Action Force and Valaverse

Making Blackbeard an enemy would go a long way to upping my interest in the figure, but where the Black really fails for me is there's not a single nautical element to any of them. No tactical corsair boots or tactical overcoats. Not even a swappable modern prosthetic tactical hook hand to sell the theme. They're just regular soldiers with "corsair" written on the packaging.

I also agree that Hyun not having even the hint of a medieval face shield hurts the figure. The Garrison is my favorite enemy group in Valaverse, so I'll be getting her and Malice (when he comes out) regardless, but I'll be looking for a face shield for her.

I actually like Jester and will probably get him too. He's part of Pandora's crew and I've already decided she works for the Garrison, so no conflicts there.
 
I think you’ll like the future black figures that have been teased. There’s a cool scuba trooper coming.

I think some of the presentation of the black suffers from it not being a standalone line originally. They were just meant to be part of this villain wave and something like Crossair feels tacked on to flesh out the line but also entice military guys.

Plus, I don’t really think Blackbeard is a good guy. He’s the protagonist of the black but that doesn’t mean he’s good. Plus, they’re not exactly being portrayed like action force is in his comments and the teaser. The Black are out for their own and nothing more.


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Bobby said he has very limited quantities of the Black, Jester, and Hyun for a show this Saturday about 50 miles from me. Horsemen will be there too. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I can make it. That's too bad, I could've done a sit down interview with Bobby for Articulated Thoughts and officially become a member of the toy community press.

If anyone is in driving distance of Danbury, Conn., google "Shop the Curiosity" for details. The show will probably skew vintage.

I don't do much Vala or Mythic Legions, but I would've picked up a not Red Sonja if available, otherwise I would've been there mostly for the vintage.
 
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AceofKnaves said:
I hope this line can give some villains for Indy and Cap to punch.
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At the risk of opening a big gross can of worms, this has me thinking of something I've been wanting to ask for a while purely in the name of toy discussion.

Sounds like folks would buy generic WW2 German troopers. But what would the interest be like for certain WW2 era "German leadership"?

Basically, would you buy a Hitler action figure? (What a sentence to type out)

Not only just for the sake of going alongside this line, but there seems to be no shortage of media that we all enjoy that Hitler's popped up in. As far as toys go, particularly Indiana Jones and Marvel comics. I feel like he would show up in Marvel comics pretty frequently throughout the 60's-80's.

Like, I 100% understand either side of the discussion, I'm mostly just curious how others feel. I'm someone who removed my ML Red Skull's yellow armband and painted on a comic accurate one, but like with the soldiers not having particular iconography on them, I completely understand why folks wouldn't want that. So I'd buy a "German Leader" figure just to have one to get beat up on by Indy or Captain America or to have a head for my longstanding Hate Monger custom.
 
Fletch said:
No tactical corsair boots or tactical overcoats. Not even a swappable modern prosthetic tactical hook hand to sell the theme. They're just regular soldiers with "corsair" written on the packaging.
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Oh man, they have the arm switching too. There could have been a whole robotic hook hand for Black Beard or Vane. Complete missed opportunity there.
thewyldman said:
Plus, I don’t really think Blackbeard is a good guy. He’s the protagonist of the black but that doesn’t mean he’s good. Plus, they’re not exactly being portrayed like action force is in his comments and the teaser. The Black are out for their own and nothing more.
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I feel like the teaser trailer thing they did was setting up anti-hero vibes, and in and of itself that's fine. It's just that the look of the figure is full villain coded. It's mainly those SEAL pins. They just do not read as a memorial on that character given the rest of his look. They look like a kill count.
Boy Wonder said:
Basically, would you buy a Hitler action figure? (What a sentence to type out)
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I would not. Largely for the same reasons I don't have a Red Skull figure or that specific McFarlane Killing Joke figure.

Just not something I need on my shelves. They're all too close to stuff that gives me the ick. It's not a hard and clear line, I still have a Baron Zemo and he's a second generation fascist. I've still got Stromtroopers and Vader and they're space nazis. But for whatever reason the displacement from the real thing is enough for them not to feel as gross.
 
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I definitely draw the line at collecting real people that committed real atrocities. Same argument I made in the wrestling thread about people that beg Mattel every year to make a Benoit figure; Why do you WANT to look at a child-killer on your shelf? And I wonder about the social lives of anyone with a Hitler figure; like how do you explain that to guests? Or do you squirrel it away somewhere in a room guests don't go, like a dirty secret?
The whole thing feels super gross to me.
 
Damien said:
I definitely draw the line at collecting real people that committed real atrocities.
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Thinking on it, I don't think I have any interest in any figures of real people full stop. I know there's those figures out now of comedians and such. And a few directors have gotten rendered in figure form. The George Lucas trooper and James Cameron marine are the closest I've been to being tempted, but largely because I'd head-canon them not to be themselves but rather just no-name dudes within that setting. Obviously I wasn't that tempted anyway because I never picked up either.
 
Boy Wonder said:
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Sounds like folks would buy generic WW2 German troopers. But what would the interest be like for certain WW2 era "German leadership"?
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I used to have a decent amount of 1/6 Germans, but never interested in leadership, not even someone like Rommel. I was buying them because I liked the camo and equipment or uniforms like the fallschirmjager and seasonal colors. That's a problem I see with this line because I assume Bobby will be sticking to generic soldiers and not painting pea dot camo or something like that.
 
JakeEkiss said:
I would not. Largely for the same reasons I don't have a Red Skull figure or that specific McFarlane Killing Joke figure.

Just not something I need on my shelves. They're just all too close to stuff that gives me the ick. It's not a hard and clear line, I still have a Baron Zemo and he's a second generation fascist. I've still got Stromtroopers and Vader and they're space nazis. But for whatever reason the displacement from the real thing is enough for them not to feel as gross.
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I'm a no on real world Nazis and had a somewhat funny thought about why. So I don't and won't have Killing Joke Joker in my collection but more because I so strongly dislike the people who defend the story with their whole chest. I do have Zemo and Red Skull. But if I dropped dead and folks were going through my stuff and they find Red Skull, the average person might go "skull-guy in a green jump suit? Isn't he the bad guy Elrond played in the movies?" Or whatever. But someone finds a Hitler action figure on your shelf, they're gonna question if they ever really knew you.

Similarly, I wouldn't judge someone with a Jason Voorhees action figure collection, but if they have a Jeffrey Dahmer action figure, I'd be like: that's a bit much.

JakeEkiss said:
Thinking on it, I don't think I have any interest in any figures of real people full stop. I know there's those figures out now of comedians and such. And a few directors have gotten rendered in figure form. The George Lucas trooper and James Cameron marine are the closest I've been to being tempted, but largely because I'd head-canon them not to be themselves but rather just no-name dudes within that setting. Obviously I wasn't that tempted anyway because I never picked up either.
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At least Filoni actually played a named pilot and Favreau played a mando. I kind of laugh off the George figure like "I really, truly don't need this" but it's fine. I collect movie figures but there have been times the face sculpt on a Black Widow has been good enough I Felt like Scarlet was judging me.

I reckon if I were a wargamer I'd want real WWII soldiers from their respective countries, but I limit my minis to fantasy and sci-fi.
 
JakeEkiss said:
Thinking on it, I don't think I have any interest in any figures of real people full stop.
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I'm cool with movie figures where it's a real person playing a character. But even then it's a slippery slope because I will absolutely toss that figure in the garbage if I feel like the real person belongs in the garbage. Hence why I don't have Gina's Mandalorian character on my shelves anymore.
But I have NO interest in collecting figures of real people. At least not from the 20th century. You'd get me with a William Longsword or some shit, I imagine. Or an Alexander the Great. And I've got Boss Fight's Leonidas, who was definitely a real person.


docsilence said:
I reckon if I were a wargamer I'd want real WWII soldiers from their respective countries, but I limit my minis to fantasy and sci-fi.
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There's two kinds of WWII wargamers that even bother with Germany, in my experience; the kind that have loads of German stuff, but it's all soldiers doing their soldier thing, and cool tanks, and neat camo. And then there's the ones that also want to have 'the leadership -- for historical accuracy' and SS dudes and shit. Very different kinds of gamers. The former just like the aesthetic most of the time. The latter are just looking for an excuse to cosplay as a Nazi without getting called out.
 
Damien said:
I'm cool with movie figures where it's a real person playing a character.
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Yep, this is me. Though, even then, only for Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I can't think of another property where I have figures representing actor likenesses.
Damien said:
The latter are just looking for an excuse to cosplay as a Nazi without getting called out.
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This is why I avoid Red Skull. A few cosplayers are a little too into that one.
 
"I'd love to get rid of it, but it's a load-bearing Hitler."

Yeah, like, I get that fascist creeps and jack-booted thugs are the archetype for a whole strain of pulp, superhero, and sci-fi villains, but the thing is that this kind of media engages with the generalized aesthetics, using genre tropes to elide detail. And that's fine, this is escapism. It just needs a villain to exist and look the part. Most genre works just aren't really equipped to seriously examine the development of fascism or its application on a culture, its subversion of laws; and its marginalization, enslavement, and destruction of people. Most genre writers aren't Rod Serling. But that's why most of these stories keep it to the broadest visual details: the armies of masked soldiers, the secret police and surveillance states, the ornate or austere uniforms, the narcissistic leader making dramatic speeches about sacrifice and power. They just require an oppressive force to create a narrative obstacle.

You could argue that all has a distancing and distorting effect, that it leaves people unprepared to actually name it when it starts becoming entrenched or recognize and smother its atrocities in their cradles. And I'd agree. You could also say that toys, being a fundamentally uncritical media, can normalize imperialism and romanticize militarism. And I'd agree.

But this is something toys just cannot solve through specificity. So the idea of having toys of real-life dictators or soldiers bearing real-life symbols that were worn during a real-life genocide just seems so trivializing to me, even when it's a collection built on historical accuracy. At worst, you get the sense that for a lot of buyers it's kind of a respectable cover for a distinctly unwholesome fascination. At best, it feels like that scene in Small Soldiers where Phil Hartman is watching Audie Murphy films on his top-of-the-line 90s home theater setup while noting warmly, "I think World War II is my favorite American war," the way you might conclude that The Empire Strikes Back is your favorite Star War. Some things have a weight that can't and shouldn't be carried by an action figure.
 
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JakeEkiss said:
Yep, this is me. Though, even then, only for Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I can't think of another property where I have figures representing actor likenesses.
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I've got..... Star Wars, the new He-Man stuff, the '87 He-Man stuff, and the NECA movie TMNT stuff (technically the only actor likeness in there is April).
 
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