I have a hard time calling lots of these collectible figures "toys" these days. Most are meant to be displayed in their box or card packaging never to be removed. I have to wonder how long modern "toys" would hold up with actual playing? Considering many are no longer found in the toy aisles and are instead in their own collectible area it seems to me they are designed to hit the "fan/adult" I gotta HAVE THIS button.

I’ve managed to break myself of my Legends habit, but I really want that Walmart exclusive Black Widow from the leather jacket-era Avengers. Alas, I have no faith in my ability to not go overboard again. Wish they’d do a statue from that era.

I’ve probably got around a hundred in storage. I just don’t have the room for them since I got into statues and Hot Toys.

Wolf Cap is a really good figure, but I’m not sure if it’s still reasonably priced.

I experienced another variation on this theme yesterday, in a positive way I think (though maybe not to the wallet!)

A strong collector "boutique" market also means a better chance for more obscure characters to get produced in the first place, and after I found the Badger figure I started looking at some other figures that company made. This one caught my eye, a Golden Age character called the "Blue Flame". Not a character I was familiar with, but the visual just called out to me for some reason (maybe it's the "blue variant" Human Torch looking aspect to it).



The "I gotta HAVE THIS" did kick in a little, but I initially showed restraint (can't click "purchase" on every little thing that catches the eye, or at least that's the theory). But throughout the day I kept thinking of this one and pulling it up for another look. Then I got curious about who the character actually was.

A little quick searching revealed he is exceedingly obscure indeed, a Human Torch like character that made all of one appearance in 1947, and a 6 page story at that, in Captain Flight #11, a title published by Four-Star Publications.





Growing a little smitten with the character at this point, I was able to track down a small public domain collection with that issue in it I plan to order (no proper reprint was ever done and the original issue looks to be particularly scarce). The "thrill of the hunt" having reached peaked fever, "I gotta HAVE THIS" won out and the action figure has been pre-ordered!

But the whole journey is what I think makes it fun. And being particularly nerdy when it comes to characters like this, I've already been dreaming up a short fan fiction where the Blue Flame teams up with some other more obscure Golden Age heroes like Cat-Man and Kitten and the Web.

I bought this recent Dr Doom retro Legends figure just because of the packaging. Not that I don’t love Doom, but I’ve got a Bowen bust and will likely get the upcoming Sideshow maquette, so there was no need for it. And I don’t usually keep toys packaged, but I absolutely have no intention of opening this one.

I posted this in the Dojo too, NECA announced today it will be doing a Usago Yojimbo figure as part oft he TMNT line, here's the unpainted prototype...



I don't buy many toys right now due to budget, but NECA will get my money for this assuming I can find it in stores.

-M

shaxper

The pic was taken from Stan's FB feed and hosted at my imugr. Not sure why it won't load for you, but if you pull up Stan's feed (or NECA's), you should be able to see it.

-M