Sunday, June 30, 2013

Playskool Heroes Hulk & Spidey


I can't explain why I have so many Imaginext DC mini-figures, and only these two Hasbro/Playskool Marvel Heroes, but for me these are the two to have. Growing up in the 70's, when Marvel was really getting huge, Hulk & Spidey seemed to be the merchandising ambassadors for the comics giant. Two successful TV shows featuring the characters were on the air, the industry's direct product distribution began to evolve, and a flush of toy & soft goods merchandising brought Marvel into the public's conscience in a big way. It was a golden time I have fond memories of, and these cute little 2 1/2" figures remind me of that time.




















 These are of the same basic body construction as the Imaginext figures: swivel head & wrists, hinge/swivel shoulders, and the legs move forward together on a "horseshoe" hinge 45 degrees. They are very simple, but cute and colorful nonetheless. There's a little paint slop, but not on the tamped paint apps, nor on the face. They also had Iron Man, Green Goblin, & Wolverine bagged singles as well. There are a plethora of assorted two-packs and vehicle/character combos out there now, but I'm hoping to see another wave of singles. I wouldn't mind having the Thor and Doom who have little cloth capes!



Playskool Hulk with Mini-Mates Hulk...


Playskool Spidey with 3 3/4" basic Ultimate Spider-Man, another very simple action figure I really like...


These are made for little guys, but are fun to have on the desk to play around with, and that's what we do here at the Super-DuperToyBox, kids- have FUN!  :D    Another thing I do is collecting multiple variants of characters among my action figure groupings. Hulk & Spidey have their own respectable sub-groups within my collection as a whole, like Iron Man, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and Superman do. Reading some issues of Spectacular Spider-Man from the 70's recently, I was reminded again how nostalgic I am about comics from this time period, how special it was to kids my age and the industry as a whole, and how it ultimately resulted in this and many other blogs, websites, and message boards, run and visited by multiple generations of comics fans. And I feel Hulk and Spidey had a lot to do with that.


More Later- Make it FUN!

4 comments:

  1. They remind me of the Super Hero Squad toys.

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  2. I like these guys!They look perfect for display and play ;)

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  3. I like these guys, but I really wish they had a wide(r)-array of characters like the Superhero Squad line had. I'm tempted by these, but I make it a point to not collect any line until they can manage to include a female character. I've ended up with too many "fantastic threes" and 3-man power ranger teams to fall for that again.

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