Now this is a story, all about how…. no, no, wait. This isn’t that kind of story. This is the story of a quest for my very favorite X-man. I’ve written about my search for Beast before–even written a poem that describes my desire to be him–but toward the end of my last update on the search, I was feeling pretty bummed about my chances to own the perfect Beast statue.
I first discovered the perfect Beast statue on eBay. “Comiquette Polystone Statue” said the title, which was not the most accurate description (which I learned later). However, the price tag–almost $1800–was more than a little daunting. There is simply no way that I can now or in the foreseeable future justify that much money for a statue, even if it’s a statue of my favorite X-man.
I had basically given up on ever finding the perfect Beast that I could make mine, and I satisfied myself with other Beast items. I found hilarious comic books with poorly written stories, and borderline Beast erotica. I found a Beast action figure at Phoenix Comic Con (which made my WHOLE weekend). My friends even got involved: Andrew found the Beast Funko Pop before I even knew it was a thing and surprised me with it.
PHX Comic Con loot
Then one day it just so happened that I was looking for a much less elusive character, Scarlet Witch (don’t worry, there will be plenty more about my obsession with her in future blog posts), when I got the crazy idea to do yet another quick glance around my favorite web-based auction sites to see if there were any updates on the Beast statue. I figured with a price point like that, the one and only “polystone comiquette” Beast statue I had found was probably going to be on the market for a while, and I could at least drool over the photos.
What was this??? I saw a listing of the same statue for $499.00!! It was 7:00 am and I only knew one person who was awake at that point. I messaged Andrew in all caps. “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS HAPPENING AND HOW CAN I MAKE HIM MINE???111??1?1?1?one,” was the gist of the message. Andrew’s response was the equivalent of, “Doitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoitdoit.” He had just been listening to Pat Loika, the host of the Loikamania Podcast, interviewing Susan Fair from Sideshow Collectibles, whose advice to geeks was (paraphrased), “If you find the perfect statue of your favorite character, don’t hesitate. Buy it immediately, because you could lose it forever.”
I wasn’t sure, though. I sat hunched over my keyboard and pondered. As I thought dark, pecuniary thoughts, my computer dinged. Another message from Andrew, “Did you see that the lister is Comic Kings in Virginia Beach?” WHAT?!?!?! A local comic book store had my precious Beast?? This suddenly provided me with some options. Instead of taking my chances with an internet auction or having to be out a one-time payment of $500.00 for the buy-it-now price (a significant investment for someone who JUST graduated from college and is working a temp job while frantically searching for something more permanent), I could perhaps negotiate some kind of payment plan.
Sure enough, Comic Kings was open, and they had the statue in the store if I wanted to come see it that night. Did I!?!! As soon as work was over, I drove an hour an a half to Virginia Beach and bounced in the front door. “I’m here to see Beast!” I told the guy at the counter, and he went to the back to bring out my prize. Yeah… it was a polystone comiquette statue, all right… a SideShow collectibles 17 inch, magnificent piece. When he came around the corner with the enormous box, my eyes got huge. My palms started sweating, and I knew Beast had to be mine. A brief conversation and some wheeling and dealing and my name was slapped on the box.
One long, arduous week of waiting later, and I was strapping the box into the vehicle for the ride home with shaking hands. I could not believe how fortunate I was. Photos cannot do Beast justice, but he’s still gorgeous.
And I even got the Funko Beast in with his namesake, for scale:
I still cannot believe that I’ve not only found the perfect Beast statue, but that it now graces a shelf in my house! I imagine, however, that I have quite a long time to get used to the knowledge. This won’t stop me from collecting Beast memorabilia, of course. I’m still a huge fan of the character, but I think this feeling of satisfaction is going to last a long, long time.
Therefore I Geek 