I have been accused of (and probably am) a McFarlane Toys, Sideshow, NECA, and Mezco fanboy. No doubt a glance at my coverage over the years at Collider proves a willingness and respect for the choices these companies make in the toy industry; their sculpting and overall presentation have always been something of a peerless race to me.

But every once in a while, and I think I've qualified the rarity of my critiques with their products, I'm struck with a problem. This one glared at me and I'm sharing it with you. And hopefully the industry as a whole, especially on the eve of Comic Con, that great congregation of the pop culture and action figure faithful.

Whist in the process of opening up and preparing my review of the second series of 'an anticipated line of action figures' (a stunning set to be sure) I CAREFULLY

removed the figure from his package and CAREFULLY started to re-position a small articulation point when it simply, effortlessly, came right off at the stem.

'Oh well, thinks me, things like this happen with plastic figures from time to time. I'll just glue that point in place and note I CANNOT ever move that part of the figure again. EVER.'

Then I decided to place the figure on the REQUIRED display base, as the figure simply cannot, will not, stand with out said base.

After placing the figures two feet in the two posts, I set it on my desk, preparing to glue the aforementioned broken piece in place. And the figure tipped over, snapping off the left post of the base and taking the post with the figure (now imbedded in the foot of the figure).

This presented me with two problems: one, I can no longer use the base as it's render useless with only one post, and I cannot have the figure standing; he CANNOT stand without his base. Did I mention that?

And why did the figure fall over? A "rag-doll" loose left knee joint. In other words, both the ABS and PVC plastics failed with nearly zero stress put to them.

This is one too many screw-ups for one figure. And guess where this figure goes next, kids? That's right, the circular display base, the trash can. My action figure, in the space of less than 5 minutes, is useless now. A wasted 12 bucks. An insult. I'm sure we can all relate, yes?

Dear toy industry, I understand a film or comic book license is expensive. I know the tooling on figures is expensive. Oil prices are insane and will only get worse. And I know those costs get passed along to us, the consumer. But the QC on a figure is an unspoken contract between you and us. WE should assume you know what kind of quality you're placing with the price point and appearance of quality dangling from a store peg.

Fix this problem. It's getting worse.

The inflexible truth is, shoddy production values and weak consumer dollars add a chaos effect to the collector's market. Those who might have once jumped at anything related to their favorite comic or movie in the form of a plastic figure will think longer and harder before letting that once initial impulse drive them to spend money on what looks, initially, like the Holy Grail, but is in fact, a cheap plastic trinket dolled up for the waste bin.

I have always and will always champion this hobby. I know there is real artistry in the toy industry. But I will also insist what I spend my money on is worth it in the final analysis.

I hope we can all agree the industry is worth it.