Tag: Marvel

Weekend Toy Run: Black Friday / Cyber Monday Online Toy Deals Round-Up (Updated)

Want to avoid the crowds on Black Friday, or resting your feet after spending all night at the stores? Kick back, relax, and shop for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals from the comfort of your home (or wherever you may be visiting from)!

I apologize in advance for any duds – I haven’t had the chance to check all of these out myself. But what else are we gonna do today? 😀 Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Weekend Toy Run: Entertainment Earth 4-Inch Action Figure Stands (25 for $6)

With Black Friday approaching, I’ve been getting ready for deals on action figures. So I was psyched to see that Entertainment Earth is running a pre-Black Friday sale. While I was less than enthused by the offerings in the action figure category – less than a dozen in total from Bandai (1), Bif Bang Pow! (7), DC Collectibles (2), and Jazwares (1) – something in the sale did catch my attention. They have stands for 4-inch action figures on sale – 25 stands for $6.

From time to time I get questions from readers on where to find stands. Back in the day, McFarlane sold them online, but stopped several years back. Pro Tech stands have been the de facto stand-in, but start at 44 cents a pop, although they get cheaper in big quantities. But at 24 cents a stand, the EE deal is pretty damn good; the cheapest the Pro Tech stands get are 33 cents each, but you have to buy over 500!

EE has got five color options – clear, white, tan gray, and black. These should work with all your Hasbro 4-inchers – G.I. JOEs, Marvel Universe, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones (although I don’t know many who have these) – and 4-inchers from other lines, like Playmates Star Trek figures.

Hopefully we’ll see some better deals as the week progresses, but for now, cheap stands are a decent start. Happy shopping!

First-Timer Shares His Experience Customizing a Marvel Universe Wolverine

Long-time reader Matt Cauthen has shared his experience with us as a first-time customizer, and we were really impressed with the results!

Reminder: the entry deadline for CustomCon 38 is coming up on December 5.

I’ve been a fan of ActionFigurePics.com for a few years. I’ve mostly kept up with news and pics of Marvel Universe 3.75 figures as they were issued. What inspired me to do my own custom was a post on editing the Magneto figure that came in a 2 pack. I have that figure as well and plan on making my version soon. As you already know, too many of the Marvel Universe figs have first issues that have stunted or deformed bodies. Wolverine was my choice for my first custom because I still believe they have yet to make a completely satisfying figure of him. They are either too small or hunch-backed with a stunted torso.

Continue reading “First-Timer Shares His Experience Customizing a Marvel Universe Wolverine”

Kickstarter Monday: Visionaries (Hasbro Vintage 1987 Toy Line) Collector’s Guide Campaign is Seeking Your Pledge

Christopher Ibbitt contacted me last week to share the Kickstarter campaign he is working on with Gemma Tovee – a collector’s guidebook for Hasbro’s Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light toy line. Although a much younger me was happily collecting G.I. JOE when this toy line existed, way back in 1987, I never encountered Visionaries. According to Christopher, Visionaries was marketed that year with the same marketing fervor as Joes, just in the fantasy genre instead of military:

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light was a toy line produced by Hasbro in 1987. The figures, vehicles and accessories prominently featured holographic or foil stickers to represent the characters ability to invoke magical powers or adopt animal forms.

As was typical with many children’s properties of its time the toylines launch was accompanied by a comic and cartoon series of the same name, produced by Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics) and Sunbow Productions respectively. Both of which were ultimately cancelled with the discontinuation of the toy line as a result of rising production costs.

Guidebooks for toy lines are labors of love. I backed Philip Reed (of battlegrip.com) in his successful Kickstarter for Transforming Collections (covering unofficial Transformer toys, not from Hasbro), and would like to see this project come to fruition. The Visionaries guidebook campaign is in the funding stage until November 28. They’re nearly 2/3 of the way to a very modest target of around $3,500 (£2,200). Check it out!

Weekend Toy Run: Invincible Deals on Hot Toys and More at Marvel.com

Marvel.com is running its annual Veteran’s Day sale, and there’s a whole lot of good deals on the site for 25% off and free shipping for orders over $50 (code: MARVELHERO). You’ll find the usual suspects – Marvel Select figures from Diamond Select Toys, Funko head bobblers, and even LEGO sets. If you’ve got the hankering for some Marvel tees, they’ve even got a few you can customize, like this Guardians of the Galaxy t-shirt for the guys, and this SHIELD tee for the ladies. All of the customizable gear is available for men, women, and kids. Want a tee with just Rocket and Groot on it? Just hit the “Customize it!” button.

But the biggest bang for your buck is on the Hot Toys in the Marvel Shop Collectibles section. Even with the slight markup on the Marvel site, the 25% off and free shipping nets you the best prices you can get this weekend. For example, the Hot Toys Tony Stark Mechanic figure from Iron Man 3 is currently available. You’ll save more than just a couple of bucks this way (enough for some good BBQ), and the best part is that the Marvel Shop is listing Sideshow exclusive version, with Tony  Stark’s kitbashed repulsor.

As you might expect this holiday, they are sold out of the Hot Toys Iron Patriot (they have him in bobble-head format), but they’ve got a few Marvel Select Captain America figures, including the Falcon.

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