Tag Archives: Toy Biz

#4052: Ms. Marvel

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

MS. MARVEL

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“Blasting out of the Marvel Universe are its most powerful heroines, the She-Force! Joining together to fight evil are mutants Marvel Girl, Wolfsbane and Dazzler along with Avengers Tigra and Ms. Marvel. Challenging the threat of the Brotherhood of evil Mutants, the She-Force has what it takes to get the job done. Using their combined abilities, the She-Force takes down the Brotherhood in one explosive battle!”

One of the things that made Toy Biz’s 5-inch run of Marvel figures so—wait, hang on a second, I seem to be repeating myself a bit here!  As it turns out, today’s review of a Toy Biz Marvel Hall of Fame Ms. Marvel from the “She-Force” sub-heading is a *completely* different figure than the one I reviewed a week ago.  Of an entirely different character at that!  See, last week’s Ms. Marvel was Carol Danvers, the originator of the title, who vacated the name for “Binary” in the late ‘70s.  Since brand synergy meant that Marvel really didn’t want to let a name like “Ms. Marvel” lapse, they had to introduce a new character to take on the mantle, which they did in 1985 with Sharon Ventura, a professional wrestler turned hero who first appeared as a supporting player to The Thing.  Sharon rather quick mutation into She-Thing has made that her more generally known identity, to the point that her being “Ms. Marvel” can get lost in the shuffle a bit.  Toy Biz themselves seems to have gotten confused in the above text from the back of the box, which refers to her as an Avenger, despite the fact that Sharon was affiliated with the FF, and wouldn’t have any actual connection to the Avengers until well into the ‘00s, when “Avengers” had essentially become a catch-all title for “group of Marvel heroes.”  Anyway, despite being better known as She-Thing, to date Sharon’s action figure is in her Ms. Marvel incarnation, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel was released in the sixth series of Marvel Hall of Fame, as part of the second “She-Force” branded assortment of the Puzzle Zoo-exclusive line.  Sharon is seen here in her original Ms. Marvel attire, which I don’t believe she’d had in a while at the time of this figure’s release.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 8 points of articulation.  Structurally, she’s a total re-use of the X-Men line’s Phoenix.  It’s a good sculpt, with nice balanced proportions, and it’s even got a sash.  I do really think it would be better for Carol than for Sharon, with Sharon, to my mind, making a lot more sense as a re-use of the Spider-Woman body, since that’s a little more muscular, and has straighter hair, both more in line with Sharon.  As it stands, though, this is still a nice sculpt, and the only real drawback is the lack of neck joint due to the remnants of the no longer present light-up feature of the original figure.  The main selling point here is the paint work, and I have to admit, it’s really good paint.  The costume is very bright and eye-catching, and not saddled with any of the “ignore the sculpted details” issues of Carol, and the accenting on the hair is nothing short of inspired.  Like, that just looks really, really cool.  There’s still a bit of fuzz, especially on the yellow sections (it’s Toy Biz, so there’s really no avoiding it), but overall it’s not too bad.  Sharon was just really strong, so there’s not a lot easy accessories to be had, but they tried anyway, and so she gets Quicksilver’s machine gun with the stock?  It was weird for him, and it’s weird for her, and she really can’t even hold it.  Very odd.  She also got a Fleer trading card, which in my figure’s case is a Sabretooth.  Why not?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I always seemed to get the Hall of Fame figures in batches, but this one is decidedly *not* a case of that.  She almost was, as one of my larger purchases was from a lot that did include her, but my Dad got that one, since I was already getting all of the others.  Instead, she wound up added to my collection courtesy of a sizable Toy Biz Marvel trade-in at work about three or four years ago.  She sat carded for a long time, until I decided that was stupid and lame, and opened her up, took photos, and stuck her on the shelf.  And she’s been there until now.  I messed with her for the review, and, apart from my quibbles about body choice, she’s a really cool figure.

#4048: Ms. Marvel

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

MS. MARVEL

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“It’s non-stop action when the Marvel Universe’s greatest heroines join forces against the power of the Black Queen! Locked in mortal combat with the notorious Queen, Jean Grey of the X-Men uses her telepathic powers to summon help. Jean is joined by fellow X-Man Storm, Avenger Ms. Marvel, and the mysterious Spider-Woman. Together, this team has all the power it needs to stop the Black Queen in her tracks! ”

One of the things that made Toy Biz’s 5-inch run of Marvel figures so expansive and pervasive was Toy Biz’s ability to *really* milk a mold.  Admittedly, they had some help in this venture, in the form of retailers who were looking for exclusives, no matter what they were.  A few different retailers got their own exclusive lines, which were pretty much just an excuse to run a mix of straight reissues of older figures, alongside “new” figures fashioned entirely from repurposed parts.  Online retailer PuzzleZoo got in on the action with their exclusive line Marvel Hall of Fame, which most notably introduced the “She-Force” sub-line, which ran for three of the line’s seven series.  It was an exceptionally rare move, putting out an entire assortment of female figures, and one that the line would do an astounding three times.  Amongst the unique characters in the first round of She-Force was Carol Danvers in her Ms. Marvel identity, granting Carol her very first action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel was released in the first “She-Force” Series, the second overall series of Marvel Hall of Fame.  Its 1996 release puts it in an interesting spot for the character, who was still kind of bouncing around at the time, having lost her Binary powers in “Operation Galactic Storm.”  She would regain a fair bit of prominence not long after this figure’s release, when she resurfaced in Busiek and Perez’s Avengers, albeit sporting the title “Warbird.”  But, she was intermittently back to using Ms. Marvel at the time, so that’s the name she got.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and she has 10 points of articulation.  Ms. Marvel is a total repaint, specifically of the Fantastic Four line’s Medusa.  It’s not a great sculpt, honestly, and it’s also saddled with a lot of details that don’t correspond to Carol’s costume design in the slightest.  She’s got very clearly defined cuffs on her boots and gloves, which don’t correspond with the placement of those pieces on Carol’s costume, and there’s also a sash present for Carol that Medusa simply didn’t have.  Why they didn’t re-use the mold from Phoenix, who has a design *a lot* closer to Carol’s, is anyone’s guess; it’s worth noting the Phoenix mold was used for the second Ms. Marvel, Sharon Ventura, later in the line.  The paint does the heavy lifting here, of course, and it’s generally fine, but for some reason, they give her full sleeves, rather than sleeveless with opera gloves as the design’s actually meant to be.  Maybe they thought the extra paint-app was just too much?  Ms. Marvel is packed with one of those weird launching bases they liked to throw in when they didn’t know what else to do.  This is specifically the Human Torch variation of the mold, without the obvious “X” on the launching part.  It’s just black for this release, which is kind of bland, but I guess it makes it subtle.  She also included a trading card, which for my figure was Quicksilver.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Because of their exclusively online nature, I had very few of the Hall of Fame figures as a kid.  Ms. Marvel was not one of them.  I know my dad had one, because he had a more extensive Avengers set-up than me.  Mine is a much more recent addition, which my parents got for me in 2022, during a stop at an antique shop, which had a few of the Hall of Fame figures.  She’s…not great?  I mean, the Medusa mold’s definitely not a strong one in the first place, and it’s extra limiting, and it’s downright criminal that Toy Biz used it so many times.  But, it’s also not the worst thing? I don’t know, maybe I’m just warming up to the mold, but I think it might honestly work the best here of the three uses, clumsy as it may be.  I still think the Phoenix mold would have made more sense, but it is what it is, and it’s ultimately okay.

#4044: Spider-Man with Real Web-Shooting Action

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

SPIDER-MAN with REAL WEB-SHOOTING ACTION

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Spider-Man gained his amazing powers when he was bitten by a radioactive spider! Now he’s super-strong, super-athletic, and able to crawl up any wall! Not only that, but he’s got an amazing “spider-sense” that warns him of trouble before it happens. To help him catch criminals, Spider-Man invented a secret weapon — web shooters that shoot out webbing at lightning speed. In fact, the webbing is so strong that it can trap even the toughest super-powered enemy! ”

Though typically more of a solo hero, Spider-Man’s spot as Marvel’s top super hero has frequently been leveraged in the world of merchandising as a way to get the other heroes in the door, rather than jumping straight to just the Spidey-exclusive stuff.  This was especially evident with Toy Biz’s early run with the license, where their main Marvel line was still very heavily leveraged on Spidey.  The first assortment of Marvel Super Heroes just had one Spidey and one antagonist for him, but as the line progressed, both the web-slinger and his nemeses became more plentiful.  Here’s one of the first “variant” Spider-Man figures, quite a novel thing at the time.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man with Real Web-Shooting Action was one of two Spidey variants in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line.  Since the figure in Series 1 was a bit more general purpose, Series 2 focused on recreating specific powers via gimmicky action features.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  At this point in the line, Spidey was still operating on the same articulation scheme as everyone else.  Likewise, he’s using a variation of the Series 1 molds for the character, which also have a lot more in common with everyone else in the line than they do later Spider-Men.  That means he’s rather chunky, oddly proportioned, and very stiff.  None of that really adds up to the ideal sort of Spider-Man.  This is especially notable on the head, which is small, has a very long, but also very thick neck, and just generally doesn’t look like any notably incarnation of Spidey’s quite distinctive mask.  He does at least have the benefit of losing the obvious suction cups present on the original figure’s hands, so his left hand is now just a flat hand with noting attached to it.  Unfortunately, to facilitate his action feature, his right arm is totally straight, at an odd angle in relation to the rest of the body, and his hand permanently has a big whole in the front of it.  Also, his hand is in a fist, as opposed to, oh, I don’t know, maybe the very distinctive pose his hand is usually in when he’s shooting web?  Weird choice.  His color work is…fine.  Much like the sculpting, it’s kind of weird and off kilter, and the web lines of the costume don’t really line up with usual depictions of his look.  Also, it’s very fuzzy on the lines, which makes the whole thing look wonky.  In accordance with his “Real Web-Shooting Action,” Spidey includes missile with a rubber “web” attachment on the front.  Look, I don’t want to split hairs here, but, umm, that’s not a “real web-shooting action.”  Because a missile isn’t “real” web.  So, you know, weird choice of words.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The MSH Spider-Men are an interesting and eclectic bunch of figures that generally all look very similar and are easily confused.  Also, they all have completely different selections of accessories that don’t really correspond with the main figure, which can be extra confusing.  Several years ago, a bunch of the MSH figures got traded into work, and there was a bag specifically of Spider-Men, which I of course grabbed.  This was the only one in the bag that was complete.  It’s not a great figure.  it’s not even a good figure.  You might call it a bad figure.  But, it’s also one of the first Spider-Man variants, and so it’s neat and sort of quaint.  Earnest, perhaps.  So, we’re gonna let it have that.

#4040: Green Goblin

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

GREEN GOBLIN

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Green Goblin is one of Spider-Man’s oldest and deadliest enemies. With his jet-powered Goblin Glider, mayhem-making pumpkin bombs and his terrifying cackling laugh, Green Goblin spreads doom, destruction and panic wherever he lies. When it comes to making Spider-Man’s life miserable, nobody does it better than Green Goblin. What makes him so terrifying and so hard to capture is the fact that there’s no rhyme or reason to Green Goblin’s crime sprees. No one, not even Spider-Man, can predict what he’ll do next!”

Last week, I discussed the rotating “nemesis” duties of Doc Ock and Green Goblin.  With Norman Osborn dead for almost 20 years by that point (and still a couple of years off from a resurrection as well), and Harry mostly retired from the role, Goblin was rather out of the spotlight when Toy Biz launched their Marvel lines in the ‘90s, hence Doc Ock serving as Spidey’s main antagonist in the debut assortment.  Even in death/retirement, you can’t totally ignore Green Goblin, though, so he made his way into the next assortment, with a figure I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Goblin was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, which hit in 1991.  This was Goblin’s fourth time in proper figure form (following his 8-inch Mego, as well as the Comic Action and Pocket Heroes figures at the smaller scale), and the first of a handful he’d get during Toy Biz’s run.  He’s in his classic attire, because at this point, there wasn’t much variation at all for the character, even across three different people occupying the mantle.  As such, it could really be Norman, Harry, or even, if you’re feeling especially obscure, Bart Hamilton.  Because somebody needs to show poor Bart some love.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  On the movement front, it’s worth noting that his right shoulder’s a bit restricted by his action feature, which allows him to throw his pumpkin bomb.  You can still get it to hold poses with some doing, but it’s a little more work.  Goblin’s sculpt was totally new to him, and would remain unique to this figure….which is probably for the best.  It’s a wonky sculpt, for sure.  It’s playing more into the cartoony and exaggerated side of the character, and it ultimately trades all of the potential menace for looking weird.  He just ultimately looks goofy.   I do like the texturing on the scales for his arms and legs (though personally I do find them to end up looking a bit busy when compared to the figure from the Animated Series tie-in), but his proportions are super weird, with a very narrow (and high) waist, very wide hips, and arms that are different lengths.  His right hand is contorted into some sort of odd flipper thing, meant to hold the pumpkin bomb, but it doesn’t quite work out very practically.  There are two variations on this sculpt, in a similar fashion to Thor, with or without a lever to launch the arm action.  Mine is the one without, which looks a bit nicer.  His color work is perfectly fine.  Nothing particularly crazy, but he does all the things he’s supposed to, and the application is mostly alright, apart from some slight slop around some of the edges.  Goblin is packed with his glider and a pumpkin bomb.  They’re both nice enough pieces, but he can’t very easy hold the bomb, and there’s not really a way to balance him on the glider without it falling over.  But, for just playing around, it’s not bad.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The only Green Goblin in my collection in the ‘90s was the Famous Covers one, which is honestly one of that line’s stand-out pieces.  I eventually got a 5-inch Goblin early in the ‘00s, courtesy of a sale at a comic store, but that was the Animated Series one.  That one’s honestly pretty fantastic, and I had no real need to track down this one until I got more into properly completing the run.  This one’s rather new to me, as I got him late last year in a larger batch of early-run Toy Biz figures.  He’s not great, but also, I think he’s got more quirks to him than last week’s Doc Ock, so I ultimately enjoy him a bit more.  The Animated one is still the definitive take, but this one’s an interesting stepping stone to better things.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0072: Beast

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

BEAST

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Hey, we made it to Friday again!  Alright!  I’m so proud of us!  We just keep making it happen!  Yay!  …Look, I hope no one finds the Friday pep-talks too off-putting.  I figure we could all use a bit of a regular pick-me-up these days.  I certainly can.  Today’s pick-me-up comes in the form of a guy who certainly possesses the strength to actually pick me up, because it’s Hank McCoy, aka The Beast!

“Blue-furred and boisterous, the Beast’s monstrous exterior conceals the fact that he possesses the mind of an articulate, well-read genius! Ever ready to answer the call should either man or mutant be in peril, the Beast employs both his dexterous digits and his scientific skills as a member of the X-Men.”

The ’90s X-Men line-up was a pretty sizeable, even just going by the cartoon’s more paired down version of the cast, which for a burgeoning toy line can be a slightly daunting prospect. It took several assortments to make their way through the main cast. Founding member Beast was a later addition, though certainly not the latest. I’m taking a look at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Beast was released in Series 6 of the Toy Biz X-Men line. Aside from the cartoon-creation Morph, he was the only X-Man proper in the line-up. The same figure would subsequently be re-issued as part of the “Classics” line-up which put out all of the main cartoon cast in one assortment, and then again as part of the Marvel Universe line. The three figures are essentially identical, and it’s worth noting that my figure comes from the “Classics” release. This figure’s sculpt would also serve as the inspiration for both the 10-inch and Steel Mutants figures. The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation…in theory. In reality, it’s more like 7, because his action feature makes the joints at the knees and ankles effectively useless. Said action feature is dubbed “Mutant Flipping Power” and means that there are springs in his knee and ankle joints, which are supposed to allow him to flip. In my experience, it was never a very reliable feature and just made it rather hard to keep the figure standing. Tied into the feature was this weird switch thing on the figure’s back, for which I’ve never figured out the purpose. His sculpt definitely follows that early ’90s look for the character, at his most bulked up and monstrous. Nevertheless, he’s still got that sophisticated Henry McCoy expression on his face, as if he’s contemplating the moral quandaries of his current heroic endeavor. The rest of the sculpt is surprisingly smooth for such a hairy guy, especially when compared to other, similarly textured characters from this and surrounding series. I can only guess they were going for more of a stylistic thing on Hank. The figure’s pretty light on the paint front, with most of him being just molded in a light blue. There’s a bit of paint for his shorts and belt, as well as his eyes and teeth. For whatever reason, his eyes are solid yellow; he’s gone back and forth between having pupils and pure white eyes, but the yellow’s more of a Nightcrawler thing usually. Beast was packed with a suction cup-sporting bar to hang from, which was cool enough, though the suction cup long ago fell off of mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t actually recall much about getting this figure. I think he was one of those “my Dad got one and then I also wanted one” figures. I certainly would have wanted him for the purposes of filling out my X-Men line-up. He’s an okay figure. The action feature gets in the way here more than on most Toy Biz figures, which can be annoying, but his sculpt’s fairly decent, and he definitely fit with that toon aesthetic. 

I reviewed this one at the tail end of 2019, and it’s another one of those ones kind of lost to the blur of that period of time, so I remember very little about actually writing it.  Seems like I generally did alright by him.  Since writing this review, looking at card backs for the figure reveals that the weird flippy thing on his back is *supposed* to aid in his whole back-flip ability.  It doesn’t, but it’s supposed to.  At the time of review, I had *most* of my figure’s primary accessory, his bar with attached suction cup, but it was missing the suction cup, which felt important, so I found a replacement.  The Classics re-release (which was the one I had) also gave him GW Bridge’s machine gun for…reasons. Also, the back of the box showed him with Apocalypse’s staff, and the packaged images I’ve found online don’t have it, but I’ve got way too many Apocalypse staffs in my possession to have come from my Apocalypse, and I do recall my Beast including one, so I’m leaning towards maybe there was a running change?  Or, perhaps I’m just crazy.  Maybe I’ve just been unknowingly stealing other people’s Apocalypse staffs this whole time.  Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing I’ve done.

#4036: Dr. Octopus

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

DR. OCTOPUS

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Mankind beware! Dr. Octopus is an evil scientist who will stop at nothing in order to become the ultimate crime lord! With his suction-cupped tentacles, Dr. Octopus can climb almost any smooth surface. And with his two-grasping tentacles, he can lock onto any object with a merciless, unbreakable grip of steal!”

Throughout Spider-Man’s history, Dr. Octopus and Green Goblin have spent quite a bit of time circling each other as Spidey’s primary nemesis.  In the ‘70s, when Mego offered up the first proper figures of Spider-Man and his associated rogues, it was Goblin who got the nod, but by the ‘80s Secret Wars line, Goblin was dead, so Ock made his figure debut.  Since Goblin was still dead in 1990, when Toy Biz took over the license, it was Ock who once more got the nod as Spidey’s first antagonist in Marvel Super Heroes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Octopus was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1990.  This was Doc Ock’s second figure, and first under Toy Biz’s tenure.  He’s sporting Ock’s classic costume from the ‘70s into the ‘80s, which disappeared from the comics the same year this figure was released.  It was the only time Toy Biz released this look during their 5-inch run.  The figure stands just under 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation, as well as four bendy arms for the tentacles.  Ock’s sculpt was all-new, and unique to him.  It’s in the same general style as the other early line figures, taking a bit from Toy Biz’s DC Super Heroes line and its Super Powers influence.  It’s…not one of the strong sculpts from the early run.  His body shape is just sort of odd; Ock is usually depicted as a little on the heftier side, but here he’s just weirdly shaped, not like an actual person.  His arms are very long, his shoulders are very narrow, and his hips are very wide.  Also, he appears to have boobs?  The head is rather large, and it’s ugly, but not really in the way that Doc Ock is usually ugly.  He just looks really malformed.  The tentacles are at least a bit better.  It’s hard to screw up the basic banded metal look, and they didn’t, so good for them.  The front two have pincers for gripping, and the back two have suction cups.  They can’t hold him aloft, but they can aid in keeping him standing, which is honestly pretty nice.  Ock’s paint work is basic, and not anything crazy.  The hair is red, which seems wrong, and coverage is spotty in a few places, but it generally gets the job done.  Ock doesn’t get any accessories, but with the tentacles, he feels like a pretty equivalent value to the other figures in the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I found myself between releases of Doc Ock, having missed this one and the initial cartoon release.  I never really had any particular attachment to the character, at least until Spider-Man 2 came along, so the figure from that line would have been my first Doc Ock.  I got this one about five or six years ago, when he got traded into work with a bundle of other Marvel Super Heroes figures.  He’s not great, if I’m honest.  A lot of these earlier Toy Biz figures have a certain charm, but Ock’s not one of them.  The tentacles are cool, but the figure attached to them is *rough.*

#4032: The Punisher

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

PUNISHER

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“The Punisher has an explosive arsenal designed to bring any criminal to justice! To “load” his weapon, thread the caps into the top of the Punisher’s back pack and advance them into position by raising and lowering the Punisher’s right arm. Once the caps are “loaded”, pull the Punisher’s arm back until it locks into position. Next, select from his arsenal his Bazooka, Uzi, Pistol, or Sniper Rifle, put it in his hand, aim, release the trigger on his back and watch how the Punisher’s arm realistically raises and lowers as each cap is fired! (Caps Not Included)”

In preparation for today’s review, I double checked some older reviews, as I do, and discovered I haven’t reviewed a Punisher figure since 2020.  Of course, I also reviewed, like, five Punishers in a single year span there, which is literally half of the Punishers I’ve reviewed, so I guess maybe I just exhausted my initial supply.  Today, I’m bringing him back around in the most me way possible, with a Toy Biz 5-inch figure.  In fact, it was his very first Toy Biz 5-inch figure, and his very first figure in general.  Let’s check that guy out! 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Punisher was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, and also saw a re-release in Series 4 of the line, which was predominantly a re-release assortment.  He’s sporting his classic design, which was still his main look at this point, as we hadn’t yet made it to the War Journal era.  The figure is just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  His sculpt would serve as the basis for the three other Punishers in this same line, as well as the talking one.  Like the other Series 1 figures from this line, he shows a lot of similar stylings to their DC Superheroes line, and by extension has a bit of an off-brand Super Powers feel.  Frank in particular feels quite soft around the edges for this particular character.  Not exactly the intimidating presence you might expect fro a guy that regularly mows down criminals.  His actual details are also rather soft, and sort of only partly formed.  Details like ears and jawline are sort of mushy.  I do appreciate that they at least put some folding and creasing around his ankles to properly show off his boots; it’s not the sort of detail you’d expect, but it’s cool.  Because Toy Biz was very much a fan of stealing the notes from other successful toylines, they took a page out of the Kenner Robocop book and designed Punisher to have a cap firing feature, worked into the back of the figure’s torso.  It’s a rather obvious construction, and doesn’t really line up with his design, so it represents hampering the final figure in a way that Toy Biz wasn’t really much for with later releases.  His paintwork was fine, but not really anything special.  There’s some decent base level work, and his insignia in particular is quite clean.  Other areas are a bit more prone to slop, and like a lot of the earlier figures, he’s rather prone to wear.  While the Punisher did *not* include the caps for his cap-firing feature, he did include four different weapons, though I don’t know that they’re quite the “Bazooka, Uzi, Pistol, & Sniper Rifle” indicated by the back of the box text.  Pistol and Uzi, for sure, but the other two are clearly an M-16ish sort of rifle and a shotgun.  Whatever the case, he can only hold them one at a time, which feels rather limiting, if I’m honest.  But, the variety is nice regardless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had no interest at all in the Punisher until Jon Bernthal played him in Daredevil, so the only one of him I had as a kid was the one that I couldn’t avoid getting because it was in a boxed set.  That said, I certainly remember the character, and this figure in particular was on the back of the box for other figures I got growing up, so I always had this sort of curiosity about this figure and his later variants.  A few years ago, a sizable batch of loose Marvel Super Heroes figures were traded into All Time, and this guy was among them, suprisingly complete.  He’s not great, but I’ll admit I wasn’t really expecting him to be.  He’s an interesting curiosity, though.

Flashback Friday Figure Addenum #0070: Sabretooth

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

SABRETOOTH

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  Which is actually almost true for me, but it’s actually last week’s Friday because I had to write all of this week’s reviews in advance.  So, I have no clue how this week went, or how desperately we all need it to end.  Personally, I’m just hoping we’re all still hanging in here.  We did it guys.  I’m proud of us.  Anyway, let’s get all flashback-y, and figure addendum-y, with some returning focus for Sabretooth!

“Sabretooth is Wolverine’s greatest enemy. Both are products of the Top-Secret Weapon X program. But instead of using his super-sharp claws and fighting abilities for good, Sabretooth became the Evil Mutants’ master assassin! Sabretooth has the same powers as Wolverine, including a mutant healing ability. What makes Sabretooth so dangerous is the fact that he’s even more savage in battle than Wolverine! When the two of them fight, it’s anyone’s guess who will win.”

Despite his connection to Wolverine, Victor Creed, better known as Sabretooth, first appeared as a foe to Iron Fist. Like fellow X-foe Mystique, he was an example of long-time X-scribe Chris Claremont spreading the love so to speak, and introducing characters he intended to use in X-Men in some of his other books. Whatever his source, he’s been an enduring foe for Wolverine and the X-Men, and was at the height of his popularity alongside them in the ’90s, when he got his first action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sabretooth was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. He’s based on Sabretooth’s original John Byrne-designed costume, which, interestingly enough, Sabretooth had just ditched in the comics at the time of this figure’s release. The early line was kind of plagued with things like this, which is why characters had a tendency to show up a second time pretty quickly (Sabretooth’s second figure would arrive just three series later). The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. Sabretooth lacked neck articulation, a surprisingly common phenomenon in the early years of the line. Unlike other figures this happened to, Sabretooth doesn’t really have any specific gimmicks preventing a neck joint from being added, so I guess it was just a design thing. Whatever the case, it’s a bit limiting on posing. Sabretooth’s sculpt was unique to him. It’s okay, but not really anything to write home about. It leans closer to the weaker of the Series 1 sculpts than it does the stronger Series 2 sculpts. The details are rather soft, especially on the face, the hair is rather oddly shaped, and the proportions are really on the scrawny side for a Sabretooth figure. His paintwork is pretty basic; the standard colors are all handled decently. The two shades of yellow for the fur and his hair are kind of close to each other, meaning they kind of blend together and look kind of odd. Sabretooth was packed with this weird sort of claw thing to hold. He also had an action feature, where the front plate of his stomach could be flipped back and forth. One side is clean, while the other has claw marks, thereby simulating his healing factor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time I was collecting, this figure had vanished from shelves, replaced by his more cartoon-indicative second figure, so that was the one I had. I picked this one up a couple of years ago second hand. Part of his appeal was being the first copy of this guy I’d seen without horrible paint scraping on the eyes. He’s not really a great figure…or even a particularly good figure. I guess if you really like his original costume, that’s a plus, but it’s not even the best version of that costume on the market.

This was a spring of 2019 review, and I recall being rather burned out at this point, which I think shows a bit in the writing.  Admittedly, Sabretooth isn’t the most inspiring of figures, so I can’t blame myself exclusively.  I think I did okay with the basics.  He’s really not a terribly impressive first outing for the character, so it’s nice that he got a second go so quickly.  When I reviewed him, he was missing his weird orange weapon thing.  But now he’s got it.  And it’s all weird and orange.  But it’s there.  So…you know, there it is.

#4028: Breakdown

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

BREAKDOWN

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Roaming the world of 2099 are a group of nomads called the Freakshow – men and women used as lab rats in the twisted experiments of corporate America. Breakdown is one of them. Genetically engineered to transmute the molecules of any object he lays hands on, Breakdown’s touch results in destruction. Enraged over being made outcasts in the name of science, Breakdown and the Freakshow are out for revenge.”

The 2099 imprint at Marvel was not shy when it came to world-building, and in the case of X-Men, they were pretty invested in creating equivalents for stuff from the present timeline.  Since the present day X-Men had their own band of “unsightly” mutant outcasts in the form of the Morlocks, X-Men 2099 had their own, the Freakshow.  And, since Callisto wasn’t around for her usual edgy leader duties, instead we got today’s focus, Breakdown!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Breakdown was part of the second (and ultimately final) series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toyline.  He’s a non-team member in an assortment that’s sparse on actual team members, which is a bit odd since they didn’t really come anywhere close to an actual team line-up, but hey, it is what it is.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Breakdown’s sculpt is another all-new one, and one that again remained unique to this figure.  It’s very much in keeping with the others in the line, so it looks a fair bit like Ron Lim’s illustrations for the series, and it also fits well with the other figures Toy Biz was doing at the time.  Dig that mullet, which is apparently back in style in 2099.  Or maybe it’s not.  He’s an outcast, after all.  The sculpt is largely basic in its detailing, but there’s a bit more texturing in what you can see of his skin.  You can also see more of that texturing through the magic of his “battle-damage” feature, which allows you to remove a segment of his costume on his torso.  It’s actually a pretty cool little feature, adding a fun little extra, while also staying in place pretty securely, and not being too incredibly obvious when it’s in place.  Breakdown’s color work is a pretty decent match for the character’s admittedly rather oddball colors from the comics.  Things are pretty clean for the most part (though my figure has a touch of wear), but there’s some coverage issues along some of the edges, notably his hairline.  Breakdown is packed with a whole other guy, namely Dominick, who is his sidekick.  At least, according to the box.  I don’t know.  I can’t say I really know Dominick, beyond his presence here.  I will say he’s a pretty neat li’l guy, and I do quite like him.  Like a lot.  Now I want to read all six of his appearances.  I would die for this guy.  Just straight up going all Rosa Diaz with the puppy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Breakdown loose with the rest of the line a few years back, but he was missing the Dominick figure, and as I have discovered in the process of writing this review, that’s apparently a deal breaker for me, so I tracked down another just to get Dominick.  Knowing nothing about either character, I gotta say, I really like this pair.  Definitely another solid offering from a line I knew very little about going in.

#4024: Skullfire

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

SKULLFIRE

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Tim Fitzgerald was living a tough life alone on the streets when he was approached by Shakti and invited to join the X-Men. Able to absorb and store electricity on a cellular level and redirect it with devastating results, Tim is a mutant with extraordinary, as yet untapped, potential. Picking up the reigns after former team leader X’ian’s betrayal, Tim now leads the X-Men against their opponents as the smoldering Skullfire!”

Man, the X-Men 2099 cast is not beating the “drawing two random words out of a hat to make the names” allegations at all, are they?  It was the ‘90s, that’s just how we were.  Admittedly, Skullfire’s got a better claim to his grab-bag sort of name than Bloodhawk did, so I’m less inclined to fight it….from a design standpoint.  Power-wise?  Eh, I’m still iffy, but I’ll let it go. Right, so let’s look tat this here Skullfire figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skullfire is the final figure in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toy line.  There were originally two more, but La Lunatica got pushed back to the second series, and Controller 13 was scrapped entirely.  Skullfire himself is a sensible choice, what with being the team’s leader and central character.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s got a rather basic articulation scheme for the time, which serves him well enough, and means that, unlike the last three figures I looked at from this line, he can turn his head.  Crazy stuff, right?  His sculpt was new to this figure, and would remain unique to him.  It’s respectable.  Stylistically, it fits right in with the rest of the line, and generally captures the Ron Lim vibes.  That being said, he’s based on the character’s earliest appearances in the series, prior to the addition of the oh-so-90s headband that became standard to his appearance.  His hair is also a little shorter and more contained than it tended to be.  All that said, it looks fine for a guy named Skullfire, so I really can’t fault it.  Perhaps the coolest part of the figure is how they did his forearms; there are “bones” inlaid into the mold, and the outer arm is cast in a clear plastic, so he’s got that neat x-ray effect going on, just like in the comics.  Skullfire has two “action features.”  His forearms are molded in a glow-in-the-dark plastic, so the “glow” (sort of), and his right arm also has a spring-loaded feature, triggered by the lever on his back.  Skullfire’s color work actually had two variations (much like most of the first series figures), where the yellow sections of the costume were either a slightly metallic yellow or a darker gold.  The one seen here is the yellow.  Otherwise, application’s the same, and honestly not bad.  He captures the color scheme of the comics well, and things are generally pretty cleanly handled.  Skullfire is packed with two removable bracer pieces, as well as a flame knife, which is more or less the same as the one included with Brimstone Love, but smaller to better fit on this figure’s wrist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much like Metalhead and Bloodhawk, I got my initial Skullfire in a larger lot that had pretty much the whole run of these guys, but he was missing his bracers, so I snagged a sealed one later to get a fully complete one.  I rather like this one.  Vibes wise, he very much feels on par with Meanstreak, who is my unquestionable favorite from this line, which serves Skullfire pretty well.  He’s not quite accurate to most of the character’s depictions, but then I don’t have much experience with the character, so that impacts me less.  As it stands, he’s a solid figure with some really fun little details, especially those forearms.  He’s nifty and I like him.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.