Tag Archives: Longbox Heroes

#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.