Tag Archives: Toy Biz

#0259: Professor X – Space Rider

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

PROFESSOR X

X-MEN SPACE RIDERS

SpaceX1

X-Men. In Space! Yeah, I know, it’s a really highbrow concept. It was the late 90s, what do you want? Besides, the X-Men have actually spent a fair bit of time in space, so outfitting them with Space gear isn’t the worst possible idea, now is it? Plus, it totally gives the toymakers another excuse to re-release all the main X-Men that people just love buying. How could it go wrong? It couldn’t, it just couldn’t. Fool proof plan here. So, let’s just take a look at the Professor X from this line up, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpaceX2Professor X was released as part of the first, and only, series of X-Men Space Riders. The line was an off-shoot of the main X-Men line, much the same way the Savage Land line was. The figures were released as boxed items, along with some sizeable accessories. Space Riser Professor X stands about 5 inches tall and features 7 points of articulation. As far as I can tell, the Professor got a whole new sculpt for this line. They didn’t even reuse the same head like they did on the last one! The sculpt is a bit strange in a few areas, most notably the strange way his legs connect to his torso. One thing I do really like is the hydraulics on his legs, as they make for a good explanation to how exactly Charles is up and walking around. The right hand is sculpted around a bit of metal to aid in the figure’s interface with his vehicle, so it ends up looking a little bit on the odd side. The paint work is basic, but for the most part it’s cleanly applied, with very few issues of slop or bleed over. Professor X features a removable helmet, which fits nicely and looks super cool, and a “Space Sled,” which includes two missiles and at one point had a light up feature. The sled is an interesting piece, and interlocks with the sleds included with the rest of the series to form one big space ship. Thrilling!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Professor X was purchased from my local comic book store just a few weeks ago. The owner had just gotten in a selection of older action figures, and had them all sitting on a table for $5.99 a piece. I had never gotten any of the Space Riders back in the day, apart from a Cyclops I got loose, but I was always fascinated by the figures. So, for $6, I figured it was worth the purchase. Professor X is a little dated compared to more recent figures, but I can’t help but look at this figure and think “Man, that looks cool!”

#0255: Spider-Man – Spider-Sense

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

SPIDER-MAN – SPIDER -SENSE

MARVEL 10-INCH

Spider-SenseSpidey

In the 90s, Toybiz was at the height of their popularity with their massive 5-inch scale Marvel line. However, this wasn’t enough for them. Since the figures were sculpted in two-up form, meaning they were sculpted at twice the size, they could easily reproduce the figures in a larger 10-inch scale, thereby doubling their profits! They started out by producing separate lines much in the same manner their 5-inch lines were handled, before ultimately meshing all the lines into one. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of their variants of Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man was released early in the 10-inch line, prior to the move to a merged series. As such, he was released under the Spider-Man brand. The figure stands about 10 inches tall and features 11 points of articulation. The figure is based on his “spider-sense” look, which is how his spider senses would occasionally be portrayed, most notably in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which most of these figures took influence from. It was a fairly popular look to do, as it also appeared in the 5-inch line. Interestingly, this figure is not just a larger version of that figure, or even just a simple repaint of the basic Spider-Man. He looks to share his head and legs with the basic Spider-Man, but the Torso and arms appear to be all new. This appears to have been done to allow use of the figure’s suction cup feature, which allows you to simulate Spidey’s wall crawling abilities by sticking him to windows and stuff. However, the weight of the figure prevents him from staying in place for very long. The figure seems lankier than some of the other Spider-Men of the time, which is actually nice to see. The paint work is pretty good, if a bit basic. There don’t appear to be any issues with sloppiness and there isn’t really any chance for bleed over. You’ll notice that my figure has taken a bit of wear and tear. The figure included no accessories to my knowledge.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As far as I recall, Spider-Man was a gift to me from one of my parents’ friends. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but it was probably for my birthday or something. I believe it was one of the earlier 10-inch figures I received, and it was certainly the first Spider-Man. It’s a fun little figure, though not one I would seek out on my own. At the time, however, I was just happy to be getting more action figures!

#0244: Professor X – Astral Projection

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PROFESSOR X – ASTRAL PROJECTION

X-MEN

ProfXAstral

Professor X is typically a guy in a wheel chair, typically wearing a fairly average suit and tie. As such, he might not seem like the most toyetic character. However, he’s actually gotten quite a fair share of action figures over the years, of many different varieties. Today, I’ll be looking at one of the more out there versions.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Professor X was a part of the “Mutant Armor” Series of the Toybiz X-Men line. He stands about 5 inches tall and features 8 points of articulation. The figure is based on the look Xavier would sometimes sport when having one of his “battles of the mind.” None of the pieces are original to this figure. The head comes from the previous Professor X figure. The body is an interesting story. Originally, it was meant to be released as US Agent in the third series of Toybiz’s Iron Man line, before the figure was cut from the lineup (Ironically, the figure did eventually see an unsanctioned release overseas). Then, the mold was retooled slightly to be used as Living Laser in the fifth series of Iron Man. This series ended up cancelled entirely, and the mold was once again in limbo. Finally, Toybiz got it out with this figure. Oh boy. Honestly, it’s not even the greatest sculpt. On both of the previous figures to use the body, the head was the main draw. The body’s a bit pudgy, and the torso just looks weird. On the plus side, the figure is molded in some pretty sweet translucent red plastic, which always makes a figure better. He has minimal paintwork, but what’s there is pretty solid overall. The eyebrows seem a bit bold, but maybe Professor X just pictures himself with big bushy eyebrows. The figure included a two piece snap on chest plate, a two piece belt, shin armor, a lightning bolt, and a launching disc shield.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Professor X was yet another purchase from the Balticon dealer’s room. Hey, they had $3 X-Men figures, and I’m weak, what can I say? In the 90s, when these figures were still new, finding old releases was virtually impossible, so getting the more basic Professor X was a no go. So, my dad had this figure as his default Professor X for his X-Men shelf. I never had one of my own, but I was always fascinated with the figure. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I was thrilled to get this guy. I know I was a little rough on the body sculpt, but this figure really is just a lot of fun.

#0243: Wolverine – Spy

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

WOLVERINE V – SPY WOLVERINE

X-MEN

SpyWolverine

You can’t venture far into a discussion about X-Men without running into Wolverine. This is even more true when it comes to the X-Men in the 90s, when Wolverine was at insane levels of popularity. As a young, impressionable child at the time, I was of course a huge fan of the character. More recently, I’ve started to enjoy the character less and less, mostly due to his severe over-exposure, but he’s spawned more than a few action figures, and I can always appreciate a good action figure. So, is today’s figure a “good action figure?” Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This is the fifth version of Wolverine released in Toybiz’s X-Men line. He was part of the fourth series of the line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 11 points of articulation, as well as a mechanism that raises his arms when his torso is rotated. You know, for claw-slashin’ and the like. This particular version of Wolverine is based on his “spy” look from his time working for Weapon X. The sculpt appears to be unique to the figure, though it is possible that the head may have been shared with one of the other Wolverine figures from the line. It’s not a bad sculpt, and it fits in nicely with the rest of the line style-wise. His goggles and com-link thingy are attached via a swivel joint, so they can be swung out of his face or removed all together. Unfortunately, they end up being a bit on the large side, which makes Wolverine look more like a snorkeler than a spy. The paint work is fairly minimal, but it’s mostly applied pretty well. The face, however, seems to have gotten the worst of it. He’s kind of got this wide-eyed stare, and his pupils look way too big, which makes him look a bit high. Makes you wonder exactly what kind of stuff Weapon X had him on. Maybe that’s why he can’t remember his past! Wolverine comes packed with 6 knife-type weapons, which can be stored in the various slots on his uniform. How convenient.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wolverine is yet another figure purchased from the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. Like yesterday’s Iceman, I got him because I didn’t already have him, and he was $3. He’s not as good a figure as either of the Icemen, but I suppose he’s not terrible. I certainly won’t be singing the figure’s praises, though I will admit I got quite a laugh upon removing the goggles and seeing those eyes staring back at me.

SpyWolverine2

#0242: Iceman -Armored

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

ICEMAN – ARMORED

X-MEN

IcemanArmored

Like I said yesterday, the 90s X-Men line was very important to me when I was growing up. It’s still one of my favorite lines, and I still enjoy picking up figures I don’t have when I see them. Today, I’m looking at another version of founding X-Man, Iceman. Let’s have a look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceman was released as part of the “Mutant Armor” Series of the Toybiz X- Men line. Or, if you’re a fan of typos on mass released toys, the “Muntant Armor” Series. The figure stands around 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation, as well as an action feature that allows the height of the ice on his back to be raised. The figure is based primarily on Iceman’s design from the 90s X-Men crossover “Age of Apocalypse.” The figure creates this look by reusing the body of Iceman II, released in the “Invasion” series of the X-Men line, with a new head. The body is a nice replication of the “spiky” look that Iceman sported for a good portion of the 90s. The head features the character’s mouth-less look from the crossover, which looks pretty cool! The figure’s paint is a little uneven, in all honesty. They’ve attempted to do an air-brushed mist look on the figure, but it doesn’t really work. It’s really heavy on the head and neck, but practically non-existent on the rest of the figure, which makes for a jarring change. Being part of the “Mutant Armor” Series, Iceman is packed with hand and feet attachments to armor him up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like the last 3 reviews, this Iceman was purchased from the Balticon dealer’s room. I mostly picked him up because he was a 5-inch X-Men figure I didn’t already have, and he was $3. He’s a pretty neat figure, and probably one of the more interestingly sculpted figures in the line. He was definitely worth the purchase!

#0241: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

X-MEN

Iceman

I’m not quite sure how much I’ve touched on this, but Toybiz’s X-Men line from the 90s was incredibly important to forming my collecting habits. It was a very expansive line, and offered me the opportunity to own almost every character from the 90s cartoon in plastic form. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorite lines of figures. Sure, some of the figure’s haven’t aged the greatest, but they instill me with lots of fond memories. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the coolest X-Man around, Iceman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This version of Iceman was actually released twice. Once in the third series of Toybiz’s X-Men line, and later as part of another X-Men line released exclusively to Kaybee Toys a few years later. This particular is from the later release, but the two figures are virtually indistinguishable. The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The figure is based on Iceman’s classic design, but the cuffed boots seem to indicate his late silver age design. The figure is molded in clear plastic so as to replicate Bobby in his full ice mode, after he learned how to actually transform himself into ice. The sculpting is actually pretty good for an early 90s piece, though his hands do seem a little bit on the large side. Still, the figure has a grade blocky sculpt that really makes him look like he’s been chiseled out of ice. The paint work is pretty simple but what’s there is pretty good. They’ve used some white paint to do some “icicle” detailing. It looks a bit strange to be honest, but it’s not too apparent when the figure is on display. Iceman includes a stand shaped like an ice sled. There’s a block around the foot pegs that could be filled with water, which could in turn be frozen around the figure’s feet, allowing you to make an actual ice sled. It’s gimmicky, but it’s an entertaining gimmick at least.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was purchased in the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. This is actually the second of this figure I’ve bought. I got the first one years ago from Kaybee Toys. However, I used that one’s freeze gimmick numerous times, and little did I know that this would cause the figure’s clear plastic to become more brittle. My poor first figure’s legs bot snapped off at the hips, which was a serious bummer (that’s actually him in the Wilson photo; you can even see the apoxy holding his legs in place). When I saw this figure in a box with a bunch of other 5 inch X-Men, I was more than happy to once again have this guy in my collection. I certainly won’t be putting this one in the freezer!

#0229: Green Goblin

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

GREEN GOBLIN

SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE (TOYBIZ)

 

The first Spider-Man movie may have been surpassed by other superhero movies in recent years, but when it was released it was my favorite superhero movie, and remained in that spot until it was dislodged by its sequel. The movie was also one of the earliest comicbook based movies to get a decent tie-in toyline, on par with, and perhaps even better than the comic stuff at the time. I’m certain it surprises no one that I owned a few of the figures from that toyline, and today I’ll be looking at one of the figures of the film’s big bad, the Green Goblin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Goblin was part of the first series of Spider-Man movie figures. The figure stands 6 inches tall and features 38 points of articulation. He has an all new sculpt based on Willem Dafoe’s performance as the character in the film. It’s a pretty good sculpt and, whether you like the suit or not, it’s a good representation of the suit’s design. Under the figure’s removable mask is an unmasked Norman Osborn head, which bares more than a passing resemblance to Dafoe. The resemblance might be a bit closer were it not for the slick back hair style, but it was necessary in order to facilitate the removable mask feature. The mask is a well done piece and is essentially a scaled down version of the real thing, though it is missing the backing it had in the movie. This is once again to aid the removability. The paintwork is cleanly applied, with no real issues with slop or bleed over. His skin tone is a tad too yellow for my tastes, but only a tad. The figure came packaged with his goblin glider and a flight stand, but both of mine have been lost. Sorry! (EDIT: Okay, not quite…)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Green Goblin from the KB Toys in my local mall shortly after the first series was released. That would have been a few months before the release of the movie. For some reason, I wanted Green Goblin, but none of the other figures in the series. So, I only had the Goblin for a while. He’s a quality figure for sure, but that goblin costume looks worse every time I see it.

#0206: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS

IceMan

It’s not a line I have fond memories of in hindsight, but when it was brand new, I was all about ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends. It was THE line to collect in the early 2000s, and it offered “hyper-detailed” versions of classic characters. Looking back, there are a few gems from those early lines, but most of the figures just end up looking like an oddly shaped mess. A very well-articulated oddly shaped mess, but a mess nonetheless. Today’s figure comes from the latter group.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceman was released in the 8th series of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends. He’s a little over 6 inches tall and features 44 points of articulation, which is a lot. However, like many of the ToyBiz era ML figures, a lot of this articulation cancels itself out. I think this was when ToyBiz was more interested in jamming in articulation just because they could. Iceman has a new head on a body re-used from the Black Costume version of Spider-Man in Toybiz’s Spider-Man line around the same time. The body worked okay for Spider-Man, but it just seems really strange looking for Iceman. The proportions are very strange, especially around the shoulders, where he has 6 joints on each side. It just doesn’t look right. The head sculpt is pretty good, but it seems weird seeing it on that odd body. The paint work is a bit uneven. They’ve gone with a blue airbrush technique, but it looks different from piece to piece. This gets rather distracting when the figure is completely assembled. Iceman came packaged with a display stand that looked like a damaged sentinel hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Believe it or not, I was actually pretty excited for Iceman at the time of his release. I was working on an X-Men set-up at the time, so I guess I was excited to get such a key player. If I remember correctly, Iceman was a gift from my parents, I think for Valentine’s Day. Yeah, my parents used to buy me toys for Valentine’s Day. There really was no escaping the collection, was there?

#0188: Eric the Red

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

ERIC THE RED

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Eric the Red was a famous Viking, known for being the father of—wait, sorry. That’s not the right Eric the Red. Right. Umm… Eric the Red was an alias used by X-Man Cyclops in order to infiltrate a group of villains so he could rescue the rest of the X-Men. What? Still not right? Hang on….

Here it is: Eric the Red was a member of the Shi’ar Empire, the alien race most notable for really hating the Phoenix. He actually stole the identity from Cyclops, for reasons unknown, and used Shi’ar tech to mind control Havok and Polaris into battling the current team of X-Men. Mostly, he’s known for his appearances in the 90s X-Men cartoon during the show’s version of The Phoenix Saga, which is what earned him this figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Eric the Red was released in the “Invasion Series” of ToyBiz’s X-Men line. In all honesty, I’m a bit surprised he wasn’t part of the wave meant to tie-in to The Phoenix Saga, but I guess ToyBiz was just making everything X-Men related at the time. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. That’s a bit less than the norm, mostly due to his lack of knee joints. I’m not really sure why he’s missing them, but they do cause him to be a little difficult to get to stand properly. From a sculpting standpoint, the figure’s amazing. The 90s X-Men line could be a bit odd or overly simplistic at times (doesn’t mean I don’t still love them), but this one is genuinely great. He pretty much looks dead on to Dave Cockrum’s interpretation of the character, which is really cool to see. There’s an amazing amount of sculpted detail, and I especially love how well the head’s been handled. It just looks perfect. The paint work isn’t quite as astounding as the sculpting, but it’s all well applied, and I do really like that all the red parts have been molded in metallic red. Eric included a crazy space blaster, which fit very nicely in his hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Eric was a Christmas gift from my parents. I received him, along with Havok, I believe. He was a very early addition to my action figure collection, and as such, I have a lot of nostalgia for this guy. It also helps that he was in The Phoenix Saga, which I owned on VHS, and that he is also just a pretty great figure. He also made for a really great bad guy for just about anyone to fight, which is always cool.

#0186: Kraven The Hunter

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

KRAVEN THE HUNTER

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Remember my review of Unmasked Spider-Man from just last week? Good, that means this intro can be a bit shorter. Like that figure, this one hails from ToyBiz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series line from the 90s, and also comes from one of the boxed sets ToyBiz released exclusively through BJ’s Wholesalers. This time around, it’s Kraven the Hunter, one of the classic Spider-Man foes. He was a hunter looking for a more exciting hunt, which led to him fighting Spidey on numerous occasions and eventually joining the first incarnation of the Sinister Six. Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kraven was released in the BJ’s exclusive Monster Mayhem set, which also included 5 other figures, all repaints. Kraven stands about 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation, which were both standard for the line. Kraven is 100% re-use, being a repaint of the main Spider-Man line’s own release of Kraven. The previous Kraven was based on his cartoon appearance, whereas this one seems to be more comic based. The biggest difference present is this figure’s leopard patterned pants in contrast to the previous figure’s black pants. The sculpt is a pretty good one, and is pretty in line with the classic Kraven design, so I can’t blame them for re-releasing it in a more comic accurate palate. The paint work is well applied and clean overall, and it appears to be a bit more detailed than the single release figure. Kraven included no accessories, which is a shame, because his hand is obviously molded to hold one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I acquired this BJ’s exclusive at KB Toys. Yes, you read that right. Apparently, BJ’s would only actually hold on to these sets for a short while before selling them to KB for the rest of the distribution. Hey, it works for me. Anyway, I was on a trip to the beach, I think right before my brother was born, but I don’t recall for certain. My dad took me to the nearby KB and they had this set there. I had known about its existence, thanks to the internet, but I hadn’t seen it in person. I remember being pretty happy to get it, though it wasn’t really for Kraven. Still, he’s a decent figure, and does help bring back the memories of getting the set.