My personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.  Only 500 made! Would love to see what others think!  

Quote from: Terry1 on August 12, 2019, 03:38:27 AMMy personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.

Or as I like to call him, "SCARY Jughead". This early prototype version of Juggie was definitely in need of some serious tweaking before he could become a beloved character. As a kid, if you saw this guy walking down the sidewalk towards you, you'd cross the street or turn the corner hoping to avoid losing your lunch money. Pretty shady-looking.

Quote from: archiecomicscollector on August 14, 2019, 09:04:10 PMI love it all (and I have a lot)! 

But I'd have to pick Archie's Car Featuring Archie, Veronica and Hot Dog by Aurora Models c. 1969 - 1971. It was my holy grail for a long time, and, I'm happy to report, I added it to my collection last year.

A more sentimental favorite though is The Archie Doll c. 1973, as it was my first Archie collectible, and a Christmas gift from my parents.

OMG.  I just spent an hour looking at your IG.  AMAZING.  You probably have the best Archie collection in the world.  I saw an exhibit Nancy Silberkleit was showing and she had less stuff than you.  

I love that the car still has the instructions.  So vintage!  And that doll, how have I never seen that before.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on August 15, 2019, 04:07:36 AM

Quote from: Terry1 on August 12, 2019, 03:38:27 AMMy personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.

Or as I like to call him, "SCARY Jughead". This early prototype version of Juggie was definitely in need of some serious tweaking before he could become a beloved character. As a kid, if you saw this guy walking down the sidewalk towards you, you'd cross the street or turn the corner hoping to avoid losing your lunch money. Pretty shady-looking.

See, what I love about this is that it's old, original, Bob Montana Jughead!  Unapologetically ugly.  I think the same toy designers kind of chickened out when they did Archie: the box design is OG Bob Montana Archie, but the actual figure is closer to the contemporary Archie.  I feel like this was a blunder on their part:  it was supposed to be CLASSIC Archie, and to me, that means Bob Montana.

Quote from: Terry1 on August 15, 2019, 08:57:53 AM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on August 15, 2019, 04:07:36 AM

Quote from: Terry1 on August 12, 2019, 03:38:27 AMMy personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.

Or as I like to call him, "SCARY Jughead". This early prototype version of Juggie was definitely in need of some serious tweaking before he could become a beloved character. As a kid, if you saw this guy walking down the sidewalk towards you, you'd cross the street or turn the corner hoping to avoid losing your lunch money. Pretty shady-looking.

See, what I love about this is that it's old, original, Bob Montana Jughead!  Unapologetically ugly.  I think the same toy designers kind of chickened out when they did Archie: the box design is OG Bob Montana Archie, but the actual figure is closer to the contemporary Archie.  I feel like this was a blunder on their part:  it was supposed to be CLASSIC Archie, and to me, that means Bob Montana.

The original Jughead design definitely reflects that "Dead End Kid from the wrong side of the tracks" influence. I think the initial idea there was to make him quirky or have 'strange talents' as a counterpoint to that street urchin, lower-class look, and initially he's not too bright. Kind of a Popeye approach. When you think about it, Popeye pretty much broke every rule there was for a series protagonist. An older not-at-all-handsome guy with a huge jaw and tattoos, missing an eye, and smoking (something in) a corncob pipe. Eventually things went in kind of a totally different direction for Jughead's character, though they certainly kept the quirky/strange talents part.

Those pinback buttons are miles apart from the tin box art, too.

I don't have much to speak of for Archie merch, just a couple of recent things, because I sort of got a late start on Archie Comics (basically fleeing from Marvel and DC in the past 5-6 years). It certainly seems like the prime period to focus on is the decade from 1968-1978, when there was a much greater variety of Archie collectibles to choose from. My personal favorites are the (again, pretty recent) Mattel Betty and Veronica dolls. Light years better than the Marx or Praying Mantis versions of B&V. BUT it has to be admitted that a big percentage of Archie licensed merch is pretty crappy. They just took the money, and didn't care if the licensee was putting out a quality product. Ever see those ugly-as-sin Remco action figures of the Mighty Crusaders from the 1980s? This was shortly after the time Kenner was putting out the DC Super Powers figures, and Mattel was putting out the Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars figures. Still crude by comparison to today's action figures, but at the time, those were top quality. But those Remco Crusaders figures... ugh!

QuoteBUT it has to be admitted that a big percentage of Archie licensed merch is pretty crappy. They just took the money, and didn't care if the licensee was putting out a quality product. Ever see those ugly-as-sin Remco action figures of the Mighty Crusaders from the 1980s? 

It's true.  They're a smaller company.  They don't have the clout or the long term judgment to demand quality licensees.  That's part of why I love them.  They're the runt of the comics industry.  And occasionally some great stuff came out, like those tin figures, or the Dark Horse archives, which are beautifully done.

I googled those Mighty Crusader figures.  Yikes.

Quote from: archiecomicscollector on August 15, 2019, 07:18:30 PMI do love The Archies by Marx Toys, c. 1975 though. I have a complete set - carrying case, dolls, jalopy and outfits. I wish they would have made additional characters, especially Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina.

Having a line of toy figures that represents a fairly broad cross-section of the classic Archie Comics characters is the unattainable dream (so it would seem, at least for now). Up to this point, it seems like the most you can hope for is 4 or 5 figures. As of now, you could go with the Dark Horse 'sirocco' statuettes, or the JM Croce/BendEm bendy figures. I'm hoping they add some additional characters to the bendy line-up.

Even with all the action figure lines (both mainstream and toy-collector focused) today, we're more likely to see an extended line of RIVERDALE figures (if someone hasn't already done one) than anything from classic Archie. I don't even count the Funko Pop stuff, because it's... "non-representational" I guess is the best word. Or maybe "interpretive", in the design-y sense. I feel like the "designer vinyl" type figures are okay as a way of extending the range of collectibles available to fans of characters from Marvel, DC, and the many movie/TV franchises whose iconic characters have already been done to death many times over as "standard-type" action figures, but I want figures that are representational, source-accurate, and look as much like the characters on the comic page translated into 3 dimensions as possible, so making Pop vinyl figures of those characters when there still has never been a toy line with a decent range of Archie Comics characters seems almost criminal. Articulation or poseability isn't even a main concern, since Archie characters aren't "action heroes" -- a line of faithfully-sculpted PVC figurines would do just fine.

Hey, here's a decent-looking line of busts (though still not as faithful as I'd like them to be) that I stumbled across on an image search. Produced in 2006-2007 by Diamond Select LLC, these were limited to 1,000 pieces and originally retailed for $45. Anybody got any of these?

Quote from: Terry1 on August 15, 2019, 02:43:42 PMIt's true.  They're a smaller company.  They don't have the clout or the long term judgment to demand quality licensees.  That's part of why I love them.  They're the runt of the comics industry.  And occasionally some great stuff came out, like those tin figures, or the Dark Horse archives, which are beautifully done.

I googled those Mighty Crusader figures.  Yikes.

I'm kind of bummed out about the Dark Horse Archives series because they only reprinted the public domain stuff (I would be interested in knowing the exact story behind what went on there between DH and ACP), which is also available for free on various websites as digital scans. TBH, I'm not really much of a fan of the 1940s Archie comic book stories. I kind of got a little excited when they started doing the Jughead Archives, but they only did 2 volumes (again, just what was in public domain) and then quit.

Bob Montana's newspaper strip from 1946 (published in hardcover by IDW/Library of American Comics) is a whole different story... why oh why didn't they continue on from the first volume instead of skipping to the so-called Swingin' 1960s (by which time it was no longer a continuity strip, just a gag-a-day strip)? There's absolutely nothing Swingin' about those early sixties strips, either (unlike the comic books of the time, and later), so doubly disappointing, except from the historical perspective (Montana's art is still good, though). SO frustrating.

Quote from: archiecomicscollector on August 25, 2019, 09:04:33 PMI hope to ... find a solution to display my 2000+ comics.

You should subdivide your collection by format (digests, trade paperbacks, hardcovers, regular periodical comics) to get some idea of the current total volume those will take up. If the estimate of 2000 individual comics (regardless of format) is pretty accurate, that's not that excessive so you'll have more options for creating a nice looking display. You'll need bookshelves whose minimum dimensions are at least as large as the biggest format, but for the digests, since those are so much smaller, you may want a dedicated bookshelf just for those, so you don't waste too much shelf space. Fortunately, those are easy -- they make all kinds of prefabricated storage units for DVDs, which coincidentally fit Archie digest comics just as well, presuming you have a lot of them. You can even get one of those nice rotating tower units that will spin and has storage shelves on all 4 sides.

If you want to use comic collector's storage boxes (the short ones hold something like 300 periodical comics, but it would vary depending on whether they're all bagged and boarded), then buy at least one of those first, measure the dimensions of the box, and base the size of the shelves on the dimensions of the box. They also make digest-sized, magazine-sized, and graded & slabbed (CGC'ed) comic-sized boxes. Measure the the box lid from front to back, and you'll know how deep the shelves need to be. If you want to go the cheaper route (but not as nice looking), metal (or wire rack) shelving works well to hold comic storage boxes. Measure the width of the front lip of the storage box cover, and multiply by some number (4, 5 or 6, depending on how big a bookshelf or metal shelf unit the room will accommodate in the space available).

If you can give up an entire wall to storage, you can get shelving custom-built by a carpenter -- or do it yourself if you or someone you know is handy with carpentry tools. Pretty much anything you'd need would be available at a Home Depot or somewhere like that. That solution has the advantage of not wasting ANY of your available space. Sometimes baseboards, ventilation/heating ducts, or electrical outlets make using a whole wall for storage a bit problem, though. If you want something a little different, you can actually buy one of those retro-style comic book spinner racks. They're a little pricey at $350 a pop, though. If that sounds like an interesting idea to you, then check out this site: https://spinnerrack.com/

In any case, make sure you think ahead to accommodate for room for your comic collection to grow.

QuoteDo you you have a comic or toy room?

 [...] My whole house? I'm pretty sure this is that thing that people refer to as "hoarding".

As far as inserting images in your posts, I don't know how you're posting your comments, but if it's on a PC (or Mac) then when you get into the reply box, look to the right of the text formatting icons (above the emoticons), and you'll see icons for inserting YouTube video, images, URL links, and email directly to the right of the formatting tool icons.

Quote from: Terry1 on August 12, 2019, 03:38:27 AMMy personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.  Only 500 made! Would love to see what others think! 

Very nice.
Good facial expression on Juggy, & all colors very sharp & correct.