Category: Collectibles

Destiny 2: Year of Prophecy Collector’s Edition, A Statue That Finally Justified the Price

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased May 6, 2025 · $434.16 CAD ($315.00 USD) via Bungie.net

The Destiny 2: Year of Prophecy Collector's Edition contents, including the Guardian classes statue
The Year of Prophecy Collector’s Edition contents. Photo: Vice

The Background

After last year’s Final Shape Collector’s Edition left me with mixed feelings about Bungie’s physical tiers, I pre-ordered the Year of Prophecy Collector’s Edition anyway, tied to the launch of The Edge of Fate and the start of a new saga for the game. This one includes a 1/8th scale resin and PVC statue of the three Guardian classes in their classic super poses on a weighted, logo-etched base, a “classified documents” folder of in-universe letters and diary entries building out the expansion’s backstory, and a metal badge styled like something out of a secret government operative’s collection.

At $315 USD before conversion, this sits close to last year’s Final Shape edition in price, which made it a useful direct comparison point for whether Bungie’s collector’s editions are trending up or down in quality.

Living With It

The statue is the clear centrepiece, and it earns that role. All three Guardian classes rendered together in their classic super poses gives it a sense of scale and occasion that a single-figure statue wouldn’t have managed, and the paint work holds up well under close inspection, with battle wear and armor detailing that reads as deliberate rather than sloppy. The weighted base, etched with Guardian phrases and logos, gives the whole piece the kind of finished, gallery-shelf presentation that last year’s Final Shape statue mostly delivered too, but this one felt like a genuine step up in sculpt quality.

The classified documents folder is a nice bit of world-building for anyone invested in the Edge of Fate storyline, letters and diary entries that reward reading rather than just being packaging filler, and the metal badge is a small but well-made touch that fits the espionage angle of this year’s narrative. Taken together, this is a collector’s edition that feels like it was actually designed as a themed set rather than three unrelated bonus items bundled under one price tag.

The same caveat from last year’s review still applies in full: none of this means anything without existing investment in Destiny’s world and characters. The documents only land if you care about the lore they’re building, and the statue only justifies its price if seeing your classes rendered this way actually matters to you.

What I Liked

  • The three-class statue is a genuine step up in sculpt and paint quality over last year’s edition
  • Classified documents folder is well-written world-building, not just filler
  • Cohesive theming across all three physical items rather than a grab-bag of extras
  • A noticeably stronger collector’s edition than the one I reviewed last year

What I Didn’t

  • Still entirely dependent on prior investment in the franchise to justify the price
  • Pre-ordering physical collector’s editions remains a leap of faith on final quality
  • At $315 USD, this is a serious purchase even for a longtime player

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

This is the collector’s edition I wanted last year’s Final Shape tier to be: a cohesive, well-sculpted, genuinely display-worthy set rather than a handful of loosely related extras. Still strictly for existing Guardians, but for that audience, it delivers.

Where to Buy

The LMTD Ace of Spades Blaster: When a Video Game Weapon Becomes a Real Object

Toys & Collectibles Review · Purchased September 29, 2024 · $92.03 CAD ($67.77 USD) via Bungie.net

The Bungie LMTD Nerf-style Ace of Spades blaster, styled after the Destiny hand cannon
The Bungie LMTD Ace of Spades blaster. Photo: Bleeding Cool

There is a specific kind of joy in holding a physical version of something that has only ever existed as pixels and a satisfying reload animation.

The Background

The Ace of Spades is arguably Destiny’s most iconic weapon, a hand cannon with over a decade of lore, community attachment, and in-game history behind it. Bungie’s LMTD collectibles line, produced in partnership with Nerf-style blaster manufacturing, turned that weapon into a real, licensed foam dart blaster, sold directly through Bungie’s own store rather than through general retail channels. I ordered mine in late September, paying $67.77 USD, which converted to $92.03 CAD on my card.

This is squarely a fan merchandise purchase rather than a general toy purchase, and Bungie’s own marketing around the LMTD line has always leaned into that: these are built for people who already care about the in-game weapon’s design and lore, not positioned as a generic blaster that happens to have game branding slapped on it.

Living With It

Build quality here exceeded my expectations for a licensed collectible in this category. The blaster uses real spring-action firing rather than a cheap, flimsy mechanism, the deco work faithfully translates the in-game weapon’s distinctive rose gold and black colour scheme and engraved detailing, and the packaging itself was clearly designed with display and unboxing in mind, the kind of presentation that makes a purchase like this feel like a genuine collectible rather than a toy aisle impulse buy.

As an actual foam blaster, it performs the way a decent mid-tier Nerf product should: solid range and consistent firing for casual use, nothing revolutionary, and that is exactly as it should be, since firing performance was never really the point of this purchase.

Where this lives or dies, entirely, is prior attachment to the source material. Someone with zero context for Destiny would be looking at a somewhat expensive foam blaster with unusual styling and no real way to appreciate why the colour scheme or engravings matter. For a longtime player, it is a genuinely well-executed piece of fandom merchandise.

What I Liked

  • Build quality and deco work exceeded expectations for a licensed collectible blaster
  • Faithful translation of the in-game weapon’s distinctive design and colour scheme
  • Real spring-action firing mechanism, not a cheap or flimsy toy build
  • Packaging and presentation clearly designed with collectors in mind

What I Didn’t

  • Entirely dependent on prior attachment to Destiny to justify the price
  • Firing performance is solid but unremarkable compared to dedicated Nerf products at a similar price
  • A niche purchase that will mean nothing to anyone outside the game’s community

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For Destiny fans, this is a well-made piece of fan merchandise for a genuinely franchise-defining weapon, and it delivered above my expectations for build quality. If you have no attachment to the game, this price will look steep for what is, at its core, a foam dart blaster, and that reaction would be entirely fair.

Where to Buy

Destiny: The Final Shape Collector’s Edition, A Year-Long Wait For a Shelf Piece

Collectibles Review · Pre-ordered 2023, charged 2024 · $274.41 CAD ($202.39 USD) via Bungie.net

Destiny 2: The Final Shape Collector's Edition
Destiny 2: The Final Shape Collector’s Edition. Photo via Noble Knight Games.

Pre-ordering a collector’s edition means making a bet almost a year before you know if it paid off. This is how mine landed.

The Background

I put money down on The Final Shape Collector’s Edition back in 2023, well before the game’s story content, release timeline, or even final box contents were fully locked in. That is simply how Destiny 2 collector’s editions work: Bungie announces the tiers, you pick a lane based on trust in the studio and love for the franchise, and then you wait. The charge did not actually hit until 2024, closer to launch, which is why this shows up in my 2024 spreadsheet despite the pre-order going back a year earlier.

The Final Shape mattered more than a typical expansion because it was billed, correctly as it turned out, as the closing chapter of the entire Light and Darkness saga that has run through Destiny since the very first game. For someone who has put real hours into this universe, that context is the whole reason a collector’s edition made sense at all.

Living With It

Collector’s editions live or die on physical execution, and Bungie’s track record here has genuinely been inconsistent across past expansions, some tiers landing beautifully, others feeling thin for the price. This one landed on the better side of that history for me: the included statue and art book both felt like genuine collector-grade items rather than an afterthought bundled onto a digital purchase, and the packaging itself was clearly designed with display in mind rather than just shipping efficiency.

The digital side (season content, exclusive cosmetics, and the expansion’s exotic weapons and armor) delivered exactly what was promised at launch, and playing through The Final Shape’s campaign with the knowledge that this was the actual conclusion to a decade of storytelling gave the whole experience a weight that a standard edition purchase would not have carried in quite the same way.

The honest caveat, and the reason I cannot universally recommend this to anyone reading who is not already a Destiny player: none of this makes sense outside the context of years of investment in the game’s lore.

What I Liked

  • Physical items felt like genuine collector-grade quality, not an afterthought
  • Meaningful send-off for a decade-long storyline, which added real emotional weight
  • Digital content and exotics delivered exactly as promised at launch
  • A noticeably stronger collector’s edition than some of Bungie’s past efforts

What I Didn’t

  • Pre-ordering a year out is a genuine leap of faith with no guarantee on final quality
  • Entirely dependent on prior investment in the franchise to justify the price
  • Bungie’s collector’s edition track record has been inconsistent enough that trust, not certainty, is what you are buying on

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For a general audience, this is an easy pass, it simply does not translate outside the context of the game. As a longtime Guardian who wanted a real physical marker for the end of the saga, I got exactly what I hoped for: a well-made shelf piece and a proper closing chapter, at a price that only makes sense to people already this deep in.

Where to Buy

The Barbie Movie Collectible Ken Doll, Buying Into the Barbenheimer Hype

Collectibles · Purchased July 25, 2023 · $141.43 via Amazon

Barbie The Movie Collectible Ken Doll
Photo: Mattel

The Setup

I will freely admit this one isn’t gaming-related, but I was fully swept up in Barbenheimer season and couldn’t resist. This is a 12" fashion-doll collectible from Mattel recreating a Ken look from the 2023 live-action Barbie movie, with a screen-accurate outfit and photography-inspired packaging.

The Review

The costume detail is genuinely impressive for a movie tie-in doll, and the nostalgia/pop-culture appeal was exactly what I was after coming out of the theater. It’s clearly built for display rather than play — standard mass-market fashion-doll build quality, not a premium collectible finish — and some variants were scalped hard at the height of the hype, which is basically what happened to my wallet here.

What I Liked

  • High level of costume/detail accuracy to the film
  • Strong nostalgia/pop-culture appeal
  • Well-articulated body for display posing

What I Didn’t

  • Display piece, not a durable play toy
  • Standard mass-market build quality for the price
  • Got caught in the height-of-hype price gouging

The Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Where to Buy

Hot Wheels Mario Kart Rainbow Road: Closing Out the Year With a Genuinely Fun Track Set

Toy Review · Purchased December 29, 2022 · $150.00 CAD via Amazon.ca

Hot Wheels Mario Kart Rainbow Road Raceway
Hot Wheels Mario Kart Rainbow Road Raceway. Photo: Mattel

The Setup

An 8-foot translucent Hot Wheels track set styled after Mario Kart’s famous Rainbow Road, with electronic light-and-sound start/finish gates, a spinning “Item Box” randomizer, and two exclusive 1:64 die-cast racers, Mario and King Boo.

The Review

The last purchase of the year closed things out on a genuinely fun note. Assembly took about the promised 15 minutes, and the translucent track pieces with the light-and-sound gates capture the Rainbow Road aesthetic surprisingly well for a physical toy set. Racing up to five cars at once with the spinning Item Box randomizer adds a real element of chaos that makes repeated races stay entertaining rather than becoming predictable.

Individual races are over fast — there’s nothing on the track to slow cars down, so a race is more of a quick burst than a sustained competition — and at $120-140 depending on where you find it, this isn’t a cheap track set, especially once you factor in that extra racer cars are sold separately. It also needs a genuinely large amount of floor or shelf space to set up fully. None of that stopped it from being a great, high-energy way to close out the year’s purchases.

What I Liked

  • Over 8 feet of track with light-and-sound effects that capture the Rainbow Road look
  • Comes with two exclusive die-cast racers not sold separately
  • Spinning Item Box randomizer keeps repeated races entertaining
  • Quick, roughly 15-minute assembly

What I Didn’t

  • Pricey for a track set, especially with extra cars sold separately
  • Individual races finish very quickly with nothing to slow racers down
  • Needs a lot of floor or shelf space to use fully assembled

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A genuinely fun, high-energy way to close out the year’s purchases — pricey, but it delivers on the Rainbow Road fantasy.

Where to Buy

Funko’s Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Pop: A Nice Tie-In to a Genuinely Fun Special

Collectible Review · Purchased December 17, 2022 · $85.00 CAD via Amazon.co.uk

The Setup

Part of Funko’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday” line, tying into Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special on Disney+, with each character reimagined in festive attire and sold both individually and as a 5-pack.

The Review

Buying an individual figure rather than the full 5-pack was the right call for a specific favorite character, and it’s a nice, low-commitment way to tie into a special that was genuinely one of the more charming pieces of Marvel content to come out this year. The holiday-costume sculpt is distinct enough from the standard GotG Pops to feel like a real addition to the shelf rather than a redundant duplicate.

The usual Funko caveats apply here too — paint consistency is always a bit of a gamble across the line, and the box arrived with some light shelf wear from shipping internationally. As a specific, affordable way to commemorate a fun holiday special, though, it’s an easy small purchase to feel good about.

What I Liked

  • Ties into a genuinely charming, well-received Disney+ special
  • Distinct holiday-costume sculpt feels like a real addition to the shelf
  • Available individually rather than requiring the full 5-pack

What I Didn’t

  • Usual Funko paint-consistency lottery
  • Some shelf wear from international shipping

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A small, affordable, genuinely charming tie-in to one of the more fun pieces of Marvel content this year.

Where to Buy

The Shell Walker: Rounding Out My Unofficial Horizon Collection

Toy Review · Purchased November 11, 2022 · $100.00 CAD via Jooooooy.com

Horizon Shell Walker brick build
Horizon Zero Dawn Shell Walker MOC. Photo: reseller listing

The Setup

Roughly 1,700 pieces recreating the Shell-Walker, a turtle-like combat machine from the Horizon Zero Dawn games. Like the plus-size Tallneck from Vonado earlier this year, this is an unofficial fan MOC — LEGO’s own real Horizon license didn’t cover a Shell-Walker toy for years after this, so this is the only way to get one at any real scale, purchased through Jooooooy rather than Vonado this time.

The Review

This rounds out a small but genuinely fun unofficial Horizon collection alongside the giant Tallneck, and the Shell-Walker’s boxier, more armored silhouette translates into brick form more cleanly than the Tallneck’s long, thin neck did — fewer awkward angles to fake with clone bricks. At this scale it’s a satisfying, absorbing build without tipping into the multi-evening commitment the Tallneck demanded.

The usual bootleg trade-offs apply — PDF instructions, clone bricks, and the color/clutch inconsistencies that come with this whole product category — but this one felt like a slightly cleaner build experience than either the Vonado Tallneck or the Jooooooy Han Solo slab, landing somewhere comfortably in the middle for quality control this year.

What I Liked

  • Boxier, armored design translates into brick form more cleanly than the Tallneck did
  • Satisfying build without demanding a multi-evening commitment
  • Fills a genuine gap since LEGO’s own official Horizon license hadn’t covered this machine yet

What I Didn’t

  • Same PDF-only instructions and clone-brick compromises as the rest of this category
  • No official licensing or affiliation with Horizon or LEGO

The Verdict

Rating: 3.5/5

A satisfying build that fills a real gap in official Horizon merchandise, with a cleaner build experience than some of this year’s other bootleg purchases.

Where to Buy

  • Discontinued/varies by reseller — search “MOC Horizon Shell Walker”

Han Solo in Carbonite: A Wall Slab With a Quality-Control Problem

Toy Review · Purchased November 11, 2022 · $150.00 CAD via Jooooooy.com

Han Solo in Carbonite mega figure wall slab
Han Solo in Carbonite Mega Figure, MOC-94303. Photo: Jooooooy

The Setup

My first purchase from Jooooooy rather than Lightake, but the same general product category — MOC-94303 is a 1,717-piece, wall-mountable brick recreation of Han Solo frozen in carbonite from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, in the same “mega figure” bootleg family as the earlier Star Wars busts.

The Review

Design-wise, this is a genuinely good idea — the flat carbonite slab format lends itself naturally to a brick build in a way that a rounded helmet bust doesn’t, and the finished piece reads unmistakably as the scene the moment you see it. Han’s frozen expression and posture come through clearly at this scale, and it mounts to a wall just as easily as the trash compactor diorama earlier in the year.

Unfortunately, this is the one purchase in the bootleg-bust line where quality control actually became a real problem rather than a minor cosmetic quibble — my kit arrived missing several dozen pieces, which meant a frustrating stretch of comparing the manual against what actually showed up before I could even start building properly. It got there in the end, and the finished piece looks good, but it’s a genuine mark against Jooooooy specifically compared to the cleaner experience I’d had with Lightake’s busts earlier in the year.

What I Liked

  • Flat carbonite slab format is a natural fit for a brick build
  • Unmistakably reads as the scene at a glance
  • Wall-mountable, same as the official Death Star Trash Compactor diorama

What I Didn’t

  • Arrived with dozens of pieces missing from the kit
  • PDF-only instructions, no printed manual
  • Noticeably worse quality control than Lightake’s busts earlier this year

The Verdict

Rating: 2.5/5

A genuinely clever design let down by a real quality-control miss — the finished piece looks great, but getting there was more frustrating than it should have been.

Where to Buy

Funko’s Star Wars Holiday Snowman 5-Pack: A Genuinely Fun Seasonal Gimmick

Collectible Review · Purchased October 16, 2022 · $92.31 CAD via Amazon.ca

Funko Pop Star Wars Holiday Snowman 5 pack
Star Wars Holiday: Snowman 5-Pack. Photo: Funko

The Setup

An Amazon-exclusive Funko Pop bundle reimagining five Star Wars characters — Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, C-3PO, and R2-D2 — as snowmen, complete with snowflake detailing and carrot/twig facial accents, each individually boxed within the set.

The Review

This is exactly the kind of silly, seasonal gimmick that Funko does well — five instantly recognizable characters reimagined just enough to feel novel without losing what makes them recognizable in the first place. Getting five figures individually boxed within one set is a genuinely nice touch too, since it means any of them can be pulled out and displayed or gifted on their own without breaking up a single combined package.

The usual Funko quality-control caveats apply — paint application on mass-produced Pops is always a bit of a lottery, and outer box corners took some minor shelf wear even before I opened them. As an Amazon exclusive, it’s also the kind of thing that will probably command inflated secondary-market prices once it sells out for the season. None of that outweighs how much fun it is as a one-off holiday display piece.

What I Liked

  • Fun, novel holiday reimagining of five instantly recognizable characters
  • Individually boxed figures within the set make gifting or separating them easy
  • Good per-figure value compared to buying five singles

What I Didn’t

  • Usual Funko paint-consistency lottery applies
  • Some minor box wear straight out of shipping
  • Amazon-exclusive status means secondary-market prices will likely climb once sold out

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A genuinely charming seasonal gimmick that nails the balance between novelty and recognizability.

Where to Buy

The Mega Sized Boba Fett Bust: Round Two of the Same Good Idea

Toy Review · Purchased March 4, 2022 · $150.00 CAD via Lightake.com

Mega Sized Boba Fett bust brick build
Boba Fett Mega Figure body, MOC-85873. Photo: LesDIY

The Setup

Bought on the exact same day as the Darth Vader and Stormtrooper busts, this is MOC-85873 — a 1,611-piece oversized body designed to hold the official LEGO Boba Fett Helmet (75277) on top, from the same designer and product family as the other two.

The Review

Having now built all three of these back to back, the pattern is clear and it’s a good one: the body designs are simple enough to assemble in an evening but chunky enough to look substantial once the genuine LEGO helmet is seated on top. Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armor plating translates well into the blockier proportions of a mega-figure build, arguably better than Vader’s smoother armor does, since the segmented plates hide the clone-brick seams more naturally.

It’s the same trade-off as the rest of this product line — PDF instructions, no printed manual, and clone bricks instead of genuine LEGO parts for the body — but the actual assembly experience was smoother this time, likely just from having done two of these already. As a set of three lined up on a shelf, they’re a genuinely striking little display.

What I Liked

  • Segmented Mandalorian armor plating hides clone-brick seams better than smoother designs
  • Straightforward, evening-length build
  • Looks great displayed alongside the matching Vader and Stormtrooper busts

What I Didn’t

  • Same PDF-only instructions and clone-brick compromises as the rest of this line
  • Requires the separate official LEGO helmet purchase to look right

The Verdict

Rating: 3.5/5

Consistent with its siblings — a smart budget way to turn an official helmet into a full display bust, and the best-looking of the three armor designs so far.

Where to Buy

  • Discontinued/varies by reseller — search “MOC-85873 Boba Fett Mega Figure”