Toy purchase disappointments

Yeah, both Kenner TAS and the Burton movie figures gave you ONE Batman that's pretty accurate to the source, then dozens and dozens of other wild looks. I have my combat belt Batman from childhood still, and it is miraculously still complete. We typically kept pretty good track of our accessories even if we didn't use them.
 
Damien said:
One of my greatest childhood toy-related disappointments was the fact that the stupid fucking TAS line did not regularly have a normal Batman available. I literally never owned a Batman figure that looked like he did in the actual cartoon except for that McDonald's kids' meal toy.
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I traded a littler kid at the nail salon two quarters to play Street Fighter for his Combat Belt Batman.

Then I excused myself to Sbarro so he couldn't do a take back/his mom couldn't call this out.
 
yojoebro82 said:
Which Kenner Batman are you talking about? My best guess has to be Combat Belt Batman (?) just because that figure complete goes for a decent price. It's also the most TV-accurate figure from the Kenner TAS line. Love that figure.
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Yep, it was Combat Belt Batman. I think it might have been the first action figure I ever owned, and I held onto it for decades. Loved BTAS as a kid and used to make my own toys out of random bits and pieces we had lying around (I think I coloured in a wooden clothes peg to look like Batman). Remember getting it for a birthday one year (might have been around 6) and it really stuck with me.

yojoebro82 said:
Yeah, both Kenner TAS and the Burton movie figures gave you ONE Batman that's pretty accurate to the source, then dozens and dozens of other wild looks. I have my combat belt Batman from childhood still, and it is miraculously still complete. We typically kept pretty good track of our accessories even if we didn't use them.
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This was crazy, and so frustrating when you're a kid. I couldn't find the regular looking Robin for years (I think it had a yellow hanglider).

I think I still have the BTAS Batmobile and one of the red versions of Batman somewhere (the one that shot orange discs), but really miss that original version. I'm usually pretty good at looking after things I want to keep, and I really have no idea what happened to it. Even still got the little grey bomb thing for the batmobile.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I desperately need this thread about once a year.

This year, it was the Figma Elden Ring Raging Wolf. I can't understand how the same company put out Tears of the Kingdom Link, my figure of the year runner-up, and that piece of garbage. I was fuming within about five minutes of opening it.
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Late to this, but they pretty much are done by two different companies. Figma is more like a front end that handles the logistics and sales for a bunch of studios and sculptors to get their hands on whatever weird pop culture things they wanna sculpt.

Link was done by a sculptor from Max Factory, a studio that was created in the 90s by one of the most renowned sculptors in the business. Max Factory shares an office and booths with Figma, and oversees/manufactures a lot of those releases, but the usual highest quality releases are all their fully in-house stuff. Max Factory's most recent notable releases include Link, Dread Samus, and Guyver I.

I'm very biased due to their long history with Guyver, but they've always been ahead of the curve with action figures, as far as I'm concerned.
 
Picto Nocturne said:
Yep, it was Combat Belt Batman. I think it might have been the first action figure I ever owned, and I held onto it for decades. Loved BTAS as a kid and used to make my own toys out of random bits and pieces we had lying around (I think I coloured in a wooden clothes peg to look like Batman). Remember getting it for a birthday one year (might have been around 6) and it really stuck with me.
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I found an extra combat belt Batman at a toy swap last fall for $5. Good condition, good paint, all he had was his cape which you can argue is all he needs. Let me know if you want it.
 
yojoebro82 said:
I found an extra combat belt Batman at a toy swap last fall for $5. Good condition, good paint, all he had was his cape which you can argue is all he needs. Let me know if you want it.
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Thank you, that's really kind of you to offer, I'll keep it mind :giggle: I think at the moment it's one of those things that I'd love to find in person at a con or shop, but might just go for it one day, especially if my son gets into Batman and I can hand down the Batmobile (he's currently only 5 and finds Batman to be a bit scary).
 
Niko (protozoalord) said:
Late to this, but they pretty much are done by two different companies. Figma is more like a front end that handles the logistics and sales for a bunch of studios and sculptors to get their hands on whatever weird pop culture things they wanna sculpt.

Link was done by a sculptor from Max Factory, a studio that was created in the 90s by one of the most renowned sculptors in the business. Max Factory shares an office and booths with Figma, and oversees/manufactures a lot of those releases, but the usual highest quality releases are all their fully in-house stuff. Max Factory's most recent notable releases include Link, Dread Samus, and Guyver I.

I'm very biased due to their long history with Guyver, but they've always been ahead of the curve with action figures, as far as I'm concerned.
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This is fascinating. I’m not sure I ever truly understood the relationship between Good Smile, figma, and Max Factory. I thought figma and Max Factory were synonymous in the way DC Universe Classics figures were always sculpted by Four Horsemen Studios. Were all figmas sculpted by Max Factory in the early years?
 
Xavion2025 said:
This is fascinating. I’m not sure I ever truly understood the relationship between Good Smile, figma, and Max Factory. I thought figma and Max Factory were synonymous in the way DC Universe Classics figures were always sculpted by Four Horsemen Studios. Were all figmas sculpted by Max Factory in the early years?
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Currently, Max Factory as a whole is usually involved some step of the way, but what step that is is pretty random and varies with each release. Sometimes it's just the manufacturing process rather than any of the sculpting.

Early on, maybe the first 200 or so releases, almost ALL Figma were done by Masaki Apsy of Max Factory. As the years have gone on, he's mostly become a producer that oversees almost everything in varying capacities, with sculpting now being handled by other Max Factory artists or outsourced to other sculptors.

It's also worth noting that all of these guys are from hobby modelling scenes, which is why almost all figma releases have the exact construction and joint scheme of garage kits, using almost exclusively using generic ball/disc hinges. Upgraded articulation is slowly being introduced, primarily on anything done by Max Factory or Maoji (big action figure garage kits guy, did Revoltech Mirko and Ochako as well). Hopefully within a year or two, anything that isn't a spindly anime girl will have that construction, and some other articulation upgrades.

Also of note since he was mentioned in the thread: Zagreus doesn't have a listed sculptor yet, and has the traditional figma joints scheme. Best to wait on picking him up or opening him until the reviews are out.
 
Niko (protozoalord) said:
Also of note since he was mentioned in the thread: Zagreus doesn't have a listed sculptor yet, and has the traditional figma joints scheme. Best to wait on picking him up or opening him until the reviews are out.
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Totally fair if he wasn't the most important character on my video game shelf.

I'll wind up buying him and posting about him in this thread. It beats the unarticulated Pop-Up Parade figure I have now.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
For me, almost anything Syndicate Collectibles had put out.

That Howling figure was a 60 dollar pile of (no pun intended) dogshit. Especially when compared to the NECA version.

Their Double Dragon figures are very outdated in terms of articulation. The paints are subpar at best. Waited my whole life for DD figures, only being forced to accept what we were given.

Their Pumpkinhead figure is decent, if not above average. But that's about all they've got going for them.

I've never had a company appear out of nowhere, swinging for the fences only to completely let me down in such record time.

Between multiple cancellations and releases not being as promised (their Bloodsport figures don't look to be breaking this trend, either)...yeah...tough sell for me to get excited by anything they do anymore.
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I never bothered with any of their other releases, especially the Howling figure because it looked terrible, but their Pumpkinhead is absolutely fantastic.
cmoney said:
The guy in charge of that company was the warning bell for me to not even get started. I'll get Pumpkinhead someday if I see him on clearance, but otherwise I expected things to fold up pretty quick with the old SOTA and PCS guy running the show.
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I didn't know this about them...that would definitely have given me pause if I'd known that before snagging Pumpkinhead. I bought him at full price but I don't regret it at all...he's a really great figure that I'm really happy to have in my collection.
 
For some reason my brain homogenizes Syndicate and Trick or Treat Studios into one company, but I'm looking forward to buying and hating the upcoming comic Crow figure that Trick or Treat is doing.
 
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