Figures used to be simple and fun. They bent at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knee. Nothing was held on by some cheap hot glue. Weapons were actually made to stay in the figure’s hand during play.

What the hell happened?

Why do we need figures that bend at the fingers, knuckles, wrists, forearms, elbow, and shoulders (that’s just an arm)? Are figures being made to be played with, or just collected? These days they fall apart and all the 50 moving parts loosen up until they feel like your playing with a Woody from Toy Story. It all started with McFarlane Toys in my opinion. I won’t sit here and say that I didn’t enjoy some of Todd’s awesome toys, but I will say that they were the ones that fell apart first.

I guess what I’m getting at is… Bring back the old style. Bring back the He-Man from the 80’s and the X-Men from the 90’s. Toys are meant to be simple and played with while still looking bad-***. They aren’t meant to be so realistic that they can’t be played with (The new World of Warcraft figures being a good example). I may just be old school, or it may be the fact that I have a son who I have an impossible time finding fun figures with, but the frustration I feel can’t be confined to just me.

What are your thoughts?

I believe the first multi-jointed figure as we know it was the multi-possible Spider-Man from the second or third Marvel Superheroes figures release back in the 90s. He was even advertised as being able to put in the funky McFarlane posses.



Whcih was a neat idea at the time! The Mc took it further and then Toy Biz ran with it! The rest his history!

I agree, I don't need my toys to have moving fingers or even toes.

I am definitely in the "less is more" camp. Both for aesthetics and for articulation.

The majority of my favorite figures are 5 poa or less.

But, if the joints are done "right" than there is nothing wrong with a multi-jointed, nigh-infinitly posable figure.

I think the bigger problem in today's toy world is the plastic itself. Companies are very cost conscious, looking for every possible way to save money and cut expenses. Using lesser grade plastics is part of that. Also, technology/chemistry has changed. Some of the materials we used to use are now considered hazardous to our health, or to the planet's health.

I would love to go back to the days of simple pleasures in my own life, but I fear the world as a whole is steadily looking for more ways to move away from that as each new advance makes more possible.

Hopefully, somewhere along the line, someone will remember that just because you CAN do something, it doesn't mean you SHOULD.

My favorite figures are the Mego STTMP figures. Good sculpting, reasonable scale allowing for vehicles and playsets, and 5 POA. The ERTL figures were great, but like Joes, the joints and rubber band wear out faster. Galoob improved the figures just by adding a knee joint and allowing the figures to actually sit in chairs. This 7 POA would be perfect for me. What I didn't like was the phaser molded into the hand, only good if Q pops up on the bridge and everyone needs to shoot at him. Playmates had the selection in characters, but were too big for playsets. If you took Mego playsets, ERTL weapons, Galoob POA, and Playmates selection, that would be perfect.

CCC.

Gotta disagree.

Marvel Legends became one of my favorite lines of all time. DCUC is also very good (but can use a bit more articulation IMO).

If I'm paying $15 a piece for a figure, it better have an many POA as possible.

Do you, or did you play with them, or just collect?

I dislike Marvel Legends most of all because of what they used to be. Like I said, I'm old school in thought. I'm sure we all had out own play style as well growing up.

To each his own.

That's fine at that scale because you can make joints that can take the abuse. The vehicle or playset creates the environment that is just not feasable at the larger scale, unless you plan on taking them .....OUTSIDE!

CCC.

I prefer the articulation. I don't need it all -- when DC Direct had the ankle joints, my figures spent more time shelf diving or in a skier pose on a stand than standing correctly up on the shelf -- and I admit, most of my figures stand pretty static on the shelf, but I like the option to pose the figures into different looks when I want.

I think that is another reason I loved Megos and why the RAH Joes became my favorites -- you could really play with them! You could pose them, you could move them. I've mostly been a super-hero toy person my whole life an Secret Wars and Super Powers (which was saved a little by the action feature) were blah to me. I thought the 90s Toy Biz Marvel stuff was terrible. But when Spider-Man Classics showed up? I was sold!

They didn't always work aesthetically or in functionality, but overall, give me the articulation.

Back in the day, I played the heck out of them. My favorites were the GI Joes, which had the best articulation of the 80's, especially once they added the "swivel-arm battle grip." I remember being frustrated with the SW guys because they couldn't move as well as the Joes did (and don't get me started on the Transformers).

Nowadays, I don't really play with my figures, but I do like to pose them in different stances. If I want perfect aestetics, I just get statues (although those are getting awfully expensvie lately).

Shellhead has a point... for what we pay today we should get all we can get for our buck! I did like that comment!

Which is why I stick to ebay and buy lots of used figures for the most part. I can get away with paying a buck a figure plus shipping. I'm a happy camper.

Agree with this statement above..
And I would prefer less POA even more-- if that meant lower prices as well-- (which it should)..

AND BAN ALL ANKLE JOINTS FOR THE REST OF TIME...

Fixed that for ya.

I do think the problem has nothing to do with articulation but the attudes some people have towards collecting. There are a ton of things I could say but really that is what brings me down sometimes. I tend to avoid those who try to make this hobby something less than fun because of that.

I think the problem with collecting isn't the collectors, it is the dealers. The collector will collect what he wants. The dealer wants money. Dealers have set the standards of value for figures. Under these standards if you buy a 80's Star Wars figure that has worn paint for $20, and which was not movie accurate to begin with, and you repaint it to make it movie accurate, the dealer will tell you it is now only worth $5. You however feel that the product has been improved by your talent and skill and is now worth $40 because it is now more accurate than any other figure of that character out there. We as collectors know what something is worth to us.

CCC.