Tag Archives: Longbox Heroes

#3802: Airboy

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

AIRBOY

LONGBOX HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Okay, how about just a little bit more on the almost-Super Powers figures? I sure do like that particular style, don’t I?  Last week, I returned to Longbox Heroes with another Tick figure.  Today, I’m keeping the Longbox love going another week, but this time with a rather more obscure character.  Fresh Monkey Fiction’s last comic-based retro line, Amazing Heroes, leaned pretty heavily into the public domain Golden Age heroes, while Longbox was almost entirely populated by proper licensed characters.  Jason “Toyotter” Geyer, who did the sculpts and packaging designs for the line, has shown off that a number of public domain heroes were considered, and mocked up, but ultimately shelved in favor of the line-up we got.  We did, however, get one public domain entry, Airboy.  First appearing in 1942, Airboy was, unsurprisingly, an aviator with a costumed identity.  He never quite took off (heh) the way of others from the era, but has seen a few revivals over the years, and, hey, he got this action figure, too.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Airboy was released as part of the second round of Longbox Heroes Series 1.  He was the bonus figure, offered up to people who ordered the full sets when all of the singles made it to production.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Airboy’s sculpt, like the rest of the line,  is courtesy of Jason “Toyotter” Geyer, and it has a number of parts in common with several of the Rocketeer related figures from the line (something that no doubt helped him getting chosen for inclusion, especially since he’s a bonus figure).  He shares his legs with all of those (hard to go wrong with the aviator pants, right?), and shares his arms with the rocket troopers.  His torso was ultimately shared with the enemy pilot from the boxed set as well.  The head remains unique, and is actually Geyer’s second take on it.  Per his own words, his original looked “a little too much like some cynical biker,” so he revisited it to be a little friendlier and truer to the original appearances.  It’s a fun, “gee-wiz” sort of sculpt that also feels really at home with the general style.  That windswept hair in particular just really hits the mark for me.  Like the Rocketeer figure, Airboy is totally painted, which is ever so slightly un-Super Powers-y, but at the same time, the paint’s handled pretty well, and the colors are nice, so I can’t really complain too much.  Airboy is packed with a display stand and a sword.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I, regretfully, didn’t back the whole Series 1 set.  I wanted to.  I really did.  But, monetarily, it just wasn’t in the cards, so I focused in on my favorites.  That meant I missed this guy.  I have no particular attachment to the character, but I dig his general vibe, and after having gotten so many of the Amazing Heroes, he feels like a logical continuation.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a trade-in, and I got an okay deal on him at that.  He’s quite a fun little figure, and I’m definitely glad I got a second chance on him!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3797: The Tick

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

THE TICK

LONGBOX HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I took a look at a direct continuation of Kenner’s Super Powers, but today I’m returning to a more indirect continuation.  Early last year, I looked at a few figures from Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Longbox Heroes, a line of independent comic book characters done in the Super Powers style.  While a follow-up to that set is still forthcoming, I only ended up getting a few of the figures from the first one, so there are still plenty for me to potentially pick-up.  There were three Tick figures in the first set, and I had two of them.  The one I didn’t have was the basic Tick, so here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Tick is figure 7 in the first series of Longbox Heroes.  Like all of the non-Rocketeer figures, he was released in March of last year.  There are two Ticks in the line-up; this one is more patterned on the character’s earlier appearances, and is a bit more basic in his approach.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Like the rest of the line, he’s got a sculpt courtesy of Jason “Toy Otter” Geyer.  From the neck down, it’s the same as the other Tick, which is a solid, clean sculpt that captures both the Tick’s usual depictions and the Super Powers aesthetic.  The head is unique, and sports an expression that’s a little more reserved than the big toothy grin from the other release.  It still very much feels like the same character, though, and while it’s not my preferred take on the character, it still works well.  In terms of coloring, this Tick is darker than the other version; it’s more comic than animation, and definitely works a bit better with the more resigned expression.  Tick is on the lighter side, getting only a display stand as his accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I sure do love me some Super Powers and I sure do love me some Tick.  I also sure did love me the figures I already got from this line.  So, that’s a great recipe for me being invested in this figure.  That said, when the preorder period was running for these, I opted to go with Disguised Tick, because I liked the general set-up of that one a little more.  That said, I still kinda wanted one after the fact, so when a loose one landed in front of me a few weeks ago, I took that rare opportunity to own another Tick figure.  I think I still prefer the Disguised overall, but more Tick is always a good thing.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3605: Longbox Heroes

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

THE TICK IN DISGUISE, BARRY HUBRIS, & MADMAN

LONGBOX HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Fun FiQ Fact #0084: The Tick and Madman are both associated with the name “Townsend”, Tick having been played by Townsend Coleman in his ’90s animated series, and Madman’s original pre-death name being “Zane Townsend.”

Back in November, I took a look at The Rocketeer, the first offering from Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Longbox Heroes.  I’ve been patiently waiting for the rest of the figures I had on pre-order to arrive, and they’re finally here, and I’m very happy about that.  So, now I get to talk about The Tick, another not quite the right guy The Tick, and Madman!  Let’s get ginchy!  Spoooooooon!  Whatever Barry’s catchphrase is!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Tick in Disguise, Barry, and Madman are figures 15, 16, and 8, respectively, in the launch line-up of Longbox Heroes, a Big Bad Toystore-exclusive line from Fresh Monkey Fiction.  While everything was intended to hit at the same time initially, due to license constraints, all of the Rocketeer figures got released earlier than the rest of the line, splitting everything into two assortments.  The second portion hit in March of this year.

THE TICK IN DISGUISE

There are a couple of Tick-based figures in this line-up, with two in particular based on the main big guy.  There’s a standard version, based on his earlier appearances, as well as this one, which is him “in disguise”.  It’s the one that spoke to me, so it’s the one I went with.  The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is the same as we saw on the Rocketeer, which is the Super Powers set-up, but with extra swivels at the knees.  The sculpt, which like the rest of the line is handled by Jason “Toyotter” Geyer, is a solid offering.  It’s of course more basic than what we saw on Rocketeer, as is expected for the Tick’s design.  He’s appropriately a lot larger than the other figures in the line-up, but still very much in keeping with the Super Powers-inspired stylings of the line.  His main unique piece is the head, which is based on the more refined Tick of the later ’90s, post cartoon and all.  I love that goofy grin on the head so much; it gives me flashbacks to my old Tick figure from the ’90s.  For the most part, Tick’s color work is handled by molded plastic, in contrast to the Rocketeer’s totally painted set-up.  This is more accurate to the Super Powers aesthetic, and, per Toyotter himself, was the plan for the whole line, but just didn’t work out for the earlier figures.  This release goes for a brighter blue, which I really dig, again going very much for that cartoon-style look.  Tick is packed with the necktie that serves as his “disguise,” which can be easily taken off by popping off the figure’s head, as well as a “Longbox Heroes” display stand.

BARRY HUBRIS

When the Tick was originally created, he was intended to be brown, but it was decided that blue worked better on the page.  In reference to this, Barry Hubris, another man who claims the title of “The Tick” was created and given Tick’s original color scheme.  Like Disguised Tick, this figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Barry is built on the same body as Tick, which makes sense, since they were about the same build and all.  He’s got a unique head sculpt, which gets Barry’s crazed look down nicely.  His color work is again heavily reliant on molded plastic for the bulk of things, but he’s got a fair bit more painted elements than the Disguised Tick did.  The application’s all very sharp and clean, and his costume elements are well defined.  Barry’s only accessory is his display stand; it might have been nice to get his shield, but at the same time, I get it.

MADMAN

Madman is no stranger to Fresh Monkey Fiction’s retro-inspired toylines, having also been part of their Secret Wars-inspired Amazing Heroes line.  But, you simply can’t have too much Madman, so he’s in this line, too.  Honestly, Madman should be in *more* lines.  Every line.  All Madman.  All the time.  There are even multiple Madman figures in this very line-up.  This one is the most standard of the bunch.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has he same 9 points of articulation as all of the others.  His sculpt is…I mean, sure it’s simple, but it’s also just so on the mark for the style of the line and of Allred’s work with the character.  It’s really sharply detailed, and and there’s a lot more going on with it than is immediately visible.  There’s even the very slight wrinkling on the ankles of his boots.  His color work is really solid too.  The white is molded, as it should be, and the painted elements are the sharpest of all the figures I’ve gotten from the line.  Like Barry, Madman’s only accessory is a display stand, which is honestly pretty great for some of the wackier poses the character demands.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in my Rocketeer review, Super Powers is one of my favorite toy lines, so the prospect of any sort of continuation was very exciting to me, so I jumped on the pre-orders for these guys pretty darn quickly.  It’s been a patient wait since then and….I mean, it was just so very much worth it.  I think Madman’s my favorite of the three here, but I love all three.  What I wouldn’t give for an Arthur to go with Tick, but until then, I guess Madman is just filling in for him.

#3493: The Rocketeer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

THE ROCKETEER

LONGBOX HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

“The Rocketeer is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jetpack that allows him to fly. His adventures are set in the Los Angeles and New York of 1938 as he battles Nazis and monsters!

Published in 1982 by reknowned writer/artist Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer is an homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes from the 1930 through the 1950s. Stevens gave it a retro, nostalgic feel influenced by the king of the Rocket Men and Commando Cody movie serials, along with pinup diva Bettie Page as the inspiration for Cliff’s girlfriend, Betty.”

Before being an underrated gem of a movie in 1990, The Rocketeer was an underrated gem of a comic book.  Dave Stevens’ creation began as a back-up feature to Mike Grell’s Starslayer in 1982, eventually growing into its own standalone property, and gaining a lot of critical success.  The troubles of independent comic publishers and Stevens’ own perfectionism meant that it was a slow-rolling and ultimately rather short-lived series, but it nevertheless made an impact on the pop culture landscape.  It was without much in the way of merchandising during its first few decades of existence, but in the last ten years or so, there’s been an upswing.  It’s largely been movie-based, of course, but that changes today, with the first offering from Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Longbox Heroes!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Rocketeer is part of the the launch line-up of Longbox Heroes, a Big Bad Toystore-exclusive line of independent comics figures.  Where FMF’s prior Amazing Heroes line was clearly patterned on Secret Wars, Longbox Heroes is inspired by the *other* big ’80s superhero toyline, Super Powers. The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation, gaining an extra swivel point at each knee over his Kenner ancestors. This is partly due to his modular construction, which, much like Amazing Heroes, allows all of the figures in this line to have their parts swapped at the joints. All of the figures in the Longbox Heroes line were sculpted by Jason “Toyotter” Geyer, who has been a major fixture of the online toy news and toy archiving scene since the ’90s, notably running the Super Powers Archive, amongst other things, making him a natural choice for such a project. His sculpt for Cliff is honestly pretty perfect, really. It’s very cleanly detailed, and really captures the Dave Stevens illustrations of the character, getting all of his important design elements, while also very much feeling like it’s a proper vintage Kenner sculpt. The one area where this guy is a little more removed from a Kenner offering us the paint work. He’s entirely painted, which isn’t *quite* the way they would have done it. That said, it’s a pretty solid paint job. There’s a spot of black in the wrong place on his legs, and some of the edges are a little fuzzy, but generally things look alright. Cliff is packed with his pistol (patterned on the Mauser C96, which was also the basis for Han Solo’s gun), and a Longbox Heroes display stand. Given the interchangeability angle, an unmasked head would have been cool, but not really expected given the style.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Super Powers is one of my very favorite toylines, the Rocketeer is one of my favorite comic/movie characters, and I really love Amazing Heroes, so there was pretty much no way that I was missing out on this guy.  As such, I jumped on his pre-order through BBTS pretty quickly.  This guy is a ton of fun, and a fantastic throwback to the Super Powers style.  I can’t wait to get the rest of the figures I’ve got pre-ordered.