It may be Thursday evening when I’m writing this, and I may be tired in this instant, but by the time you’re reading this, it’ll be Figure Friday. Let’s get after it.
In an extremely low moment last week, that surely was not influenced by the state of the world right now, I took a day off in the middle of the week. I’m usually one to maximize my PTO by taking Fridays or Mondays off for a three-day weekend, but given which way the wind was blowing last week, I opted for a Wednesday off. If shit was going to fall apart, I wasn’t about to be at my desk answering emails all day.
The weather was nice, so I elected to be out in the world. I don’t much care for sunshine, but even I cannot deny the positive physiological effects it has on the body. I went and had a nice lunch and tried to multiply and amplify as many tiny dopamine hits as I could.
I’ve been sitting on a gift certificate to my local comic shop since Christmas, and some reward credits at the toy shop across town for almost half as long. I also had a $5 coupon for a local resale shop…so my path was clear.
My first stop was Walmart to see if they had any of the new McFarlane stuff that’s been popping up in the East and West Coast stores for the last few weeks. They, unfortunately, did not. From there, I went to the resale shop and put my $5 coupon towards a nifty tabletop card game. I’d write more about that, but this is a column about toys after all.
After that, I was off to the local independent toy shop. It brings me no joy to report that I’ve fallen off the wagon in spectacular fashion and I am once again in the throes of “blind box fever.” The newest wave of the Blokees Transformers vehicle model kits has hit the market, and at just five dollars a box, it is literally the cheapest and most enjoyable thing I can do. The return on investment alone is insane.
I’m not proud, but in the last week I’ve managed to almost complete the line. I only really wanted three of the models, but they’re all cool enough that I don’t mind the other ones I got.
Additionally, I staged a Star Wars: The Vintage Collection Marrok figure. If you’re not familiar with the character, that’s okay. They were the most recent recipient of the Boba Fett Effect, which is to say, they show up, look cool, have little or no dialogue, do some cool stuff, then die in a humiliating or otherwise undignified fashion. Marrok also gets bonus points for now showing up in a prequel to their first appearance in the now-airing Maul – Shadow Lord show on Disney+. They haven’t shown up in the four episodes I’ve watched to date, and the show has been incredibly dull so far. No pressure, Marrok, it’s up to you to save the show.
Finally, I popped into my local comic shop for my largest purchase of the day. They had just got in the MAFEX Robin and also the “Spider-Man: No Way Home MAFEX No.262 Spider-Man (New Red & Blue Suit)” figures and since I already had Robin on preorder (along with a non-refundable deposit) I went for Spider-Man.
This is the first “non-comic” inspired MAFEX I’ve purchased, and it’s…pretty okay! I previously went for the SH Figuarts version of the figure, which is currently part of my Spider-Man display in my study, so I was eager to compare and contrast the two.
The MAFEX is a lot of fun and has taken up residence on my desk to be fiddled with throughout the day. The sculpt and paint on it almost make it seem like a completely different version of the figure when compared to the Figuarts, and I’d be lying if I said that the hype for the next Spider-Man flick didn’t at least partially influence my purchase.
With all that said, the Figuarts version comes out on top for me. Slightly. I haven’t done an exhaustive side-by-side yet, but the MAFEX seems to be the slightly less poseable of the two, but it is more aesthetically pleasing. It is a very, very shiny blue and, to me, reads more as a comic book figure than a film figure. It comes with a TON of alternate heads, hands, and accessories, but also, I would not have paid the MSRP of $115 for this figure.
It’s a great figure, and if you can spend over a hundred dollars on it without blinking, good for you, but I was glad I didn’t pay full price.
