Poll of the Day > Valley of The Geeks

(+) Yeah! (+)

Broken_Zeus posted...

But don't they have to abandon what Disney brought to the table? Disney would logically have rights to at least some of it.

"Why make billions when you can make millions?"

--Sony
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Getting slammed hard on a dumb little Kristen Wiig shoot here, want to actually post some stuff, especially relating to the Disney stuff. But for now: Palpatine officially confirmed...

...But there's almost no way they explain HOW he's still alive that won't be completely awful.

Like, the ONLY way that even begins to make sense is that Palpatine learned to conqueror death via Darth Plague's teachings (we'll ignore how that allowed him to also survive the Death Star blowing up, and how fucking lame this is and how it totally cheapens the end of RotJ). And even then, they will almost certainly not give proper screen time to explain how and why we even need a reborn Palpatine, how this fits into the established arc of this current trilogy, etc.

Somehow, this trilogy is going to end up worse than the prequels.
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CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Getting slammed hard on a dumb little Kristen Wiig shoot here, want to actually post some stuff, especially relating to the Disney stuff. But for now: Palpatine officially confirmed...

...But there's almost no way they explain HOW he's still alive that won't be completely awful.

Like, the ONLY way that even begins to make sense is that Palpatine learned to conqueror death via Darth Plague's teachings (we'll ignore how that allowed him to also survive the Death Star blowing up, and how fucking lame this is and how it totally cheapens the end of RotJ). And even then, they will almost certainly not give proper screen time to explain how and why we even need a reborn Palpatine, how this fits into the established arc of this current trilogy, etc.

Somehow, this trilogy is going to end up worse than the prequels.

Worse than The Prequels... I'm not sure. The first 45 minutes of The Last Jedi were pretty good. After that... let's not talk about that at all. The Force Awakens isn't a bad film at all, not like Attack of the Clones or lots of the Phantom Menace.

I do however agree with you that nothing J.J throws out will make sense when it comes to explaining how The Emperor is back, why it took 30 something years for it to happen, and why? Plus, the tease of a Dark Side Rey is just a tease as I don't think they have the balls to turn her evil and make it stick. Hell, they can't make Palpatine's death permanent.
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Might be time to pass the torch from the Star Wars movies to all of those new Star Wars TV series on Disney +, perhaps.

I did a very geeky thing today. Had a stack of comic books from when I last had a subscription (... in 2014; this is the fruit of a long period of procrastination), so I took the time to bag and board them to take them out to one of the long boxes in the garage in order to free up a little space elsewhere.

Naturally, it made me reflect a bit. The issues I put up were all from the "Marvel NOW!" runs of Avengers, (not-so-)New Avengers, and Secret Avengers. "Marvel NOW!" was the time when I decided the direction of the comics side of Marvel was no longer for me, which is a shame, since it came after a period (Heroic Age) when I was still pretty excited to see what was coming next. I think, perhaps, when the movies started getting bigger than the source material, that was when I jumped ship.

Doesn't mean I won't go back and reread the oldies, though, even if "oldies" now includes the '00s runs, back when comic books started picking up a new head of steam after the clusterfuck that was the '90s and the comic book crash.
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I have not had a solid comic book subscription in over a decade. Back when I use to work at a Comic store part time, and I hung out with my friends there every Saturday. Back before I was sick and before I was married.

Now I just keep up with comics from reviews on various ious websites and Wikipedia. I just don't have the time and money to spend on comics; when I can just be selective with graphic novels after a run is over, if I'm interested in the book. It just saves time and money which is definitely more precious as I get older.
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While I usually have mixed feelings when I see some peoples' collections, Funko's fan features consistently manage to depress me:
https://www.funko.com/blog/article/funatic-of-the-week-paul-methric

I'm not sure if it's because I assign less collectible value to Pop!s, the fact that the displays are usually just walls of boxes, or how Funko itself promotes the stuff.

Granted, I keep most of my non-blind-boxed Funko stuff boxed, so that could also be part of it (although, the case of the Savage World stuff, that packaging looks amazing).

WhiskeyDisk posted...

Broken_Zeus posted...

But don't they have to abandon what Disney brought to the table? Disney would logically have rights to at least some of it.

"Why make billions when you can make millions?"

--Sony

Disney's offer wasn't going to be that great for Sony.

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

Getting slammed hard on a dumb little Kristen Wiig shoot here, want to actually post some stuff, especially relating to the Disney stuff. But for now:

Goddamnit, Cyborg, can't you toss a warning before your spoilers? =(

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

...But there's almost no way they explain

Clone.

Or Force Teleport... which probably isn't a thing, so clone.

Granted, the question isn't so much how did this happen within the continuity, but why do they think this is a good idea?

The Wave Master posted...

Worse than The Prequels... I'm not sure. The first 45 minutes of The Last Jedi were pretty good. After that... let's not talk about that at all. The Force Awakens isn't a bad film at all, not like Attack of the Clones or lots of the Phantom Menace.

I consider TFA unilaterally worse than TLJ, except maybe for the existence of Rose who makes me wish they had just put Jar-Jar in that role. Granted, the fact that TFA was so bad it made me wish I was watching the Phantom Menace instead may have lowered my expectations to the point that TLJ seemed half-decent (and by half-decent, I mean the half not featuring Finn & Rose's pointless sidequest where the *only* payoff was ruining the Rebellion's escape attempt)

I_Abibde posted...

Might be time to pass the torch from the Star Wars movies to all of those new Star Wars TV series on Disney +, perhaps.

tbh, the concept flat-out works better as a tv show than a film series.

The Wave Master posted...

I have not had a solid comic book subscription in over a decade. Back when I use to work at a Comic store part time, and I hung out with my friends there every Saturday. Back before I was sick and before I was married.

At the risk of one-upping you, I've never had a comic book subscription. I always bought individual issues (often on clearance) and TPBs. The subs never really seemed like a good value.

Granted, now we have things like Marvel Unlimited so, hypothetically, at some point when I have far more time than I know what to do with, I could just binge one of those comic services (assuming that they have a backlog of older runs and it's not just the complete garbage they've put out in recent years)
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Broken_Zeus posted...

While I usually have mixed feelings when I see some peoples' collections, Funko's fan features consistently manage to depress me:
https://www.funko.com/blog/article/funatic-of-the-week-paul-methric

I'm not sure if it's because I assign less collectible value to Pop!s, the fact that the displays are usually just walls of boxes, or how Funko itself promotes the stuff.

Granted, I keep most of my non-blind-boxed Funko stuff boxed, so that could also be part of it (although, the case of the Savage World stuff, that packaging looks amazing).

I only have one because I was given it as a joke birthday present. There's a few I would want but I definitely would never buy ones I have no interest in just to collect them.
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I'm just going to leave this here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3n1T3HxHd7Yl
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Don't give a **** about it at this point, but it would be interesting to see if Rey was some sleeper Palpatine clone that becomes aware, Kylo goes good and kills him err... her... err... whatever.

Revelation34 posted...

I only have one because I was given it as a joke birthday present. There's a few I would want but I definitely would never buy ones I have no interest in just to collect them.

I was reluctant to get into the Pop!s since I dislike the more generic design, but I started "collecting" them when I found some Rudolph ones on clearance from Target and a Chernabog on the Disney store. The thing that bugged me about the line at first was the sameness between figures and, broadly speaking, most of the ones I've bought are an exception to that. Most of them have mouths and are more highly detailed.

Offhand, the few exceptions in my collection are things I found on clearance for dirt-cheap (some Runaways figures for $2 apiece, some MvC-ish set with Strider Hiryu), although in those cases I still liked the characters themselves and the price was just right. There are a lot of examples of characters I like where I haven't bought because I either really dislike the design or can't justify spending that much for something of that quality. (And, of course, there's the fact that they just make too much stuff.)

My Pop! collection is on the smaller side. iirc, I own fewer than 20 (or maybe 25) full-sized figures. Most of them are more monstrous-looking characters. (It includes *three* versions of Cthluhu -- standard, glow-in-the-dark, and the patina. I stand by that decision.)

Funko's *other* stuff I like better. I frequently wind up buying Mystery Minis for things I don't really care about because the blind-boxed feature is kinda neat and I like the designs. (In some cases it's also a matter that I think I know what I'm getting -- such as Molten Man from the Spidey set (figured it had to be him or Mysterio) or Gandalf and Gimli from the LotR set). I love the Hikari line, but it's more than I like paying for collectibles. I got a few of them on the cheap ($15-20 for something that was originally marked up to like $50 or $60; the line kinda imploded at that price), but it's mostly just colorways of Skeletor (Mystic Powers version, Havoc, and... I think one other one).

And I will mention that my brother once tried to give me a Logan Pop! as a gift. I didn't really want it.
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Broken_Zeus posted...

I was reluctant to get into the Pop!s since I dislike the more generic design, but I started "collecting" them when I found some Rudolph ones on clearance from Target and a Chernabog on the Disney store. The thing that bugged me about the line at first was the sameness between figures and, broadly speaking, most of the ones I've bought are an exception to that. Most of them have mouths and are more highly detailed.

Offhand, the few exceptions in my collection are things I found on clearance for dirt-cheap (some Runaways figures for $2 apiece, some MvC-ish set with Strider Hiryu), although in those cases I still liked the characters themselves and the price was just right. There are a lot of examples of characters I like where I haven't bought because I either really dislike the design or can't justify spending that much for something of that quality. (And, of course, there's the fact that they just make too much stuff.)

My Pop! collection is on the smaller side. iirc, I own fewer than 20 (or maybe 25) full-sized figures. Most of them are more monstrous-looking characters. (It includes *three* versions of Cthluhu -- standard, glow-in-the-dark, and the patina. I stand by that decision.)

Funko's *other* stuff I like better. I frequently wind up buying Mystery Minis for things I don't really care about because the blind-boxed feature is kinda neat and I like the designs. (In some cases it's also a matter that I think I know what I'm getting -- such as Molten Man from the Spidey set (figured it had to be him or Mysterio) or Gandalf and Gimli from the LotR set). I love the Hikari line, but it's more than I like paying for collectibles. I got a few of them on the cheap ($15-20 for something that was originally marked up to like $50 or $60; the line kinda imploded at that price), but it's mostly just colorways of Skeletor (Mystic Powers version, Havoc, and... I think one other one).

And I will mention that my brother once tried to give me a Logan Pop! as a gift. I didn't really want it.

I don't have the money for them anyway. Looks like the one I thought would be super rare due to it being a pre order only bonus for Fallout 4 isn't as expensive as I thought it would be.
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Revelation34 posted...

I don't have the money for them anyway.

It's not a huge outlay upfront, but it does add up over time. The usual MSRP for Pop!s is $9, but some retailers routinely charge more (which, in some cases, I'm okay with the premium). Of course, because so many of them come out, you can often find deals on them whether it's markdowns (Gamespot usually has a large selection of $5 ones) or clearances. And, in contrast, Mystery Minis usually range $5-9 depending on retailer and, because they're a blind-boxed item, they don't seem to go on clearance as much (although Gamestop seems to be getting rid of the Fallout ones)

As a general rule, the less I pay for something, the less time I spend mulling over the decision. Mystery Minis, Pop!s, etc, are usually just impulse buys. The dark side of impulse purchasing -- which I've discussed before -- is that the use of physical space also adds up over time. Then you either need new storage infrastructure (like shelving) or to get rid of something. I *hate* getting rid of things. I guess that's what also bugs me about Pop!s -- pretty much everybody I know (irl mostly, but also online) who has any sort of collection tends to get rid of some of it down the road, often still in box.

Out of all the ones I own, there are only a few that I question having bought. One is Smaug, where I'm not as fond of the design and I regret not going with the exclusive gold colorway. (Amazon has the standard-color listed for $45, but there's no way he's worth $45. I think with the Hot Topic promo at the time, I might have paid $17-20, which I thought was a little much but it wasn't exactly breaking the bank.)

I'm also kinda iffy another another oversized dragon Pop!, Nicol Bolas, who is still widely available for around MSRP. Mostly because the metallic sheen looks kinda stupid. I don't regret the oversized BvS Doomsday, but I only paid $5 for him anyway.

And it's not just the ones that I might have paid a little more for. Some of the Pop!s I picked up cheaply that have the more standard design I've sometimes wondered, "Did I really need this?"

On that same note, there are other ones like the Pop! Molten Man (which I bought half for the streaming code to the Spectacular Spider-Man show) and the Talespin Shere Khan (which I got for $2.50) where I like the design and the character, but I already own the Mystery Mini version which look a lot cooler (and I absolutely love). I guess if I ever decided I didn't need both, I'd be more likely to keep the Mystery Minis. However, I'm not sure if I'd keep the Pop! Rocksteady and Bebop or the Mystery Minis Rocksteady and Bebop.

Right now, my favorite Pop! I own is either the Batman: The Animated Series Scarecrow or Sharknado. Ironically, I don't have either in a prominent place.

Also I realize I probably own more Pop!s than I thought. That 20-25 is likely closer to 40. Forgot I got that 8-bit Rampage 3-pack for $5 and, even now, I was looking at the R2-D2 I bought used (maybe $2 along with some other stuff?) on my desk without thinking about it.
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Revelation34 posted...

Looks like the one I thought would be super rare due to it being a pre order only bonus for Fallout 4 isn't as expensive as I thought it would be.

I would honestly discourage anybody from buying them for re-sale value because it's too hard to predict the aftermarket. Funko releases way too many figures and they tend to have large runs (even the Hikari, Funko's sofubi line that's supposed to have a designer vinyl thing going for it, was doing runs between 500 and 2,000).

Because of things like that, even a lot of the rare ones tend to not be super expensive. And while I'm sure that there's a Beanie Baby culture around some of them, enough people got burned by Beanie Babies that I expect we won't see the same kind of silly evaluations across the board. Granted, there *are* some supposedly expensive ones, but those tend to be con exclusives, not pre-order bonuses.

I do own a few con exclusives (ones that went to other retailers like B&N and Hot Topic after the fact), but nothing too crazy. I will admit that I bought the Iron Throne more because of a perceived rarity than simply for liking it, although amusingly enough I took it out of its box almost immediately whereas a lot of the others have been displayed MIB.
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I need to count up my Funko Pops. I've got at least a couple dozen, though I'm not really a serious collector.

And, for a lark, I went to look at the Marvel Subscriptions page, and ... I found absolutely nothing that sparked my interest. Just another wave of the same titles restarted at Issue #1 after, what, a year? Maybe a year and a half? The same things that annoyed me when I stopped subscribing are still in place.

Call me weird, but I kinda missed the days when the issue numbers ran up into the hundreds.
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Broken_Zeus posted...

They did okay with Amazing at well at first.... but then they cast Jamie Foxx as Electro and for some reason Paul Giamotti was cast as the Rhino (and then barely used). And, of course, it *also* had a downer ending after just coming off a downer ending.

My understanding of that was that they weren't really ready to make a film, and were mostly just churning it out to maintain the rights (see also, 2015 Fantastic Four) and to help set up the shared universe (which is what they were way more interested in). The goal was to justify Venom, Black Cat, Sinister Six, and potential other movies in the Spider-Man universe, because they figured they could make a ton off those (and then later pull the Avengers-style "Hey, look at all these characters team up now!" mega-movie that would make a shitton of money). It's why a lot of the movie feels like they were just starting from the point of "we need to establish potential origin stories for a dozen future characters", and then tried to build around that, rather than having an actual story worth telling.

Granted, the film did a piss-poor job of that (and effectively shelved their entire shared universe idea until Homecoming helped revitalize the brand), but it still made them a lot of money. It was certainly a critical and artistic failure, but not a financial one from their perspective.



Broken_Zeus posted...

They do a lot of stuff as one-shot comics and usually the handling is lousy. This would be more than a little different.

To be fair, if they did it as a movie, it would also likely be a one-shot film and the handling would be lousy, so it's not like you'd be getting much of an improvement.



Broken_Zeus posted...

But don't they have to abandon what Disney brought to the table? Disney would logically have rights to at least some of it.

From what I understand of their deal, no. Sony basically retains all the rights to almost everything - mechanically, their deal was that Sony made the movie, and Disney provided extra financing and technical support via Kevin Feige (who was effectively rented out as a freelance contractor) in exchange for a cut of the profits.

They probably won't be able to mention Tony or the Avengers, and Happy's out. But other than that, Spider-Man, the entire supporting cast, and all of the events of his solo movies are part of the canon that Sony controls, and can refer back to whenever they want.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

My understanding of that was that they weren't really ready to make a film, and were mostly just churning it out to maintain the rights (see also, 2015 Fantastic Four) and to help set up the shared universe (which is what they were way more interested in). The goal was to justify Venom, Black Cat, Sinister Six, and potential other movies in the Spider-Man universe, because they figured they could make a ton off those (and then later pull the Avengers-style "Hey, look at all these characters team up now!" mega-movie that would make a shitton of money). It's why a lot of the movie feels like they were just starting from the point of "we need to establish potential origin stories for a dozen future characters", and then tried to build around that, rather than having an actual story worth telling.

All other things considered, I will say that I kinda liked how the Green Goblin became like a secret villain in the film, particularly give his last-second appearance

ParanoidObsessive posted...

To be fair, if they did it as a movie, it would also likely be a one-shot film and the handling would be lousy, so it's not like you'd be getting much of an improvement.

Meaning that you don't think it'd get a sequel? Because we have yet to see a Spidey film not get a sequel. Hell, Venom was kinda lousy and even that's getting a sequel.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

From what I understand of their deal, no. Sony basically retains all the rights to almost everything - mechanically, their deal was that Sony made the movie, and Disney provided extra financing and technical support via Kevin Feige (who was effectively rented out as a freelance contractor) in exchange for a cut of the profits.

They probably won't be able to mention Tony or the Avengers, and Happy's out. But other than that, Spider-Man, the entire supporting cast, and all of the events of his solo movies are part of the canon that Sony controls, and can refer back to whenever they want.

So even the actors' contracts are with Sony rather than Disney? Oo Damn, so I guess they *could* just continue shit.
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

"Why make billions when you can make millions?"

--Sony

"Why bother making some money if you can't make all of the money?"

--Disney



Or, for a less pithy, more accurate summation:



"Why make billions if you have to share it, when you can make different billions you don't have to share? Sony can go fuck themselves and we'll play with our shiny new toys. We'll only play ball if we get a huge chunk of the profit for very little investment."

--Disney



"Why make the movie with you at all if you're going to try and gouge the shit out of us? Especially when you get 100% of the merchandising profits and we can only recoup via film returns? We can shit out a worse movie and still make more money than we would if we did things your way. Fuck, we made more money off Amazing Spider-Man 2 than we did from Homecoming. We'll just crank out a Spider-Man 3 with Tom Holland and his entire supporting cast, and we'll introduce Miles or Spider-Gwen or something, and make more money than we ever would if we bent over and grabbed our ankles for you."

--Sony



Word seems to be that Disney decided they didn't really give a shit about Spider-Man or co-operating with Sony, because the influx of all the Fox properties (specifically the X-Men, but also the Fantastic Four stuff to some degree) means that Kevin Feige is going to be way too busy to be loaned out to work on a film Disney will only get SOME money from. Supposedly, they were already reconsidering if they wanted to maintain the relationship before the Fox merger (and had set an ultimatum of dropping the agreement entirely unless Far From Home made more than a billion dollars), but after the Fox merger they became even less willing to work together, and apparently only made their offer as an extortionate power-politic tactic because they didn't care if Sony said no. Sony, on the other hand, rightly saw the offer as the insulting BS it was and walked away from negotiations because they understood Disney was no longer willing to deal in good faith.

Sony actually made more money off Amazing Spider-Man 2 than they did from Homecoming. And yes, Far From Home is the most successful Spider-Man film ever, but if the deal Disney wants for the next film had been in place for Far From Home, it would have been their least successful Spider-Man film ever. Sony would have to be literally insane to accept the deal Disney wanted.

(cont)
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It's not even as if this is the first time Disney/Marvel has done stuff like this. Marvel's basically been sabotaging its own most popular franchise for more than a decade because they didn't control the film rights - and their attitude internally was basically "If we cannot make ALL of the money off this property, then no one should make any money off this property".

This isn't even speculation - people in the company have outright stated that was always their motivation as creators. "Why waste effort working on a title if you don't make as much money from its success? Focus on the properties you fully own and devote all your energy to making those better and half-ass the others."

X-Men was Marvel's #1 franchise for 30 years, but the combination of Fox owning the right and Marvel Studios being forced to use the Avengers for their films meant they actively de-pushed X-Men in favor of trying to cash in on the film's success to elevate the Avenger titles. The most popular X-Men were outright folded into Avengers' teams, and they were moved to the center of most company-wide crossovers in the same way the X-Men had been since the mid-80s. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four was outright cancelled for years because, in their words, "Why advertise for someone else's movies?".

With the Fox properties now back under Disney/Marvel's umbrella, odds are we're going to see the comics re-emphasized. But we're also going to see the MCU pivot towards incorporating those properties as well, or having them run as a sort of parallel MCU of their own. With Kevin Feige in charge of plotting them out and integrating them, because Disney sees him as the #1 reason the Marvel movies have done so well compared to other mega-franchises.

It's also been mentioned that Feige is currently doing tons of research on the X-Men so he can pick out which ideas to use and which to avoid, so Disney has strong motivation to keep him from getting distracted working on Spider-Man for Sony.
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Korruptor posted...

Don't give a **** about it at this point, but it would be interesting to see if Rey was some sleeper Palpatine clone that becomes aware, Kylo goes good and kills him err... her... err... whatever.

Rey as the villain is about the only way I could be made to care about the film at all. But they will never, ever do that, because it would undercut her as the "empowered female" they're pushing her as.

It also wouldn't help that the only way they could go with that is to have her be a clone who redeems herself (which is cliched and boring), Kylo would have to turn good to oppose her (which would cause a major shitstorm because he's got too much baggage now), or Finn would have to become the central hero who defeats her (which would be stupid, because they've basically played him as idiot comic relief for two films now).

Not to mention the fact that having her be a female clone of a previous male villain opens a number of doors that a lot of people will complain endlessly about.

I half feel like whatever hints they're laying down about her potentially going Sith, it's going to turn out to be the usual trailer BS where it's actually from a dream sequence, where she fears her own potential to fall, or something like Luke's vision in the evil tree on Dagobah, or something even lamer, like she's just pretending to be evil to trick someone, or she's never even remotely evil but lost her lightsaber and just stole one that happened to be red.



Broken_Zeus posted...

Meaning that you don't think it'd get a sequel? Because we have yet to see a Spidey film not get a sequel. Hell, Venom was kinda lousy and even that's getting a sequel.

More that they'd focus on the differences for one film, then likely either completely panic and soft reboot, or just casually ignore the implications entirely so it becomes functionally meaningless.

Like with Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Aunt May was certainly IN the film, but her relationship to Peter was almost immaterial to the plot, and Ben's death hardly mattered much at all. The few mentions feel more like obligation and expectation than any meaningful application. Functionally, you could go the entire movie and never mention either of them and it would be more or less the exact same movie.

Arguably, you could almost say the same for Far From Home - Aunt May isn't really all that important to the plot and the MCU has always de-emphasized Ben to some degree (in favor of putting Tony Stark into a father-figure role).



Broken_Zeus posted...

So even the actors' contracts are with Sony rather than Disney? Oo Damn, so I guess they *could* just continue shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCDvEPS9b4Q" data-time="

Basically, the way the deal worked, the two Spider-Man films (and their casts, setting details, etc) are entirely under Sony's control, with Kevin Feige as an advisory producer loaned out from Disney, which also allowed the Sony films to use a few MCU characters (mainly Tony Stark and Happy) while the MCU films could use Spider-Man (and Aunt May). But in spite of being part of the MCU, they were still entirely separate in terms of corporate ownership. Disney doesn't own Homecoming or Far From Home in any way.

It's way more complicated in the details - because Disney took a minor share of profits and was paid for Feige's role, but then later renegotiated to reacquire merch rights in favor of giving up profit-sharing - and there's a ton of Hollywood book-keeping and contract insanity involved, but the upshot of which is that Sony still has access to all of the same actors, director, screenwriters, characters, setting, and so on. All they really lose is Kevin Feige, and the ability to reference the MCU or have guest cameos.
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Broken_Zeus posted...

I would honestly discourage anybody from buying them for re-sale value because it's too hard to predict the aftermarket. Funko releases way too many figures and they tend to have large runs (even the Hikari, Funko's sofubi line that's supposed to have a designer vinyl thing going for it, was doing runs between 500 and 2,000).

There's an old rule of thumb for this sort of thing. It basically boils down to something like this:

"The moment people realize something is collectable, it stops being collectable."

Early Funko runs are mostly worth money because they had low runs and people weren't necessarily buying them as collectibles because they were still too new for that to be a thing. But once people realized Funko Pops could be worth a ton of money if you bought them and sat on them for a while, supply started to exceed demand and the value of newer releases has dramatically dropped. There are still some valuable pieces (mainly the ones where artificial scarcity has generated unnatural supply shortages and greater demand), but overall, newer releases are worth less because they're being produced in greater supply and more people are buying them up front.

It was the same deal with comic books. Early stuff like Action Comics #1 or Detective Comics #27 are worth so much money today because no one thought they'd be worth anything. Kids folded them and shoved them in pockets, parents threw them away, and then 40 years later they were so rare in perfect condition that people were willing to pay a shitload for them. But then people realized comics COULD be worth that much, and started buying multiple copies, putting them in plastic bags to protect them, stored them in vaults, and otherwise guaranteed that supply would far exceed demand. The upshot of which being, very few comics printed after the 1970s are worth all that much more than cover price. Even "milestone" issues like the first appearance of [insert major popular character here] rarely rise in price to make owning and preserving them worth it. The moment people realized that comics were "collectible", comics stopped being collectible.

Worse, the publishers became away of how "collectible" comics were, and began to exploit the mentality, resetting every comic to #1 to create artificial milestones, releasing multiple variant covers ("gotta own 'em all!"), prismatic hologram covers, polybagged trading cards or other value-adds, and basically forcing collectors to buy so many copies of any given issue that they effectively crashed their own market. Arguably, the comic industry still hasn't really recovered from the Crash of 1993, and the massive drop-off in sales helped encourage the shift to focusing on films and the loss of readers.

Collectors also need to learn the lessons of the 1980s - back then there were a ton of "collectibles" that were pushed as such by the people selling them to increase demand, like Cabbage Patch Dolls and Hummel figurines and limited edition commemorative coins and plates from the Franklin Mint. People were sold them on the premise that you could start a collection, and it would be worth much more later when you sold it. But the only people who wanted those things bought them as they were released, so years later, when those collectors (or their children who inherited them from dead parents) tried to sell them off, they suddenly realized that there was no one who wanted to buy. There was too much supply and very little demand, so prices plummeted. Most of those collections were sold at a loss. Beanie Babies sort of went through the same cycle, people having spent HUGE amounts on them in the 90s slowly realizing that no one wants to buy them now.
---

At this point I just don't see why Disney/Marvel doesn't just get all of Marvel's IP's back at this point to do it all properly instead of having this hodge-podge that lets other companies take their ball and go home to keep running properties into the ground just to keep the rights.
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

prismatic hologram covers,

I still love those. And those were cheaper than trying to get the trading card ones >_>

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Collectors also need to learn the lessons of the 1980s - back then there were a ton of "collectibles" that were pushed as such by the people selling them to increase demand, like Cabbage Patch Dolls and Hummel figurines and limited edition commemorative coins and plates from the Franklin Mint.

Well, *that's* a name I haven't heard in ages. iirc, they used to have a lot of retail locations, right? I think I might have bought a mediocre dragon statue at one of them.

...and, after a lot of googling, apparently it was a concept by this artist:
https://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/illustration/dragons/

And surprisingly I even managed to find images of it. I guess that comes down to the mass-market collectible aspect:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/franklin-mint-dragon-green-guardian-1818058792

But good lord, Franklin Mint was stupidly pricey. They had things like 36-month payment plans for chess sets. A lot of furniture isn't even financed for that long.

(And I *thought* I paid about $75 for it, but all of the current listings are for $150-300 so maybe I got suckered into paying more. Certainly wasn't worth it. I've probably enjoyed my $20 Heroclix Fin Fang Foom more... although I stupidly broke a wing on that thing and still need to get that repaired. Not that I necessarily bought either for their resale value.)

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Beanie Babies sort of went through the same cycle, people having spent HUGE amounts on them in the 90s slowly realizing that no one wants to buy them now.

idk, they seem to sell pretty quickly for a buck at thrift stores =p

I do so get a kick out of recognizing a Beanie Baby that once was estimated as being $75 sitting on the shelf for $1. It's a little depressing when I find them not just with the tag protectors, but also mylar-bagged because those guys *really* thought they were protecting an investment.

I think the most I paid for any Beanie Baby during that rush was $13 for either Tracker the Hound or the Jack-o-Lantern one. Not entirely sure I own either of my original ones, although I bought a Tracker for $2 from Savers a few years ago. My Beanie Baby collection today is so much larger than when they first came out and that's mostly just because I find them so cheap that I figure when I get bored of them I'll just give them away to young relatives and friends' kids.
---

Broken_Zeus posted...

I would honestly discourage anybody from buying them for re-sale value because it's too hard to predict the aftermarket. Funko releases way too many figures and they tend to have large runs (even the Hikari, Funko's sofubi line that's supposed to have a designer vinyl thing going for it, was doing runs between 500 and 2,000).

Because of things like that, even a lot of the rare ones tend to not be super expensive. And while I'm sure that there's a Beanie Baby culture around some of them, enough people got burned by Beanie Babies that I expect we won't see the same kind of silly evaluations across the board. Granted, there *are* some supposedly expensive ones, but those tend to be con exclusives, not pre-order bonuses.

I do own a few con exclusives (ones that went to other retailers like B&N and Hot Topic after the fact), but nothing too crazy. I will admit that I bought the Iron Throne more because of a perceived rarity than simply for liking it, although amusingly enough I took it out of its box almost immediately whereas a lot of the others have been displayed MIB.

I think the only ones where I would want to buy everything of would be Star Wars original trilogy stuff. I definitely want an R2D2 one. Hell I'd like anything R2D2 related. I really want an R2D2 coffee mug. That iron throne one really does look cool too. The one I mentioned earlier is a Glowing One from Fallout 4 which I think also glows in the dark.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

It's also been mentioned that Feige is currently doing tons of research on the X-Men so he can pick out which ideas to use and which to avoid, so Disney has strong motivation to keep him from getting distracted working on Spider-Man for Sony.

I hope they recast Evan Peters as Quicksilver if they make more X-Men movies.
---

WhiskeyDisk posted...

At this point I just don't see why Disney/Marvel doesn't just get all of Marvel's IP's back at this point to do it all properly instead of having this hodge-podge that lets other companies take their ball and go home to keep running properties into the ground just to keep the rights.

They would if they could, but Marvel sold off the rights back when the company was borderline bankrupt, and was desperately trying to survive, so the terms of all their deals are hellaciously unfair to them for the most part. Sony and Fox basically controlled the rights forever as long as they continued to make movies within a certain time frame (for Fox, it was apparently something close to 8 years for the Fantastic Four movies, while for Sony it seems like they have to make a Spider-Man movie within a 5 year window, since both the 2015 FF movie and Amazing Spider-Man were supposedly made to retain rights). Fox ultimately sold those rights back with the rest of their IP, but Sony still has theirs and always will until they default.

Disney desperately wants to end all of those sorts of deals, but can't. They can offer to buy out the terms (which they have, though almost no one ever accepts because the rights are worth more than the potential buyout), and they can buy entire companies or IP catalogues that include the content (which is what happened with Fox), and they can luck out and have someone screw up and fail to meet the terms (ie, what would happen if Sony goes 6+ years without making a new Spider-Man film), but they can't just say "No, you can't have that any more."

Basically, if they COULD say that, Fox and Sony would have lost those deals 10 years ago, and the MCU would look a LOT different right now.

Ironically, it seems like the company Disney is never going to be able to settle with is Universal. It seems like they actually had some of the most one-sided deals Marvel made with anyone, and they have absolutely no interest in giving up their rights at all (mainly because it seems like they own them more or less forever, and don't have to make movies to retain them). It's why we'll likely never see a solo Hulk film again - Disney would have to make a HUGE payout to Universal, or potentially have to arrange a profit-sharing co-release deal, and they're not going to do that. Namor was also trapped in that particular hate loop for a bit, though he's supposedly free now.



Broken_Zeus posted...

I still love those. And those were cheaper than trying to get the trading card ones.

I hated them - I always thought they were super-tacky, and they usually looked like crap. Holograms, prismatic, foil, etc - it was all just extra cost for something I never wanted. Trading cards sucked too. I was so not the target audience for all that stuff back then. I just wanted to read the damned comics.

That's part of what led me to gravitate away from Marvel towards Valiant around that time, but then they kicked Jim Shooter out and sold off to Acclaim, and became worse than everybody else so I ultimately bailed.

They still owe me free comics, though. I won some in a contest and they never sent them to me, the fuckers.



Broken_Zeus posted...

...and, after a lot of googling, apparently it was a concept by this artist:

michaelwhelan.com

He's a pretty famous artist. He's done a ton of fantasy novel covers.
---

Broken_Zeus posted...

But good lord, Franklin Mint was stupidly pricey. They had things like 36-month payment plans for chess sets. A lot of furniture isn't even financed for that long.

I never went that route. But I do have a couple commemorative coins ($5 face value in the Marshall Islands!) for space stuff. I think one was for the moon landing and one was one of the space shuttles. I haven't looked at them in like 30+ years so I don't really remember.

I'm sure they aren't worth much more than $5 today, though.



Broken_Zeus posted...

I do so get a kick out of recognizing a Beanie Baby that once was estimated as being $75 sitting on the shelf for $1. It's a little depressing when I find them not just with the tag protectors, but also mylar-bagged because those guys *really* thought they were protecting an investment.

I was never really into Beanies when they were huge, though a friend of mine worked at a Kay-Bee and literally traded them like underground currency in the mall. He'd basically stash half the store's supply, then trade one to the guy in EB for a specific game he wanted, or to someone else for other stuff. Sort of like that one episode of Married With Children where Al sets up a massive trading ring in his mall.

Even at the time I was fully aware that it was a bubble that was going to burst.

It's funny, but my childhood contained the Video Game Crash of 1983 and the Comic Book Crash of 1993. Those two events taught me a LOT about investment, bubbles, supply and demand, and various other finance concepts that are surprisingly useful when you're an adult and dealing with stocks and markets in general.



Broken_Zeus posted...

I think the most I paid for any Beanie Baby during that rush was $13 for either Tracker the Hound or the Jack-o-Lantern one. Not entirely sure I own either of my original ones, although I bought a Tracker for $2 from Savers a few years ago. My Beanie Baby collection today is so much larger than when they first came out and that's mostly just because I find them so cheap that I figure when I get bored of them I'll just give them away to young relatives and friends' kids.

I bought a bunch years after the initial boom period (at cheap face value in my local grocery store - I'd basically just buy one every third shopping trip or so on a whim), but less because I thought they'd ever have value and more just because I liked them (most of them are monkeys, though I have a cow and a pig too, and maybe a couple others). I still have them packed away somewhere, with all of my stuffed animals and things that weren't destroyed at some point in the 80s (I lost a lot of my early childhood stuff to a ceiling leak, but my family are obsessive pack-rats bordering on hoarders, so I still have a LOT of books and toys and comics and stuff in general from my childhood, mostly just packed away).

I also own my own personal Chinese Zodiac Beanie (I'm a Dragon, ROAR motherfuckers!), which in turn led me to start a tradition of giving my friends' kids a Zodiac Beanie for their 1st birthday (which, if memory serves, wound up being a Hare, a Snake, and two Roosters). I liked the symbolism of it.
---

Revelation34 posted...

I think the only ones where I would want to buy everything of would be Star Wars original trilogy stuff. I definitely want an R2D2 one.

My habit was to only buy one if it was symbolic of some meaningful aspect of my fandom or from something I really valued, and then only one per. So I have a Chandra from Magic, Claptrap is basically my video game one, Saruman from LotR (because books) and I've got Sark from Tron (because Tron). I kind of cheat because I also have Lo-Pan from Big Trouble in Little China and The Dude from Big Lebowski (so that's multiple movies), but I allow it because they both have strong sentimental value for other reasons.

The only one I've ever really wanted that I can't get is Cortana from Halo - the Halo 4 one sells for like $250 on Amazon now.

I'd be hard-pressed to think of any other possible Funko Pops that could really inspire me to want to buy another one, though. Maybe something comic related (that's one of my major fields of interest/inspiration that I don't have a Pop for), but I've never seen one that really speaks to me (and I honestly can't think of which character I'd want to pick to represent ALL comics in my eyes). I'm sort of in the same boat for wrestling - I've been a fan for years so it would be an appropriate category to represent, but I have no idea which wrestler I'd consider to be THE iconic one to own (or even just a favorite). Other categories might include stuff like music (which would probably be 80s related), cartoons (but again, 80s related), or even CYOA/gamebooks if there was something from those (which I doubt there ever will be). I could also consider RPGs, but the problem with those is that they'd only ever release signature characters from the most popular games (like Drizzt from D&D), and I don't give a shit about any of those.

Also, I'd probably shell out for the Sixth Doctor from Doctor Who, but they're mostly up their own ass with the modern series and I don't give a shit about it anymore, so that's not helping. I feel like that one ain't happening any time soon.

I might get one for RWBY, but I don't know if I care enough to bother. I've kind of dithered about this one for a while now.

I might have to go through a site like this and see if anything pops (no pun intended) out:

http://popvinyls.com/funko-pop-vinyls-series



Revelation34 posted...

I hope they recast Evan Peters as Quicksilver if they make more X-Men movies.

Supposedly they want to recast everyone. Feige's apparently already mentioned thinking about recasting Wolverine as a much younger actor, so anyone hoping they convince Huge Jackedman to stay is kind of out of luck. I assume they wait somewhere between 5-10 years, sweep the entire board clean, and start the franchise over from scratch, likely with MCU ties.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do something where mutants start showing up for the first time in the modern era, rather than saying "Oh yeah, they've been there the whole time." They might have some people (like Xavier) or villains be subtle mutants in the background, but the first public mutants (like the X-Men and the Brotherhood) will show up for the first time years after the snap.
---

Revelation34 posted...

I definitely want an R2D2 one. Hell I'd like anything R2D2 related.

It is pretty cute. Funko has done a few different R2 unit Pop!s (I have the Gamestop exclusive R2-B2 as well, although I've resisted the others so far), but I'm *still* waiting on a R2-Q2. The only kinda solace there is that I have a R2-Q2 bobblehead from another line that Funko did years earlier (it might have been a Wacky Wobbler?).

Given that most of the R2 units are just repaints, I'm honestly not sure why Funko hasn't released them in some form yet unless they're just stretching them out as con exclusives.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Basically, if they COULD say that, Fox and Sony would have lost those deals 10 years ago, and the MCU would look a LOT different right now.

And we could have had a proper Wolverine.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Namor was also trapped in that particular hate loop for a bit, though he's supposedly free now.

I've given up hope on a Namor solo film. Granted, when the MCU relaunches the Fantastic Four, maybe he'll make an appearance in a sequel.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

They still owe me free comics, though. I won some in a contest and they never sent them to me, the fuckers.

Hasbro/WotC still owes me some booster packs from a contest hosted on the MtG forums. I think it might have been Le-Gi-Ons packs, so maybe I was better off not getting them.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

He's a pretty famous artist. He's done a ton of fantasy novel covers.

Apparently not famous enough =p

I'll have to look into what he's done just out of curiosity. At a glance, the few pieces I saw had the samey-ness of any number of generic fantasy and much of his website seems equally meh.

I did find *one* thing I liked, although it's hilariously overloaded with too many elements:



(And speaking of "overloaded," apparently the print is only sold as a set with a crappier panel.)
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

My habit was to only buy one if it was symbolic of some meaningful aspect of my fandom or from something I really valued, and then only one per. So I have a Chandra from Magic, Claptrap is basically my video game one, Saruman from LotR (because books) and I've got Sark from Tron (because Tron). I kind of cheat because I also have Lo-Pan from Big Trouble in Little China and The Dude from Big Lebowski (so that's multiple movies), but I allow it because they both have strong sentimental value for other reasons.

The only one I've ever really wanted that I can't get is Cortana from Halo - the Halo 4 one sells for like $250 on Amazon now.

I'd be hard-pressed to think of any other possible Funko Pops that could really inspire me to want to buy another one, though. Maybe something comic related (that's one of my major fields of interest/inspiration that I don't have a Pop for), but I've never seen one that really speaks to me (and I honestly can't think of which character I'd want to pick to represent ALL comics in my eyes). I'm sort of in the same boat for wrestling - I've been a fan for years so it would be an appropriate category to represent, but I have no idea which wrestler I'd consider to be THE iconic one to own (or even just a favorite). Other categories might include stuff like music (which would probably be 80s related), cartoons (but again, 80s related), or even CYOA/gamebooks if there was something from those (which I doubt there ever will be). I could also consider RPGs, but the problem with those is that they'd only ever release signature characters from the most popular games (like Drizzt from D&D), and I don't give a shit about any of those.

Also, I'd probably shell out for the Sixth Doctor from Doctor Who, but they're mostly up their own ass with the modern series and I don't give a shit about it anymore, so that's not helping. I feel like that one ain't happening any time soon.

I might get one for RWBY, but I don't know if I care enough to bother. I've kind of dithered about this one for a while now.

I might have to go through a site like this and see if anything pops (no pun intended) out:

http://popvinyls.com/funko-pop-vinyls-series

I just gave a look at some of them. The jawa one doesn't look good at all which is a shame since I love jawas. I guess I would limit it then and only buy the ones that actually do look good.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Supposedly they want to recast everyone. Feige's apparently already mentioned thinking about recasting Wolverine as a much younger actor, so anyone hoping they convince Huge Jackedman to stay is kind of out of luck. I assume they wait somewhere between 5-10 years, sweep the entire board clean, and start the franchise over from scratch, likely with MCU ties.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do something where mutants start showing up for the first time in the modern era, rather than saying "Oh yeah, they've been there the whole time." They might have some people (like Xavier) or villains be subtle mutants in the background, but the first public mutants (like the X-Men and the Brotherhood) will show up for the first time years after the snap.

Nobody can top Evan Peters though.
---

Broken_Zeus posted...

And we could have had a proper Wolverine.

Ehh.

Yes, he's not short, and he's not really Canadian, but I liked Huge Jackedman's version of the character. Certainly more so than Anna Paquin's Rogue, at any rate.

I also liked Marsden's Cyclops, but he was doomed from the start. And Patrick Stewart is kind of perfect for Xavier.



Broken_Zeus posted...

I've given up hope on a Namor solo film. Granted, when the MCU relaunches the Fantastic Four, maybe he'll make an appearance in a sequel.

I feel like they're going to be gunshy of him even if they have the full rights back, out of fear of too many comparisons to Aquaman. I said for years whichever of those two made it to screen first was going to hamper the other one.

If anything, we might see Namor brought it mostly as an antagonist (like you said, he'd fit in an FF movie, because he was basically their secondary major archenemy after Doom in the early comics for a while), with an eye to eventually turn him face later and spin him off. After they've established him enough to avoid the stink of fishman.

Personally, I kind of just want a Frightful Four movie. Though that's complicated now because Medusa is tied to the Inhumans, and that's a poisoned well. But also because the original Frightful Four kind of suck (and Sandman is tied to the Spider-Man franchise, as is Hydro-Man), and nerds like me would likely whine a lot if they just replaced everyone other than The Wizard with better characters. Though they could probably get away with using Titania. And maybe Klaw (since he's already established), since he was on the team the same time she was. Maybe throw Absorbing Man in there as well, since he has ties to Titania and you can justify him shifting into water or being able to fight the Thing - AND he's a Thor character - but if so they'd have to ignore the shitty version of him they used on Agents of SHIELD (not that I think that would stop them).

I also kind of want a Thunderbolts movie, but that would be REAL hard to set up without a TON of unrealistic planning ahead and logistics, or just half-assing it and stocking it with villains the audience has never seen before, which kind of dilutes the impact.
---

Broken_Zeus posted...

Hasbro/WotC still owes me some booster packs from a contest hosted on the MtG forums

Ironically, MtG also factors into my situation - the comics Acclaim owes me were from their MtG line. Back before WotC gutted their own continuity and retroactively made that entire line an unperson.



Broken_Zeus posted...

Apparently not famous enough =p

Famous enough to have a Wikipedia page!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Whelan

Not that that means much, these days...



Broken_Zeus posted...

I'll have to look into what he's done just out of curiosity. At a glance, the few pieces I saw had the samey-ness of any number of generic fantasy and much of his website seems equally meh.

I feel like the most famous thing he's done that I know about is the Wheel of Time covers, but I definitely remember him being a go-to artist for major sci-fi and fantasy covers for a while.

If I remember right, I think he also did the covers for the Roger Zelazny collection, which is six hardcover books that collect every short story he ever wrote (which I have).

Actually, checking the Wiki, he also did the covers for the Incarnations of Immortality books, so I literally have one of his works in a picture frame in my room. This one:

http://78.media.tumblr.com/bf3f9814bce168f2b61da60a23020ed4/tumblr_n2g4ynfieP1rklghko3_500.jpg

I printed that out years ago, when playing in a Werewolf game. I was playing a Glass Walker, which means I basically worshipped the Weaver, so I had that picture and a large spider Beanie Baby (everything is connected!) as props for my character.

....checking the Wiki even more, I'd have to say that he had a HUGE impact on my teen years as pertains to the sheer number of books I own he drew the covers for.

And not from the Wiki, but I just remembered he drew the covers for the Foundation novels from the 1980s editions. So he's also technically responsible for me even knowing who Isaac Asimov is (and thus the hundreds of books and stories he's written that I've read), because I bought Second Foundation in 6th grade almost solely because of the cover:

http://68.media.tumblr.com/54f14129ab6b1ca88a87d200318883c4/tumblr_n3byuhZEY31rklghko2_1280.jpg

That, in turn, led me to eventually buy the other Foundation novels. And then the Robot Novels (which he also did covers for). And then the rest of Asimov's work (which is still some of the only pure sci-fi I really enjoy reading).

And I loved the motif of the same image/location being repeated over time with different characters that Whelan did for the original Foundation novels:

http://99percentinvisible.org/app/uploads/2017/08/foundation-later.jpg

If his work looks like generic fantasy to you, it might be because he's drawn so damned many different fantasy covers. His work looks like everything because half of everything is him, and the rest is people copying him (see also the TVTropes for Seinfeld is Unfunny, or the "Why does Tolkien feel so cliched?" argument).
---

My next Pop! will probably be Doflamingo from One Piece (unless I get a bunch of stuff on clearance that I've been looking at). I think I've liked the look of the Pop! for longer than I liked the character. I'm not sure why I haven't picked it up already (although the fact it's not really in stores at this point is probably part of it). Whenever I never next buy a bunch of stuff from Amazon, I'll probably just toss it in the same order.

The big one I'm kinda kicking myself for not just buying when I saw it is the FFH Mysterio. I saw it Best Buy, liked the design but thought that there was a minor paint flaw with it. I guess I could just get him off Amazon at the same time as Doflamingo.

Oddly enough, I think the only Marvel Pop! I own right now is that Molten Man. (I *almost* picked up the Juggernaut when I saw him at Walgreen's, but I kept thinking I already have the Mystery Minis Juggernaut and this isn't as nice.Kind of the same story with the Spider-Verse Green Goblin.) Granted, *part* of it is because the Marvel and Star Wars Pop!s are bobbeheads which I don't like as much. (The backstory there is that it's due to an existing licensing agreement that those franchises have with Hasbro.)

The only other Pop! right now I've been debating is the flocked Kurama/Kyuubi from Naruto, but I'm always kinda iffy on the over-sized ones. They take up more space and, out of the ones I've bought, I only really feel positive about one of them. Flocking is hard to resist, though. I still don't have any flocked collectibles and there's a serious nostalgia factor there.

I will note that there several others I liked from the Batman: The Animated Series line-up, but I just don't want a wall of them in the future and I kinda feel like that's the inevitable direction if I start buying almost whole sets. As such, I kinda view those Funko fan showcases as a cautionary tale.

Revelation34 posted...

I just gave a look at some of them. The jawa one doesn't look good at all which is a shame since I love jawas. I guess I would limit it then and only buy the ones that actually do look good.

It's why I never bothered with Dengar, IG-88, Boba Fett, etc. SW already has so much great merchandise that it's easy to pick and choose.
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Ehh.

Yes, he's not short, and he's not really Canadian, but I liked Huge Jackedman's version of the character. Certainly more so than Anna Paquin's Rogue, at any rate.

I also liked Marsden's Cyclops, but he was doomed from the start. And Patrick Stewart is kind of perfect for Xavier.

Marsden masterfully captured the dickishness of Cyclops plus, as far as costumes go, the movie version didn't feel outrageously wrong. One of the big problems I've had with Wolverine isn't entirely Jackman's fault, but the fact that we don't get the ironic costumes (just variations of Logan).

And yes, I'm not sure that they could have done better with Xavier. It's kind of like JK Simmons as J Jonah Jameson where they seem so perfectly suited to the role that you can't imagine anybody else.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

And I loved the motif of the same image/location being repeated over time with different characters that Whelan did for the original Foundation novels:

http://99percentinvisible.org/app/uploads/2017/08/foundation-later.jpg

That is pretty cool.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

If his work looks like generic fantasy to you, it might be because he's drawn so damned many different fantasy covers. His work looks like everything because half of everything is him, and the rest is people copying him (see also the TVTropes for Seinfeld is Unfunny, or the "Why does Tolkien feel so cliched?" argument).

While I'm familiar with the trope, his style is highly reminiscent of the generic fantasy that came before him as well. So unless he's so iconic as to send ripples both forward and back in time, I'm not buying it.
---

Now I'm starting to wonder whether or not I should try and get this Funko Pop:

http://popvinyls.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BD1EDBC2-86BD-48A5-A522-83A4569C753B.jpeg
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

my own personal Chinese Zodiac Beanie (I'm a Dragon, ROAR motherfuckers!)

'76? I'm a dragon too ('88)
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Now I'm starting to wonder whether or not I should try and get this Funko Pop:

http://popvinyls.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BD1EDBC2-86BD-48A5-A522-83A4569C753B.jpeg

Oo

It'd be an interesting choice, but other than the oddness of it, I'm not sure what appeal it holds for you.

Also, not for nothing, but why would you go with the Doctor over something like a Dalek if you were just picking one thing from the series?
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Metalsonic66 posted...

'76? I'm a dragon too ('88)

'77. I'm right at the very tail (no pun intended) end of the Chinese year - I made the cut-off by a couple days. My friend who was born later in the year is a Snake.

I also occasionally gloat about the fact that I'm a Fire Dragon, which is like the coolest possible combination in the Chinese Zodiac (you're an Earth Dragon, btw).

There was a point when I was in college where I kind of got really into astrology. Not because I believed it actually meant anything (it's mostly bunk, which is obvious when you look at it critically with a skeptic's eye), but I just found the mechanics of stuff interesting. Like, I worked up my astrological chart complete with the positions of all the planets and my Ascendant and moon sign, and turned it into a poster that I hung up on my dorm wall.

I was mostly amused by the fact that like four different things fall into Aquarius for me (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, if I remember right), and nearly five (my Ascendant was Capricorn, which would have been Aquarius as well if my mom had held out for another two hours). I used to joke that I was pretty much destined to be an insane genius weirdo. And then I'd blame my curmudgeon side on the Capricorn in me (if my mom only held out for another couple hours, I'd be a hippie humanitarian today!).

Whenever I told her she should have held out though, she'd always say it was my own damned fault, because I was pretty insistent that I wanted out.
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Broken_Zeus posted...

It'd be an interesting choice, but other than the oddness of it, I'm not sure what appeal it holds for you.

I'd have thought it was be pretty obvious.



Broken_Zeus posted...

Also, not for nothing, but why would you go with the Doctor over something like a Dalek if you were just picking one thing from the series?

Mostly because I never really gave that much of a shit about the Daleks. Though I DO have cast metal figures that I've never taken out of the box from like 20 years ago (if I remember, it was an original recipe white/black Dalek, one of the gold and white Imperial ones, and one of the red ones that were from the one serial I can't remember, but that was 70s-ish, I think).

But Six is MY Doctor. If I was going to go for anything from the series, it pretty much has to be him. He's even my skin in Minecraft.

I mean, I could just get the TARDIS itself, but that's kind of meh.

To be fair, I also used to really like the 80s-era Cybermen, but I kind of feel like the new series ruined them, and I feel like any figures are either going to be from the new series or complete retro from the Hartnell era, which isn't really my jam. I'd be tempted to get an Omega, though. But that's another one I don't expect to ever see:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120626102355/doctorwhotorchwood/de/images/3/3e/065_omega.jpg

Though if they ever came out with the red jelly monsters from the same series (almost certainly as a joke), I'd absolutely buy them as a gift for a friend of mine, because they've basically become a memetic in-joke with us that they're his favorite characters in all of Doctor Who (and he uses one as his Minecraft skin):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wU7xvAIK9U" data-time="
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Okay, just looked it up - the red Daleks were from the Peter Cushing movies. Which is probably why I couldn't remember any episodes with them.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'd have thought it was be pretty obvious.

Clearly not obvious enough.... oh, I wasn't really looking at the name >_<
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Yeeeeessssssssss.
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If you're going that route, you kinda have another option as well >_>


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Ehh. People used to joke about me being Po the Teletubby (and I occasionally posted a picture of the Teletubby in "Post your picture!" threads), so there's context there, but I don't think anyone ever really made Kung Fu Panda references. So it's not as meaningful.

I'm all about symbolism. It's why if I ever become a serial killer I'm totally going to be one of those ones that sends like 47 pages of diagrams, charts, and weird occult puzzles to the police after every kill. I'm the Renaissance Man Riddler, bitch!
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The dalek one looks like it's the only good one. The weeping angel looks terrible since they should have gone with the regular non monster form. I should get back into Doctor Who.
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Revelation34 posted...

I should get back into Doctor Who.

You probably shouldn't. The writing is kind of terrible now.
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Hooray, my Chinese zodiac is the worst, a friggin wood ox.

OMG OMG OMG OMG

*Hyperventilates*

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/02/neil-gaiman-the-sandman-is-green-lit-by-netflix

I've been waiting for this for like 20 years, despite my belief that Sandman is literally unfilmable...but I also said the same thing about Lucifer (even though the Lucifer adaptation is very, very different from the source material).

If it's on par with Lucifer, Good Omens, and American Gods, I'll be a happy man. I'm curious to see how they're going to handle cameos like Constantine or Etrigan.

Also, for some reason, mainly logistical, I always envisioned Sandman being an animated series if it ever got out of development hell.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'm all about symbolism. It's why if I ever become a serial killer I'm totally going to be one of those ones that sends like 47 pages of diagrams, charts, and weird occult puzzles to the police after every kill. I'm the Renaissance Man Riddler, bitch!

I imagine it'd be boring otherwise. Personally, all of that seems like too much work. I'd rather just be a serial vandal... or maybe a cereal vandal! Although first I'd have to figure out if i vandalize things using cereal or if I'd just vandalize the cereal itself.

Revelation34 posted...

The dalek one looks like it's the only good one. The weeping angel looks terrible since they should have gone with the regular non monster form.

They probably should have done both. I will say that the eyes shut version is creepier, given that the static form.

Revelation34 posted...

I should get back into Doctor Who.

tbh, seeing the Kerblam! Man when googling Doctor Who Pop!s convinced me to wiki two episodes. The Kerblam! Man episode seemed like something I probably would have enjoyed; well, overlooking the the subtle-as-a-hammer allusions to Amazon and the shitty social commentary on top of it. The following episode seems like pure crap, though, including heavy virtue-signalling.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

I've been waiting for this for like 20 years, despite my belief that Sandman is literally unfilmable...but I also said the same thing about Lucifer (even though the Lucifer adaptation is very, very different from the source material).

If nothing else, it'll be nice seeing Death on it.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

I also occasionally gloat about the fact that I'm a Fire Dragon, which is like the coolest possible combination in the Chinese Zodiac (you're an Earth Dragon, btw).

I was unaware that the zodiac animals also came in different elements. Kinda neat.
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Metalsonic66 posted...

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I also occasionally gloat about the fact that I'm a Fire Dragon, which is like the coolest possible combination in the Chinese Zodiac (you're an Earth Dragon, btw).

I was unaware that the zodiac animals also came in different elements. Kinda neat.

Five elements and I think there also something like twelve positions on top of it. Was trying to find a good resource to check that but Google is shit when it comes to stuff like this.
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Broken_Zeus posted...

If nothing else, it'll be nice seeing Death on it.

Death is cool, but she's easy to play. Don't get me wrong, she's the alpha goth chick and all. Delerium on the other hand takes a manic pixie cranked up to 11 and that's a hard role to play. Live action Edward from bebop tier difficulty.

Though to be fair I'm not even sure from memory if any Endless besides Death make an appearance in Preludes and Nocturnes so it may not even be an issue unless there's a shot of the gallery thrown in for fanservice.

@ASlaveObeys second opinion?
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