Hello, Hivers and happy new year! I hope everyone had a great holiday break and is ready to start a brand new (and possibly final???) year of toy collecting. I've had some delays and setbacks in working on the blog, so I'm eager to get back to posting regularly. Today I wanted to share a few of the things I'm looking forward to the most this year. It won't be as structed as last year's 11 Toy Wishes for 2011, but hopefully touch on everything I'm excited about for the next 12 months. So, swarm ahead to read about 3B's toy wishes for 2012!
First off, I'd like to point out that just like Masters of the Universe, I too will be turning 30-years-old this year. Most people are terrified of being 30, but I embrace it. I've been wanting to be 30 since I was 10! Back then, all my favorite superheroes were 30 (or just about), so I figured it was a prime age and I WILL make sure to make it so! With that in mind, this year I plan to focus on not just new toys, but a lot of older stuff, giving me an oppurtunity to share "vintage" items from my collection and look at them with modern eyeballs. Most of it is Batman related, but there are a several surprises in-store, too. And just in case you're wondering, the big day is February 17th.
Now on to the Toy Wishes for 2012!
MattyCollector.com
I could probably write up a whole page on just the toy lines I'll be purchasing off of www.mattycollector.com, but instead I'm lumping them into one category because at the end of the day, no matter if it's a 6" figure of a hulking professional wrestler or a 23" robot composed of mechanical lions, it's all coming in white mailer boxes inside a bigger, brown box. This is a message to Matty & Digital River: Don't jerk us around. You've pissed off Ghostbusters fans, DCUC fans and MotU fans are just itching to tell you to "go f*** yourself!" Make 2012 the year you redeem yourselves in the eyes of collectors (aka CONSUMERS) and remember as much work and personal attention your brand managers may put into something, WE are still PAYING for this stuff (plus outrages s&h fees).
WWE (Mattel)
I'm grouping this one separately because the lines I collect are still at retail stores (except "Legends", of course). The main issue with "Elite" and "Defining Moments" is price. I'm sure the desing team strives to keep costs down, but I wish they stop releasing "Elite" figures without any accessories (series 10's Yoshi Tatsu) or giving figures like Legends 6's Eddie Guerrero nothing but a championship belt, but using the plain, un-metallized version. That's really not acceptable and they need to find a way to avoid it.
TransFormers
Hasbro has a real challenge on their hands this year. There's no huge Summer blockbuster film for them in 2012 to support the Transformers brand, so they have to rely on the animated series Prime and Rescue Bots to bring in the big bucks. I just hope it doesn't leave fans of the "classics" out in the cold. They had a lot of great releases under the Generations banner and they need to continue that in 2012. With this Fall's "Fall of Cybertron", they have enough material to create some long-awaited releases: a Voyager-sized, G1-inspired Grimlock, a true, multi-figure combiner in Bruticus and a modern take on Shockwave. Fingers crossed!
Third Party/Unlicensec
Well, there's a lot to look forward to here! I'm eagerly anticipating the release of the last two figures in TFC's Hercules series. A true "classics" take on a G1 Arcee (Perfect Effect's PE-DX01 "RC") tentatively scheduled for March. A possible deluxe-sized version of Trailbreaker (Head Robots' "Big Road"). More awesome decal kits from Repro Labels. And let's not forget the ambitious relaunch of Spy Monkey Creations. What I'm most looking forward to from 3rd Party items is innovation. Don't just retread what's been done, offer something that truly enhances an established brand.
And to close things out....
ThunderCats
Yeah, they were on my wishlist last year and while we did get a "Classics", it's monstrous scale wasn't to my tastes. Thankfully, it didn't sit well with the majority of collectors and Bandai decided to scrap the 8" line and relaunch in a more collector-friendly 6" scale. Kudos to you, Bandai! Now I just need to find these!
That's pretty much it for me. I can assure you there are a lot more toy lines I'm very interested in and really excited about, but I'm not going to jinx anything and will calmly wait to be suprised/shocked/astonished throughout the year. Here's to an epic year of toys!
Cheers!
