Action figure collecting is really eating at my space! (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I hate to say it as much as I love collecting these, but I am running out of room really fast. Everytime I get a new one I must rearrange things to make room for it and it's getting to the point now where I am having to move figures out into the closet because I just can't find a spot for them all.

I have at least 5 more major 18" releases coming this year, on top of the 14 that I already have, and also in addition to the dozens of 6" McFarlane figures I have sitting aroud, that may pose a big problem if I can't find more space.

Of course, the obvious option is to stop buying them, but I can't do that.

 

[Colton]

Aren't action figures actually dolls? We need photos.

- Colton

 

[Mike<R]

Maybe you are to old to be collecting dolls. You should get rid of them all and send them to me So what do you have? Any horror?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Colton,
these aren't dolls, my friend, believe me when I say that, I wouldn't pay almost $50 a pop for a doll.

They are very large, 18" tall a piece, and VERY detailed, the most film-accurate figures on the market.

Mike,
I have the following 18"er's from NECA and McFarlane, mostly from NECA, though...

Michael Myers. NECA

Freddy Krueger. NECA and McFarlane

Pinhead. NECA

Patrick Bateman. NECA (one of my favorites, it's a dead ringer for Christian Bale)

The Bride (Uma Thurman). NECA

Aragorn. NECA (must be seen to be believed, just...wow!)

Legolas. NECA (the same...wow!)

Captain Jack Sparrow. NECA (smile version)

T2 Endoskeleton. NECA

Ash (Bruce Campbell). McFarlane

B&W Marve (Sin City). NECA

Jason Voorhees. NECA

Eric Dravin (The Crow). NECA

Captain Spaulding. NECA

Leatherface. McFarlane

And I have coming when they are released...

18" Hartigan (Sin City). NECA

20" Gandalf. NECA

18" RoboCop (my most anticipated one). NECA

18" Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). NECA

 

[BrianB]

One man's action figure is another man's doll There are plenty of dolls that cost way more than $50.

And I do own action figures by the way.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Come on, you guy's aren't really gonna give me a hard time about this now are you?

Collecting action figures has gone way beyond what some may consider to be a childish habit, the quality of the figures today are simply incredible and not for children to play with, that's for sure.

Heck, Captain Spaulding is giving the finger!

Brian,
what do you have if I may ask?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Here's NECA's website...

http://www.necaonline.com/index.html

Once you start collecting these things, it's hard to stop.

 

[GordonL]

I'm with you John. For awhile, I was collecting the Alien/Predator figures, mainly because I was able to get them cheap. I did pay full retail for the 18" ones though. The detail on these figures is what drew me to them. I get crap from some of my friends too, but that's ok. There's worse things to blow my money on.

 

[BrettGallman]

They aren't action figures, dolls, or toys. They're "collectibles." At least that's the term I use when I get funny looks.

I also really enjoy the NECA figures. I have the 18" Myers, Jason, and Freddy figures, as well as the Halloween and Freddy vs. Jason boxset. I also have the 7" Jason, and I'll probably get the Patrick Bateman.

I also have the following Sideshow 12" figures, which are really excellent. It's going to kill me when they take over the Star Wars 12" license.

Freddy (Part 2)
Freddy (Freddy vs. Jason)
Freddy (Wes Craven's New Nightmare)
Freddy (Springwood Slasher)
Jason (Part 2)
Jason (Part 3)
Jason (Part 6)
Jason (Freddy vs. Jason)
Jason (Part 7 + 9) are pre-ordered
Mrs. Voorhees
Michael Myers

With NECA and Sideshow producing quality figures like this, it's a good time to be a horror fan.

And while those are space-eaters, nothing takes up as much space as Star Wars. I have two closets and a room full of stuff that I've collected for the past 10 years. I hate to see how much space is taken up for people who have been collecting since 1977 or so.

 

[Wendy_L]

I'm in my 30's and I still buy Barbie Dolls. Does that make you feel any better, John?

(I also own a few Barbie watches and I just bought two sets of PJ's with Barbie on them.)

 

[MarkHastings]

My mom still buys Barbie dolls and 'collectible' dolls. She even bought a giant glass case (with lighting) to display them all. It's really neat!

And as far as the "they're just dolls" comment, Cadillacs, Fararis, and Porsches are "just cars" too.

 

[Colton]

John,

I'm disappointed in ya, man. No zombie "action figures"? Dude ... tsk.

Okay, way back when ALIEN came out - there was this huge stand-up "toy" of the warrior alien that had a trigger on the back of its head that would let the silver teeth pop out. The skullish head would glow in the dark too. Real creepy!

Here's a photo of what it looked like:
http://www.toyarchive.com/Aliens/Toy...inalDoll1a.jpg
http://www.toyarchive.com/Aliens/Toy...inalDoll1b.jpg

"The first Alien toy to be produced was by Kenner in 1979. They conceived this amazing piece and sent it off to stores. 12" inches of pure horror. Such horror that kids were scared of it, and parents demanded it off the shelves. Kenner cut the production short, and cancelled their 3 3/4" Alien toy line.

This piece stands 12" inches and is poseable in the arms, wrists, legs and tail. It comes with such features as a removable dome, glow in the dark paint on his head. The greatest feature was he mouth openning and two silver inner jaws jabbing forth."

I bet it's a collectors item now.

Ack! Those links refer to them as Dolls!! :O

- Colton

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Colton,
how I wish they're were more zombie figures out, I would be all over those like white on rice! I'm actually quite shocked that neither NECA or McFarlane has done zombie lines from the Romero films, lord knows their are enough iconic zombies out there to make reproductions of.

And yeah, i've seen that old 12" Alien, I never found it to be that impressive, Kenner tends to make "fast and dirty" toys without any real attention to minute details, that's why I stay away from their Star Wars figures, they quite frankly suck. The 12" McFarlane Alien is the one to get, even though it's newer and it's not really a collector's item just yet.

Wendy,
anything you say makes me feel better you know that. Seriously, thanks for the support.

 

[BrettGallman]

Hasbro (which bought out Kenner, I believe) does Star Wars now, and they're actually pretty good for the most part (I'm talking about the 3.75" ones). They've come a long, long way since the 1995 He-Man looking figures. The face scupts sometimes leave much to be desired, but I've really liked most of the figures they've done since about '98 or so.

And yeah, Sideshow or NECA really needs to do the Tom Savini zombie from LOTD or something (I think his name is Blades).

 

[Lynda-Marie]

John, I'm with you and Wendy on the dolls, uh, action figures, uh... oh to hell with it, the little plastic people!!

When I get crap from folks my age [big 4-0 coming up next February] I tell them I am investing in something better than pork bellies for my retirement. I mean, honestly! considering how much more valuable some of these things are, compared to their original price, it really is one hell of an investment.

My brothers and I are contemplating juicing up a DeLorean, hitting 88 mph, and going back to the days of yore for some Star Wars figures - yes, John, they DO suck. However, when I see the Yoda new in package listing for $600, when I paid something like $2.99 for it when it came out, I am still kicking myself for wanting to play with the blasted thing when I got it!!

The same goes for some of the Barbie dolls I had as a kid. But I was always more interested in buying the dolls [action figures] for playtime, rather than as "collector's items." I don't know if that would change, were I able to go back in time to warn myself of the money I could lose burying that one Barbie out in the back yard for a month.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Brett,
being such a stickler for accurate detailing with the figures that I buy, the likeness in the face must be correct, which is the thing that is severly lacking in the SW figures sadly IMO. They may have gotten better, but they are still not up to the quality that they could/should be if they were in the hands of Sideshow, NECA or even McFarlane, who I am fast losing faith in these days because of his cutting some unacceptable corners with his film lines.

Lynda,
I also like to call them sculptures, which is essentially what they are in the end since they just sit on a shelf and are never touched, except to dust them off from time to time. I also hear you about playing with them as a kid, I remember my dad telling me that playing with my new Transformers was a mistake because he knew they'd be worth a lot of money some day.

He was so right, boy was he right! :frowning: But the thing that comforts me, is that hey, I was a kid, and there was no way in hell I had Optimus Prime brand new in the box and NOT play with it, that was just crazy-talk to me as a kid.

 

[MarkHastings]

But that was your childhood. No amount of money (now) would be worth not having the fun we had with our 'toys' when we were kids.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Here's NECA's upcoming 18" B&W 'Hartigan' figure from Sin City...

http://www.necaonline.com/sincitynews36.html

And NECA's 18" 'RoboCop' figure, I cannot wait for this one...

http://www.necaonline.com/robocopnews1.html

And here's NECA's Epic Scale 20" 'Aragorn'...

http://www.necaonline.com/aragornfigbig.html

 

[Ted Lee]

admittedly, i don't know much about action figures. the only thing i recently bought was the beatles yellow submarine set ... just cuz i like the beatles.

i have some random action figures like; bender the robot, jack skellington (on my desk), some anime figures, etc. i i would love to get into this hobby, but i'm pretty sure my wallet couldn't handle the burden. like what? just curious...

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, McFarlane is sort of slipping in 3 key area's...

1. Human likness. His lines of late don't really resemble the actual person/charactor. He is primarily focused on sports and Spawn figures, and he's beginning to show signs of neglect for his film lines.

2. Size. While NECA and Sideshow offer consumers larger than life quality figures, McFarlane's film lines are getting smaller. The figures in his Alien vs Predator Series 1 line were 6" tall, the height of all of his standard sized figures (NECA's is 7" BTW). However, his Alien vs Predator Series 2 lines will be made up primariy of diorama's (nothing wrong with that in and of itself) but the figures they come with will only be about 4" tall.

3. Quality of construction/durability. I've ad three major figures from him fall apart before I even gt them out of the box! I bought his very cool APU from The Matrix Revolutions and both arms broke off getting it out of the box. Also, small parts like weapons and accessories are very brittle and break very easy.

Now that said, he does have two figures coming out that I really am looking foreward to, the first is a 12" version of his great 'RoboCop' figure, and also a 12" 'Napoleon Dynamite' figure.