Tag Archives: Action Figures

Recent Acquisitions Part 1

As you all should be aware of by now, I’m a die hard Flash collector and I’ve been collecting Flash memorabilia for some time now. This includes action figures, statues, plush toys, hats, t-shirts, shoes etc etc. A few months ago I moved, and as a result a lot of my collection isn’t on display anymore. Furthermore I’d fallen behind on collecting due to various reasons and I had a lot of catching up to do.

In the last couple months I’ve been focused on filling in a lot of the holes that I hadn’t had a chance to fill until now. And with The Flash getting renewed focus in the DC Universe I didn’t want to fall too far behind and miss my chance to acquire a lot of stuff that are being made in very limited quantities.

To that end I present to you part 1 of my Recent Acquisitions. These were all picked up in the last month or so from various sources (including retail, surprisingly) and I’ve made great progress on getting back on track as far as my collection goes. There are quite a few things that are present in my collection that have yet to be showcased online, but it’s called “Recent Acquisitions” for a reason and I’m only trying to show what I’ve gotten in the last month or so. So without further ado, my Recent Acquisitions:

Click for Larger View

From left to right we have:

Batman: Brave and the Bold Action League feat. Batman vs. The Top

Batman: Brave and the Bold Action League feat. Batman vs. Gorilla Grodd

Batman: Brave and the Bold “Gotham City Battle” feat. Batman vs. Gorilla Grodd

Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang I (Since Justice League Unlimited is exclusively sold through Target, I had a huge headache tracking these down. Partly due to that and partly due to my own carelessness. But I will get into that soon.)

C3 Minimates Flash Variant (based on the Timmverse design)

DC Direct’s 1:6 SCALE Golden Age Flash

Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection The Streak (A Mattycollector.com exclusive, now SOLD OUT)

DC Universe’s 3¾ Scale Infinite Heroes Barry Allen (I got the Mattycollector.com exclusive variant a few months back as well. Also SOLD OUT)

DC SuperFriends Stuffed Flash Plush

Not bad at all if I do say so myself. Especially since acquiring these guys took a little more leg work than usual. After my Local Comic Book Shop closed up shop around ’07 or so, I’ve had to use the internet to acquire most of my collectibles. Every once in a while I would run into something at retail but very rarely have I not used an online source to obtain most of my stuff. This time around however was a nice mixed bag.

I picked up the two Brave and the Bold Action League sets along with the Infinite Heroes Barry Allen at Target.

I got the larger Brave and the Bold set at Toysrus.com. This was the very last place I expected to find this. Paid a lot less than people have it for on eBay.

The Streak as mentioned previously was a Mattycollector.com exclusive that was sold along with the majority of the Justice Guild (which I may sell off at a later date).

The Golden Age Flash 1:6 Scale Figure was purchased from Superherotoys.com.

And Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, the C3 Flash minimate variant, and the SuperFriends Plushy were all procured through eBay.

Captain Cold was without a doubt the figure that gave me the most trouble tracking down. When I first heard about the Target Exclusive Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang set being released and available I scoured Targets everywhere to no avail. I finally had to resort to the secondary market (eBay) to pick it up. I lucked out and found a great deal on both overall. They were loose and out of package (I don’t keep my stuff MOC so that isn’t an issue for me) and the prices on both were reasonable. They were both from the same seller so I even saved on shipping. Mission Accomplished right? Not quite. In my efforts to clean and organize my room and collection I had Cold and Boomerang sitting on a shelf, with a large trash bag underneath that I was using to throw out useless clutter. Captain Cold must have fallen into the trash bag or something, because when I went to find it later for my recent acquisitions picture a week ago I could not find it anywhere.

So back to eBay we go. Now it had been several weeks since my initial purchase and prices on Captain Cold had skyrocketed. That is if you could find one (at the time) anyway. Being a Target Exclusive made the action figure set virtually impossible to find at retail so people were jacking up the prices online accordingly. I’m not going to say exactly how much I paid for the second Captain Cold but I will say I was not happy. But thinking about how awesome he is going to look with the rest of the Justice League Unlimited Rogues that I have puts a smile on my face.

And there you have it. Part 1 of my Recent Acquisitions. Part 2 and 3 will be on the way shortly. I plan on writing some reviews on some of these guys in the near future as well. If there is a particular collectible you would like spotlighted please don’t hesitate to let me know. Also with this part out of the way I am now able to free them from their plastic prisons and add them to my display. Look for updated pictures of my collection in the near future. I also have some old collection pics on my facebook. The link to the gallery is HERE

Devin “The Flash” Johnson

DC Direct Flash-Related Solicitations for November

DC Direct‘s solicitations for November give us some definite dates on two great Flash collectibles. Blue Lantern Flash as part of the sixth series of Blackest Night figures and a DC Chronicles Flash statue.

BLACKEST NIGHT: SERIES 6: BLUE LANTERN FLASH Action Figure

The hugely successful BLACKEST NIGHT action figure line continues with four awesome new characters!

Included in this sixth installment of the series are Hal Jordan, the personification of the Green Lantern Corps; Wonder Woman, who finds the power of love and joins the ranks of the Star Sapphires; Hawkgirl, who was one of the first heroes to lose her life to the dark power of the Black Lanterns; and The Flash, who couples the power of the blue ring with his trademark speed to carry the message of hope to all.

All four figures feature multiple points of articulation and include a display base. Character-appropriate accessories are also included.

4-color clamshell blister card packaging.

On Sale November 3, 2010

And

DC CHRONICLES: THE FLASH Statue

SCULPTED BY TIM BRUCKNER

The Fastest Man Alive kicks up a dust cloud as he slides into the DC Chronicles statue series!

This statue features The Flash of the Silver Age, Barry Allen, in his classic costume.

The DC Chronicles statue line has a consistent base, and the retro-style logo on the base further gives the piece a sense of the period from which it originated.

This limited-edition, hand-painted, cold-cast porcelain statue measures approximately 6.75″ high x 5″ wide x 3.5″ deep and is packaged in a 4-color box with a 4-color Certificate
of Authenticity.

Manufactured to order.

$ 99.99 US | On Sale November 24, 2010

I’m really looking forward to Blue Lantern Flash as it will look great poking out of the field of red and yellow in my display. I’m also loving the sculpt. Reminds me of Wally West from the first series of JLA action figures they released a few years ago. Perfect build, great sculpt and a slick paint job.

I’m not really a statue guy. I do own a few but rarely if ever will you find me anticipating the release of one. This one is no exception unfortunately. I’m not really in the market for Barry Allen statues these days anyway. And I would need a Wally in new costume as an action figure first. Hint hint.

Devin “The Flash” Johnson

Speed Reading: Manapul Nomination, Batman vs. Shark, Elementary Heroes & More

Some weekend linkblogging:

Francis Manapul has been nominated for a Shuster Award. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with Glee. Rather, it’s the Joe Shuster Awards recognizing Canadian comics creators. Manapul was nominated for his work on Adventure Comics and Superman/Batman last year.

Ben Morse - Flash Action Figure ShelfBen Morse at the Cool Kids Table posts photos and commentary on his five favorite Flash figures.

Comic Critics: In This Issue, a Titan Dies! – This webcomic is absolutely 100% true!

Fan Art

Batman Vs. Shark with LightsaberYou’ve probably seen that image of Batman fighting a shark with a lightsaber by now, right? ComicMix has identified the artist as Andrew Zubko.

Flash by Adobe.Comics All Too Real specializes in merging the fictional and real worlds, including: The Flash by Adobe. They’ve also got a great Flash birthday cake.

Krypton.Zero Lives draws *ahem* Elementary Heroes. This one’s for the chemistry geeks. And Mr. Element, of course! (via Comics Alliance)

Alternate Deaths of the Reverse Flash

I’ve been slowly scanning my pre-digital photos, and stumbled across these pictures I’d taken of my DC Direct (and a few other) action figures around 2000 or so.

Display Case Figures 1

Display Case Figures 2

I had fun coming up with a situation that could combine the New Teen Titans, Flash, and Sandman figures.

In retrospect, I really wish I’d used a camera that had a little depth of field. I think it may have been fixed-focus as well.

Batman: Brave and The Bold Flash Action Figure

Somewhat related to Kelson’s Article about Batman: Brave and The Bold, it has been pretty much confirmed that Barry Allen will be getting an action figure of his own in the Brave and The Bold toy line.

Oddly enough instead of showing up at Toy Fair 2010, fans caught their first glimpse of the new Flash figure on Target.com. According to the Batman: Brave and The Bold Facebook Page, Mattel didn’t reveal it at Toy Fair on purpose. A sensible decision to try and save some of the new merchandise for the upcoming New York Comic Con. I hope they have a Jay Garrick ready to go as well, because to date he is the only Flash that we have seen guest star on the show. Not really fair for Barry to get a figure before Jay especially when Jay appeared on the show (and in the comics) first. Then again I don’t think Jay would mind that much once he saw this thing:

I don’t know about anyone else (or if anyone else can remember back as far as this) but does this toy remind anyone else of the Centurions from back in the day?

You know these guys:

As you can probably surmise I’m not too thrilled with the overall look of it. But looking at it from a kid’s point of view I could definitely see myself having fun with it. Not myself as a kid, because I was that kid who always questioned why Batman was wearing orange or neon green when he was supposed to be a creature of the night. I’m talking about your average kid who isn’t quite as nit-picky as I was.

I guess it can’t be much worst than this:

It took me a couple of years to finally break down and purchase that thing and it was only because I was in a collectors drought and hadn’t gotten anything new in months. Still every time I look at it I have to pretend that Flash somehow lost his powers and this is his way of making up for it or some nonsense like that. Yeah. Don’t ask.

I will still end up picking it up but if I can help it I will probably drag my feet a bit before doing so. Although with the Flash’s recent resurgence in popularity due to The Flash: Rebirth and the upcoming Brightest Day storyline coupled with the high demand of the Brave and The Bold toy line I might not have a chance to.

Devin “The Flash” Johnson

Custom Blue Lantern Barry Allen Figure on eBay!

As a Flash collector I spend a lot of my time on eBay. Whether it’s looking for good deals on action figures or hunting for some rare gem of a collectible, I spend a lot of time on the site. This afternoon I came across a pretty sweet custom of Blue Lantern Barry Allen up for auction. Interesting to note that the custom is astonishingly pretty accurate to the official action figure of Blue Lantern Flash by DC Direct design wise.

I actually think I dig the custom on eBay a little more though. Especially the way the belt is worked right into the Blue Lantern chest design as opposed to being awkwardly painted over it. The previous design may work in the comic but on an action figure it stands out a lot more than it should. This custom is being brought to us by nissan_nx2004 and Black Lanterns Green Arrow and Hawkman are also included in the auction.

Pretty nice huh? The auction is currently at $75.00 with 2 days and 21 hours left in the auction and you can view it here. The listing also has some additional pics of Blue Lantern Flash and Black Lanterns Green Arrow and Hawkman.

Devin “The Flash” Johnson