New to collecting MU. What to look for.
 

I've been out of collecting for awhile but I got real interested in the MU line and the other related 3.75 figures and I started buying them for my son. So far I have purchased Spiderman, Modern Thor, Iron-man mark IV, Green Hulk, Ghostrider, Captain America, Toxic Blast Venom.

I am going to start going to my local Toys R' US when they open on Fridays. What rare and/or valuable figures should I keep an eye out for?

I wouldn't worry about valuable or rare. I just collect figures I like. But that's just me.

The whole MU line is riddled with running changes to previously released figures (eg: Punisher got released three times with different head sculpts. All of which sucked, btw) as well as some true variants. I'm sure someone will post on here about some sort of checklist detailing everything. I just can't be bothered to keep up with all the changes, hence why I only collect what I like.

Check eBay for high-priced MUs and you'll get an idea of what is in demand and what to look for. Archangels are in demand right now. Jean Greys, Visions, and Bullseyes probably would be great finds too.

well depends on your collecting, if your buying toys because they could be worth something then you could buy any of them really, overtime who knows what will be considered rare, just because they make a million iron man figures, maybe you have 1 moc that everybody opened, but typically variants, run more in price and some figures are always low numbered per case ratio, such as black panther, bullseye, arch angel, havock, etc, even wolverine origins had it's rare ones such as iceman, cyclops, deadpool,havok etc. If you go on websites such as bigbadtoystore.com etc they list out basic pricing and you can kinda go by that same with ebay, the items with most bids usually are more rare, unmasked capt america suit ironman is fetching like $200 online, also the send away figure(s) fetch big $$

Actually, the Unmasked Iron Patriot prices have dropped WAY down from the original BBTS listed price. They are pretty common now.

Well, joining this forum is a great way to go. Like you, I have only recently started collecting figures again (I had a huge collection as a kid). These guys will give some great advice and feedback for sure.
I agree with the comments above regarding rarity and value. If you are concerned with value, keep them MOC/NIB and try to stay away from "popular" characters such as Wolverine, Iron Man, and Spidey. These guys are released and re-released with seemingly every wave. Also, one could make the case that the toy market is unpredictable at best. Not too long ago we were clamoring for Toy Biz's 5" figures, then Legends hit and they were a dime a dozen.
If you want to collect for the sake of your kid having a fun, diverese set of toys. Then open them and stick to what you find at TRU, Wal Mart, Target, etc. and only buy the rarer more expensive items on ebay (Bullseye, Vision, Warpath, Red Skull, Archangel, etc.) if those are the characters you or your kid truly enjoy. I'd also suggest buying a lot (an ebay "lot", not "a lot") of loose figures online and starting there.

Rarity is very subjective like everyone said:

Here is a quick guide to the 3 3/4 Marvel "Universe"

The Actual Marvel Universe Toyline is broken down into a few categories
-Single packed characters
-Comic packs (featuring two figures with comic book)
-Gigantic Battles (12" big figure with a standard companion figure, example would be Goliath and Iron Man)
-Masterworks (19" figures. We only have Galactus out at the moment and Sentinel is due next year)
-Exclusives (Store exclusives, Convention Exclusives etc)

The best check list is here: Marvel Universe (toyline) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here are some miscellaneous facts: MU single card waves OFTEN are released quarterly (dont hold me to that though). Gigantic Battles are usually a Wal-Mart exclusive which has a trend of showing up in the winter. Masterworks are seeming to be released annually.

Now the mindgame comes in when you add in "companion lines" such as Iron Man 2, Spiderman 3 3/4, XMO: Wolverine and a few others.

These lines all feature 3 3/4 Marvel characters that are completely compatiable with the MU line, but gives us collectors another venue in which to get rarer or unusual characters

Iron Man 2 (toy line) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (toyline) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spider-Man (2010 toy line) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


If you knew all of this stuff already, I apologize. Hopefully you find this helpful. If I were you, I'd keep an eye out on some of the more exclusive stuff like Masterworks, Gigantic Battles and the Store exclusives. They are only available for a short period of time, and they in most instances feature a character that may not be duplicated any time soon.

Happy Hunting! If you have any questions feel free to PM me

I would suggest picking the characters you like first and filling in your collection from there. The Secret Wars packs that are still out in stores have some of the more "fan favorite" characters (Klaw, Dr. Doom, Hawkeye, Wasp, Ultron,and the Wrecking Crew) and aren't likely to be recycled in later releases like the single pack figures.

If I were going to suggest rare figures, the ToysRus three pack with Firestar has been running a little expensive, and Jean Grey is the only non-variant figure in the entire line that I haven't seen at retail. A few Wal-Marts might still have the Gigantic Battles on clearance, but they've been getting rarer. X-Men Origins Wolverine are still on clearance a few places, villains are getting more articulation as the Spider-Man line progresses, and Iron Man 2 has some non-Iron Mans that are worth picking up, but you have to hunt through piles of movie armor figures for them.

Jean Grey and Warpath I would say are probably 2 of the harder to find I have only seen them once one of each and was glad I picked them up. Pretty much all the other figures I have seen multiple times.

Thanks everyone for great feedback. It's rare to find a pleasant forum anymore. I will keep an eye out for all the figures mentioned above. I agree with Drew and Pud about buying what you like then going from there. I figured if I'm going to be out there buying I may as well know what I'm looking at. I wanted to get my boy the major Marvel players before branching out. From there my old collectors habits start kicking in and I think about buying doubles but I'll just let the lil dude play with them.

Pud: I have noticed some of the unmasked head sculpts leave something to be desired, Hulk and Thor inspecific.

Tarquinius: Thanks for the links they managed to eat a bunch of my time.The companion lines do throw a kink into things. I bought the Iron Man Mark IV from the Iron Man line because I liked the head sculpt much better than th MU version. I think I'll buy Wolverine from Origins if I can find his yellow costume. I bought a black spidey from the Spiderman line but wish I'd have waited to get one with better articulation.

Drew: I found the TRU firestar/iceman/spidey three pack on clearance but I passed choosing to spend my money on figures he would enjoy. I think it was $12 or so.

I dunno if you are an online buyer, but check out HTS.com in their marvel section

Marvel - Great Toys & Games At HasbroToyShop.com

They still have a lot of XMO Wolfie stuff as well as some earlier MU single cards AND Iron Man 2 AND Spiderman stuff....

Welcome to the Toyark, statusfoe!

I would suggest staying away from the current Spider-Man line, as the articulation is about the same on all of the figures (far less than MU, IM2 or XMOW).

We also maintain an MU checklist here (and try to keep the variants straight):

Marvel Universe Checklist

Actually you'll probaly want to look at some of the villains in that Spiderman line especially Rhino and Carnage whos supposed to be coming out soon

^ Well, except for those. Though I still would prefer to see those characters in MU instead.

The Spiderman line sucks! They look good and all but with shit articulation. And note that when I say they look good I really only mean some of them. Carnage, Venom, Scarlet Spider and a few of the Spidys. The rest look like ass! Ass I say! I've not bought a single one. It sucks because like I said some of them look really cool. Just no possibility. And homy don't play that!!!

I would look at both the IM2 (Iron Man 2) and MU (Marvel Universe) lines. Both lines are great and offer some truly awesome Marvel figures. I would cross reference both these lines with one-another just to see who makes what and in what style. This way if you're not into spending all your money you can save by not buying one Iron Man only to find another one you would have preferred.

welcome to the Ark!

Agreed i haven't even given any of the rest of that line a second look absolutley terrible, the sooner they rerelease a proper DoC Ock the better