.

The ‘Batman Black & White’ line has been an excellent way for DC Direct to show off the art of dozens of different illustrators and how they interpret Batman. Bruce Timm’s May 2009 entry into the series is only the third Batman in the series that has never appeared in a canonical comic, and might just be the Batman with the widest audience, because that audience includes my mom. I admit to a distinct love of Bruce Timm’s squared-off Batman, since it was through the 1990s cartoons that I really found my inner Batman. Only 4000 of these were made, but don’t expect these later pieces to increase in value. Early pieces from the series, like Mike Mignola’s statue, now sell for around $200, while Brian Bolland and Eduardo Risso’s statues have peaked at around $100. Considering the original price of around $50, that’s not too shabby – but those are the only three that have truly taken off.

Finally, there’s one more Batman statue from DC Direct that was released last month, as the second release from the new (but ongoing) Heroes of the DC Universe line. Based on the art of Carlos Pacheco and sculpted by superstar Jean St. Jean, it’s more if an ‘iconic’ Batman than a ‘dynamic’ Batman – a good piece to anchor the display, and in full color.

It’s a bevy of Batmen, and despite this flagging economy, I’m still all in for Batman. Sorry, Iron Man – you’ll just have to be on hold for now.

Good morning, everyone: Christmas is here, you’re watching the Star Wars Holiday Special bootleg Santa brought last year, and if you’ve ended up on Santa’s ‘good-little-kid’ list this year, too, maybe you got what you want under the tree.   In an attempt to, you know, get some brownie points with the elves, I put my Santa letter into christmas-carol format.   Hopefully Santa doesn’t count rhyming schemes when analyzing his incoming mail, but I did my best.   If you’d like to sing along, it’s written to the tune of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen (audio here):

Dear Santa, I’ve been good this year,
No problems caused by me,
I thought I’d write a short list here,
if guidance did you need,
to pick out just the bestest thing
that I could ever see,
And Star Wars is just the thing for me,
wouldn’t you think?
My suggestion is what my collection needs.

I want a vintage Obi-Wan
the rarest that there be,
his saber is collapsible
not one-piece blade, you see,
they were just made in
one small batch,
are few and far between,
oh eBay has failed me once again,
once again,
I can’t find him for sale, that ol’ Ben.

If Obi Wan cannot you find
A YakFace will do fine,
In Europe and Australia
was he sold to fans sublime,
The market in the States was foul,
Star Wars was in decline,
so a YakFace is very rare to find,
stateside,
but it’s not too spendy, if you check the Guide.

One day I sold my Boba Fett,
twelve-incher, he was big,
because he lacked accessories
and paint-flakes did he bleed,
but now I wish I had him back,
Oh, Boba, why’d you leave?
But Christmas is here and now you see,
I have a real need,
I’d like another — with accessories.

In Christmas memories of mine
Star Wars was prominent,
My uncle dressed as Santa and
gave Jedi accoutrements,
but years have passed and now I lack
the toys that came and went.
Collecting is tougher now ‘cuz boys
play hard with their toys,
now grownups still ask Santa for Star Wars.

We continue our look at the top ten most pricey and rare Star Wars action figures. Check out numbers 1 through 5 by clicking here!

6. Yak Face (Power of the Force, 1985)

Once all three original Star Wars movies were over, and all three accompanying lines of toys had been completed, Kenner continued the Star Wars series of action figures with 1985’s ‘Power of the Force’ line. This included 36 additional figures (22 of which we re-releases), and it addressed many auxiliary characters, as well as main characters in different outfits. Little did they know that every character who appeared in the background of a scene for a millisecond would eventually be getting a complex backstory and an action figure from Hasbro. Each POTF figure included a collectible coin, in addition to the usual accessories. While line was canceled due to declining sales, a 37th figure had already begun production.

This figure was ‘Yak Face’, who is also known in proper Star Wars canon as Saelt-Marae – who appeared for three seconds in Return of the Jedi. As companies are still wont to do when there’s a production oversight or a change in distribution plans, Kenner sent all of their Yak Face figures to Canada and Europe. In the days before the information superhighway, this was a big deal, as these were rendered nearly inaccessible (and were simply unheard of) by the average American kid. We were Yakless, or Faceless, or something.

As a result, a loose Yak Face will get you about $150 if you still have the staff that came with him (which only came with the Canadian edition), and a sealed Yak Face recently sold for $2250 at auction, which is the most respect that a guy named ‘Yak Face’ will ever get.

I have a personal connection to Yak Face, as I accidentally stood next to a life-sized statue of him during New York Comic Con, while a friend very vocally described our physical similarities. Within earshot of a very attractive girl. Dear Yak Face, I feel your pain.

7. Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper (Power of the Force, 1985)

Another entry from the 1985 ‘POTF’ line, Luke as a Stormtrooper proved a little hard to find because of the fading interest that retailers had in the Star Wars line, without movies to back it up. When Luke was actually found, there was a special interest in him as he was the only figure in the POTF line that came from ‘A New Hope’, and not one of the sequels.

As a side note, this POTF line also included a mail-away Anakin, which came packed in a plastic baggie from Kenner, which is worth about $100 bucks.

8. Vlix

Vlix wasn’t officially from the main Star Wars line, but instead a character from the short-lived Droids cartoon. He’s worth including as he’s regarded as the rarest of all released Star Wars-related figures.

When the Droids line of toys was canceled, Kenner had already sculpted and molded Vlix, planning to include him in the next assortment. Instead of letting the expensive tooling go completely to waste, the molds were sold to a Brazilian company called Glasslite, who proceeded to make the figure – and distribute it only in Brazil. Those guys have all the luck – they have nuts, sexily waxed women, and all of our Vlix figures.

Even a loose Vlix will net you around $4000, and a carded Vlix will probably put you through college a few times. I can only wonder if some Brazilian grandmother is cleaning out her attic and putting Vlix out at a tag sale at this very moment…

9. Anakin-to-Darth Vader Hasbro Press Kit

… which I’m counting as one figure.

Numbers nine and ten in the countdown are the only two on the list that were made after 1990. In fact, the Anakin-to-Darth Vader was released very recently in 2005 – but ONLY to Hasbro’s media guests in their Toy Fair showrooms. I’m still kinda cheesed off that they didn’t give me one. I love me some Vader, and I’d even make an exception to having a young Anakin into my collection, but that Vader could have been the difference between living at home for a few years and paying off my college loans immediately.

The rare press kit included a figure of Anakin Skywalker on a circular base, which rotated into a figure a Darth Vader. The figure was packed along with various press materials, all in a handsome box. While the initial secondary market price of the kit was in the many-thousands, it’s now dipped below $400. And I still don’t have one.

So close to financial solvency, guys. Woulda made braving the sweat-storm of fanboy armpits almost worth it.

10. Freeze-frame Weequay (Power of the Force, 1990s)

The final figure in this list is the thoroughly unlovable Weequay, a skiff guard for Jabba the Hutt, and all-around gross-lookin’ guy. Weequays are a dime a dozen are are pretty worthless when they’re loose. so the big difference with THIS Weequay only comes into play in the packaging, making for another moment of Star Wars collecting completism insanity.

See, this ugly guy from the ‘Power of the Force 2′ line from the mid-90s included a ‘freeze frame’, which was a gimmicky projectable slide that was included with a handful of the figures. Think ‘family vacation photos’, except your family is really ugly and fights in space a lot. Only a handful of these ‘Freeze Frame’ Weequays were released before they were repackaged without the slide, on a much more common green  card with a shiny picture of his ugly mug. A sealed Weequay, on a US card (none of that tri-lingual foreign junk here), with the slide, will run about $400, and an opened ‘Quay is just about the saddest thing I ever did see.

There are a few more uncommon Star Wars figures out there, but none so rare and treasured as these guys – which are likely to pop up in any given attic or tag sale by folks who just want to clean out their attic and don’t give two damns about eBay or us nerds. Keep on hunting!