Northstar

Although it was expected that the Northstar figure will be a peg warmer, I didn't wait for the price to drop. I wanted to get him right away simply because he's gay.


I don't know a lot about the character aside from he's gay and is(was?) a member of the X-men. I thought that the story line for his coming out is contrived--having found a baby out of nowhere, then finding out the baby has AIDS which made the baby some sort celebrity and then someone tried to kill the baby for being an AIDS celebrity after the perps gay son died of AIDS without any aid which led to the scene below and Northstar eventually coming out.


It wasn't the best story. It's forgettable really. It didn't made me like Northstar more. Even the much publicized gay wedding didn't have enough meat. Sure there was a lot of action but I didn't find it romantic. There wasn't enough suspense even when partner almost died because you know he won't, because you expect the wedding scene later. But it is cute.


Currently there are lot of unsold Northstar figures in every major toy store. There are a lot of reason not to buy--the high price, the old poorly articulated body, the absence of his twin sister etc. Just wait for the sale.

Distribution

I could have bought the gray Beast figure for P500 (original price was P750) but I wasn't able to find one at that price on the primary market. I got my blue Beast on the secondary market. I was wondering where the stores are keeping their stocks such that there will be some units left which they are now forced to sell at a much lower price of P200.


The sticker at the back, with Thai characters, could be a clue. Maybe these were initially shipped to Thailand and when it flopped there, they decided to sell it here. Since people who badly wanted (I'm not included) the figure already bought it from somewhere else, they have to lower the price. If they distributed it properly (right time and location), they could have made people like me pay more.


Hasbro has a distribution problem and they need to fix it. But Mattel is worse. They haven't distributed any dark-skinned doll here since the 1st wave of the stiff Style dolls, except for the resort Grace.

Assembled

I'm not very interested in getting or making a Quicksilver figure so for me, the Avengers have been assembled.

This moment deserves a class picture before they will be broken apart in "Captain America: Civil War".

Vision

After recent toy sales left and right, I expect some toys to run out of stock. Imagine my surprise when I saw the 4-inch Vision from the second Avengers movie peg warming. I have been hunting this toy for months now, checking the same shelves of different toy stores every chance I can.

I wanted a Vision figure and after the first few weeks of searching, I decided to just make one. I didn't like how it turned out so I didn't blog about it. I wanted to change the cape print for one. I was designing the print this afternoon and plan to test it tomorrow. But there's no need for that now.

It has crappy articulation but I might be able to make a better one now that I have better parts. That is if I'm not busy or lazy. For now, I'll just enjoy it, as is. I'm sure Wanda is.

It's all 'bout the dum dum duru dum dum

Click here for the actual thread.

Collectors of the 4-inch Marvel figures are disappointed at the new prices (US$13). We, the Filipino, collectors are partly to blame. We have been buying these toys for about US$16 since this year. If people from a poor nation like ours can buy these toys at a higher price, so can these people with a higher average income. I don't know why we Filipino collectors do it. Maybe because we are not educated in the same way as those in the western world. Maybe because we have more corrupt government agencies like the Bureau of Customs. Whatever the reason, we Filipinos are willing to pay more for the same toys and the rest of the world has to suffer because of it. I'm sorry.

In other news, a lot of those toys are peg warmers in local toy stores, except for Emma and the candy-colored Deadpool. I could help other collectors get the Chameleon but since it costs more here, I don't think they will be interested to buy from here and pay extra for shipping. It's a crappy figure, too, and I don't want anyone to be disappointed like I did when I got it.

And I don't think it's funny.