Returning to Inside the Mind of a Toy Addict Part 5 - New Roads, Tiny and Super

Part 1 , Part 2,  Part 3, Part 4

That clearance table (as many of them are) is a dangerous thing. One night the three of us found a two shipping boxes of a Star Wars Tiny Penny wave on there. Checking serial numbers first, Anabelle picked two, Rosa (hoping for a “Baduu” as she calls Grogu) picked one, and I grabbed one to add to the gang at work. After a Baduuless opening, Rosa (abandoning all enabling and joining the addiction) and I drove straight back to the store and bought seven more sets. We missed grabbing all of the serial numbers by one, but still got at least one of every figure in the wave. A scant few went into the “sell” pile. Anabelle added to her group.

(RIP to her Nein Numb who got booted into the sell pile shortly after this photo.)

Rosa got her Baduu, along with the rest of the “Yoda family” plus Kelnacca which she will call Chewie, and a Porg because we hit the motherlode on those cute little guys.

The translucent “hologram” set went up on the high Star Wars shelf in the comic room.

I had already added some Dollar Store Transformers to my work shelf and now augmented the Tiny Pennys already there with an extra Leia, Lando and Nien Numb, plus a gang of Jedi (and a Porg, naturally) to stand around an old Star Wars Figure themed sales meeting award that I helped design back in the day.

As should be crystal clear by now, we all still have a problem.
And yes, I did tell the sales manager I already had a ghost Obi Wan figure at home and obtained the Anakin as a swap out back then.
 

Shortly after this Anabelle found the Inside Out box set of Tiny Pennys also on clearance. She and Rosa chose ones for themselves, and gave one to me… 

Anger obviously...

to join my night table collection of “leftover little dudes that don’t go anywhere else.” 

There was a Tiny Lex Luthor with them, but he fell into the dimension the Power Prism briefly inhabited.

As should be crystal clear by now, I still have a problem, and a pocket universe in my home.

Rosa (enabling both of us for two decades and counting) continued adding to the fun. She selected some of Anabelle's birthday presents to be early, allowing her to plan decorating her grad school apartment. The Funko "Clara is Dead" TARDIS And some fluffy Disney folks (one of which will likely join her "Riding the Backpack To the Park" collection) were key additions.

In addition, Rosa discovered a sale on a set of "Shiny Tiny Pennys!" The key attraction of this find was the Mickey shelves, perfect for display of the mini collectables.

Anabelle set to work, immediately saving some of the Shiny Tiny Pennys from the sell pile, and organizing her collection, with her special ones inhabiting the ears. 

It is possible not ALL of the extra Shiny Tiny Pennys made it into the sell pile.

As should be crystal clear by now, I still have a problem.

We're all mad here you know.

Back with the Marvel Figures, the obsession continued. 

Anabelle started on a selection of Blue and White clad Marvel characters to celebrate her graduation from Villanova on the Upper Rotating Shelf. That is until I went to grab Snowbird for her and wiped out all of Alpha Flight, leading her to select the entire team to join in the celebration as well. WOO!

Rosa, continuing her enabling activities, possibly out of a misguided hope that I will reach “complete” for at least one group, found the Suko and Doug (2024) pack for Father’s Day, to go on the Godzilla shelf.

July 2025 was a outstanding (one might even say "Super-Fantastic") Super Hero Movie month. To celebrate, I broke with years of tradition and brought up THE Iconic DC character- Superman, along with the Fantastic Four to mark this auspicious occasion. Then Anabelle informed me that it wasn’t complete without Franklin and Valeria.
As should be crystal clear by now, we both still have a problem.

 
While this celebration was going on, we learned DC FINALLY made a good move in the Action Figure department. The McFarlane line (always excellent quality sculpts) follows the example of DC Direct, with an over focus on Superman and Batman, high prices and never going on sale. They have been diversifying out, but mostly in ways other lines have covered.
 
Yet, there is a light on the horizon. DC made accessible figures for kids (and me) for the Superman film. They’re a hair smaller and less articulated than the usual six inch scale, but are priced way down at the level Marvel Legends were when I started this collection and are far better made than the Marvel “el cheapo” line.
 

I grabbed a Metamorpho and a Mr. Terrific (2025) and let them and Superman (along with DC Direct’s Hawkgirl (2000) and Guy Gardner (2006)) occupy the normally Marvel Based Upstairs Shelf for another month. This is clearly to celebrate the absolute joy the new Superman film brought to me. It has nothing to do with the fact that while Metamorpho will thematically go very well on the JLI shelves with Mr. Gardner, I do not have any Justice Society sections in this scale (or any scale for the modern version of the team) where it would make sense to put Mr. Terrific anywhere in the comic room, or in fact the entire house. This in spite of me being a fan of his since his first appearance in The Spectre.
As should be crystal clear by now, I still have a problem. (And a comic book that has suddently risen in value.)

(Note- the Part of Krypto this evening will be played by Jeff the Landshark.)
 
A word to Mr. McFarlane, by the way. Your figures have always looked gorgeous, and I have many of your Movie Maniacs line. Your DC ones are excellent. Though I fight tooth and nail against the current, insane action figure price inflation, I would have happily paid full price to have a Christopher Reeve and David Corenswet Superman shaking hands with each other on my DC shelf with the Harley Quinn Door prize. However, in both of their portrayals of THE ICONIC DC Hero, he had multiple Iconic moments where Superman flashed an amazing and reassuring smile.
Both of your figures of these two in that role have multiple faces, NONE of which are smiling.
*Yoda voice* “And that… is why you fail.”
 
With Import prices wildly screwed up, one might think the collection has reached its final form. One would be forgetting how it always goes back to Star Wars figures.
 
As my ankle healed, I needed to watch something I’d seen before as I sporadically worked back into exercising. Having it be the Book of Boba Fett took almost no thought on the part of my Star Wars and Spaghetti Western fandom fueled brain. While viewing, I was wondering why I never looked for a Cobb Vanth figure when I got the Fett set, since he was really cool. I was reminded by a quick check that the version of him they made (2022) was wearing the Bounty Hunter’s armor. Having him stand next to a suited up Boba would be ludicrous. (Yes, I do have several versions of the same characters on the Marvel shelves, also… shut up.) 

I thought with the additional time that had passed, perhaps his price dropped further than the rest of the Tatooine dwellers and wondered if the armor might be removable.
 
The price didn’t drop and the painted Beskar vest was part of the figure.
 
Buuuuuuut…
I did learn there was a Book of Boba Fett store exclusive two pack (2023) featuring Cobb from that show AFTER he returned the armor, facing off against Cad Bane. I figured, given his enormous popularity from Clone Wars and Rebels, Cad Bane would sell at huge mark ups, but perhaps, the lesser known Vanth would be offered loose for less?
 
The Thrill Of The Hunt was on again. It turned out I was completely wrong.

In the best way possible.

An unopened, mint in box two pack was on sale for WELL BELOW my allowable rate per figure.
Woo Hoo!

But wait, “Oh crap,” I thought. I filled the entire front of the shelf with the friends of Boba Fett and the Mandalorian. I’ll never squeeze in these dueling warriors.
 
Fortunately, I chose a very low shelf, on account of it being the only one with remotely any room on it. Therefore, the normal angle of looking at that shelf allows a direct view of the two of them having a quick draw BEHIND the line of Mandalorians and their allies.
As should be crystal clear by now, I still have a problem.
But I do have excellent planning and organizational skills for managing it.

Come back next year, I feel like the problem will persist.