RED SKULL
SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)
“The Red Skull, a notorious American enemy during World War II, continues in his quest toward world domination. And being the military and political genius that he is, the world better beware! Traditionally an enemy of Captain America, this evil villain has recently turned his attentions towards the amazing Spider-Man and his heroic exploits. And not that weapons-master Red Skull has employed his special “Giant Skull Catcher” device, this villain of all villains makes any rival easy prey!”
Nazis. I hate these guys.
So, remember when one of Captain America’s most prominent Toy Biz era releases was inexplicably in their Spider-Man line? And that was kind of weird? I mean, I guess there was a whole arc with Cap in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, so it wasn’t *that* weird. Cap was supposed to get his own cartoon, but it was ultimately the victim of Marvel’s bankruptcy. That left Cap and his supporting cast without a real landing spot, so Cap was in the Spider-Man line, and so was his nemesis Red Skull, the aforementioned Nazi, who I hate.
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Red Skull was released in 1998 as part of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series tie-in line, as part of the “Flip ‘N Trap” assortment, which was an odd gimmicky assortment under the larger “Sneak Attack” sub-line. It’s sort of strange that he was in an entirely separate assortment from Cap, and wasn’t even released in the same year, but there it is. Maybe he sat around for a bit before release? This was the first ever Red Skull figure, which has its own sort of notability. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. Skull got a lot upgraded articulation, which was honestly pretty cool. The sculpt was an all-new one, and I don’t believe any of it was re-used later. Despite being in an animation-based line, the Skull’s sculpt doesn’t seem to be based directly on his animated appearance. It’s more of an all-purpose Red Skull, I guess. The sculpt’s slightly wonky. The proportions are slightly odd, with 
notably large hands and feet. The head also seems a little too actually skull-like for his usual looks. The left hand appears to be sculpted to maybe hold, oh, I don’t know, a cube, or something? But nothing of the sort is included. The color work on Red Skull is generally basic, but there’s some decent accent work on the head to help with the sculpted details. Red Skull is packed with his own “Flip ‘N Trap” thingy, which is a backpack with a large red skull thing at the front. It launches these small yellow rubber spider things. It’s honestly more of a space filler than anything, and doesn’t really do much for the core figure, but it’s not terrible.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
When I was a kid, on a trip to Toys R Us with my dad, I recall having the choice between getting this guy or X-Man. I chose X-Man, because I guess I’m more of a heroes guy. I did wind up getting Red Skull later down the line, obviously, courtesy they guys over at Cosmic Comix. I lost some of the weird launcher parts over the years, but I was able to re-complete my figure thanks to trade-in at All Time. Honestly, he’s kind of a weird figure, but then, so have most of the Red Skull figures. I guess this one just sort of set the precedent for the ones that followed. Ultimately, he’s not terrible, but he’s wonky. I suppose that means he just matches up with the corresponding Cap in quality.
The Figure In Question 