Wednesday, January 01, 2014

The Eighth Annual, Random Happenstance, Year in Toys!


Normally, when the end of the year rolls around, I'm more than able to give said year the big kiss-off. But 2013? A little bit of all right! Made even better, of course, by the ever-popular Year in Toys!

For new readers: next to my desk at work is a little yellow notebook, in which I have been keeping a running total of every action figure or toy I buy. I started December 2005 and haven't filled it yet, so apparently I'm not buying enough figures. Hopefully, each entry has the figure, the line, the price, and where I bought it; and possibly a link to a cartoon or strip that toy was used in. (Unless that figure's unloved or unphotogenic, I guess. Or I'm lazy...) Totals will usually include postage and tax. Usually. This is by no means a "Best of" list or anything, just what I bought.

As always, most of this list was kept up at OAFE.net, and here's links for 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006. Eight years of data...of my spending habits, which probably tells you nothing, but still.

1-5 DC Direct Stel, $7.50; Man-of-Bats, $4.50; gohastings.com.

1-11 JLU Superman (with Kandor), $8.77; DC Direct Superwoman, $12.77; Action Figure Nexus. Free postage!

1-31 Star Trek Art Asylum Gorn, loose, $10.49 shipped, eBay.

2-2 Marvel Legends Red Hulk right leg, $14.99 shipped, eBay. 51 months from the first figure to finishing Red Hulk.

2-12 DCUC Matter-Eater Lad, loose from Legion set, $10+$3.54 postage, eBay. Apparently I'm buying my Legion on the installment plan...

2-13 DCD JLA Red Superman, $5.40, Hastings. McGuinness style body. Bought mostly 'cause he was cheap and I hadn't found a figure locally yet this year.

2-14 Ultimate Spider-Man Human Rocket Nova, $12.99, Wal-Mart. Kinda disappointing.

2-14 DC Direct Black Lantern Firestorm, $4.99 with $5.80 postage, eBay. Deathstorm.

2-26 DC Unlimited New 52 Batman, loose, $13.50, eBay.

3-5 DC Signature Collection John Constantine/Hellblazer, loose, $11.50, eBay.

3-15 Marvel Legends Red She-Hulk, Protector, and Hyperion; $19.99 each, Toys R Us, total $65.18. Complete Build-a-Figure Hit-Monkey!

3-27 2 Marvel Battledice Nightcrawlers, $2.00+$2.50 postage, eBay.

3-28 Marvel Spider-Man Squinkies crane, $6.48, Target.

DC Direct Dragon Age Duncan, $5.94, Hastings.

4-5 Loose DCUC: Adam Strange, Black Adam, Mr. Terrific, Beast Boy, Riddler (suit&derby), Joker, Luthor (purple), Brainiac (green), Batman (90's black), Flash, Kid Flash, Steel, Deathstroke, Atom (Indigo), Green Lantern (GA) and Bronze Tiger; and a ML1 Captain America. $45+$9 shipping, eBay.

4-11 NECA Jonah Hex (movie), $2.99, Hastings.

4-18 Batman Unlimited Dark Knight Returns Batman and Planet X Batman (with Bat-Mite!), $21.99 each, $47.63 total, the Comic Book Shop. Great!

4-20 DC Unlimited Hawkman, $18.99, Toys R Us.

5-1 Marvel Select Nightcrawler, $19.80, the Comic Book Shop.

5-14 Iron Man ML Ultron, $14.96, Wal-Mart.

6-1 ML Red Skull (modern, from the Toy Biz Face Off 2-pack) $2.50; Thor, $2, Spokane Comicon.

6-8 Yard sales: Spider-Man, Spider-Car, Captain America flipbot, $.75.

6-9 Movie Masters Superman, $11.19, Fred Meyer.

6-15 McFarlane Movie Maniacs Aliens Hicks, $2, yard sale.

6-28 Young Justice Sportsmaster, $14.04, Ross.

7-5 The Hobbit Tauriel, free, K-Mart.

7-12 Incredible Hulk movie Abomination, $3, yard sale.

7-13 NECA Pacific Rim Crimson Typhoon, $14.99; NECA Predator Jungle Extraction Dutch, $15.99; Toys R Us.

7-14 Mega Blocks Havok, Magneto; free, K-Mart.

7-30 Batman Power Attack Blast&Battle Batcave, $20.98, Target.

8-7 Amazing Spider-Man movie Spidey with Andrew Garfield head, $9, Wal-Mart.

8-8 Marvel Legends Judith Chambers, aka Satana; $23.40+$8 shipping, eBay.

8-9 Masters of the Universe Classics
Adora and Moss Man, $9.99 each, total $21.80, Big Lots. Plus my girlfriend got me the Faceless One!

8-15 Star Wars Black six-inch Luke Skywalker, $19.99, Target; Masters of the Universe Classics Icarius, Catra, Count Marzo, and Syklone, $40, Big Lots.

8-20 MOTUC Megator, Grizzlor, Orko/Prince Adam, Mo-Larr/Skeletor, $40, Big Lots.

9-4 MOTUC Clawful, $10.80, Big Lots.

9-11 DC Unlimited Vampire Batman, $21.99, the Comic Book Shop.

9-15 Batman and Robin Classics '66 Wall-Climbing set, $25.60, Amazon. (I don't usually buy from there, but got a deal on a slightly dinged-up box!)

9-28 Star Wars Black R2-D2, $15, K-Mart.

Imaginext blind-bag Spy with Jetpack, $2.99, Wal-Mart.

9-30 Babylon 5 Commander Ivanova, eBay, $3+6.45 postage.

Another MOTUC Adora, $10, Big Lots.

10-1 MOTUC Chief Carnivus, $13.85+6.85 shipping, eBay.

10-2 Rescue Bots Optimus Prime bag, $2.99, Target.

10-3 Imaginext blind-bag Robot, $2.99, Wal-mart.

Marvel Legends BAF Giant-Man left foot, $2.99+1.90 shipping, eBay. The right one is going to be the killer...

Babylon 5 Marcus Cole, $3+7.15 shipping, eBay.

10-12 Lego Galaxy Patrol bag, $3.99, Target.

10-14 Zagbag Batman, $1.99, Walgreens. Felt the ears in the bag.

10-15 (or thereabouts) Ultimate Spider-Man Fighter Pods, $4.23, TJ Maxx.

10-18 Zagbag Catwoman (2) and Cyborg, $5.97 total, Walgreens.

10-25 Toy Biz Age of Apocalypse Weapon X, $30.47 shipped, Amazon. Ow. But finally completed Giant-Man, after seven and a half years!

10-26 Toys R Us exclusive Dark Knight Trilogy set, $20.47, Toys R Us.

11-9 Hive Wars Predator, $16.99; K-Nex Pac-Man and blue ghost (2), $6.38, Toys R Us.

11-12 A Big Box from Big Bad Toy Store! ML Ultimate Cap, $6.99, ML Scarlet Spider $8.99, DCUC 19 set (Kobra, Magog, GA Hawkman, GA Atom, Stargirl, Sandman, and C&C S.T.R.I.P.E.) $64.99, Mech Ideas Long Blast upgrade kit (with Shockwave and Megatron guns) $15.99; total $112.21 shipped.

11-21 Kre-O Soundwave, $0, Toys R Us. (Bought some Christmas presents with some coupons.)

11-27 Movie Masters General Zod (black outfit), $4.96, Target.

12-7 MOTUC Battleground Teela, $10; Eternian Palace Guards two-pack, $27; $53.48 shipped.

12-13 Star Wars Black Slave Leia, $16.29 shipped, HasbroToyShop.com.

12-14 MOTUC vs. DCUC Stratos vs. Hawkman, $5 (plus another for Toys for Tots!) and Mass Effect 3 Miranda, $5, Toys R Us.

12-16 Star Wars Black Han Solo, $16.29 shipped, HasbroToyShop.com.

12-17 Lego blind-bag Barbarian, $3.23, Wal-Mart. I know I bought more of these...

12-21 Heroic Age Iron Man, $8.10, Target.

12-23 Star Wars Black Boba Fett, $16.29, HasbroToyShop.com.

12-24 Marvel Now! Captain America, $16.20, Target.

2013 Total: $1101.93. 2012: $706.32. 2011: $564.71. 2010: $966.10. 2009: $558.16. 2008: $555.16. 2007: $426.00. 2006: $620.00.

If you can believe it, there was actually a stretch this year, where I wondered if there would even be anything for me to buy in 2013! In my defense, DC Universe Classics was dead or as good as; Marvel Legends were barely distributed in stores, and I was more interested in getting new characters than a bunch of variants or new costumes of the same guy. You can see how that turned out...

I had so much fun this year--figure-wise and otherwise! That I think the rest of this week is just going to be expanding on this post, perhaps. Hope you had a great year as well, and stay safe!

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Oh hell dude! I hear about thinking it was gonna' be slim pickens this year. To an extent to was to albout half-way through the year, this bidness picked up.
Got the Elasti-Girl and Elongated Man figures yesterday. Fucking love em!

Funny one's and done. Love the Sandman one myself. I'm so stealing that effect. You've been warned;)

The Hawkman one was nice too, as was the nice jab by Cap to Tony.

Nice to see you made out pretty well in 2013 all things considered. I can only imagine what kind of a year toy-wise this year will be, but with no more DCUC and Marvel Legends heading off into the sunset as well, I guess it'll be catch up time mostly for me on a few figures. I guess I can then turn my attention to set/prop pieces 'cause I could really use em.

Hope you're having a very Happy New Year Goo:)