SUPER-SKRULL

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“By the order of his Emperor, a select Skrull warrior was bionically re-engineered to become the living weapon in a plot of revenge against the world’s greatest super-hero team. Through advanced technological means, the Super-Skrull was granted the ability to perfectly mimic each of the powers of the Fantastic Four! Sworn to bestow a crushing defeat upon Mister Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch, Super-Skrull seizes the combined force of their awesome powers, and throws it back at them with a bitter vengeance.”

The shape-shifting aliens the Skrulls are one of Lee and Kirby’s earliest additions to the Marvel Universe after launching the Fantastic Four, appearing in the second issue of the series.  Just over a year later, in issue #18, they would get an upgrade in the form of Kl’rt, the Super-Skrull, a Skrull warrior imbued with the powers of all four members of the titular team.  He’s been perhaps the most notable and prominent recurring Skrull since his introduction, facing down not only the FF, but a fair number of other Marvel heroes along the way, and even becoming less antagonistic from time to time.  He’s had a handful of figures over the years, the first of which came from Toy Biz in the ‘90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Skrull was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, designed to tie-in with the show of the same era.  Super-Skrull appeared in the show’s first season, sporting his classic design, and this figure serves as a pretty close adaptation of that set-up.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s largely got the standard set-up for movement, but the right arm just gets a swivel at the elbow, rather than a hinge, due to how his action feature works.  His sculpt was unique to him.  It’s very…wide.  Admittedly, that’s true to his Season 1 design, which was itself true to his ‘80s/early ‘90s depictions.  It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, and feels pretty in line with the character. The head’s suitably angry and sporting that signature wrinkly chin, and the arms do an okay job of selling the combined powers of Reed, Ben, and Johnny.  His right arm sports an action feature that extends the fist outward when the button on his shoulder is pressed.  It’s the same basic gimmick used by Doom, but it makes a bit more sense here.  Honestly, it’s a bit odd it never got used for Reed, since it’s his power it’s meant to replicate, but that’s a whole other thing.  His color work is basic.  It’s bright, and again matches the Season 1 look.  I’ve never been crazy about the blue used on the cowl and mid-section of the torso; I definitely prefer the usual black there, and I don’t feel it’s a great contrast here.  Otherwise, though, things work pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Super-Skrull is another purchase courtesy of the one single trip I got to take to the KB liquidation center with my Grandmother, back in the early ‘00s.  I recall this one being one I was particularly excited to find, because he wasn’t one you saw nearly as often as the rest of the figures.  He’s definitely based on a very specific incarnation of the character, but it works, and I think he results in a pretty clean, pretty fun little figure.