The times, they are a-changin’. Those of us who collect 3¾” action figures have seen articulation reduced in some lines to keep prices down around $6, while fully articulated figures cost in the neighborhood of $10. Green Lantern, STAR WARS, The Dark Knight Rises, Iron Man 3, Ultimate Spider-Man, and even G.I. JOE: Retaliation vehicle drivers have all the posing potential of a 1978 Luke Skywalker. As a collector, there are positives and negatives to be found in this new strategy. One obvious positive is that collectors still have options with a fantastic balance of sculpted detail and articulation in the single-carded G.I. JOE releases, Marvel Universe, and the forthcoming STAR WARS Black Series. Another positive is that $6 options in the action figure aisles help keep toys affordable for parents, and the significance of that for the future of action figure collecting cannot be exaggerated. Someday, many of the kids whose moms are buying them $6 Iron Man and Spider-Man figures will graduate to buying their own $10 Marvel Universe figures. The flip side, of course, is that we have fewer options for action figures featuring the full range of articulation we’ve enjoyed over the last several years.

Other trends include fewer weapons and accessories being packaged with some figures and a lack of stands. While it may bother some hobbyists, this is one direction with which I’m entirely at peace. I end up replacing most of my 3¾” figures’ weapons with items from Marauder “Gun-Runners” anyway. If I need stands, Marauder has those, too. But there is something I’d like to see packed with the figures more often, and so to toy manufacturers, I make my plea:

MOAR LAUNCHERZ PLZ!

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