Tag Archives: Wacky Variants

#1277: Pirate Two-Face & Pirate Batman

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

PIRATE TWO-FACE & PIRATE BATMAN

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

Remember when I reviewed Buccaneer Batman, the inexplicable pirate-themed Batman variant from super wacky ‘90s Legends of Batman line?  Well, he wasn’t the only inexplicable pirate-themed variant in the line.  Not by a long shot!  Today, I’m looking at the *other* pirate-themed Batman from the line, dubbed “Pirate Batman” (real original on that one, guys), alongside one of his pirate-themed foes, Pirate Two-Face (again, great job on the name, guys…).  Let’s have a look!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Pirate Two-Face and Pirate Batman were released in 1996 as one of the two two-packs from Kenner’s Legends of Batman.  These two wrapped up the Pirate subset that was started in Series 3 of the main line.

TWO-FACE

“After a tragic accident left half his body hideously scarred and half his mind horribly insane, the once promising ship’s captain Pirate Two-Face sailed the seven seas as the most ruthless pirate leader in the annals of history.  Upon boarding captured ships laden with treasures, Pirate Two-Face would decide the fate of the crew and passengers with the flip of a coin.  His unpredictability, unchecked greed, and sword fighting skills could be challenged by just one man, Pirate Batman, who he eluded at every port of call.”

So, in this pirate scenario, Two-Face is more or less unchanged, it seems.  Mostly, they just threw the word “pirate” in there a lot.  Fair enough.  It’s worth noting that this was Two-Face’s only figure in this line; Joker, Catwoman, and Riddler all had standard comic figures, but Harvey was stuck as a pirate all the time.  I mean, at least he got a figure at all, right?  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Pirate Two-Face was a unique sculpt, and it’s actually a pretty solid one.  His design plays up the “good vs evil” dichotomy, but in true pirate style.  Rather than his usual suit, Pirate Two-Face is half naval officer, half dastardly pirate captain.  His naval officer side is clean and pressed while the pirate side is disheveled and wrinkled like crazy.  His collar on the pirate side is even slightly popped, before settling back down on the “good” side.  The pirate side gets the usual facial scarring (which is surprisingly gruesome for a kid’s toyline), and he also seems to have lost an arm and a leg along the way, replacing them with a peg-leg and some sort of swiss army knife-sword-hook combo replacing them.  As a whole, he really sells the pirate angle pretty well, while still sticking close to the Two-Face side of things as well.  For paint, Pirate Two-Face is generally pretty good for the time; his colors are obviously split down the middle, with blue on the right and red on the left.  The changeover works pretty well, though there’s a bit of slop right on the line, where some of the primer coat under the red shows through.  Most annoyingly, the paint for his belt doesn’t continue all the way around, so it’s just flat blue and red back there.  It looks kind of sloppy.  Pirate Two-Face included no accessories, which is slightly odd, since his hand seems to be begging for something to hold.  He does have a “sword-fighting action”; when you turn the wheel in his back, his sword hand spins.  Woooooooooo!

BATMAN

“Taking it upon himself to make the world’s waterways safe from marauding bands and looters, Pirate Batman relentlessly scoured the seas in pursuit of the most villainous of them all—Pirate Two-Face.  Armed with a razor sharp sword and dagger, Pirate Batman was renowned for his extraordinary dueling ability and courage in the face of danger.  He ceaselessly hunted his evil foe with the split-personality, hoping to rid the seas of his maniacal menace once and for all!”

There was already a Buccaneer Batman in Series 3 of Legends of Batman, but I guess Kenner felt a second one was needed to be made.  The bios for the two indicate they actually might be two different people, which is a somewhat interesting idea.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  Of course, one of those points is on his right shoulder, which does jack-all in terms of posing, thanks to the outstretched arm.  The figure is actually a complete re-hash of Series 1’s Power Guardian Batman.  Admittedly, the Zorro stylings of that figure lend themselves to a pirate-theme as well, so it’s not a terrible re-use in theory.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t one of the stronger sculpts when it was new, and two years later, it felt even more out of place with the rest of the line, especially the pirate subset it belonged to.  He’s more pre-posed than even the worst of the Total Justice figures, in this really deep lunge.  Remember when I said Buccaneer Batman had the widest stance I’d seen?  Well, this guy’s topped him on that, which has the added bonus of making him virtually impossible to keep standing.  Also, I’m not really sure what’s going on with the left arm; it’s just at an odd angle, and the hand’s doing…something.  Not really sure what.  And it’s at least half an inch too long and isn’t attached to the shoulder in a natural way at all.  In general, the proportions are just super wacky on this guy.  The cape is a removable piece, and while it looks okay, it never really seems to sit right and it falls off a lot.  Pirate Batman’s paint is decent enough.  His scheme is actually somewhat reminiscent of the “Gotham By Gaslight” design, albeit slightly bluer.  I personally find this design to be a bit more exciting than the Power Guardian look, so I guess that’s a plus.  The figure is packed with the sword and dagger mentioned in the bio (they’re the same pieces included with the PG version).  He’s also got his own sword-fighting action, which works fairly similarly to Pirate Two-Face’s.  Honestly, it’s probably the best thing about the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t actually recall seeing this set when it was new.  It wasn’t until years later that I even knew that it existed.  When I dug out my Buccaneer Batman to write his review, my interest in completing the set was piqued.  A few months back, while picking up Super Awesome Girlfriend’s comics, I noted that the store had this set in stock.  Super Awesome Girlfriend, being who she is, insisted on getting them for me.  Pirate Two-Face is pretty cool.  Goofy, but cool.  Pirate Batman is…well, he’s the other figure in the set.  And that’s about it for him.  He just feels really tacked on, and almost as if he’s from another line entirely.  Still, the set’s more than worth it for Two-Face!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0003: Sonar Sensor Batman

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

0003aDid you guys notice I missed a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum?  Because I did, but not until last Saturday afternoon.  Lotta good that did me.  Well, I’m just gonna pretend like I didn’t miss a week.  Today, I’m continuing my chronological look at my earliest reviews with Sonar Sensor Batman!

Continuing the trend of my last two posts, I’m looking at another figure from 1995’s Batman Forever Line.  This guy isn’t quite as significant as the last two, so he’ll be a bit more brief.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, like I said above, Sonar Sensor Batman is another Batman Variant from the Batman Forever line.  This one’s a slightly more conventional Batman, though, like Robin, not THE conventional Batman of the line.  This one’s still got the cape because it’s permanently affixed, which was a good move on Kenner’s part.  And he’s got what appears to be a….nipple gun?  I mean, that’s what it looks like(And this is Scumacher we’re talking about here).  It’s right on his right pectoral, and it’s even got those red dots on it.  When you push the yellow button on his belt, the gun flips down, only emphasizing the nipple gun-ness of it.  And I have no idea what any of this has to do with sonar, or sensing for that matter.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Not a whole lot on this one.  I remember having it.  I remember thinking he had a nipple gun as a child.  I actually don’t know where I got this one, so I’m going to assume it was a gift.  Regardless, it didn’t really get much play-time as my go to Batman.

Nipple gun.  Heh!

So, this is yet another very brief review.  I really can’t even conceive of talking about a figure in so little words nowadays.

No articulation or height noted either; he’s another 5 and 5 for those that are curious.  Missing from my original review was his super sick neon orange shield.  Still have no clue where the “sonar” part of his name comes in, but he’s certainly well defended.  The center of the shield is a removable disc, which served as ammo for the disc launcher he also included (mine is, sadly, still missing).  It definitely ups the goof factor.  He can’t really stand very well while holding it, either; I had to do some very strategic posing for the photo.

I mentioned in the original review how this guy didn’t get much playtime as my go-to Batman, which is true, but a re-watch of the Batman: The Animated Series episode “His Silicon Soul” reminded me what he did get a lot of use as: Batman’s robotic duplicate.  …Who has a nipple gun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0001: Night Hunter Batman

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

0001a

Hey everyone!  Back in October, I made mention of finding a bunch of missing figure accessories and doing a bunch of photo reshoots and how that would mean the occasional addendum here and there in order to make older reviews as complete as possible.  Well, I’m finally getting off my butt and actually doing something with it.  Every Friday from now until I run out of updates, I’ll be linking to an old post, updating the images contained therein, and adding a few new comments about the figure or my review.  Without further ado, I present my first Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!

For today’s FFFA, I’m going back to my very first review of my very first action figure, Night Hunter Batman!

“The first post in my humble little blog is a review of the very first (well, technically second, but I’ll get to that in a minute) action figure in my not-so-small collection.  Yep, this is the one that started it all, and 2400 figures later, he does seem to be a bit of an odd choice.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Night Hunter Batman is a Batman variant from the tie-in line to 1995’s Batman Forever.  He’s black with some bright yellow accents, the obvious choice for creatures of the night.  He once had a cape with a pretty nifty windswept look to it, but I’ve long since lost it.  He also used to have an actual bat symbol on his chest, but if I recall correctly, he lost that fairly shortly after I acquired him.  I feel the true highlight (aside from the actual yellow HIGHLIGHTS) of the figure is the pop-up goggle feature.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends and rotates the goggles in front of old Bruce’s eyes.  You know, for detective-stuff.  Or going by the name of the figure, hunting stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Why, of all the action figures out there, was this my very first action figure?  I honestly can’t say.  I know I liked Batman, though I watched the TV series and in fact didn’t see Batman Forever until I was almost 20.  Maybe I liked the colors.  Most likely, it was the goggles.  I like goggles, and the whole focus of this little guy was those really neat goggles he had.

Remember when I pointed out above that this was technically my second action figure?  Yeah, funny story:  this particular Night Hunter Batman is a replacement for the first Night Hunter Batman, that by all accounts I gave to a girl at a restaurant.  Yes, even at 3, I was quite the charmer.  So, my parents drove me over to Toys R Us (Side-Note: Remember when Toys R Us didn’t suck?  I miss those days…) and purchased me this lovely replacement (EDIT: I stand corrected.  It wasn’t Toys R Us, it was Service Merchandise.  Man, there’s a blast from the past!) .  While there, my dad happened to wander down the aisle and find the Iron Man animated series toys, leading him to a) start his own collection up again b)introduce me to the wonders of Marvel Comics and c) even more directly lead me to my current state of being.  And it’s all because I was trying to impress a girl!  Silly girls!”

Wow, that was surprisingly brief, and left out a lot of the details I would now consider “standard.” It’s so quaint! 

It’s worth noting that Night Hunter Batman is about 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Also worth noting are his accessories, missing from the original review.  He had a removable cape, which has a nice windswept look to it, as well as this big…shield thing.  I don’t know.  It’s shaped like a bat. Sorta.  It’s a little hard to get him to hold it properly, and I’m not sure what purpose it would serve whist one hunts…at night…but it’s an entertaining enough piece.  There were also these claw attachments, which hooked onto those two bottom rungs of the shield, but those I truly have lost.

Since writing this review, discussing with my dad about why this was my first Batman, it came up that this was apparently the closest we could come to a standard Batman figure when I went to pick one out.  It would appear this guy got to be number one by sheer luck.  Good for him!

#1123: Bola Trap Robin

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

BOLA TRAP ROBIN

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

bolatraprobin1

Growing up, there were a handful of characters that I was pretty much guaranteed to by in action figure form every time I saw them (it’s not a practice I’ve completely abandoned.  Note my Havok, Wonder Man, and Poe Dameron collections).  One of these characters was Robin (specifically Dick Grayson.  When he switched to Nightwing, those were the figures I wanted), resulting in my collection tending to have more Robins than Batmen at any given point.  A good portion of the Robins in my collection are goofy variants, including today’s entry, “Bola Trap Robin.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

bolatraprobin2Bola Trap Robin was released in the fifth series of Kenner’s Batman: The Animated Series line.  He would also see a rerelease later on when the line was re-formatted under the Adventures of Batman & Robin banner, but mine’s the original.  The figure is about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation that were standard for the line.  At this point in the line, Kenner had moved away from focussing on show accurate stuff and had instead delved headfirst into the wacky variants that would define the Dynamic Duo’s toy presence for the next two decades.  That being the case, Robin is seen here in a costume he never sported in the cartoon, its tie-in comic, or any of the comics it was based on.  The design isn’t really in keeping with the designs on the show, mostly due to being a bit busier than they tended to be.  That being said, it’s not a bad design, per se, especially in regards to being on a toy, where business isn’t the worst thing.  It has some of the typical Robin costume elements, but also mixes in a little bit of the 1989 Batman design, and even a little bit of the ‘90s Nightwing look around the tops of the boots and gloves.  The quilted elements are interesting.  They’re well sculpted, but I do sort of wonder why he’s got them.  Are they to protect him from the titular “Bola Trap”?  Robin has a sort of a preposed nature to him, and is probably one of the earliest examples of this trend occurring in Kenner/Hasbro’s DC figures.  Fortunately, he’s nowhere near the level of something like Total Justice.  Rather, I’d guess that the pose on this guy is so that the figure can still stand while holding the big gimmicky weapon.  Robin’s head is the same basic piece that Kenner used on pretty much all of their animated Robins.  It’s hardly on the level of the DCC version in terms of accuracy, but it’s still a decent enough piece, and it fits with the slightly off styling of the whole Kenner line.  The cape, like all of the capes at this point in the line, is cloth.  This means it doesn’t get the proper yellow lining, but other than that, it’s not terrible.  Robin’s paintwork is decent enough.  There’s a clear effort to making him different from the basic Robin, giving him a yellow and black color scheme.  I’d say he was more of a stealth Robin, were it not for all the bright yellow.  Maybe he’s trying to blend into the same place where Night Hunter Batman’s hiding?  The application’s pretty clean overall.  There are a few fuzzy edges, and some slop here and there, but he’s more or less pretty good.  The main gimmick of this guy is, of course, the bola trap, which seems to translate to big…spinny…thingy.  I’m not sure what it is.  I don’t know that bola is an apt descriptor.  At least it’s not a missile launcher, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember in the intro, where I talked about collecting every figure of certain characters?  Well, I didn’t get this guy growing up.  Instead, in an event similar to the acquisition of the Talking Cyclops figure from earlier this summer, my family found this guy in an antique store about a month ago, and got me this on the pretense of there only being so many chances for them to pick me up a Robin that I didn’t have.  They gave me Robin, alongside a whole bag of things they’d gotten me, when I went up to visit over Halloween.  Also in the bag?  The complete soundtrack to Batman: The Animated Series, which served as my motivational music during this review!  Alright!

#0966: Buccaneer Batman

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

BATMAN – BUCCANEER

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

In Super Hero toylines, it’s rarely a shock to see wacky, non-cannon variants of the main heroes . After releasing a basic version of the heroes, variants are the easiest way to get them into every assortment. They’re kind of one of those necessary evils (and honestly, they aren’t even that evil). Oddly enough, in the mid-90s, Kenner released the Legends of Batman line, which was a line of figures pretty much exclusively devoted to weird variants of Batman and his supporting cast. Today, I’ll be looking at one of those Batmen, specifically Buccaneer Batman, because who doesn’t love pirates?

THE FIGURE ITSELF
Buccaneer Batman was released in the third series of Legends of Batman. He was part of the “Pirate” sub-line that Series 3 introduced, alongside First Mate Robin, Laughing Man Joker, and … Pirate Two-Face. Yeah, they kind of gave up on the names after “Buccaneer Batman.” The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation for a figure of the time. There’s a slight bit of limited motion on the right shoulder, thanks to his “Slamming Mace Action,” which would swing his arm downward when the button the figure’s back was pressed. As far as I know, this figure (and all the other Pirate figures) is not based on any particular comicbook appearance of Batman, but rather comes from the minds of Kenner. The design takes the classic Batman design, and makes a few tweaks here and there, to play up the whole pirate angle. His mask is no longer a cowl, but is instead a bandana tied into shape (though, how he got it to duplicate the bat ears is anyone’s guess). Gone is the utility belt, replaced by a simple sash, albeit one where he can still stow a batarang. He’s also got a belt running along his chest, which has a bat-logo affixed to it, just in case you didn’t know who this was. What’s slightly odd about the logo, though, is that it’s oriented parallel to the belt on his waist, despite the belt it’s attached to being diagonal. It almost feels like the logo was meant to be diagonal too, but then someone in DC’s merchandising insisted it be oriented flat, so as to not cause any brand confusion or something. Anyway, the design’s interesting enough. The actual sculpt isn’t bad, but it definitely has some oddities. For one thing, Batman’s really beefy, more so than he usually is depicted. Despite the fact that the costume is clearly meant to be loose and flowing, his muscles are still bulging through in every spot that they can. Also, he’s in a very strange pose, with one of the widest stances I’ve ever seen on an action figure. It’s not that this sculpt is bad, but rather that it seems uncertain of what it’s trying to do. Also, he did have a cape at one point, but I seem to have lost mine. Batman’s paint is fairly standard, but still pretty cool. He predominately uses the basic Batman colors, but they’ve given him red in place of the usual yellow. It makes it so this is clearly Batman, but he’s just different enough that you’re given pause. Plus, red seems more pirate-y anyway. Batman included a sword and a mace, both of which had been given slight bat-makeovers. He could only hold one at a time, and, if I’m honest, the sword was a lot cooler.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I received Batman (and his corresponding Robin) for my fourth birthday. I definitely recall seeing the commercials for this particular set of figures and being rather excited to get them. Which is odd, since I’ve never been much of a pirates guy, but whatever. The figure took quite a beating over the years, and as goofy as he is, I still have something of a soft spot for him. This figure, like the rest of the Legends of Batman line, goes to show that wacky variants aren’t inherently a bad thing, provided you’re having fun with them.

BuccaneerBatman3

#0950: Axe Attack Thor

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

ATTACK AXE THOR
THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER

ThorAA1Typically, when a superhero movie gets tie-in toys, the toy company wants to be able to cram as many versions of the main character into the line as possible. This means they tend to invent a bunch of non-canon variants, each one more gimmicky than the last. This is a time honored tradition, going back to Kenner’s toys for the 1989 Batman movie. For some characters, it works pretty well, and the figures sell regardless of their silliness. For others, it’s less successful, resulting in a bunch of figures absolutely no one wants. Well, except for me, because I’m the freaking personification of the Island of Misfit Toys. So, here’s a Thor variant!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
ThorAA2Axe Attack Thor was released in the fourth series of the Thor: The Mighty Avenger line, which was released to coincide with the 2011 Thor movie. The figure stands roughly 4 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation (the Thor line was one of the last movie lines from Hasbro to be fully articulated). In case you hadn’t gathered from the intro, he’s not based on any design from the movie, but is instead from the minds of Hasbro’s design team. This is the second use of this mold in this line: it was originally used for Series 1’s Battle Hammer Thor. Regardless of where the design came from, the sculpt’s actually pretty awesome. There’s lots of fun detail work, and Athens sculpt is all-around pretty sharp. The head isn’t a spot-on Hemsworth likeness, but it isn’t terribly far off, and it at the very least looks suitably Thor-like. The paint is the thing that differentiates this guy from Battle Hammer Thor. Rather than the usual silver, black, and red, this guy is a mix of blues and turquoises, with just a bit of brown thrown in. It’s not your standard Thor look, but it actually looks pretty solid. The application is also pretty great, with only a few minor issues cropping up. Thor included his gimmicky namesake weapon, which is a weird axe/sword thing with spinning blades at the top. He also includes Mjolnir, but it’s molded in a translucent blue, which goes really well with the figure.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I didn’t intend to get this figure, I really didn’t. I picked up the main Thor from Series 1, and that was enough for me. Unfortunately, due to an insane over stocking of the first series, the later series didn’t make it to stores in any timely fashion. Since I wanted Series 4’s Lady Sif figure, I broke down and bought a full set of Series 4 from Big Bad Toy Store, thus getting this guy. I ended up getting rid of most of the other figures, but this guy intrigued me enough to keep him. He’s a bit weird, but I quite like him.

#0730: Nightwing – Force Shield

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

NIGHTWING – FORCE SHIELD

THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES (KENNER)

NightwingFS1

In case you missed it, The Figure in Question has officially made it through two years of reviews. In honor of that, today’s review will a little bit more special. I’ll get to that in a bit.

In the mid-80s, Dick Grayson gave up his Robin identity, going without a costumed identity for a little while before taking on the identity of Nightwing (previously the Kandorian alter-ego of Superman. It’s a long story). To the general populace, Dick remained Robin, mostly due to his presence in the role for Batman: The Animated Series. Nightwing made his way into the public eye in that show’s sequel series, which is how I became familiar with the character. That series’ toyline also provided the character with several of his earliest figures, one of which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NightwingFS2Force Shield Nightwing was part of Kenner’s The New Batman Adventures line. He was the second version of the character in the line, released not long after the first. The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has Kenner’s signature 5 points of articulation. It’s a pretty low articulation count, but it’s a standard for the time, and aside from the neck joint, which is limited by the hair, the movement is pretty decent. Nightwing is, obviously, based on his design from the show, sculpturally at least. As a “wacky variant” of Nightwing, a little parts re-use is to be expected. What’s actually a bit surprising is that this Nightwing is NOT a complete reuse. The head, arms, and legs are all the same as the regular Nightwing release, but the torso is a new piece, which removes the weird plug from the original’s back. So this one’s sculpt is actually more accurate than the normal one. Nifty! The sculpt does a pretty spot on job of translating Nightwing’s show design to three dimensions, which is nice to see. The etched in logo is a nice touch, especially since it could have easily just been painted on. The paintwork is what really sets this guy apart from the prior Nightwing. Rather than the usual blue logo, this one keeps the logo black, and paints the surrounding area gold. Certainly a different look, but it’s handled pretty well. The gold, like a lot of gold paint has faded over time, but it still stands out well enough. Nightwing was originally packed with a big grappling hook launcher (Kenner was a Hasbro subsidiary at that point…), as well as his titular force shield. I’ve lost it, but it was shaped like his logo, bright yellow, and the “wings” folded out to reveal pictures of the various Batman allies and rogues. It’s an odd gimmick, but there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, so, this is actually my first Nightwing figure! Cool!

Story time: When I was 5, my parents took me down to visit my Dad’s family home in North Carolina. My dad came and got me from school, and one of our stops was, I believe, a Kmart, where I found this guy. I had yet to see any of his appearances on the cartoon, so my dad had to explain to me who he was. I thought he looked super cool, so my dad was nice enough to buy him for me. This guy went on the trip with me, all the way down there and back again, so I formed a bit of a bond with the guy.

Over the years, my collection grew, and this guy fell by the side. Somewhere along the way, I decided to paint him up like Jace from Space Ghost. I have no idea why. Anyway, he just got thrown in a box for a while, until I rescued him just a few years ago, while deep in my whole indexing my collection project. He was still covered in paint, but it was acrylic, so I began the process of returning him back to his original state. I finally got him cleaned up just in time to take him with me on my fifth trip down to NC. Here he is on the mantle place. Doesn’t he look so happy?

NightwingFS3

#0687: Web Swamp Spider-Man

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

WEB SWAMP SPIDER-MAN

SPIDER-MAN (TOYBIZ)

WebSwamp1

Toybiz’s Spider-Man toyline from the 90s initially started out as a tie-in toyline for the animated series running at the same time. The first several series were comprised mostly of key characters from the cartoon, based on their character models from the show. Variants of the titular character tended to be rather tame; most of them were just regular Spider-Men with a different gimmick, though there were a few different costumes that made their way onto the show. After a certain point, hype for the show began to die down, and the toyline gradually began to reformat into its own entity. It was at this point that the Spider-Men started to get just a bit out there. Today, I’ll be looking at one of those later Spider-Men.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WebSwamp2Web Swamp Spider-Man was released as part of the Web Force series of the main Spider-Man line. Chronologically, this was the 15th series of the line, and the sixth series since the line had abandoned the more conventional numbering system. Web Swamp Spidey was one of two Spider-Man variants in the series. Neither of these two was a comic-based design; they were both wholly original to Toybiz’s design department. The figure was pretty big for the line, at roughly 5 ½ inches tall, and he had 11 points of articulation. The articulation assortment on this figure is kind of odd. The shoulders have extra movement that was typically seen on figures of the time, but he’s also been saddled with the dreaded “v-hips” that allow for next to no practical movement. The sculpt on this figure was completely unique to him, which is probably for the best. I don’t want to say it’s a horrible sculpt, but it’s certainly not one of Toybiz’s better ones. The proportions are definitely the weirdest part. To start with, there’s the aforementioned huge size of the figure, but then he’s got a really thin waist and somehow manages to have hands that are too big. Not sure how they managed that one. Also, the guy is seriously jacked, with insane levels of muscle definition that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger jealous. The sculpt is so over the top, you have to wonder if it was on purpose. Paint-wise, this guy’s pretty far removed from the traditional Spider-Man, and ends up looking more like a take on his black costume. One has to wonder if there was some sort of plan to have this guy be symbiote themed at one point. The Web Force shtick was that each figure had a set of weird armor that could be assembled into a small vehicle. Spidey included a hovercraft sort of a thing, which I guess sort of fits his “swamp” theme.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never got this figure when it was at retail, but I was always kind of intrigued. He ended up being another figure I purchased from Yesterday’s Fun this summer. I got him loose, so I missed out on the hovercraft fun, but I do still get a super-jacked Spider-Man. I think that’s a win, right?

#0670: X-Ray Vision Superman

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

X-RAY VISION SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

XRaySupes1

Remeber last week when I looked at one of the wacky Superman variants from Kenner’s tie in line for the 90s cartoon?  Well, that one wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg.  At least he was somewhat passable as a basic Superman.  Today’s figure? Less so.  Without further ado, here’s X-Ray Vision Superman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

XRaySupes2X-Ray Vision Superman was released as part of the fourth series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series, the story of which I covered in Power Swing Superman’s review.  He’s another of the frivolous Superman variants designed to showcase Superman’s less obvious power set.  Yay?  The figure is 5 inches tall and he features 6 points of articulation.  He sports a unique sculpt.  It’s not quite show accurate, but it’s in line with the all of the other Animated Series figures, so at least it’s consistent.  It’s nowhere near as extreme in pose as Power Swing Superman, but he’s still a bit removed from a standard standing pose.  The most out there part is definitely the throwing arm, which is permanently outstretched and at a 90 degree angle.  That’s a bit on the awkward side, but it works okay with the accessories.  The rest of the sculpt is more standard fare: fairly simple musculature and decent enough proportions.  The head sculpt isn’t as good as the PS Superman, but that’s mostly due to the “action feature.”   What is this action feature?  Well, he’s got light piping, so as to light up his eyes and simulate his…X-Ray vision.  I think they may have gotten confused with his heat vision.  The paintwork is where the figure really gets wonky.  In lieu of the traditional Superman colors, this figure is primarily a red-orange-yellow gradient.  It’s a very warm look, which once again makes me think someone at Kenner kept mixing up heat vision and X-Ray vision when designing this guy.  That said, it’s a unique look, so I actually can’t complain.  The cape has been swapped to blue, I guess to break up the reds a bit.  Overall, the paint is pretty decently applied, with no real slop or anything and lots of nice, bold colors.  Superman is packed with a bundle of dynamite, as well as a safe to hide it in.  The safe is partially translucent, so as to demonstrate Superman’s power.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like his series-mate, I picked this Superman up from Yesterday’s Fun. He was another one of the wacky Supermen that had intrigued me all those years ago.  In fact, he has the notoriety of being the very last thing I bought on vacation.  He’s not quite as much fun as Power Swing, but he’s not too bad.  And, as an added bonus , paired up with Power Swing, you get a pretty decent Silver Age Superman Blue and Red.

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#0663: Power Swing Superman

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

POWER SWING SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

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When you are creating an entire line of action figures based on a property with one defined look for your main character, the only way to keep the main character at the forefront, logically, is to release a bunch of variants of that character. Sometimes, they’ll be authentic designs from the source material (such as many of Hasbro’s recent ML Spider-Men) or a practical extension of their basic look (like Iron Man). Other times, they’ll just be completely made up. Enter Power Swing Superman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PowerSwingSM2Power Swing Superman was part of the fourth series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series line. This series is significant because it wasn’t carried by conventional US retailers. Instead, it hit in Europe first. The series didn’t make it to the States until it was offered by Diamond Distributers a few months later. So, there’s that story. The figure stands 5 inches in height and has 6 points of articulation (though his waist swivel is limited by the action feature). Now, where, you might ask, did this figure’s costume originate? Some one episode look, or perhaps an obscure Elseworlds story? Nope, it came straight from the minds of the toy designers. Yes, this costume is totally made up for the figure, though it is notable that this figure removed the signature red shorts over a decade before the New 52 redesign made it canon. The line never really stuck to the show’s style when it came to sculpts, but this figure actually takes it even further, with more defined musculature and an exaggerated pose that wouldn’t look out of place on the dance floor of a disco. While many of the wacky Supermen were sculpted in his traditional garb and painted funky after the fact, this figure’s sculpt actually has details that correspond specifically to this design, which is kinda neat. The best part of the figure is easily the head sculpt, which actually manages to be the most show-accurate sculpt the line ever produced. It’s spot on! The paintwork on the figure is alright, but not great. It sticks to his traditional colors, though placed a bit differently. The colors are nice and vibrant, but the application is spotty. The costume has a lot of bleed over, and the red areas in particular feel like they could use another coat of paint. The head manages to be the best piece once again, avoiding the bleed over and actually doing a very nice job on the eyes. The figure included a large piece of pipe for him to hold, as well as a miniaturized version of Luthor’s exo-suit from the pilot episode. Also, his waist is spring-loaded, allowing him to “swing” the pipe at the exo-suit and “demolish” it. It’s not high-end or anything, but it’s amusing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Power Swing Superman was one of my many purchases from Yesterday’s Fun whilst on vacation this year. I had actually always been intrigued by this guy, but I’d never seen him in person. So, when I came across him, I snatched him up quickly. He’s definitely goofy, but I really enjoy him.

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