Aquaman and Squinkies

A little while ago in this post here, I talked about reducing my collection and introducing focus rather than the idea of an overwhelming amount of comics and toys. I've been successful towards that goal. Steadily selling a few things on eBay once a week. Progress is slow, as planned. But to this date I've earned quite a lot by just selling off trade paperbacks. I try not to think about it too much.

While I don't actively collect toys anymore, there are some exceptions to that rule. The best way to stop toy collecting is to not go to Target or Walmart anymore. That way, I remain ignorant on what I'm missing out. But sometimes I find out about a product line, and then the brain rules come into play.

Is it Aquaman? Hawkman? Is it cheap? Will you display it or put it in a box? Is it an antique?

I like the idea of continuing to buy Aquaman things. It's a small, controllable subset of the collection. And it fills the uniqueness quality that being an Aquaman fan gives me. If I collected Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man, I would be drowning in merchandise. My Aquaman stuff will barely fill a bookcase when I'm ready to finally move into my new comic sanctuary.


Recently, I picked up a toy line called Squinkies. My six-year-old son, Alex, has some Squinkies. He has Marvel and Star Wars Squinkies. I think they also make Squinkies for generic animals and possibly a line of cute character Squinkies aimed at girls. For Christmas, Santa Claus brought Alex some Squinkies based on some DC Comics Characters. That's how they showed up on my radar.

I picked up four multi-packs of DC Comics Squinkies. They came in packs of 12. They're small, so they're easy to display. They're cheap, so the funds that paid for them came out of the collection selling that I've been doing. AND... best of all... Aquaman is featured. Twice.

Each multi-pack of Squinkies comes with three hidden figures. Packed in an opaque globe so you don't know what character they are until you open the package. One of the hidden figures is super-hipster super-obscure character Kamandi. I was thrilled. Another of the hidden figures was the Batmobile. I was ecstatic for this surprise, as Batmobiles are another sub-theme to my collection.





I saved the Justice League pack of Squinkies to open for last. This pack was interesting. First off, it was based on the new 52 versions of the characters. Only six of the seven Justice League members were visible. And the other characters represented were the mortal enemies of the League members. Joker, Cheetah, and Lex Luthor.

Would we see that seventh member? Yes. I breathed a sigh of relief as Cyborg popped out of his opaque globe. Another surge of excitement as the second hidden figure turned out to be Super Gorilla Grodd, enemy to the Flash.


Wouldn't it be nice if we got a Black Manta?

Wouldn't it be nice if this very last Squinkie, if the very last hidden character Squinkie, if this one in my hand right now.... were Black Manta?


Why yes. Yes that would be very nice indeed.





I'm so happy!

Thanks,
DCD

Super Friends in Jars

I have a lot of action figures. I mean a lot of action figures. Primarily DC figures, as those are the figures that I've never sold off or traded away. I don't really collect action figures any more. The occasional action figure here and there, but nothing where I would consider it actively collecting. My wife used to be boggled by the character selection. "How many different versions of the same character do you need?"

I've never really explored where the genesis of this sub-passion to my main hobby came from. But it occurred to me as I sat down to write about what I wanted to write about today.

The Super Friends trapped in jars.


When the Super Friends cartoon first started out, it wasn't the polished show that it came to be. In fact the first sixteen episodes are vastly different from what most people remember the show to be. It was a full hour long, much more simplistic, environmentally conscious, absolutely devoid of violence, and totally awesome.





The episode I remember most from the first run is called Gulliver's Gigantic Goof. In that episode, a mad scientist (natch) has devised a shrink ray. He's not evil, oh no. The bad guys were rarely evil in the first season of the show. This dude wanted to solve the worlds hunger problem by shrinking the population. Therefore, there would be more for everyone.





The Super Friends stopped him, but not before being shrunken, trapped in jars, and put on the shelf for display. Also, guest star Green Arrow showed up to help. His only appearance in all 109 episodes.





This particular episode aired in December of 1973. I was four. It was re-run for years before the show was green-lit for new episodes. I believe in my heart that I caught EVERY airing.


Is this where my love of action figures comes from? On some level, do I really just want to stick the Super Friends in jars?

Yes.

Yes I think that's exactly what it is.


Thanks,
DCD