Police Joker and SDCC Egon

The last 2 days have been full of news in the toy-collecting world of me!

First: Hot Toys revealed that Police Joker (pictured to the right, from the Hot Toys website) will come with an alternate sculpt head (with the make-up), as well as a complete classic Joker costume for the figure, which basically means that if one has Police Joker, one can change out the head and the clothes and essentially have a brand new original Joker. Plus grenades in his coat.

(And, apparently, even the eyes are positionable. Unbelievable.)

So I pre-ordered one, obviously, from Toy Rocket, at a fairly decent price. Then today I noticed they've increased the price by $20+. I emailed them to see if they're going to charge me the new, jacked-up price, which they probably will, and I will probably be angry.

Second: Mattel revealed today that the San Diego Comic Convention exclusives will include Dr. Egon Spengler with Slimer as a pack-in. (The image is from the Toy News International Website.) I'm also assuming this is the 6" figure that was shown as a prototype at NYCC.

If you look closely, you'll notice two interesting things: 1) Egon is "slimed", and 2) Slimer is translucent.

Why, Mattel, would you make the first Egon a "slimed" version? Perhaps all the boys in gray will be slimed, but it seems an odd choice. I'm not complaining, I just don't understand. Perhaps when these figures are sold online (as Mattel said they will be right after the con), they will be the slimed versions, or maybe there will be other "clean" variants. I'm curious.

And finally, Slimer being translucent is really exciting. I was wondering how they would do the pack-in ghosts, and it looks like they will be the dense, clear plastic/rubber that the original RGB pack in ghosts used. That excites me. (I also looked at ToyFare for this month, and they had an interview about the GB figures... saying they're going to use movie ghosts like the librarian and the taxi driver as pack-ins. How awesome is that?? Especially if they keep using the translucent effect.)

All I know is, I will cry if I don't get this guy when he is released online (supposedly the Monday after SDCC, at the end of July). Don't doubt me; I'll do it.

Watchmen

The Watchmen figures are great. Dr. Manhattan was the last one I got, and he was worth the wait. His articulation is basically non-existent, and his perpetual open-palm pose is somewhat annoying, but the sculpting is incredibly detailed-- all the way down to the veins in his legs. Nite Owl is also great, and with decent basic articulation (plus, the blade on his belt is removable). The Comedian is heavy and comes with 2 pistols, which actually have holsters on his legs. He's a great, sturdy figure. Rorschach is a bit disappointing, as he barely has any articulation at all, but he nonetheless looks good. Silk Spectre II is my first female figure (ever! Unless you count Janine from the RGB... which I don't), and despite the oddity of having a fairly well-proportioned plastic girl in my hands, I like the figure. Her likeness is off, as is the Comedian's, but that's forgivable.

When I return to my normal place of residence this weekend, I'll get some photos up of the variants and the classic figures, which I've decided to keep MIB.

I'm not becoming an MIB collector, but there is something about holding the unopened toy that gives me a great feeling. The old adage "It's not the having, it's the getting" I think applies pretty well to me, so keeping some figures MIB seems to prolong that "getting" feeling, while opening them (sometimes, not always) transitions it to the "having".

Ergo, I'll talk about the variants and classic figures at a later date.

Whoa whoa wait a minute.

As I usually do, I went on over to Toy News International for my morning dose of toy-related goodness. There was a headline announcing that Hot Toys had released a new teaser image, which I presumed would be about their Police Joker that is coming out. However, as I clicked on the image link, I noticed something in the thumbnail.

This Joker's not wearing any police uniform.

In fact, it looks like he's wearing the purple suit. With grenades in the coat.

Could it be? Do mine eyes deceive me?

Is there a new Hot Toys Joker (with original garb) coming out???

Ghostbusters, new Movie Masters,
Watchmen... and now this??

Movie Masters 2009

I stumbled upon Entertainment Earth's Movie Masters pre-order page, and they have images of the figures that will be coming out this summer.

Several questions arise. First, there is no sign of the Arkham Scarecrow or the Sonar Batman anywhere on the site. Like I mentioned once before, it annoys me that these figures have still not shown up at retail, despite a January release date. So what gives?

Second, and probably the most interesting, it appears that the good folks at Mattel have finally decided to let (at least) one Movie Masters figure have an accessory. That accessory, as obvious in the photo, is the ever-indispensable ENORMOUS SKI MASK that fits goofily over the face of Proto-Suit Batman. Why not 1) sculpt it on as a head, 2) give swappable heads with the figures, or at the very least 3) include USEFUL or COOL accessories with the MM figures?

Third, rather than complain, I'll point out that the Two-Face and the Jail Cell Joker look great, just like they did at NYCC. If only Mattel would ship these out like they are supposed to, everything would be peaches and roses.

Enough anger. I'm going to go enjoy my Watchmen figures now.

I did it

Today I found the unmasked Rorschach at TRU, a Nite Owl (Modern) at Spencer's, and all of the rest at my local comic shop (which was somehow magically cheaper than even TRU). Including the classic Comedian variant, which apparently is becoming very difficult to find.

The only 2 figures I don't have? You guessed it.

Dr. Manhattan, and the translucent variant. Yes, that's right, the only figure I was originally considering getting.

However, I'm incredibly happy with all of them. I wish Rorschach had more articulation, but I can ignore it. The rest of them are surprisingly well articulated, considering they are DC Direct figures. Not to mention they look great.

Rumor also has it that the classic Nite Owl and classic Silk Spectre are being left out of new figure shipments, so I'm really happy I got them.

I shall post pictures at some point, most certainly. These are great figures, and with each passing day I find myself becoming more drawn into Watchmen. I could never cheat on Batman, but the themes from Watchmen take the existential crisis of Bruce Wayne and turn it national.

It's apolitical in the highest sense, and to Alan Moore: even if you're pissed about everything, I still appreciate it. Thanks, bud.

I can't do it

First off, let me say this in a public sphere (just in case Zack Snyder is sadly rummaging through random blogs on the Internet): Watchmen (the movie) was great. Fantastic even. Given the complexity and depth of the book, managing to make a movie under 3 hours in duration that captured most of the themes of the book is an incredible accomplishment.

Now, as I've mentioned previously, I'm having a hard time not getting these figures (specifically the translucent Dr. Manhattan variant, but if I were to get him I'd have to get them all, obviously). I said once that I would see the movie and let that decide for me. Problem is, I loved the movie, loved the characters in it, and now am seriously having a difficult time not getting all of them.

Plus, the Toys R Us here doesn't carry any of them. I looked. (Which bothers me, since the unmasked Rorschach variant is a Toys R us exclusive, so how can my TRU not sell them?) Why did I look?

Because I probably would have bought them if they were there. See what I mean?

Where would I put them? With my Ghostbusters figures? My Batman figures? Should they get their own shelf? And if I start getting figures from other comics, what's to stop me from just losing my mind and buying every action figure out there? And then it's DC Direct; the articulation is bad and they're more like statues than action figures. Is that what I want?

You can see this is an existential crisis, fitting for Watchmen to elicit in me.

Perhaps I'm overstating. I don't want to spend $17 per figure to collect all of them, at least not at this point. Maybe in a few months, when TRU starts clearing them out (since apparently, the movie is far too complicated and confusing for laypeople to appreciate), I'll buy them.

Sigh. As long as Jon is still up there watching, it'll all be fine.

DC Superheroes Series 8 Clayface

The Clayface Saga is a time-period in my life I do not enjoy recalling. It began around February of last year, around the same time I got albino Man-Bat and the Ghostbusters Ecto-500. I had ordered Clayface from a someone on eBay (as well as a couple medical books and the Red Hood figure from the Secret Files Unmasked series, all from different retailers) and was hoping to have him after taking part one of the US Medical Licensing exam (yeah, remember, I'm going to be a doctor-- an action figure-collecting doctor. Sigh). Well Ecto-500 arrived, as did Man-Bat. The books, Red Hood and Clayface, however, never did. Somehow the US Postal Service managed to either lose them, or I got ripped off by a bunch of different eBayers simultaneously.

So it took me several weeks to recoup the losses I sustained, spending money on these things and not getting them. Eventually, however, I did get Clayface, and he was worth the wait (though not worth the hassle, and not worth the 2x cost of having to buy him twice). And for the record, I still have not gotten Red Hood.

Clayface earned Michael Crawford's Best Male Figure under 12" of 2007, and for good reason: he's fantastic. He's enormous, and his arms (being rubber molded over bendable wires) have infinite articulation points. The sculpt is reminiscient of the Animated Series Clayface, and while the character in the show for some reason always annoyed me, this figure does not. He's as close to perfect as one can get with an action figure, in my opinion.