Mass Effect: Andromeda POP! Vinyl Figures
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Dr. Wily Paper Foldable
Bryan from Paper Foldables has created a new foldable of Mega Man's arch-nemesis - Dr. Wily. You can check out his personal take on the character of Dr. Wily below...and you can download the PDF of the Paper Foldable here. Stock up on high-quality paper stock. When I played Mega Man 2 as a kid, I couldn't […] Read more
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Bootleg, Typo, Or The Best Deal Ever?
Their is a fishy listing on eBay for what the seller claims to be Hot Toys' MMS350 Captain America: Civil War 1/6th Scale Captain America collectible figure. With more than ten available and a Buy It Now price of only $49.99 we don't think its on the up and up, but for those of you more daring than us, you can check it out here.
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BIG BOBETT [Holiday Special] by FLABSLAB X Wetworks On Pre-Order Now
Preorder your “Big Bobett [Holiday Special]” via flabslab.bigcartel.com for US$280 (International shipping is an additional US$90)."You've asked for more Big Bobetts by Wetworks and we have listened. Back in his Holiday suit and available via preorder from now till we decide enough is enough. Production time is approximately 2 months from close of order period, depending on the orders we get. ![]()
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Gong Xi Gong Xi!
Gong Xi Gong Xi!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPug98jgyaS/
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CNY Festivities
How's your CNY festivities going? Doing or planning any trips?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPuhI1tgFZu/
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Zero Trace Of CNY In Japan
In Japan there is zero trace of CNY. Saw loads of decorations in Vegas last week though. How about you...
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Peter Kato’s Custom Bedtime Bunnies Launch @ PIQ on Feb 1st
PIQ PRESS: "Cult toy designer Peter Kato will release fifteen exclusive color variations of his Bedtime Bunnie figures created exclusively for PIQ. These custom versions of his signature sleep walkers hold contrast colored hearts in their hands. Only available at PIQ Grand Central Terminal andPIQgifts.com. Read the interview with Peter at PIQgifts.com."
"For me, my goals were kept simple: make ![]()
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GID MARBLE Cestoda LOTTERY from Miscreation Toys x Toy Art Gallery starts Jan 27th
TAG PRESS: ”New from Miscreation Toys and TAG; the giant CESTODA in marbled glow-in-the-dark vinyl! The enormous Cestoda towers in at a terrifying 14 inches in height and width with over 10 points of articulation. Black and glow-in-the-dark vinyl swirl together to create it's ghastly visage and highlight the amazingly detailed sculpting.
The MARBLE GID Cestoda retails for $275 and will be ![]()
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Food to Nap On
These were perfect after holiday meals – the perfect pillow for dreaming of the next meal. Squishable Hamburger Plush, Mini 7″ Squishable / Mini Comfort Food Taco 7″ Plush Squishable Comfort Food Key Lime Pie Plush, 12″ There are a slew more other food items – all perfect for a food coma. Tweet This Post
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Cool Things To Buy - How About Collectible Figures Or Prop Replicas?
Ah the age old question. What cool things to buy are there? Have you noticed when you type that exact phrase in a search engine such as Google, most of the ideas really aren't that cool?
If you're asking the above question, then maybe you're scratching your head on what you can buy that you'll love looking at and maybe your family and friends will too. A point of conversation. Something a bit different. In this article, we'll help you figure out what to buy and also tell you about our passion which we think looks pretty cool and a bit different: high-end collectibles.
The above picture is a mixture of collectible statues, action figures and prop replicas based on characters and props from movies, games and comics. If you like any of those forms of entertainment, you'll probably recognise some of the pieces on display. These are all pieces based on entertainment I like. Star Wars, Batman, Wolverine, Spider-man, Aliens, Terminator, Bruce Lee, Iron Man, Robocop, Gizmo, Gears Of War. It's a real mix, with one common theme. I like those particular films, comics and games. So this collection is full of cool things to me.
Cool things just for you or for others too?
Before you start buying and displaying cool things, I think this is an important question to answer. In my case, this particular display is in my study / man cave. It's mainly used by me, so it's decorated with stuff I like. If your display is mainly for you, then it should be full of what you like.
If your planned display is for multiple people, then really you should consider that in your display. Indeed two pieces on that display are more for my wife than for me who occasionally uses this room. She really liked Pirates of the Carribean, so the Hot Toys Jack Sparrow figure (image below) is one for her. Gizmo we both like, but I remembered she had a Gizmo bag when she was younger so the Medicom Gizmo Action Figure (see image above) was a nod to her youth. There's nothing there that she hates or that would scare our kids. So whilst it's my room and mostly for me, there are some considerations for my family too.
What are cool things to you?
So let's get your creative juices flowing a bit. What's cool to you? That should be your inspiration. Do you like movies? Games? Music? Art? Animals? Sport? Fashion? You name it, there are cool things to buy out there when you know what you're looking for. So start there.
Now, I said at the start of this article that I'd help you find cool things to buy, even if it's not collectibles. Whatever your interest, all you need do is make your search on Google more specific. For example, rather than searching Google for cool things to buy, search for something that relates more directly to your interests. For example, if you like guitar music, your searches could include: guitar memorabilia, cool guitars to buy, guitar merchandise, guitar ornament, guitar collectibles, most interesting guitars, etc.
How much do you wanna spend?
Cool stuff can be cheap or hugely expensive. So before you start too much research, figure out your budget. Whilst it's interesting to look at really expensive stuff, you may end up just wasting your time and then feeling a bit despondent if you can't afford what you've seen.
How many cool things do you want to buy?
That's an important consideration as it directly affects your budget per item. Naturally if you're just after one item to fill a certain space in your home that's a lot simpler and likely cheaper than filling an entire display. Size is also an important factor. The Attakus Darth Vader statue below is only 1/10 scale, so whilst it looks cool, it's only 8" tall so doesn't fill a big space. It is however, perfect for a small display area.
Ways to spread out the cost of your display
If you're planning to display quite a number of items, then that could well be expensive. So you can either gradually build your collection, or buy it in bulk at the start if you have the money or look to spread it out over time either with a bank loan or a credit card purchase. If your credit rating is healthy, then there are loads of great deals out there that will offer you 0% on purchases for quite a long time. You still have to make minimum payments, but the 0% period can be considerable. For example, check out this 0% on purchases credit card from Tesco which offers you up to 28 months to clear the balance! Just make sure you clear the balance before the 0% period ends to avoid paying interest.
How about collectibles?
A huge number of people love movies, tv, video games and or comics. In more recent years, a stack of manufacturers have produced successful businesses that produce realistic production of characters and prop replicas from these popular media. Whilst of course you can pop down to local toy stores, that stuff looks, well... kinda toy-like. Fun? Maybe, but often not really cool. The good news is though that you can now get immensely detailed action figures, statues and prop replicas that look just like you've seen on the big screen. And whether you go for one piece or multiple, these are simply awesome works of art that you'll love looking at, whether you display one or many.
Collectible action figures
Action figures are really popular to collect and display. They come in all kinds of sizes and prices too. At the low-end, toy shops are packed with relatively cheap action figures from many popular franchises. Some people like to keep them in boxes but most choose to put them on display and pose them.
In more recent years, a number of manufacturers have started producing hyper-realistic action figures such as the example above, which is my Hot Toys Iron Man Mark 42 1/6 scale action figure. However, hyper-realism comes at a price. Expect to pay £150 upwards per figure. An upside though is the figures tend to hold or grow in value so long as you look after them and keep the original packaging.
The most popular scale for premium action figures is 1/6 scale which is around 12" tall. Some of the most popular high-end manufacturers are Hot Toys, Sideshow Collectibles, Phicen, ThreeZero, ThreeA and Asmus. We stock all of these brands at Movie Figures.
Action figures have the advantage of there being many sizes and prices, from small and cheap to tall and very expensive. The image above shows a 1/4 scale Hot Toys Batman The Dark Knight action figure. From a display interest perspective, action figures can also be posed in a variety of ways and regularly adjusted to keep your display fresh and interesting.
The main downside with some action figures is some joints can be exposed such as at the elbow and knee. Most high-end figures hide these joints with miniature clothing but it's still something to be aware of. Some figure producers such as Phicen produce figures with hidden elbow and knee joints which are great for characters with exposed limbs where you don't want to see joints.
Collectible statues
Statues are another option for collectible items. Unlike action figures they have no articulation but that also means that you can't see joints at areas such as the elbow and knee. They also often come on an interesting base in a dynamic pose that may be difficult to achieve on an action figure. My Sideshow Collectibles Wolverine statue above is a nice example of a pose where a statue has the advantage over the action figure. No joints at the elbow points.
Collectible statues tend to be made from resin, cold cast porcelain (resin mixed with porcelain powder), PVC and some other materials. Some feature miniture clothing and some simulate clothes with sculpting and paintwork. Wolverine above uses clothing for his suit. My Sideshow Gwen Stacy statue below (same surname as me, which was one reason why I purchased this one) shows painted clothes which still work great.
Whilst there aren't as many statue producers as compared to action figures, there are still a good number of quality ones such as Sideshow Collectibles, Kotobukiya and DC Collectibles. The more expensive statues tend to be numbered editions which of course raises their rarity and possible future value. The Wolverine statue above is a limited edition which is now very hard to get hold of and thus has increased in value.
Statues tend to range in price from £20 up to thousands of Pounds. Scale tends to range from 1/10 up to 1/1 with 1/4 and 1/6 being the most popular.
Collectible prop replicas
Prop replicas are either scaled or full size versions of props that you've seen in a movie, on tv or in a game. They tend to be made of plastic or resin but can sometimes be found in metal form.
Some of the most popular replicas are those of movie weapons and swords. For example, the image above is my Master Replicas Star Wars Han Solo blaster Elite Edition. Long sold out and wanted by many a Star Wars collector. However with UK law being tightened up on replica weapons, certain restrictions limit what replicas can be sold when it comes to aspects like blade sharpness or realism of a movie gun.
Aside from weapons there are still quite a few interesting prop replicas that you can get such as my HCG Terminator 2 T-800 brainchip below.
Several manufacturers create interesting prop replicas based on designs from movies, games and tv. For example, Hollywood Collectibles Group, EFX, Weta and Quantum Mechanix.
One Collectible Type Or Mix It Up?
This one's really down to personal preference. It's certainly a lot easier to settle on one scale and one collectible type. For example, a lot of collectors focus on 1/6 scale action figures and put them in display cases such as the Ikea Detolf case seen on the right of the above image. This makes for a tidy looking collection that's easily contained and looks great. However, a mixed scale display lets you show a wide range of items and creates lots of varied points of interest. Despite the differing scales in the image above, I really like my display.
Mixing scales together is much harder to work with but can make for an interesting display and can be a good choice if you're interested in several types of collectibles. If you go the mixed route, it's good to look at grouping similar objects together so they make a themed area. For example, you could group a bunch of Star Wars figures together, a prop replica on its own, etc.
So, Are Collectibles Cool Things To Buy For You?
This has been quite a long read. So if you've got to here, we hope the answer is yes! Hopefully you've learned something from my ramblings above. If so, great! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and if you've found this article helpful, please share it with others too!
Naturally, Movie Figures offers all kinds of collectible items. Here are three links to our offerings of the three types of collectibles I've been writing about:
You might also our Movie Figures YouTube Channel interesting where I review many of the items we sell.
Thanks for reading!
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Getting Around To Solving This Unusual Steiff Mystery
Well, here's a little Steiff history-mystery! Check out this note about Steiff bear with some cryptic writing on his belly. Could this bear be a musical prototype? A new friend, in part, writes...
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"I found your blog and thought I would reach out. Today I acquired what, from your blog, I have determined to be a mohair Musical Teddy. Unfortunately, it does not have the ear tag, though still has the made in Germany on the back, and has been signed on one paw by Hans Otto and the other paw is dated 1983.
Interestingly, there is also writing on the red musical circle that appears to say 1954-55 and then has a series of numbers underneath that. The antiques store where I bought it seemed to think it was a "salesman sample". I just wondered if you had ever run across such a thing?"
Well, let's strike up the band and see what we have here. This bear is definitely an example of Steiff's Music Teddy. This bear was produced from 1951 through 1957. He is 35 cm, five ways jointed, and made from caramel colored mohair. His hand and foot pads are made from tannish peach colored felt. His face is detailed with brown and black glass pupil eyes and a brown hand embroidered nose and mouth. Smack dab in the middle of his belly is a red felt circle; when he was new, it had the word "music" in printed in white on it. When this spot was squeezed and released, it played a sweet lullaby.
"I found your blog and thought I would reach out. Today I acquired what, from your blog, I have determined to be a mohair Musical Teddy. Unfortunately, it does not have the ear tag, though still has the made in Germany on the back, and has been signed on one paw by Hans Otto and the other paw is dated 1983. Interestingly, there is also writing on the red musical circle that appears to say 1954-55 and then has a series of numbers underneath that. The antiques store where I bought it seemed to think it was a "salesman sample". I just wondered if you had ever run across such a thing?"
Well, let's strike up the band and see what we have here. This bear is definitely an example of Steiff's Music Teddy. This bear was produced from 1951 through 1957. He is 35 cm, five ways jointed, and made from caramel colored mohair. His hand and foot pads are made from tannish peach colored felt. His face is detailed with brown and black glass pupil eyes and a brown hand embroidered nose and mouth. Smack dab in the middle of his belly is a red felt circle; when he was new, it had the word "music" in printed in white on it. When this spot was squeezed and released, it played a sweet lullaby.
Let's paws for a second here and check out the information on the bear's feet. From the writing on the bear's lower pads, it appears that this piece was brought to a Steiff sponsored event in the early 1980's and signed by Hans Otto Steiff. Hans Otto Steiff was the former President of Steiff in Germany and a direct descendant of the founder, Margarete Steiff. Hans Otto and and his wife Brigit toured the USA several times in the 1980's, meeting collectors, attending events, and signing Steiff items.
Now let's circle back to the strange marks on his red felt belly patch. After thinking about this for awhile, it is Steiffgal's strongest suspicion that these numbers do not indicate that this bear is a prototype. The date on the patch, which reads 1954/5, doesn't really align with anything in this bear's production history. This bear was introduced in 1951 and was in the line from 1957. So if it was a prototype, meaning that it was produced prior to general line introduction, the date on the red circle would probably read 1950 or 1951. Or if it were a piece designed for the archives after manufacturing was complete, the date might read 1951/7, or something like that.So what does this all mean? Although there is no way to tell for sure, his presentation suggests that he was a beloved toy at one point in his life, based on his playwear pattern. Steiffgal speculates that that the date 1954/5 refers to the year that he was purchased or adopted, and the other numbers (12 9335,3) refer to the numbers that were on his original ear tag, which has since gone missing. These correspond to 12 = bear, 9 = mechanical, 3 = mohair, 35 = 35 cm, and 3 = with music box. Perhaps his owner put the dates and numbers on the red circle so they would forever be attached to his history, as the ear tags very often get lost to time. Or, it is possible that someone bought him from the owner, and asked them about the year they purchased him, or it could have been information from an antique dealer provided to someone at purchase. Besides his red felt circle, there really is no other place to record any writing or marks on him.
Steiffgal hopes her evaluation of this red-bellied mystery has been spot on with you.
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Disney California Adventures Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters + Diecasts
At Cal Adventures, they have updated and replaced the old Luigi’s Flying Tires which proved unreliable, Luigi’s Casa Della Tires building/queuing line was reused, only the ride changed. Thanks to “John H” for the heads up info and the great pics of the ride diecasts. “Don your dancing tires—Luigi’s free-wheelin’ cousins are ready to give you […]
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Disney Wins ‘Cars’ Copyright Case in China
Apparently denying you’ve never seen CARS is not much of a defense … A Shanghai court has awarded damages to Disney and Pixar Animation in a copyright case over a Chinese-made film called “The Autobots.” The court ruled that the film was an illegal copy of Disney’s “Cars.” The court said that the Chinese producer […]
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Titans Return Kup Deluxe Wave 4 Video Review
Once again on the RFC Reviews channel, diecast from Radio Free Cybertron has posted a video review for one of the new mold figures from Titans Return Deluxe wave 4. Kup and Flintlock is tonight's entry, and we get to take a good look at it through articulation and transformation, as well as side by side with the original G1 toy. We get a closeup look at the head, and some side by side shots with other Titans Return figures, revealing Kup is surprisingly on the tall side! All that and more are in the video, embedded below. Click through and have a look!
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BUTTER BEE by FLABSLAB x UME Toys x QUICCS
FLABSLAB has collaborated with Richard Page of UME Toys to produce an original sculpt that is not an appropriation of an existing licence! “BUTTER BEE” is it’s name, and it ”floats like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see.”FLABSLAB: "Doing cute stuff is something we hardly do. Resistance is futile. We just couldn't help but to get the uber cool Richard Page![]()
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Amanda Visell x Michelle Valigura Princess Leia Arcade Cabinets
Amanda Visell and Michelle Valigura bring us a fun, poignant spin on a galaxy far, far away with a trio of Princess Leia Arcade Cabinets. Limited to 5 hand-painted pieces, the three designs follow the trilogy films, with a girl at the controls of the games featuring different art of...
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Me and My Supa Fre$ Crew 2 Da Rescue Pre-Order
3A Toys is currently taking pre-orders for the Me and My Supa Fre$ Crew 2 Da Rescue 1/6th scale figures over at Bambaland. The Ashley Wood designed Die Antwoord duo of ¥OLANDI and NINJA are each available for $150.00 (shipping included) and expected to begin shipping in Q3 of 2017. ¥OLANDI 2 DA RESCUE Stands 10 inches tall Features: […] Read more
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“Leia’s Arcade Cabinets” from Amanda Visell x Michelle Valigura
“Leia’s Arcade Cabinets” from #AmandaVisell (@amandavisell) - featured #onTOYSREVIL: http://bit.ly/2jDwM8A … and on #starwarsallday: http://bit.ly/2kz8wVg #toynews #resintoy #indietoy #starwars #princessleiaA photo posted by TOYSREVIL (@toysrevil) on Jan 26, 2017 at 8:45pm PST
Amanda Visell shares with folks a trio of new resin figure sets - featuring “Arcade Cabinets” with a Star Wars theme, ![]()
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Marvel Legends Jackal and Shocker!
It has been a while since I’ve done a double review, so in honor of me getting older, you all get a
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More Pages to Explore .....
