Hello, I’m Jeff, and I’m addicted to Marvel
Action Figures.
(“Hi Jeff!”
“YOU GEEK!!!!”)
And the ghosts of middle school.
Yes, I know I need to dust the shelves. I did get a lot of that done as I took them down for photoshoots. However, there has been enough profanity explosions as each one I moved led to domino like collapses of hordes of nearby figures, and I need to take a break from dealing with that for a while.
Disclaimer-2
When this idea started, it was supposed to be a short filler. The section I initially intended to write is now mostly in part eight of ten. I'm unsure if I have a focus problem, or a planning problem. I began this exercise posing the figures in a photogenic location under the Peruvian stuff table in the living room. However, I have also taken an equal (or greater by this point) number in front of the comic boxes in the room the figures live in to reduce going up and down the stairs and save wear and tear on my Old Man Bones. In fact, in some cases I gave up completely and took photos "in situ" on the shelves themselves. Luckily, even with this over expansion issue, I know my family has my back.
Like most of my generation, the action figure obsession began when they were still “dolls” with Mego eight-inch figures. (Starting in 1973) Also, like most of my generation, those figures were not stored packaged in their original boxes, but played with.
Thus, leading to the ones of people that ensured they remained in the original packages to rise in value. I am a big fan of actually reading books or comics, playing with toys, and so forth. Therefore, to everyone who’s collections were untouched (how dull) that rose in value- You’re Welcome.
Because there were only twelve of them…
Sixteen counting the Sears exclusive Cantina alien set!
Rather than going the full playset
route, I used the Fisher Price Castle as the Rebel Base. From there they would
stage attacks on the Death Star. For this performance, the Death Star was
portrayed by the Fisher Price Garage. (Underneath the car elevator made an
excellent Garbage Masher Number 3263827.) I did (and still do) have three vehicles.
The first was Luke’s Landspeeder, from back when my collection was “complete.”
The second was Boba Fett’s Firespray. (Don’t give me any crap, I logged
countless hours in the cockpits of the X-Wing game series. That has been the ship
class name all along and it sounds much cooler.) His ship was so incredibly
weird and ugly looking that it was too awesome to ignore. 
And the third was a
Speeder Bike, because it’s small and those scenes were so cool! Much like my Mom never wanting any real pets but instantly falling in love with Chewbacca, Fizzgig and others, there's no way I would ever want a real motorcycle. Yet a far faster, and less protected speeder bike? WOO!
The Chicken
Walker doesn’t count. I bought that at the Harvest Festival strictly for
display purposes. Some other happy child battered that one through play to match
the wear level of all my toys.
Like the Mego figures, they were heavily
utilized in personal story telling. Because of the smaller size, they could be stored in a safe, where a majority of them (or in some cases, their pieces) live to this day. Once I passed the age
of (routinely) playing with those action figures, my Star Wars toy collecting
days remained in the past.
Not counting after the Dark Times passed,
when the first new figures in years were released in 1999 for The Phantom Menace…
And some recent sets of PVC figures from the Disney Store.
And close to an entire series of Hot Wheels ships, that were rudely discontinued and replaced with larger, more detailed, yet only marginally more expensive ships that I now have no room for. (Not that I'm bitter.)
And some recent sets of PVC figures from the Disney Store.
And close to an entire series of Hot Wheels ships, that were rudely discontinued and replaced with larger, more detailed, yet only marginally more expensive ships that I now have no room for. (Not that I'm bitter.)
(Thanks again for the shelves Rosa! You're awesome!)
And I may have collected Star Wars
Unleashed (2002-2005) figures to make Jedi versus Sith duels a while back.
And, of course, buying figures for my
daughter’s collection because gifts don’t count.
Aside- Yes the ease of which I succumb to toy addictions has been passed down a generation as well.
And Fast Food or Theme Park collectibles and other
similar items also don't really count as action figures. (Yes, the Vader bank still talks and lights up and is awesome.)
And I found Black Krrsantan (2023) on sale in a damaged box, so I “NEEDED” to buy the giant Wookie, even though I have no clue where to put him…
And old man Boba Fett…
And maybe the Mandalorian…
Ooh, and a Tusken Raider, I always thought they looked cool.
As should be crystal clear by now, I do have SEVERAL problems.
Meanwhile, a bit later (1989), Tim Burton’s Batman hit the theaters, and a million things with the Bat-signal on it hit our home. I picked up Batman and Joker figures, as well as the Batmobile, because it was awesome. They sat atop my VHS collection milk crates alone for quite a few years… but also not forever. The Batmobile is always awesome, which is why I kept that one, and the one my Mego figures used to ride in.
Hot wheels are the inner two rows, with the Corgi comic ones front and back.
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