Super-DuperToyBox: ToyBiz Deluxe Edition 10" Silver Surfer

Sunday, October 31, 2010

ToyBiz Deluxe Edition 10" Silver Surfer

There was little information on this ToyBiz Deluxe Edition 10" Silver Surfer I scored for $19.98 on E-Bay (price included shipping). According to the PopTopShop.Com, this figure was released as a tie-in with the Marvel Action Hour television show, and is somewhat of a rarity. I bought him because I liked his chrome finish and the price was okay- I've seen him go for a lot more, but not much less. He's made of some relatively light-weight plastic, unlike Toybiz's 10" Ghost Rider, and quite frankly I feared he would break when positioning his feet onto the pegs on his surfboard. His light weight coupled with the sunken screws in his dorsal side and insides of his limbs tell me he's mostly hollow. His eleven points of articulation lie in his neck, shoulders, elbows (the right forearm swiveling side to side, the left moving up and down), his hips, knees, and ankles. He survived my tinkering however, and was great fun to photograph, as I knew he would be! He's a looker! I'd love to have one cast in stainless steel, like an Ernest Trova sculpture- can you imagine what THAT would cost?!

After grabbing this toy online, I bought Marvel Essentials Silver Surfer Vol.1 on Amazon.Com- though in reading through the reviews I learned that the real origins of this Marvel character begin in The Fantastic Four comic books, issue #48 (1966) more precisely, and so I purchased Marvel Essentials Fantastic Four Vol.3 in order to better understand the origins of the Sentinel of the Spaceways. As I write this I am still finishing up my Marvel Essentials Hulk Vol.6, so a more intimate portrait of this mysterious figure will be revealed to me shortly. For now I only know that the Silver Surfer was an astronomer from the planet Zenn-La named Norrin Radd who pledged to serve as herald for the planet-consuming Galactus in exchange for mercy on his people. Upon meeting the Fantastic Four, his conscience was rediscovered and he betrayed Galactus, forcing the Silver Surfer's exile on Earth.