Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 17th, 2021)

[ironwez20]

I still love that punisher movie. Marvel was killing it in the early 00s before the mcu. They weren’t always hits but they were interesting. Also they didn’t feel all so corporate. They each had there own identity. They could be dark and violent .

 

[Victοr]

Do you mainly collect 1/6 scale?

That's the main priority. But I'm also getting Omnis/Absolutes of my favourite runs, plus some "important" ones I don't love all that much but still want in my library. Some hardcover manga as well. I'm not as big there as I am in comics, but I have some wants. And I'm looking into buying my favourite films and shows in some form of physical media. The problem is that I don't know whether to catch up with BluRay or invest in the recent 4K releases. In the same vein there's some anime I want to get as well. Plus some old videogames I missed buying way back when and now want to plug the holes.

Aside from that, toy-wise, I'm focusing on 1/6th only, yes. But I'm planning a sort of anime/animated/videogame shelf where things that don't fit with the realistic 1/6th figures can go. An Eva corner, a TLotGH corner and so on. Some of those Nintendo Figma figures. Not a whole lot, but still. There's just in general some things I want to buy but can't fit with my planned 1/6ths. I don't want to break into other scales and just start buying anything and everything. There are some characters/licenses that I want to get merch of in general, but if I start buying everything in all scales and forms, then I'll never be finished. I might get some statues in the next decade when I'm settled 1/6th-wise, but so far it's just 1/6th.

It's just that I'm into so many things already. I don't have a singular focus like other people have, I'm all over the place. There are those who are only into Star Wars, or Sci-Fi in general, or others who just collect Manga/Anime stuff, and so on. I don't have that. I have interests in pretty much every medium and genre. So I have to pick and choose from them instead of going all in. Just an example. If I bought everything I'd theoretically want (not just the characters I love, all the ones I've thought had looked cool at one point or another) from Marvel, assuming good casting and translation to the screen, I'd be looking at:

• Spider-Man: Tobey-Man, Raimi Ock, Raimi Goblin, HAMMER Osborn, 2099, Venom, Carnage, SpOck (V1 & V2)
• Iron Man: Suit Tony, Extremis, NOW!, Endo-Sym, Modular, Bleeding Edge, Ultimate, Godkiller + Zeke Stane, Iron Monger, Iron Patriot (Osborn), War Machine (also the Tron-esque suits that are vital to my hypothetical Tron display)
• Street: Punisher, Daredevil, Elektra, Kingpin, Bullseye, Moon Knight
• Horror: Ghost Rider(s) (Johnny, Danny, Robbie), Zadkiel, Blade, Morbius, Elsa Bloodstone, Werewolf By Night, Hellstrom Twins, Dracula, Nightmare, Man-Thing + Howard The Duck
• Sorcerers: Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Loki, Mordo, Voodoo, Magik, Clea
• Cosmic: Thanos, Mephisto, Dormammu, Umar, Adam Warlock, High Evolutionary, Kang, Quasar, Nova, Noh-Varr
• X-Men: Xavier, Legion, Magneto, Cyclops, Jean, Cable, Deadpool, Rachel, Hope, Brand, Fantomex, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Frost, Mystique, Archangel, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, (Dark) Beast, Rogue, Gambit, Shaw, Storm, Madrox, Domino, Exodus, Gladiator, Lilandra, Mojo + Wolverine, Colossus, Kitty, Iceman for completionism's sake (and that's not counting for costume changes like normal Jean, Phoenix Jean and Dark Phoenix)
• FF: F4, Namor, Doom, Kristoff, Maker, Annihilus, Black Panther, Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Maximus, Ronan, Mad Thinker, Franklin & Valeria, Nathaniel, She-Hulk, Red Ghost, Mole Man, Diablo, K'lrt, Silver Surfer (+ all the Heralds in general)
• Espionage: Nick Fury, Valentina, Zemo, Strucker, Viper, Kraken, Gorgon, Swordsman, MODOK
• Misc: Captain Britain, Herc, Ares, Death's Head, Dark Angel, Moonstone

And that's just Marvel. Not DC, not Star Wars, not Metal Gear, not random one-offs from movies, tv, vidya and so on, just Marvel. And I'm probably forgetting a few. And I'm not accounting for costume changes in a couple of them. Granted, a lot of these will never happen, or the costume and casting might be too awful. Some of them have been wasted and haven't gotten a figure, so it's useless to factor them in. But you get the point. I can't get everything that I've ever "liked", or just to complete the lines. That's about 130 figues give or take. I'll price them are just 300, which is deifnitely not the case for the Iron Suits, but whatever. That's ~40K euros. Even if I had them it'd be too much. It's not the one figure that brings it down, it's that one here, one there, and soon you're headed for an avalanche. Who needs 500 dollies when, best case scenario, around 80 will be the ones he "really" likes? What, am I looking at a case of "well, I just need 100K to drop on my basic pop culture needs to move on"? That's the very antithesis of the whole concept of "moving on". So I have to reign it in. I have to focus. That's why all Symbiotes are slashed. Why I'd buy mayne 1/3rd of those X-Men. Why, to go over to DC, I'll not go beyond 3 Bat-Villains. And so on and so forth. At some point it's just meaningless plastic that clutters.

Daredevil has the best comic runs I've ever read. A lot of people are big on the Frank Miller run, but I prefer the Brubaker, Bendis runs. Those are the holy grails in my opinion. Also big on the Brubaker Iron Fist run, Brubaker Winter Soldier, Bendis New Avengers, Civil War. Can't read comics anymore cause it is trash. You don't get this badass storytelling anymore:

I read them all back in the day. I read the Brubaker run while reading his Captain America and Winter Soldier ones too. And see, that's what I'm talking about. I went through a major espionage phase. Bucky was in my Top 5 for a time. Now I don't care at all. If I went around remaining attached to everything I've ever interacted with, or is critically acclaimed, there'd be no end. Mostly because I've interacted with tons upon tons of things. Now, Daredevil is a Top 10 property so once he joins the MCU I might relent and show some leeway, even though he's not in my Top 10, and get him to pose with Punisher. But there has to be a line drawn, somewhere, otherwise you're done for.

I don't know. "Classic" this, "phenomenal" that. It's all ultimately just capeshit. Some of them just have better window dressing and purple prose. It's just aesthetics that attract us and serviceable stories. I came across some clips of the Netflix show a while back, and while it was touted as some truly great tv it's... okay. There's lots of "AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH" and "I got a devil in me" and good acting and everything but ultimately it's... okay. Kingpin acts somewhat autistic and throws tantrums, Matt keeps repeating that he's got a "devil inside", we get repeated beats about anger issues and so on. And all those comics that we read in our teens and go "wow, this, like, has better writting than biff/pow/wham; it's so mature" but looking back it's on the level of a random detective novel. It's just great for capeshit. So taking that into account, I can't help but buy based simply on aesthetics and childhood nostalgia instead of any perceived notion of "quality". So while looking back MGS is not as profound as teen me thought, I have enough attachment to it to want to represent it. Daredevil is a classic cape crime comic, but the writting's not on par with something truly great. You've got your quips, your "and now he drops the sai and he dropkicks him and-" narration and so on. I don't know, as time goes on I have less patience. I want something to truly jump at me and feel different and bold and unique and have something to say. Otherwise it can be good, great even, for its genre, but ultimately is forgotten. Or maybe I tell that to myself so that I can keep buying my Star Wars dollies and not be tempted to buy any Star Trek dollies or whatever.

I just think any and all pop culture is ultimately worthless and carried by basic beats and style, nothing more. "Classic" is just thrown around too casually. Maybe that's just a remnant from my comic book forum days but every title would have at least a couple of people swearing up and down that X title was a classic. I get it, they're good. There are lots of things I'd describe as good. But classics? I think to be a classic you have to do something truly different. Things like Miller's Darevil is a well-written capebook in the crime genre. Same way Byrne's FF is a well-written capebook in the Sci-Fi genre. But things like Wolfman's Teen Titans, another supposed "classic", I just don't see the point in. If a cinema classic is Apocalypse Now, and a book classic is War & Peace, then I think a comic book classic would be Watchmen. Daredevil I wouldn't put in the "diamond in the rough" category either. I'd put it next to something like Alien; a "classic" in its particular genre.

 

[JMT1979]

Daredevil has the best comic runs I've ever read. A lot of people are big on the Frank Miller run, but I prefer the Brubaker, Bendis runs. Those are the holy grails in my opinion. Also big on the Brubaker Iron Fist run, Brubaker Winter Soldier, Bendis New Avengers, Civil War. Can't read comics anymore cause it is trash. You don't get this badass storytelling anymore:

I'm with you there for DD - Brubaker and Bendis are my favourites too and I will get the Omnibuses for these one day too. I like Brubaker's Captain America run and Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and New Avengers run too.
I'm eagerly awaiting the Punisher War Journal Omnibuses too after getting the two Punisher Max Omnibuses by Ennis.

 

[Otomofan]

I know we're way off on a tangent here, but you guys got me thinking so I want to ask:

We all know Frank Miller's runs on Daredevil are universally accepted as the best of all time, with "Born Again" just edging out the Elektra/Bullseye saga.

But I just gotta know....is Elektra really an interesting character? Is she even any "good?" She looked cool I suppose, but she had absolutely zero personality. All she did was show up, kill some ninjas, and then die. Why do people like her so much?

I'm a Frank Miller fanatic, but I feel absolutely zero attachment to that character. I've never felt compelled to get an action figure of her.

 

[Victοr]

I know we're way off on a tangent here, but you guys got me thinking so I want to ask:

We all know Frank Miller's runs on Daredevil are universally accepted as the best of all time, with "Born Again" just edging out the Elektra/Bullseye saga.

But I just gotta know....is Elektra really an interesting character? Is she even any "good?" She looked cool I suppose, but she had absolutely zero personality. All she did was show up, kill some ninjas, and then die. Why do people like her so much?

I'm a Frank Miller fanatic, but I feel absolutely zero attachment to that character. I've never felt compelled to get an action figure of her.

She's professional and cold, sarcastic and playful at times, and beyond the tough exterior of the cold blooded killer there's some hidden humanity. Basically the same as most merc-related characters.

I think the bottom line is that most fictional characters, especially comic/manga ones, are just stocks with some extra bells and whistles. Either they appeal to you aesthetically or they just don't. Any talk of "complexity" is a bit of a losing battle in that regard. Take Spider-Man. He's a good guy deep down who makes everyman mistakes, suffers the consquences and shoulders the weight and yaddayaddayadda. He can be summed up as "good guy with flaws". Daredevil's that but with anger issues. Batman's a bit more complex due to all his mental issues and whatever incarnation's damage is, plus all the genres he taps into. But again, he can be summed up as "wounded manchild with emotional and anger management problems". Stark is Howard Hughes if he was an alcoholic instead of a germaphobe and built flying suits of armour. I don't know if he could be distilled to anything since he went from "industrialist who's actually a good guy" to "jerk with a heart of gold with addiction and control issues" to "authoritarian alcoholic who pretends to be good to not fly off the deep end". And on and on it goes. Movies have the extra benefit of the actor's performance to make a character more memorable and give them depth with subtle hints. Books have way more narrative to work with. Comics and the such are ultimately stocks with a "choose 3 traits" feature.

I don't know, maybe I just feel overwhelmed by it all and I try to distill it all to their base form so that I can discard them without feeling as if I'm missing something. But whenever I look back in this medium, this particular genre at least, I'm left more and more cold. I can tell when something is trash, passable or great, but what is "good" often blends with the passable. I've read far too many "good" and "classic" things that ultimately left me feeling nothing. I've come to the conclusion that it all depends on what you were exposed to first and as a kid; period. I like swords, so I like ninjas and samurais, among others. But I can't say I care for Daredevil because I wasn't introduced to him at an early age, whereas I played Ninja Gaiden so I have more appreciation for Ryu Hayabusa, who's obviously a less developed character than Murdock. I liked the TMNT as a kid, but I outgrew them. There are people I've come across who like a specific genre/theme/style and get into everything from it. I can't do that. I have to pick and choose two here, three there. Just because I like Space Operas doesn't mean I'll ever watch Babylon 5.

Maybe it's just me who operates like that. Something either "clicks" with me or it doesn't. I can recognise objective quality, but with things that are a 7/10, sometimes I just drag them down to a "5" if I'm not grabbed by the style. With comics, I can hardly name any genuinely good ones. I just see the majority of them, even the "good" ones, as more or less on the level of airport novellas.

 

[chrisstbh]

I think I may have read somewhere that you can create your own character. So, I think it's a made up character for the game. And of course to advertise it's a female.

That'll bring the female fans in by the droves.

And for all the male fans that love to create and play as females so they can watch the boobs jiggle and bounce as they run and jump...

Y’all really hate when they put anything but a white male as the default.

Also it’s a turn based strategy game, like XCOM.

 

[ZE_501]

Didn't seem to exactly do wonders for Iron Fist or The Defenders.

LOL ... the lamest timeline.

 

[xipotec]

Well actually...

good news

Spoiler:

Agent Smith is in the film.

bad news

Spoiler:

different actor

Right away, very bad sign.

 

[ironwez20]

I like elektra cause she’s hot. Idk why they cast her as some skinny white girl in the first film. Forgot her name.
Wow marvel did make a girl led superhero movie before capt marvel and black widow. I guess people just didn’t care.
Anyway yea. The Netflix one was ok. But I see elektra as more Asian or latina

 

[chrisstbh]

I like elektra cause she’s hot. Idk why they cast her as some skinny white girl in the first film. Forgot her name.
Wow marvel did make a girl led superhero movie before capt marvel and black widow. I guess people just didn’t care.
Anyway yea. The Netflix one was ok. But I see elektra as more Asian or latina

Isn’t she Greek?

 

[Otomofan]

Yeah, she's 100% Greek.

I only thought she was interesting in the Miller/Romita JR series "Man Without Fear." In every one of her other appearances by Miller, she's merely a prop. She barely even talks. She has zero personality.

I guess you just "had to be there" in the 70s when those books first came out, or something.

 

[ironwez20]

Isn’t she Greek?

Idk. She looks tan in the comics

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Idk. She looks tan in the comics

So she looks Greek.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I'm seeing patterns in darthkostis' massive soliloquy posts. Messages to the enemy?

*cue A Brilliant Mind music*

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

What if we're all imaginary people in Darthkostis' mind? That would suck.

 

[ironwez20]

So she looks Greek.

Meh. Idk . Always thought Greeks were white af but idk

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Meh. Idk . Always thought Greeks were white af but idk

Some. Some have dark skin. I guess that applies to many countries. I could never tell back in the 90s if characters were Asian or not. I had no idea Jubilee and Psylocke were Asian. He'll, I didn't know Ryu from Street Fighter was Japanese. It didn't matter to me.

 

[Ropen]

What if we're all imaginary people in Darthkostis' mind? That would suck.

I always felt like I don’t know who I am and feels like the ghost of a total stranger lol

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

I always felt like I don’t know who I am and feels like the ghost of a total stranger lol

 

[Victοr]

I'm seeing patterns in darthkostis' massive soliloquy posts. Messages to the enemy?

*cue A Brilliant Mind music*

I like writing. And talking. I do tend to go on if nobody stops me. Rambling is fun, I think. I don't know when to stop, really. I feel as if I have to keep going to show that I'm giving the subject attention. To be truthful, in a sense. Or maybe I just like to ramble and try to kickstart random conversations about things I'm into. Could be that as well. I also do have a compulsion to "get it all", so I write these massive posts about why I don't need X/Y/Z to, in a way, convince myself of that.

All cards on the table, trimming things down has been on my mind for a while now, so it tends to bleed into it all as far as collectibles are concerned. I'm not comfortable yet with all that I "want", so I try every day to bring it down an extra notch. Maybe I should start unironically LARPing as Doom and only do and buy the things Doom would...

What if we're all imaginary people in Darthkostis' mind? That would suck.

I think my mind would be a very good place to be in. Why, I'm a jolly, well-adjusted fellow.

I always felt like I don’t know who I am and feels like the ghost of a total stranger lol

That's part of what happens when mental creations start realising what they are. Sorry, your time is near...

RE Elektra: It's the Meditteranean, you can go from pale to "bronze", especially if you work outside.