Here and there is the answer.

My love for action figures was born at the same time as my love for comics. My parents are at fault; my earliest memories are of them supplying books, toys, and cartoons featuring DC and Marvel characters. They have been punished enough, though. They had to suffer for years afterwards with my constant (and usually spoiled tearful) cries of demand for the latest and greatest material.

Thanks Mom and Dad. I mean it. I realize I would never have known the wonderful medium that is comicbooks if not for you.

At the comic convention, I decided to pick up a new figure for my collection. This year Palisades put out an exclusive only available at conventions. It is the loveable Super-Grover.

The packaging is excellent. A gorgeous Alex Ross rendition of everyone’s hyper-exasperated Muppet is the cover.

The figure inside is also a work of art. Not only do we get Super-Grover, but he comes with a change of clothes (and head) to turn into his alter ego, and a phone booth to do that in.

But I have a dilemma. It’s a wonderful figure and I SO want to take it out of the box…

What’s that? Gasps from my readers? Calling me mad for taking out a mint figure from its packaging, ruining its value?

I reply “BAH! Who cares!!!”

I don’t collect figures for their value. I collect them as appreciation of characters I love and items of art. They decorate my workspace, serving as conversation starters and little, personal motivators. Besides, toys are meant for playing.

Take a look at my office collection. First, there is my Metal Gear Solid 2 collection. The Solid Snake figure is the best figure by far in this collection (as he should be). He is very articulated, and comes with a nice gear.

Solidus (in the background below) is also decent, and I love his tentacles.

The other figures, while beautifully sculpted, aren’t nearly as poseable.

But I bought them all as each came with a piece of Metal Gear Ray, which I have fully assembled.

However, he doesn’t seem to want to stay together and is constantly falling apart.

I have a stuffed version of the old Intel Guy.

You remember them; they would disco and groove to the … uh … power of Intel in commercials from 5 years back. There is a sweet little story behind how I picked him up.

It was the last day of a convention I was attending in 2000, and all the booths were closing shop. I had seen the toy about, and decided to swing by the Intel booth to score one. I got there and asked one of the booth babes who said they have none left outside except for the “display model” that is part of the booth. Since they were dismantling it, she gave it to me.

Now, as she hands it to me, another guy comes up, and asks if he could have one for his child. The booth babe said sorry, she just gave me the last one. The guy gave an “oh well” and turned to leave … but I stopped him and gave him the last one. He smiled and thanked me, and went on his way. The booth babe told me how sweet I was … then led me to the backroom to give me a special reward Yeah, it was just another figure from their supplies.

Another computer based figure I have is my stuffed Duke.

Duke is the mascot of Java programming language. One of the first demonstrations of the program had the little guy spinning cartwheels. I picked him at the JavaOne conference this year, and I must say he is a great toy; his arms are poseable, and he is very huggable, which is the great stuff toy test.

Almost as huggable is my stuffed Hulk.

You got to love his goofy grin. He was won by my love (with help from our amigo David). Good times.

The only “gothy” thing I have ever owned is my PVC figures of the Endless from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.

The Sandman is still one of the best stories I have ever read, and I highly recommend it.

Planetary is another favorite series of mine, and so I quickly grabbed the three leads when they were released as figures.

Apart from its imaginative ideas, it served as a “gateway” comic to try other genres outside of the super-hero mainstream. As figures, they serve as totems to melding different ideas to make something new.

A delightful series is Art Asylum’s Marvel Minimates. I think they are brilliant. They have a very simple design for all figures and yet each remains true to the character they are based on!

My personal favourites in the collection are the Fantastic Four figures I recently picked up.

In one corner of my desk I have my Ultimates collection.

The Ultimates are a modern, “real-world” update of Marvel’s Avengers. Funny enough, it occurred to me only this weekend as I read Ultimates 2 volume 1 how the key members of the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, the Mighty Thor, et. al.) are alongside the Fantastic Four as my favorite Marvel characters. Everyone else may think that Spider-man and the X-men are cooler, but to me, its all about these icons.

Again, it comes down to what I was exposed to in my youth. My dad was the original video pirate. We had tapes and tapes filled with all sorts of cartoons that he had recorded from the Flying Spaghetti Monster knows where. The 70’s Fantastic Four and the 60’s Marvel Superheroes were there and were repeatedly view. Toss into that a collection of Secret Wars figures, and BINGO one addicted coderonin is born.

Not that you need to have my twisted upbringing to appreciate the Ultimates. The series works because it is so approachable by modern readers, using cinema story devices we are all familiar with. It also speaks about to the world’s concerns (Young Republican would get a kick out of the idea of super-heroes as People of Mass Destruction).

The best figure here is the World War II version of Captain America.

Missing from the shot is his bottom half showing how accurately the sculptors captured Bryan Hitch’s redesign of the character. Second best is also Captain America.

Iron Man is great in the comic book, but as a figure he is oddly proportioned.

The Hulk is massive and the sculpt is perfect, but something is a bit off with the paint job.

Finally, Thor is good, though he is hard to stand up, an arm keeps popping out, and somebody bent his hammer. But I love the collapsed Giant Man base he came with.

Okay, enough Marvel stuff. ‘Cause at heart, I am a DC boy. Grant Morisson’s run on the JLA played a large part in getting me back into comics in the late 90s, working in much the same way like the Ultimates; telling great stories with the iconic characters I loved from my childhood.

At home I got Alex Ross’ Superman and The Flash. But at my work, it’s the Bat-Channel all the Bat-time.

I was left cold by the Hush storyline, but Jim Lee’s depiction of the Batman was dead on. The figure is a perfect match, a great sculpt in a cool pose (though I wish it more articulated).

Likewise, I could not resist the Batman microman. Look at all those accessories.

But I think my coolest displayed item is the Dark Knight Returns set.

The first time I read Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, I was all excited about seeing a comicbook character handled in a “grown up” manner. Hell, even reading it was a “naughty” thing to do, sneaking the trade behind my cousin’s back. Now, I return to it as a wanna-be writer to learn lessons on pacing and composition, characters and plots.

Superman has really cool accessories straight from the comic pages; a green arrow (shot by the Green Arrow … duh) and a crushed Bat-man helmet.

The star of the show is Batman. Strangely, I feel this figure is based more on Frank Millar’s current style then his more classic work in the Dark Knight Returns.

Robin is a really simple figure, but who can say no to the glow-in-the-dark lamppost?

And not pictured is the Joker. A great sculpt but very, very little movement to the figure.

I am still waiting for a definitive Superman figure. Like I said, I have one at home from Alex Ross’ collection. Still, I think something better is around the corner.

One day I would love to design my own action figure line. The urban vinyl movement shows this is possible, and I talked about it with my friends. But, par for me, it was more talk then action.

Anyway, the question remains what to do with my Super-Grover? My original thought was to take the figure out, and clip the Alex Ross cover to frame it. But for some reason, something is stopping me. Any suggestions?