Hot Toys Collectibles: Personal Favorites #1

When it comes to pondering possibly one of the most serious questions in the galaxy, "Which Hot Toys figure do I buy in 2020 and which details should I be concerned about?" is certainly one of them.

What should I buy?  Naturally, the most common sense answer would be something along the lines of "Buy the ones that you like best" or at the very least, buy your favorite characters.  But when discussing something as expensive as the 1/6 scale line, it's hard to keep economics completely out of it.

When each figure is in the $300-$400 range, the topic of what's smart financially suddenly becomes something to consider.  While I have no intention of picking these things up and then instantly flipping them on eBay, I also have to consider the possibility that some of these figures may be worth considerably more than what we're paying for them on the secondary markets soon after release.  So while I am not an eBay seller by profession, I would feel terrible if a figure I passed on went on to sell for two or three times their retail price before just months after I bought them.

So while agreeing that one should buy whichever figures they like best, it is hard to not consider the popularity and meta buzz circling around these things at any given time.

Two of my personal favorite Marvel characters are Captain America and Thor and versions of both are in stock and available right now on Sideshow's site.  Specifically, "Infinity War" versions of both characters can still be had for less than $300 each and shipped out immediately.  Right now, I think Cap even has a free shipping special going on.

"Captain America Movie Promo Edition," $267, in stock and ships today

"Thor," $267, in stock and ships today

Emotionally, both these figures press all my buttons.  But they've also been sitting around in stock in the Sideshow warehouses and have never set the market on fire in terms of making a buck.  And since they have been sitting around in stock for years, shouldn't I perhaps pick up some newer, just released figures that may increase in value at a healthier rate?

Case in point are the very, very brand spanking new, just came out yesterday versions of Hawkeye/Ronin and Spider-Man in his homemade suit.

Deluxe Hawkeye is a fantastic bargain that along with coming with tons of accessories, also comes with an additional second costume that allows us to display him as his alter ego Ronin, the persona Clint took up after losing his entire family to the Thanos snap.

NOTE that the additional Ronin costume only comes with the deluxe version of this figure and the standard non-Ronin version is only $20 cheaper at $243.

"Hawkeye (Deluxe Version),"  $267, available now and ships today

Second only to Iron Man, Spidey has had released more figures than any hero in history and one of the newest is the homemade suit he wore before Tony Stark pitched in and spent a few million designing a new high tech state-of-the-art suit for him.  This specific figure unfortunately does not come with a Tom Holland head sculpt (a big, big drawback in my book as I dearly love all the actors from the MCU) but it does for the first time come with a large Mysterio drone as seen below.  This drone has to be the single best accessory Hot Toys has ever included with one of their 1/6 scale figures.  And even with this drone, the figure is still a reasonable (in the collectible action figure world, at least) $267.

"Spider-Man (Homemade Suit),"  $267, available now and ships today

Continuing down the fork of emotional, non-financial favorites, is an upcoming clever Captain America release, the 2012 Cap that the heroes run into when they go back in time in "Endgame."

"Captain America (2012 Version),"  $259, Est. Arrival: Apr 2021 - Jun 2021

This character featured in such a funny scene and the pristine costume's colors pop so vibrantly that you can't walk past this figure without taking a second look.  Releasing next spring, the wait for this figure is agonizing but it's certainly better than the two year wait for some of these.  If Hot Toys were shipping out this figure right now, I'd have already ordered one.

Along that same topic of eye-popping blue is another personal favorite of mine: Pepper Potts in her Rescue suit:

Pepper Potts as "Rescue,"  $407, Est. Arrival: Jan 2021 - Mar 2021

Now, winter is right around the corner so the wait isn't that bad but the line of Iron Man figures are always more expensive than anything else because they're diecast, IE, made from real metal instead of plastic.  Despite the price (which is actually pretty reasonable for a figure with a metal suit), the figure is so striking, it's still tempting.

"Smart Hulk" was one of "Endgame's" biggest and most pleasant surprises and Hot Toys does the idea of that character justice with their next release of Bruce Banner's alter ego.  At 15 1/2 inches, large figures like this are always more expensive than normal human-sized models so at $375, Professor Hulk is if not reasonable, at least no more expensive than any other of the recent large figures.

"Hulk,"  $375, Est. Arrival: Oct 2020 - Dec 2020

Because his release is right around the corner, this personal fave is so darn tempting.  But $100 more than a deluxe version of almost any other one out there right now?  Those are the dork questions that keep me up at night.

Spider-Man as Hot Toy figure is worth talking about for so many different reasons, not least of which is just how many are ever available at any given moment (So.  Very.  Very.  Many.).  He deserves his own article but let's at least do a quick rundown on all the versions available right now.

Before I show the 10 Spider-Man figures available right this second, let me mention perhaps the most controversial fact about all of Hot Toys' Spider-Man figures: most of the suits on the 1/6 scale line prevent almost any kind of creative posing whatsoever.  Spidey's suits are so tight that posing these figures in dynamic ways for any length of time will most likely stretch and eventually destroy the rubber costume on each figure.  To bang home the seriousness of this warning, I just have one phrase for you: stretch marks.

That very big problem is what perhaps makes the homemade suit figure mentioned above so special; because it's a non-rubber, non-stretchy kind of outfit, you can pose that figure as crazy as you want and because he's basically wearing sweatpants, it shouldn't have any kind of negative consequences over the long run.  

Along that very same line, one hopes the same will be true for Spidey in his stealth suit.  Looking at the joints on this figure, one hopes that Hot Toys planned ahead and made those areas of the stealth suit extra stretchy.  Take a look at the standard and deluxe and see how those joints look to you:

"Spider-Man (Stealth Suit) Deluxe Version,"  $305, Est. Arrival: Nov 2020 - Dec 2020

"Spider-Man (Stealth Suit),"  $235, Est. Arrival: Nov 2020 - Dec 2020

Available right this second and able to ship tomorrow, are the Advanced Suit:

"Spider-Man Advanced Suit,"  $251, available now and shipping today

Not a favorite of mine is the Spider-Punk Suit from, not the MCU but the PS4's Spider-Man video game:

"Spider-Man Spider-Punk Suit,"  $235 (w/ free shipping), available now and shipping today

The Spider-Man (Negative Suit):

"Spider-Man (Negative Suit),"  $267, available now and shipping today

Those were all the Spider-Man figures available and in stock right now and here's a few that are still open for pre-order.

Because I'm a Team Xbox kind of guy, the PS4's Marvel's Spider-Man game meant nothing to me.  Regardless, we got a bunch of figures based on the suits one can acquire in that video game.  One of those is the Spider-Man (2099 Black Suit):

"Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit),"  $265, Est. Arrival: Sep 2020 - Nov 2020

The "Spider-Man (Upgraded Suit)" from the "Far from Home" film:

"Spider-Man (Upgraded Suit),"  $251, Est. Arrival: Oct 2020 - Dec 2020

A fan fave is of course Miles Morales.  I personally don't like how cartoonish the Miles head sculpt is but because this entire figure is based on an animated film, I'm not sure how reasonable that complaint is:

"Miles Morales,"  $267, Est. Arrival: Jul 2021 - Oct 2021

The Spider-Man (Spider Armor - MK IV Suit) figure.  This suit just looks wet to me and it's not one of my faves:

"Spider-Man (Spider Armor - MK IV Suit),"  $255, Est. Arrival: Apr 2021 - Jun 2021

And last for now, Spider-Man (Iron Spider Armor):

"Spider-Man (Iron Spider Armor),"  $250, Est. Arrival: Oct 2020 - Nov 2020

Those are all the different Spider-Man versions available right this second.  So many of those suits look so darn cool so it's a shame they all still have that problem with posing.  Fans who purchase them are almost forced to display their Spidey figures in "museum poses," ie, just standing there with their arms at their sides, not doing anything even remotely interesting.  Not that exciting when you're spending $300+ a pop.  Hopefully, Hot Toys will figure out a high tech solution to the stretch problem in future designs but for now, many fans avoid figures with this limitation.

Time for me to put the pen down and play some games.  I had big problems with last weekends beta test of Square's Avengers PC game so right now, the game garnering all my attention is the recent port of "Death Stranding."  It looks fantastic, easily on par with last weeks MS Flight Simulator.  

With these recent releases, next gen on PC is here right now, no expensive new console necessary.

Rich here, over and out.