Tag Archives: Toy Biz

#3977: Psycho-Man

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

PSYCHO-MAN

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“The mysterious Psycho-Man appeared seemingly out of nowhere with the evil intent of overthrowing the Earth, allowing the denizens of his own sub-atomic world to colonize the conquered planet! Armed with his emotion-stimulator, the Psycho-Man could instantly throw the world into the throes of fear, doubt, and hate. But this would-be dictator didn’t count on two things: the arrival of the Fantastic Four, and his own weapon being turned against him!”

Psycho-Man is a character I’ve reviewed once before here on the site, and, well, I didn’t have a ton to say about him in that intro, so the second time around, I can’t say I’m much better off.  He himself isn’t really much of a major player, but he’s figured into some other notable events in comics, most notably as part of the FF storyline where they finally acknowledged that Sue was actually the most powerful member of the team, and maybe a woman in at least her late 20s, if not 30s, shouldn’t be going by “Invisible Girl.”  But that’s not much about him.  The Fantastic Four cartoon in the ‘90s adapted this story, which served as its main focus on Psycho-Man, resulting in his first figure treatment in the accompanying toyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Psycho-Man was released in the fourth and final series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line (he also cropped up as a re-release in the Marvel Universe line; the two figures are functionally identical.  Mine is the re-release).  This set was pretty well tied into the show’s second season, with its three antagonist figures all from early episodes in the run, Psycho-Man included.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Psycho-Man gets hit by some real weirdness on the articulation front.  He’s got no neck or knee articulation, but gets a waist swivel, which weren’t a regular fixture for the line.  For some reason, his legs are also sculpted in this weird sort of lunging pose, like he’s running or something.  Psycho-Man was usually the sort to stand around and do his business from a far, so the action pose does seem a bit odd for him.  His sculpt’s unique to him and…well, it’s certainly unique.  Psycho-Man’s inspiration here seems to be more from his Kirby design, and less from later interpretations, so he’s a bit larger and chunkier and his face is a lot more expressive.  Again, unique is the word I use.  I don’t know about “good” but also I wouldn’t say “bad.”  It’s certainly memorable.  His color work is quite simple, but does what it needs to.  There’s a but of slop and fuzziness around the edges, and its very glossy in its finish, but it’s generally okay.  Psycho-Man is packed with a big action-feature-ridden stand, as was the gimmick for this whole set.  In his case, it’s loosely based on his Control Box, and there’s a lever on the side that you can pull to have it randomly stop on one of five different “emotions.”  It’s super gimmicky and silly, but also so very much fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Psycho-Man’s a later run acquisition for me, but still came into my collection during the ‘90s, albeit probably *right* at the tail end.  He was a Christmas present from a family friend, and I want to say he probably was given to me in ’99.  I knew a little about him, thanks to the cartoon, but he more just got used as a general villain, because he’s got that very unique look.

And with that, I’ve wrapped up the last Series 4 review for Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four, and by extension, the last standard release figure for the line.  Both Series 3 and 4 had one extra figure that got dropped during production.  Adam Warlock was the Series 3, and he would eventually resurface in the Overpower line.  Series 4 was supposed to get a Trapster figure, who would have rounded out the Frightful Four, but he was cut and never found another spot.  The show wrapped up at the end of its second season, and so there was no more retailer demand for the toys, and that was all she wrote.  The line gave debut figures to a lot of classic Marvel characters, and started both the Inhumans and the Frightful Four.  Of course, it didn’t finish either of those two teams (in fact, The Inhumans *just* got a full line-up courtesy of Hasbro, about a month ago, 20 years after making their way to toy form), but that’s Toy Biz in a nutshell.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0057: Skin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

SKIN

GENERATION X (TOY BIZ)

Hey, we made it to another Friday!  Good for us!  Go team!  We did it!  Well, to celebrate the occasion, let’s have another Flashback Friday Figure addendum, shall we?  This time we’re taking a second look at Skin.  Just Skin.

“Angela Espinosa’s body has six extra feet of skin – this is his mutant ‘gift’???. Even he doesn’t quite understand how it works and although he would never admit it, that scares him. He’s come to Xavier’s School form the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles to learn to control his skin, at least enough for him to appear as he did before his powers developed – normal.”

In the ‘90s, the X-Men were Marvel’s hottest property by far. To cash-in on this success, they turned around and launched like a million spin-offs. The more teen-oriented team of hip, fliggity-fly youngsters was Generation X, which was super, super ‘90s. It had a pretty decent following back in the day, and since Toy Biz was giving a toyline to just about everything under the son, it also had one of those. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the team’s central members, Skin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skin was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Generation X line of figures. He appears to be patterned after the character’s earlier appearances in the book, before he got all scruffy. The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. For some reason, the Generation X figures were less articulated than most of Toy Biz’s Marvel output from the same time. Perhaps it was to minimize potential risk on the financial side of things, should the line fail? I don’t know. Anyway, Skin was an all-new sculpt. It seems to take the Kenner route, offering a more preposed figure with less movement. It looks pretty solid; I like all the little minor details, like the folds in his skin. In makes for quite a unique looking figure. I also appreciate that his costume isn’t simply depicted as painted on, but actually has some dimension to it. Now, if you want to get picky, the hands and feet shouldn’t be done the way they are here, since the skeletal structure is clearly elongated here, and his abilities only actually had to do with his skin. That being said, most artists tended to ignore this rule, so the figure’s hardly inaccurate. The paint work on the figure is okay, but there are a few issues. The base work is overall okay, but the magenta on the arms and legs doesn’t quite match the torso. It’s not as bad in person as it is in the photos, but it’s still noticeable. The yellow paint is also a bit prone to chipping, which is a little annoying, but otherwise he’s pretty decent. The figure has a “Growing Fingers” action feature on his left hand. There’s a little latch on the forearm, and when you release it, the fingers shoot forward a half-inch or so. It’s pretty much the same mechanic that was used on several of TB’s Wolverine figures, and it works pretty well, without disrupting the overall look of the figure too much. Skin was packed with a back pack that can be clipped on his back. It originally had a little headset attachment, but I’ve lost mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on most of the Generation X figures when they were new. Around 2000 or so, I got some still-packaged mid-90s figures, and the whole first series of Gen X figures was pictured on the back, leading me to attempt to track down Skin and his team-mate Chamber. It wasn’t easy (we had eBay, but the ‘90s action figures market wasn’t really there yet), but I eventually found both figures at a nearby comic book store for a pretty decent price. Despite never being super huge into Generation X, I’ve always really liked this figure, and he holds up pretty well. 

Generally, that’s not a bad review.  Good for me.  It’s from 2017, and I was really into the swing of things by that point.  This one was more than likely written on the road, as we took a cross country from Seattle to North Carolina in June of that year, and I did a lot of writing during it.  Skin would have actually made the trip with me, because I was trying actually have things on hand for reviewing.  While I had his backpack at the time, it was missing the headset attachment, and I also didn’t show off his stand.  I managed to snag a complete one over the summer, and used that to recomplete my original, as seen here.

#3973: Human Torch

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

HUMAN TORCH

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“The youngest member of the Fantastic Four, Johnny Storm tends to get a little hot-headed when fighting alongside his teammates as the Human Torch! Able to ‘Flame On’ and engulf himself entirely in fire, Johnny has also developed the ability to ignite only certain parts of his body when necessary. Precise control, coupled with the searing nova heat he can generate, makes Johnny Storm the hot-shot member of this cosmic ray spawned team.”

There are some designs that translate well to toys, and there are some that are really, really tricky.  Three  of the four members of the Fantastic Four made the jump from page to plastic without much trouble.  But one of them?  Not so much.  Johnny Storm’s most distinctive look being his fully flamed-on appearance means that were he really in three dimensions, he’d always sort of be in flux, so nailing that down exactly can be tricky.  There’s been a lot of goes at it, to varying degrees of success.  After three tries at fully flamed on, Toy Biz opted to try a more unique approach, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Human Torch was released in the fourth and ultimately final series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  It was Johnny’s third figure under the line, and fourth overall from Toy Biz in this scale.  Rather than going for totally flame covered like the prior versions, or even totally normal like the 10-inch figure, this one goes for sort of a half-and-half set-up.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall (he was the tallest Johnny they put out in this style) and he has 9 points of articulation.  This whole assortment was built to be a bit more dynamic than earlier offerings, and as such they were all a bit more pre-posed than earlier offerings.  In Johnny’s case, that translates to some slightly odd posing on the arms, but otherwise nothing too crazy.  The sculpt was new to this release, but would see one more use under Toy Biz, for one of their later two-packs.  Honestly, it’s pretty strong.  Aside from the face maybe feeling a touch on the old side for Johnny, the general layout of the details works, and I do like the sculpted distinction between the parts that are on fire versus what’s not.  The dynamic nature is definitely distinctive, and it especially works well with the hair’s flow.  The pose also sells the whole thing, as if he’s mid-flame-on.  His paint work is generally pretty basic, but does mostly what it needs to.  The only slightly odd thing is that he’s for whatever reason not wearing gloves.  No idea why, but there it is.  I guess it makes it sort of unique.  My figure’s had quite a bit of wear over the years, as you can see, but that’s not on the original application.  Johnny was packed with a rather large and elaborate base.  He can stand on it, and it’s got wheels, and when it moves forward, various parts of it spin.  It’s gimmicky, but honestly not too bad.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got into collecting right in the window between Series 3 and 4 of this line, so this Johnny would up being my first figure of the character, and was my only version for a little bit.  Even after getting other versions, he was my go-to until there was a scale change.  This is a cool approach for the character and has remained my preferred way to handle the power set for figure form.  I think it’s maybe a little dated and stylized here, but I definitely dig it, and he’s my personal favorite of the Toy Biz Johnny figures.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0056: Silver Surfer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

SILVER SURFER

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Hey-oh, it’s the end of the week once more, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Oh yeah!  Flashing back to the far away year of 2016, back when things were oh so 2016-y, here’s a revisit on a Silver Surfer!

Though they were best known for their 15 year run with the Marvel license, Toy Biz’s first work of note was actual doing toys based on Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. Toy Biz’s DC action figures were little more than knock-offs of Kenner’s Super Powers line. When Toy Biz was granted the Marvel license, their initial offerings were rather similar to what they had done for DC. They offered a rather broadly ranging line, covering the major corners of the Marvel Universe (barring the X-Men, who got their own line). Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of that line’s versions of the Silver Surfer!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Surfer was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. That’s actually a pretty low articulation count for a Toy Biz figure, and it’s even a bit low for this particular line. This figure is mostly the same sculpt as his Series 1 counterpart. The only difference between the two is the lack of neck articulation. It’s an odd choice, and it definitely limits what can be done with the figure, but I’d guess it had something to do with the vac metalizing. The sculpt isn’t terrible, but it’s not particularly great either. He’s similar in style to the Toy Biz Green Lantern, in that his proportions feel rather off, and the level of detail is very low. Also, his head is just very oddly shaped. It’s definitely too small, and the face (which is very ill-defined) sits too high. In fact, the head in general sits too high on the neck, and the whole construction there just looks weird. As far as paint goes, this particular Surfer doesn’t really have any, he’s just vac metalized. Later Surfer’s would at least get detailing on the eyes, but that’s not the case with this guy. Just the straight up and down silver for him. Silver Surfer originally included his surfboard, done up to match him. Unlike other versions of the board, this one was really thick, and it had wheels on the bottom. So, he’s not actually the Silver Surfer, he’s the Silver Skateboarder. Radical.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Surfer is the eighth of the 15 figures that I picked up from a vendor at this past Balticon. I…I’m not really sure how I feel about him. I mean, the chrome look is certainly cool, but the actual figure’s kind of a bit lame. Toy Biz definitely improved in leaps and bounds over the years, but this guy’s a disappointment even compared to the figures from the same line. I hate to be this down on a figure, but this guy, well, he’s not great.

This figure was another part of a batch of loose Toy Biz figures I snagged for super cheap at a con literally the weekend after I graduated from college.  I was all nostalgic and stuff, and I sort of bled a lot of that into my reviews of the associated figures, I think.  I had the option to get both MSH Surfers at the time, but opted only for the chromed one, because I guess I like shiny things?  My review’s generally not bad, though, not having both figures in my possession, I did kind of go with “they’re the same sculpt” when they’re not.  The chrome version is much more simplified, and the face in particular is a lot more oddly shaped.  Missing from this figure the last time around was his surfboard, which is honestly the one area where he’s truly better than his predecessor.  This one’s more streamlined, lacking the motorized bit on the back, and just generally looking more the part, provided you can get past the rather obvious wheels on the bottom.

#3969: Attuma

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

ATTUMA

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Believing he is the prophesized conqueror of the undersea world, due to his super-human strength, the depth-dwelling Attuma has dedicated his life trying to overthrow the peaceful empire on the lost continent of Atlantis. Although he has come close on many occasions to realizing his twisted scheme, launching numerous attacks against the city and its prince – Namor, The Sub-Mariner; Attuma has never been able to claim a lasting victory over Atlantis, thanks to Namor and his powerful allies – The Fantastic Four!”

If you were to ask Arnold Schwarzenegger, circa the 1990 classic Kindergarten Cop who his favorite Marvel super villain might be, I don’t know that he’d have an answer for certain, but he’d probably insist that “It’s not Attuma!”

….Did you like that?  Was that good?  No.  Yeah, I didn’t really think so either, but I’ve had it running through my head the whole time I was trying to write this, so now you guys have to live with it too.  Don’t you feel very lucky?  In contrast to the assumed words of former Governor Schwarzenegger, today’s review focus here on the site, in fact, *is* Attuma.  So there.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Attuma was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  What’s interesting about this guy is that he’s not even shown on the back of the box at all.  The back shows a line-up that included Adam Warlock, who was ultimately dropped, while Attuma, not at all advertised, was included, pairing off with his nemesis Namor, and making him the third and final aquatic-themed figure in this assortment.  Despite the line being based on the show, Attuma was actually not featured in either season of Fantastic Four, though he would make an appearance in 1999’s Avengers: United They Stand, albeit with a rather different design.  So, this figure is based on his classic comics design, which works out more in his favor than his nemesis, truth be told.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has…well, his articulation’s a bit tricky.  He’s got at least 8 points, thanks to more regular joints on both legs, the neck, the waist, and the shoulder and elbow of his left arm.  His right arm has points of movement at the shoulder and elbow, but neither really moves freely, as they’re instead tied into his action figure, which kind of sort of does a sword slashing thing, but not all that well.  It’s an odd choice.  The sculpt on Attuma is unique to him, and it’s generally okay.  It certainly captures Attuma’s look, but seems to struggle a bit with getting some parts of it into three dimensions.  The bit of yellow behind his head seems like a particular point of contention.  Beyond that, some of the proportions do feel a little wonky, and the feet seem especially off, with some of Blizzard’s “two left feet” syndrome seeming to kick in.  Attuma’s color work is reasonable enough.  They’ve gone with his more blue look, which works fine enough, but it’s not how I usually think of him, outside of this particular figure.  Attuma is packed with a three-pronged sword, which his can either hold awkwardly in his right hand or store awkwardly on his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t get Attuma when he was first released, but instead picked him up when I took my trip to the KB Toys liquidation center in the early ‘00s.  I don’t recall having a particular draw to him beyond “I’m getting others and I don’t have this one.”  This was further supported by me not actually opening him for a good couple of months after the others, which was especially odd for me at the time.  That figure would eventually lose one of his lower legs along the way (because I just was sold on not paying him much mind, by that time; I swear I wasn’t meaning to neglect the poor figure), so I ended up buying a replacement from Cosmic Comix several years back.  That one was *also* sealed, and *also* remained sealed for longer than the others I bought at the same time.  It’s not Attuma’s fault, really.  The figure’s…fine?  He’s weird.  But, he’s also one of the very few Attuma figures, so I guess he’s got that going for him?

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0055: Shatterstar II

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

SHATTERSTAR II

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

Well, last week was all special cuz it was Black Friday, but this week’s just, like, a regular Friday.  Either way, I’m doing a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, so I guess it doesn’t matter much to me.  I’m going *way* outside my comfort zone here, with more Toy Biz Marvel, as I take a follow-up look at Shatterstar!

Ah, the 90s. What wondrous creations you gave us. The X-Men were super hyped up, so, obviously, it being the 90s, they needed an edgier, x-ier spin-off team. Enter X-Force, a slightly re-worked version of the New Mutants, with several new, more x-treme members. It had art done by Rob Liefeld, who seemed to set out to make it the most 90s thing imaginable. One of his additions was the character Shatterstar, who was either an alien or a mutant who had the amazing ability to…ummm….have swords? Yeah, I don’t know.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shatterstar here was released as part of Series 3 of ToyBiz’s X-Force, which, like the comic, was a spin-off of the X-Men line. As the name denotes, this is the second figure of Shatterstar that the line offered. Shatterstar stands roughly 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. This figure is actually based on Greg Capullo’s redesign of the character following Liefeld’s departure from the series. It’s…a little better? It’s more symmetrical, that’s for sure. That being said, he’s still got many of the 90s trademarks. He’s got pouches, shoulder pads, pouches, some weird headband thing, pouches, and that funky sunburst tattoo over just the one eye. Though, I guess you need some of that 90s flare to recognize it as Shatterstar, right? It should also be noted that Shatterstar also appears to have been doing a bit of juicing since his first figure. He looks…I don’t want to say puffy… but, yeah. He’s gotta be at least twice the size of the previous Shatterstar figure. Now, to be fair, that figure did seem a little emaciated, but this one seems to have gone a bit too far the other way. It’s not completely off the mark for Capullo’s rendition of the character, but the size feels a little bit laughable. That being said, the figure has a sculpt that is up to the standards of other ToyBiz Marvel stuff of the time. The details are nice and clean (which is certainly better that the comics) and the figure does a pretty good job of translating the comics design to three dimensions. The paintwork on Shatterstar is generally pretty clean. There’s some bleed over here and there, but nothing too noticeable. The colors are nice and bright, which is always a plus. Shatterstar included a pair of his trademark (and oh so silly looking) twin-bladed swords. Sadly, my figure doesn’t have them. He does, however, still have his action feature. His arms can be raised and locked into place, and then released by pressing the button on his pack, resulting in a slashing effect of sorts. So there!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Whilst at Balticon this year, I dug this guy out of a dollar bin of loose figures. I kind of have an addiction to the old 90s ToyBiz stuff, so I obviously had to get him (and several others…). Truth be told, goofy as he is, I kind of like Shatterstar, and this is definitely the best of his 90s figures. Certainly worth the dollar I paid!

Well, I feel like I did alright with that review.  He was from a bulk of figures purchased in the spring of 2015, which was a pretty decent run of purchases for me.  I had a lot of Toy Biz to review around this time, and I remember that was quite a pleasant thing for me.  Since I fished this guy out of a loose bin of figures for a dollar, he was missing his swords.  Thankfully, I’ve tracked down some replacements for him in the mean time, so the guy whose gimmick is “sword” now has his swords.  It’s funny that in tandem with Shatterstar getting much bulkier, his swords got smaller, so they do look pretty puny in his hands.  You can also store them on his back, though, which is pretty cool.

#3965: Namor the Submariner

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

NAMOR THE SUBMARINER

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Born from the depths of the ocean, Namor, the avenging son, is Prince of the noble underwater city of Atlantis. The hybrid offspring of a human and an Atlantean, Namor’s quest for adventure brought him into contact with the surface world and its inhabitants. Although sometimes at odds with the actions and agendas of the land dwellers, the Sub-Mariner often lent his incredible strength and exalted heroism towards the fight for justice and humanity.”

You just gotta space out your Namor reviews, guys.  It’s the only way to do it.  That’s why I haven’t reviewed a Namor figure since 2023.  Also, because I don’t have a *ton* of Namor figures, and I actually haven’t bought any in the mean time.  That might contribute to it as well.  Today’s Namor isn’t even a new Namor.  It’s not even new to me, even.  It’s actually the oldest a Namor figure can be, because it’s the first one he got.  Have I said Namor enough?  Clearly not.  Onto the review proper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Namor the Submariner was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  The show had moved onto its second season by this point, which houses neither of Namor’s two appearances, but they didn’t let that hold them back from releasing him.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation…sort of.  The shoulder and elbow on his right arm are both tied into his action feature, so they don’t move particularly well on their own.  On the flip side, he does get an additional wrist swivel on that side, so there’s some extra movement there.  Namor got an all-new sculpt for this release (which would later be re-tooled into Ryu for the X-Men vs Street Fighter line), based on his design from the show, which was itself based on his ‘90s comics design.  It generally sticks to his classic green speedo look, with one notable change-up: a pretty rad ponytail!  Yeah, Imperius Rex needed to show off that he was hip, and cool, and down with it, so he got a pony tail.  The thing that’s always struck me about this mold is that he just sort of feels wide.  Or squat.  Or something.  The proportions seem off.  I do like the scale texturing on the shorts, though, and the little ankle wings work surprisingly well.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends his right arm forward, for something of a lunging attack if he’s hold his trident.  The figure’s color work is fine.  Generally basic, but it does what it needs to.  Mine’s taken a slight beating over the years, but it’s not awful.  Namor is packed with his trident and a shield, which can both be easily held in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Namor is one of my earliest figures from this line.  Series 3 had just hit when I was getting into action figures, so he and the Thing were probably my first two FF figures, I’d imagine?  I actually already knew Namor pretty well at the time, because I had a bunch of VHS tapes with his Ruby-Spears cartoon on them, which gave him a decent amount of focus from me.  He was my only Namor until the Legends figure came out, and he definitely got a lot of play time.  He’s easily one of the most dated figures in the line, but he works in his own sort of quirky way.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0054: Gambit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

GAMBIT

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Hey, it’s Black Friday!  …which, for the purposes of this site directly…doesn’t really mean much.  You know what?  I’ll give you guys today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum free of charge.  How does that sound?  Like it’s the same cost as usual?  Well, yeah, sure.  But think of the value!  Anyway, here’s Gambit!

The ‘90s were quite good to the X-Men. They several top selling comics, a few video games, and a cartoon. But, most importantly, they had an awesome, hugely expansive line of action figures, courtesy of Toy Biz. Earlier figures in the line were fairly straightforward versions of the X-Men, but as the line continued, Toy Biz started experimenting with a number of different gimmicks to keep things interesting. The very first “gimmick series” gave each figure a light-up feature. Though light-up features weren’t new to the line, these figures were different in that, rather than lighting up themselves, they used a two-part light-up feature that allowed them to light up their accessories. Mostly, the series was just an excuse to release new versions of a few outdated figures. Today, I’ll be looking at Gambit from that series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit was released in the X-Men: Classic “Light-Up Weapons Series,” which was the 13th series of figures in Toy Biz’s 5-inch X-Men line. This was Gambit’s second figure in the line, after getting his first back in Series 3. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. His articulation isn’t terrible, but the light-up feature’s inner workings are in his chest and right arm, which reduces the posablilty of the right shoulder quite a bit and also necessitates removing the usual elbow joints. Though the X-Men line was meant as a tie-in for the cartoon running at the same time, the figures tended to be more directly based on their comics appearances. Gambit actually looks to take a lot of influence from his Capcom game appearances, since he’s rather beefy and stylized. The overall look isn’t too bad, though it does seem like Gambit’s been juicing just a bit, since he’s usually more slender than he’s depicted here. He’s about to burst out of his sleeves for Pete’s sake! Also, his hands are absolutely huge, and if I’m honest the right one barely even looks like a hand at this point. The head exhibits the best sculpted work, and does quite a nice job of capturing Gambit’s smarmy personality. Gambit’s paint is fairly decent, if not fantastic. There’s a bit of slop here and there, especially on the fingers, and the pink lines on the sides of his pants are way more subtle than they should be. The color scheme they picked is once again pretty game-inspired, but it has a nice degree of pop, so no complaints here. Gambit included his usual staff, as well as a piece showing a fan of playing cards being kinetically charged, as if Gambit has just thrown them. The latter piece is the source of the light up feature. When plugged into Gambit’s right hand, the cards would light up at the push of the button on Gambit’s back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another ‘90s X-Men figure that I’ve owned two of. The first was bought for me by my grandparents on my Mom’s side, I believe as a reward for finishing kindergarten. I got him and Juggernaut, but I think I mostly got Gambit because my grandparents felt I needed to get a “good guy” figure to go with the villain. Somewhere along the way, I lost that figure, so I picked up this replacement from a dealer at Balticon this year. He’s not a terrible figure, but he definitely shows his age. 

Well, honestly, that review’s really not bad.  Kind of hits all the important marks, and I stand by my assessment of the figure from the time.  He’s another figure that came from a large batch of Toy Biz figures I fished out of a big box of loose figures in the Baltic dealers room, literally the weekend after my college graduation in 2016.  None of them had any accessories, but the thing about this guy in particular is that I had one when they were new, and while I lost the figure proper, the accessories remained.  So, I simply united the two halves, and, boom, he’s got his staff and playing card effect again.  Yay for completeness!

#3961: Annihilus

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

ANNIHILUS

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“An experimental spore, released on a planet in the anti-matter universe known as the Negative Zone rapidly grew, and developed into the insectivoid entity called Annihilus. Cosmic power, harnessed through a Control Rod, grants Annihilus super-human strength and extends his life to near immortality. With superior intelligence and a mastery of the alien technology that spawned him, Annihilus has dedicated his existence to conquering any being that threatens his insane quest for power.”

Last month, I was discussing Blastaar, one of the more notable denizens of the Negative Zone, a deposed ruler who faced down with the Fantastic Four on multiple occasions.  The ruler who deposed him, who became an even more persistent thorn in the FF, and many more heroes’ sides, is Annihilus, the bug-like guy to Blastaar’s simian-like guy.  Annihilus has certainly been the more prevalent of the two when it comes to toy coverage, being the FF’s second villain to be released during the Marvel Super Heroes line, and then also getting a follow-up during the proper Fantastic Four line, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Annihilus was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, amusing because he was also a Series 3 release for Marvel Super Heroes.  He followed up on Blastaar’s release in Series 2.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He lacks neck articulation, but gets a hinge on his wings, sans he flapping feature present on the prior version.  While the MSH figure was rather on the scrawny side, this one follows the look he had on the show, where he was a bit more bulked up.  He’s certainly a lot wider.  The sculpt was all-new and all unique, and it’s pretty solid.  The best work is on the head, which gets some clean line-work.  Said head can be removed from the main body, showing a smaller, curled up body, which is presumably the “transforming mutant” feature advertised on the packaging.  The figure’s coloring is the appropriate mix of green and…well, it’s not quite purple, it’s more of a mauve?  It’s the color he usually gets.  Color work is basic, but gets the job done, and the paint’s pretty clean, if perhaps a it uneven on some of the edges.  Annihilus is packed with a pair of spiky removable shoulder pads, for all your spiky removable shoulder pad-related needs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Annihilus here is another addition to my collection from my early 2000s trip to the KB Toys liquidation center.  I didn’t know him much before owning the figure, but getting this guy prompted me to find out more about him.  Ultimately, he’s not a character that’s really stuck with me, but I do think he’s got a killer visual, and I like his older appearances.  I like the MSH figure, but he’s dated.  Of the two, this one’s the stronger figure, and he’s certainly got a neat presence on the shelf.

#3957: Triton

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

TRITON

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Cousin of the mighty Black Bolt, Triton is another powerful member of the Royal Family called the Inhumans! Like his relatives before him, Triton was exposed to the mutagenetic qualities of the Terrigen Mists at an early age. He emerged with aquatic mutations that included dorsal fins, and a scaly green skin which covered his body. Super-strong but unable to breath out of water, Triton uses an intricate infiltration system to respirate when his adventures with the Inhumans bring him to the surface land.”

Hey, remember when I was talking about the Inhumans a couple of weeks ago?  Well, I’m talking about them again, as it seems.  Since the group was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four, Toy Biz used the FF tie-in line as a way to introduce them to the action figure world as well, putting one of them in per series.  Black Bolt led the charge in Series 1, followed by ol’ stompy boy Gorgon in Series 2.  For Series 3, Toy Biz went with the aquatic guy.  No, not Aquaman.  Or Sub-Mariner.  Or Abe Sapien.  It’s the other guy, Triton.  You know, the one what hangs out with the Inhumans?  That’s the one.  Let’s look at Triton.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Triton was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four tie-in line, which contains a whopping *three* underwater guys.  That’s crazy.  He slightly predates the character’s appearance in the show, but not by quite as much as the other two.  It does, however, mean that he’s not *quite* on model for the character’s animated appearances, but he’s not super far off either, so it’s not a big deal.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Generally, it’s the basic set-up, but he’s got an action feature in the shoulders, which doesn’t eliminate their movement, but does make it a little bit…wonky?  His sculpt’s okay.  It was new to him, but got re-used later down the line for an aquatic Spidey variant.  It seems maybe a touch bulky for Triton, especially when compared to the far more reserved builds of Black Bolt and Gorgon, who are traditionally a little bigger than he is.  But, there’s a lot of fun texture detail work, which is always fun.  The webbed hands, though not accurate to the show, and an incredibly neat detail, which I do quite love.  Triton’s color work is basic, but does what it needs to, replicating that purple/green combo that makes you think he might be a villain even though he’s actually not.  Triton was packed with two accessories: a shark and a sea trumpet.  The shark has a spring-loaded jaw, which I do rather love, but it’s also got no real way at all to actually interact with Triton at all.  The trumpet is at least shaped in such a way that you can loop it over his hand so he can hold it.  Both accessories feel a bit more Sub-Mariner than they do Triton, but neither is a bad piece or anything.  He’s also got a “swimming” feature; squeezing his legs makes his arms swing downward at the shoulders.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

During our many runs to Ageless Heroes, a comic store near my parents’ house that closed down in 1999, my dad got most of the Inhumans, which included Triton.  I didn’t get one at the time, but I always liked the figure, so when I found him amongst the piles of other Toy Biz figures at the KB liquidation center in 2003, he was the one I absolutely made sure to grab.  Though I’ve never had much attachment to the character, I nevertheless made a lot of use of the figure, and I still do really think he’s quite a nifty figure.