Ahh, the first Figure Friday of the new year. As much as I’d like to look forward to 2026 with wide-eyed optimism, this first week has illustrated how ultimately foolish that would be. A pal of mine from jolly ol’ England had texted me some news year’s well wishes with a side of “wot’s all this then?” and I let them know that my morning devotional is a deep sigh followed by, “Jesus Christ…what now?”
BUT THIS IS A COLUMN ABOUT TOYS.
I can only urge you, the reader, to pay attention to what’s going on out there. Things are not good, but you can combat that by doing the right thing and urging others to do the same.
ON TO THE TOYS.
Nothing happens in the week between Christmas and New Year’s; everyone loves that old chestnut. Well, nothing really happened for me that week: my immediate family was struck down by the plague, my sister and her family cut their visit home short, and I spent the holiday largely alone.
I wasn’t about to lower myself to going to the movies to see whatever the new Avatar movie was, but I did keep myself busy with Chinese food and by making my way through the hit ’90’s TV show Highlander. As a brief aside, the show rules as much as it can for a show where immortals beheading each other is the main plot point. They also used the N-word a surprising amount for a show that usually ran on whatever your local UHF station was (for the record, I counted four instances of the slur, which is four more than I expected).
Since I had time to kill, I spent some of it popping into various Walmart and Target stores to check out what was on clearance. Here’s what I found.
Thunderbolts* Marvel Legends John F. Walker & Sentry Action Figure Two-Pack
MSRP: $49.99
What I paid: $20
I’m not sure of the marketing decision that went into having the big figure push for Thunderbolts* be $50 two-packs, but here we are. The figures arrived some months ago, the people who really wanted them bought them, and the rest of us sat around and waited for clearance.
The figures themselves are fine. I was interested in the US Agent figure and was fairly ambivalent towards Sentry. The latter has a moulded plastic cape, which I really don’t dig, but it’s an amazing sculpt regardless. The John F. Walker figure comes with a cool not-Captain America shield and a set of interchangeable hands…one of which is a trigger finger despite the fact that the gun is a single piece of moulded plastic in a holster.
Still, I consider this a win since the total price was less than what a single Marvel Legends figure currently retails for.
McFarlane DC Gold Label Collection Sandman
MSRP: $24.99
What I paid: $12
I can feel it coming, far off on the horizon, that I’ll soon be in the throes of a noir/pulp genre kick.
Sandman Mystery Theater was one of those well-regarded gems from the Vertigo imprint’s heyday. Detective stories featuring the original Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds. There are a couple of recently released compendia that I’d encourage you all to go read.
This figure was, I believe, a Gold Label exclusive for Target stores in the US which means they get full cases of these figures in that will sit until they hit clearance. I absolutely could not pass up a cool, retro detective figure, especially at the low-low price of $12, and I almost made it a team-up with an $11 Mister Miracle figure, BUT it came with a moulded plastic cape, so I opted to pass.
Beyond its inherent coolness, there’s not much I can say of this figure. The sculpt is largely made up of parts from other McFarlane figures, but you know, it works. Now my Golden Age Jay Garrick Flash figure will have someone to hang out with!
