Originally, I was split between posting this article here, or on my more wrestling-focused blog, Let's Talk Wrestling, as majority of this article will be a chronicle of my search for WWE figures and other misc. wrestling figures that I want for my collection, while occasionally checking out Marvel Legends, Amiibos, and other misc. collectibles in my travels throughout the Carolinas this past summer.
There's going to be a some laughs here, especially with some of the knockoffs and other misplaced items that I've seen (and taken pictures of) in various outlets, but it should be a good read for my fellow collectors or for those of you intrigued on getting into collecting yourself.
To those of you who follow me on Twitter via Let's Talk Wrestling's account (@LetsTalkWrestle) should already know that I have been collecting wrestling figures for quite some time, but I didn't pick up the habit hardcore until over the course of the last few years when a lot of my long-time favorites have began to drop out of the picture, so I started on a quest to preserve the memories the best way that I could - by having replicas of all of my favorites. Plus, this is a bit of revisiting my childhood since I'm able to acquire some of the stuff that I never got when I was a kid.
Playing the Field
Like most of my fellow geeks, I threw caution to the wind and gave that whole Loot Crate thing a try. There's TONS of them now to suit anyone's taste, ranging from moviegoers, gamers, to even comic book fans. I got one free of charge (if you want to call it free...) along with the Mega Man X tee I ordered. Outside of the Drax Funko POP! figure, I really didn't care for it. A waste of money if you ask me, but who am I to tell you to do with your $20 every month?
I personally adore Marvel's Legends line of highly detailed action figures, but they are $20 a pop, much like the DC Direct figures. I own some figures from both lines (Star Lord, Star Sapphire, Zatanna, Batman, Sinestro Corps Batman, Mr. Miracle, ScarJo Black Widow, Black Cat, and Hellcat, to name a few...) but unlike most comic book fans, I'm not trying to have the ENTIRE line in my collection. I just want my favorite heroes and heroines.
In both figure lines from DC and Marvel, you get a part of another figure. If you get all of the figures in a particular set/series, you have access to an exclusive "bonus" figure. That's another reason why I don't get caught up in trying to hunt down all of these figures. Currently, Ultron and Thanos are bonus figures in two particular sets, while other misc. heroes and villains have been featured, such as the Abomination, Odin, and MODOK.
If these figures are too pricey for your budget, I humbly suggest picking up those Marvel Universe figures instead. They are half the size and you don't have to worry about the drama of the "bonus" figure parts either.
Out of all of the stores I have been to throughout the summer, I've ONLY seen this "variant" of Ant-Man in Walgreens. That same Walgreens had like ten of that Agent Venom Marvel Legends figure that everyone wanted last year too. Now you can find them at any Walgreens and they are worthless. I know those guys who bought Agent Venom in bulk feel stupid now...
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| From left to right: Winter Soldier (from the MCU film of the same name), Scarlet Spider, and White Tiger (the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon version - I hear there's a male variant too) |
I love the current line of "Combiner Wars" Transformers toys, but they are VERY expensive. I just tend to love looking at them in the stores. Every now and then, you'll run into something awesome like these Adam West-era Batman themed figures. Someday I want to own the entire set for nostalgia.
Pro Wrestling Action Figures
Most of the time when you go into your local Walmarts or K-Mart in this case, you run into the wrestling figure section looking like this. All of local scalpers (AKA your competition in terms of collecting) have already raided everything good and left just about nothing but trash/common finds on the shelf.
When I started searching for Paige's debut WWE Elite figure earlier this year, that's just about what I ran into in EVERY store for about 4-6 months straight until I honestly gave up for awhile as it seemed like here in the Carolinas (at least SC anyway...) we weren't EVER going to get any new stock of figures. I was adamant in my quest for this figure as sellers online was selling it for WELL over $100. Now since Summerslam (FYI WWE has had a special display set in Wal-Marts around the country to promote the event...), I'm seeing the damn thing left and right in every other Wal-Mart. It's times like this that really makes me have a love and hate relationship with collecting.
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| A FULLY stocked Toys R Us... |
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| ALL of this in one TRU, when it was a ghost town in comparison to the other in another city... |
As you can see above, that there's more than enough Paige's here for collectors. I didn't stumble onto this treasure until rough SIX months later after most collectors already got theirs for their collections and were offering the figure online for inflated prices. I'm SOOO glad that I didn't cave to those prices. WWE Elite figures retail for roughly $15-25 (depends on where you get them from) while most outlets online want $30 to $70 (double that price for this figure, plus shipping & handling since it was rare until now). I would've gotten two but I try not to be a douche in terms of being considerate to someone else who is collecting as well. I TRY to leave an extra on the shelf as I know that pain and joy of hunting this stuff down, especially when you don't know someone in these stores who's "hooking you up" with tips on when they are getting new shipments and all of that.
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| I ended up only leaving the store that day with just the Rusev/Lana Battle Pack as I keep seeing Sami Zayn and Summer Rae everywhere. I would've gotten Summer but I'm still bummed that her debut figure wasn't in her NXT ring gear instead of her "Fandangoing" attire. |
I ran into a similar incident with these figures. While I was eagerly looking for Paige, I didn't expect to find these figures last month shortly before Summerslam. Normally, the Carolinas are last to get the "newest" lines of figures and we got these like ASAP - despite being behind on every line to date.
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| The ONLY one on the shelf when I happened to find the figures in the previous photo. As a collector, you HATE these moments when you run into something that you REALLY want when you're not even trying to buy anything or even looking hard at all. |
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| So glad that I've FINALLY found this chick and have her in my collection. Now to get this signed by the real deal. I think I'll get a second just to open and have loose. |
So far, I've only seen these at select Target retailers. I've seen it retail between $49.99 to $59.99 and that's a bit steep for some toys. Regardless, I feel like I'm going to cave eventually and buy these out of nostalgia. Even my own dad thought this was freakin' cool. I do agree with his suggestion - it should come with a ring playset where they all wail on Dusty Rhodes in.
Don't Be Fooled - Defects and Poor Repackaging
Sometimes, you see something you REALLY want as a collector, and you see shit like this. Yeah, that's the box has a broken seal. It'll piss you off even more when that's the last or ONLY figure of that kind on the shelf and you don't feel like going through the drama of trying to hunt this particular figure down again. It's supposed to be one of the Wrecking Crew inside of that box (to the left) but someone obviously repackaged the figure themselves.
Up next, we have a first edition Seth Rollins (Shield attire) repackaged with Wade Barrett/Bad News Barrett. To be fair, I can't tell the difference between this WWE Basic figure and the actual Wade Barrett/Bad News Barrett figure outside of the repainted hair so it might actually be legit. Seriously... most people don't even notice that the Shield members' first edition figures were repaints of other WWE Basics by Mattel. Mattel are notorious for cutting corners on production of figures and saves them the time from doing new headscans for newer wrestlers. That's one reason why almost EVERY Diva and Superstar figure has the same body and build.Then again, this is more likely a cheap repackaging as you can see the cheap glue that someone used to seal the packaging back up. Either way, some poor fool is going to buy this thinking that it's the real deal and will be sorely disappointed.
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| I wasn't aware that CM Punk was a Latino... |
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| This is just BEYOND fucked up and so wrong on SOOO many levels... |
Last but not least we have an interesting case. I really like these three ladies from Marvel Comics - Captain (formerly Ms.) Marvel (Carol Danvers), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), and Misty Knight. I didn't pick up Danvers as I'm not too crazy about that costume while Wasp and Misty BOTH have a cosmetic difference that prevented me from buying them. Look closer at the closer photo of Misty Knight and you'll see that her eyes are crooked. Ugh, c'mon... How does something like that get past production? At $20 a pop for these figures, I'm expecting these Marvel Legends figures to be FLAWLESS.
Bonus lesson... before you purchase ANY collectible, inspect the packaging and you might see damaged goods or tampered packaging like this. I've been running into a LOT of this here in the Carolinas, so beware as it could be where you are in the world as well.
A Glimpse of Some of My Acquisitions this Year
Some flea market and local comic book shop finds. The wrestling figures are from TNA/Impact Wrestling's original line of action figures, back when the same folks who currently make the Marvel Legends figures did them. The dead giveaway to that fact is how the joints are positioned on these figures. That's one thing I'll always admit about TNA's figures over WWE's. They don't EVER cut corners, even with Jakks on board for TNA's current line of figures.
Above is a rough summary of everything I happened to pick up over the course of the summer. I don't even watch nor read Game of Thrones but I couldn't pass up a Daenerys for less than $5 at a Books-A-Million in one shopping mall I happened to pass through in Florence, SC one weekend. I told you guys the story how I found the Rusev/Lana Battle Pack, Stephanie McMahon, Sami Zayn, and Summer Rae all in one sweep. To be quite honest, old school WWE Legends like Roddy Piper ($9) were on my bottom tier list of priorities when it comes to wrestling figures as I knew they would be harder to find, but I made an exception when he passed away to get his figure the next chance that I saw it. Of course, the local scalpers were raiding the shelves for selling on eBay as his figures went from near worthless to selling for hundreds after his untimely demise. Trust me, the EXACT same thing happened after Dusty Rhodes passed away. His WWE Legends figure was less than $5 on Amazon and most online retailers. Then the second he kicked the bucket everyone wanted like $200-500 for his figures that were near-worthless the day before. The Halo (Master Chief; Cortana not pictured) and Assassin's Creed (Liberation's Aveline De Grandpre) were clearance pick-ups from various Gamestop outlets. Even though I RARELY buy anything from Gamestop nowadays as I do most of my gaming purchases online nowadays, I've started going into various ones and just digging through their clearance and bargain bins, especially now that they started carrying pop culture collectibles. Since most stores have different setups, you'll never know what you'll end up finding. Hell, those figures only cost me $4 for Aveline and $3 for Master Chief. Mr. Majestic (in the baggie on the top left) is one of the last few WildCATs figures that I covered in the first edition of Collector's Corner.
That's all for now, folks. HAPPY HUNTING!
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