INVISIBLE WOMAN

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Caught in a bombardment of intense cosmic radiation while on an experimental space flight, Susan Richards found herself endowed with the power to become transparent at will, and the ability to form invisible force-fields of incredible durability. Now, as a member of the Fantastic Four, Sue battles to defend humanity as the elusive Invisible Woman!”

In preparation of the whole Fantastic Four movie release, I decided at the beginning of the month I was going to review Toy Biz figures of the whole FF.  The trouble is, that while I hadn’t reviewed the three men of the team in their Marvel Super Heroes releases, I’ve gone so far as to review *both* of the MSH Invisible Woman figures.  I’ve also already reviewed her hasty repaint release from Fantastic Four, so I’m actually wrapping things up for Sue in the Toy Biz 5-inch range today.  Let’s get to this!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Invisible Woman was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  Like her brother Johnny, the intent was for the Series 2 figure to be Sue’s first figure in the line, but retailers balked at the idea of not having the complete team at launch, resulting in a repainted Spider-Woman that served as a stand in, until the real thing arrived later.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation…sort of.  The neck joint is especially restricted to the point of effectively not being there.  Still, she at least gets elbow joints, making her more posable than her predecessor.  The sculpt here was all-new to this figure, but would later become a favorite of Toy Biz’s during their heavier repaint days.  It’s not a bad sculpt.  Perhaps a touch skinny on the limbs, but generally good, and in keeping with her animation model from the show.  The initial prototype for this figure was in standard colors, but when they did the stand-in figure for Series 1, so was that one.  In an effort to be more unique, this figure was molded entirely in clear plastic, simulating her abilities.  The irony of it all is that this sculpt never ended up being released in actual color as Sue, not even for all the repaints.  It works alright, and apart from some minor yellowing, it’s still pretty good.  She was packed with a wheeled stand and a small shield, which are similar to the ones used on the Series 1 figure, but ultimately totally unique.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall getting this figure relatively early on in my collecting, but I don’t recall the exact circumstances of exactly *how* I got her.  The Marvel Super Heroes figure was my first Sue, so this one would have been a back-up at best.  I recall my original’s arm broke at the elbow, and I ended up replacing her with a spare that came in a lot with my Black Bolt figure.  She’s a decent figure, if perhaps limited in her application.