- Published December 12, 2016
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The views contained in this article are that of the author and should not be taken as the opinion of Geek Node as a publication.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year (unleashes best imitation of Andy Williams’ voice-chokes as the girl next to me fists me in the throat).
Ho ho ho!
Ah yes, Christmas is such a magically nostalgic time of the year.
In my litey days, my mum and her siblings would arrange this massive Christmas jol at the family home.
Food, fun, free stuff, FOOOD…Ah to be young.
While I don’t necessarily celebrate the holiday in the classic sense due to religious beliefs, I do appreciate the season.
I mean any holiday that is underpinned by the concepts of “joy to the world” and being merry is “A-OK!” in my book.
Of course Christmas comes with a bit of drama including family, those family holidays, extended family that pitch up and then don’t leave and of course buying gifts.
Don’t be a skaapie – Buy yourself stuff!
You know what they say… you can choose your gift… but you can’t choose your family.
What’s that? That’s not how the saying goes? Let’s be honest here – my version is better, and definitely more apt.
Another of those sayings is the whole “it is better to give than receive” thing.
I agree… I would rather give myself a kickass gift than receiving mediocre ones. Like Xmas socks. Seriously where will I possibly use Santa socks?
No no no my friend, I say thee nay! You are not mediocre.
Your gifts to yourself shouldn’t be either.
Which is where I come in.
I present to you:
“Darthzadybun’s guide to Xmas gifts 2016”
I applied myself to identifying a few product lines that you could consider for gifts.
Bearing in mind that after December comes Jan-U-Worry I thought I would identify a few more of the more cost effective lines so while you can avoid mediocrity, you don’t flirt with homelessness in January.
If you are one of those lucky bastiche’s who is gonna drop some Madiba-Print-Moolah on Hot Toys, Side Show, Prime 1 and Pop Culture Shock items; well lucky you (spits with thinly veiled jealousy).
Alrighty then, so here we go – let’s take it from the bottom up…
5. Funko POP! Vinyl figures
The best thing about this particular line is that there’s something for everyone as Funko have licenses for EVERYTHING.
From He-Man and the Masters of the Universe through to the Power Rangers.
From Friday the 13th to The Little Mermaid.
Yessriee Bob, POP! vinyl figures are highly collectible and there are literally dozens upon dozens of them out there to choose from.
Some people complain that the figures have a highly stylised look which may not appeal to certain audiences.
Well my advice to those cherubs is that they do what they usually do when faced with the real issues in the world – ignore it and keep posting selfies instead.
POP! vinyl figures are relatively cheap, fairly durable and space friendly and are every collector’s blessing and curse.
Blessing because you can get an affordable collectible of even the most obscure characters.
Curse because once you POP! You can’t stop.
Admit it, that line fits so much better with Funko Pop! than it does with Pringles.
Two of my favourite ranges released this year are the new Star Wars range:
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and of course the NETFLIX Daredevil range.
4. DC collectibles Action figures
As regular readers will know, I am a huge DC collectibles fan and get a lot of their wares.
This isnt difficult to do simply because they have so many different ranges to choose form, including the DC Icons line, the CW TV universe line, the Designer Series line, the Batman Animated Series line and The Animated Movies lines.
In fact the popular line of bombshells statues are going to be getting the action figure treatment in the new years so you can’t complain that you aren’t spoiled for choice.
Two of my favourite figures this years were the DC Icons Joker and DC Icons Harley Quinn:
If you’re looking for something for the rug rats, there are also a range of figures based on the CW TV Series. While not the best sculpts for the adult collector, the figures are awesome play and display pieces.
Take for example the Flash and Reverse Flash figures below:
Last I checked there are also figures based on Arrow Legends of tomorrow and Supergirl if I am not mistaken.
For what little it may be worth, in a world where statues and premium figures are crossing the line between being “able to splash out” on a treat versus having to approach your bank for a loan, it’s awesome that there are figures that are affordable and most importantly FUN.
Great sculpts, awesome accessories and articulation in most lines, you can’t go wrong with this range of fan pleasers.
3. Marvel Select
For the benefit of the noobs among us, Marvel Select is a line of 7” scale action figures of the various Marvel Superheroes and Villains.
While the line originally focused on Marvel’s “Ultimate” and “Marvel Knights” versions of characters, the line eventually opened to include the “main” Marvel universe and later the Cinematic universe versions of characters as well.
The line is noted for placing emphasis on sculpting over articulation which rendered the figures as almost mini statues. What the figures lacked in articulation, they more than made up for with the inclusion of highly detailed diorama display bases or multiple interchangeable accessories. In fact the inserts sometimes included a whole additional figure!
Still, since many people bought the figures with more focus on the “action” part of “action figure”, Diamond has upped its game in recent years and has definitely improved the articulation on the figures.
There’s nothing strange about Selecting these figures…
In any event, this attention to detail (and our general excitement with free stuff) has helped establish Marvel Select as a collector-targeted toy line and the figures are only available at comic or specialty stores.
Okay so as at the time of writing there were 135 released figures with two more on the way. That’s a LOT of figures. As you would imagine some are a lot harder to find than others.
For the purposes of completeness, the most recently released figures available are:
The Spectacular Spider-Man, Black Panther, Iron Man Mark 46 (Civil War version), Captain America (Civil War version) and the Winter Soldier (Civil War version). You will be able to find stock of these figures at local stores quite easily.
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Some of the figures I really take a liking to are these bad boys…
2. Kotobukiya
Historically one of the best value for money brands still holding firm today.
While I typically review the Artfx+ line, there is also the 1/6 scale ARTFX line, Bishoujo the ArtFX J and a couple others that I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing in person.
With the ArtFX+, rising production costs and an embattled currency (blast you stupid Rand-BLAST YOU!!!) have resulted in the rise of prices for us in recent months.
While they haven’t shot out past the affordable range just yet, that threshold may well be reached in a little while.
Still, this is a worthwhile line buying into, as the beauty of Kotobukiya is that they have a wide array of licenses for everything from Avengers through to Tekken.
I reiterate my view that the best value for money in the popular offerings in South Africa is the Artfx+ line.
Fortunately Kotobukiya has levelled up to over 9000 (DBZ reference y’all) and consistently delivers statues bearing a phenomenal amount of detail.
That being said, some lines are better value for money than others. I base this on the number of accessories some come packaged with.
I have noticed that the Star Wars statues usually boast the best value there.
WHile I fuss, bitch and moan about not getting enough accessories a lot of the time, I suppose I have to be honest and concede that being statues, that’s not usually the way it is supposed to work.
Some statues come fairly close to meeting my lofty aspirations such as the Kotobukiya ArtFX+ Deadpool.
Sadly that one is an older release so newer collectors may have lost out on getting that.
Not to despair though, I see other trademark holders are coming to the party and the DC comics’ batman the animated series batman statue is my favourite Kotobukiya release for this year. A beautiful sculpt with a crap load of functional accessories.
Coming soon is the Spider-Man line which I have been waiting for this whole year!
pic via kotous.com
It remains to line be seen how much the line lives up to the hype, but whatever the case may be, any of these statues will prove to be a GREAT gift.
Last, but certainly not least, and this year’s break out star in my humble view.
1. The Marvel Galleries Statues
Here’s the thing, when you balance between display value and value for money this line of statues is the gold standard in my humble view.
I reviewed the Deadpool statue earlier this year and was blown away by the way they were able to balance between the detail on the sculpt while keeping the statue cheap without looking cheap.
Coming soon are the Hulk, Dr strange and Spider-Man statues.
You can say what you like about Marvel, but they have a way of making even the most obscure of their characters super hits. Following the epic Dr. Strange Movie earlier this year, I am hoping to get my hands on this very dynamic looking statue depicting the Doctor in his comic book form.
I must admit, I was a little curious whether this was the best pose for a Spider-Man statue. I thought that maybe a web-slinging version would be better. Now I think that with the fact that Spidey is supposed to be awkward and creepy this pose seems to capture that quite nicely. In addition it won’t eat up too much space in my display case which is always nice. I goota hand it to these guys – they have made the Hulk… Incredible. The statues are made in scale, which means that the Hulk one will be MASSIVE. I am a little torn here, because while I like every collectible to fit nicely into my display case, this figure definitely wont. Then I think that we got a massive solid and affordable Hulk statue – I can break this rule.
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I noticed that the creative teams on these statues are the same teams that bring us Marvel Select figures so we can safely start building up or lofty aspirations…
Already available are Captain Marvel, Spider-Gwen, Lady Deadpool and the new Thor featuring the Jane Foster version of the character. I have seen Medusa from the Inhumans advertised, but haven’t come across her in South Africa just yet.
For the size of the statues as well as the diorama style bases each statue is built on, this line may represent better value for money than even Kotobukiya.
The line is still very new so there are some kinks that they probably have to work on – though if what I have seen so far is anything to go by we will be getting some awesome and well priced figures moving forward. Best we get in on the thing while stocks last.
Well there you have it. Your list of what to get yourself.
Where to from here?
Given the wide spread of items showcased here, you can hit up any of the local stores to get your fix.
Local Suppliers offering these lines (including payment plans in some instances) include:
Cosmic Comics who can be reached at:
coolstuff@absamail.co.za or www.cosmiccomics.co.za
or
Project Mayhem who can be reached at:
collectibles@projectmayhem.co.za or www.projectmayhem.co.za
or
Smallville Comics
kentcomics@yahoo.com or joe@smallvillecomics.co.za
Be sure to tell them that Zaid sent you. Wear a Santa suit and pose with them. They won’t give you anything for free, but you should never waste a photo opportunity to take photos while wearing a Santa costume.
So what are you buying yourself for Christmas?
Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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Darth Zady Bun
Geeky Goods Editor
Zaid is a story teller, traveller, artist, entertainer and comic culture geek of note.
Powered by chocolate, and guided by an ever growing bucket (and collectibles) list, he finances his addiction to geek merchandise, comic books, action figures and all the cold cast porcelain and PVC pieces of heaven he can buy by giving (mostly) legal advice. He is also rumoured to have once eaten an entire pack of Marie Biscuits with a single mug of Five Roses Tea.
Witnesses deny the incident.
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Article Tags: buy now · christmas 2016 · Cosmic Comics · Darthzadybun · Dc Collectibles · featured · gift ideas · Kotobukiya · Marvel Galleries · marvel select · project mayhem south africa · smallville comics · what to buy · wishlist · Zaid Hassen Motala
Article Categories: Editorial