Action Figure Times: TOYGODD: THE SAGA OF THE PURPLE MEATBALL!!!

Feed Shark
The Saga of the Purple Meatball� To buy or not to buy? That was the question.

Welcome to the 2008 annual San Diego Comic Con report.

This year, like the rest, began at 3AM. Rising earlier than the sun and double checking the inventory of prizes for my panel, I poured myself behind the wheel and picked up Randy. 4AM is a pleasant time to drive here in Los Angeles. There aren't a lot of other drivers on the road and our trip started uneventfully. Per usual though, something always occurs to make our trip memorable. As we approached Camp Pendleton, the local Marine base, about an hours' drive in, Randy observed that the freeway was on fire! Sure enough, there on the side of the road was a fully engulfed grocery truck. As we pulled parallel to the truck it's gas tank exploded with quite a BOOM!, sending a plume of flame shooting out and a blast of heat through our windows! Needless to say that woke us up. For those who weren't as quick as we were to move on past this horrific accident, 4-5 hours of waiting would be in store for them as the freeway was shut down.

Randy and I arrived in San Diego at 6:15 and met up with Capt. Collector and his friend Derek. We went and had breakfast and then managed to gain entrance to the Con! For those of you who aren't privy to an empty convention center it is really quite a sight. Empty aisles, row upon row of cool booths, and of course the chance to see the exclusives first hand and decide just what your precious money will be used to purchase.

Thus �The Saga of the Purple Meatball� begins.

My first stop was Mattel. There I had the chance to see a ton of new figures that were due out (Captain Collector no doubt will bring you that coverage) as well as their 3 convention exclusives. I have to say the Masters of the Universe King Grayskull was magnificent! A complete fold out box with a drop down drawbridge, blinking lights a sound chip and of course a great action figure that was really worth the $30.00 asking price. Here is a picture of the figure (Capt. Collector will have pictures of the packaging up soon).

Well worth the cost in my mind. I left the good Captain there to wander on down to the vinyl aisle as that was where my true interest lay. This is where the dilemma began. I passed the booth of a company that I will not name here that had what looked to be a small purple meatball for sale! Upon closer inspection I found that it was supposed to be The Maxx figure.

I have the original Maxx figure by McFarlane still sitting on my shelf in my office so I knew that's what it was supposed to be. However the McFarlane Maxx figure actually looked like the Maxx, was 5 times bigger, came with Itzs, a head dress and was 100 times cooler and still can be had for $10.00 on Ebay. What was so shocking was the asking price.

THIRTY DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!.

$30.00 for a small purple meatball with what looked like yellow toenails sticking out of it. What to buy, What to buy? Contrary to popular belief, I do spend money on toys. It didn�t take long to make my decision. Mattel's King Grayskull or Hasbro's excellent Savage Land Marvel Legends 3 pack at $30.00,

or The Lobo for $25.00, or even the Giganta 2 pack for $20.00 was a much better purchase than this poor mess of the Maxx. So�what's your opinion? Did I make the right choice? Did I leave the purple meatball to it's rightful fate? Drop me a line in the Happy Hour and join the Legion of the Purple Meatball. Someone might just win something.

For your viewing pleasure I do have some cool statues that were placed around the con as well as some famous people from Star Trek the Next Generation, Heros as well as some old friends. Tons more coming up in the Vinyl Shack as well as Toybox! Hope you like it.

The full size Iron Man 1.

Jerry Malcaluso of Popshock Collectibles and a good friend!

Digger from Art Asylum. Digger told me this was his first trip back to the USA in over 5 years! It was great to have a few moments to talk and he even showed up later that afternoon for the AFTimes Collector's Panel! Thanks Digger.