Jet-Pack Spider-Man by Toybiz

I scored this Jet-Pack Spider-Man and took these photos quite awhile ago, but neglected to post them amidst the excitement that is the Super-DuperToyBox. Now is as good a time as ever though, seeing as my last five or six posts have been about the webslinger of New York. ToyBiz produced these nearly a decade ago, along with several other Marvel heroes like Wolverine, Captain America, Iceman, the Hulk, and Thing. My interest in him was due to the current fascination I had with the similarly chunky & cute DC Super-Friends Mattel produced a few years after. Like those, these are simple toys meant for younger children. Their happy colors and bulky tactile appeal make them both comforting and inviting- "Play with me, I'm cute!" Like any good toy, these are made for play.

Spidey is about 6" tall and comes with a removable jet pack and helmet. The basic figure alone has a modified outfit, but is an extension of the original blue & red Spidey, the head treated exactly like the icon we know and love. These are slightly more limited in articulation than Mattel's DC Super-Friends, but he does have swivels at the tops of his gloves. His elbows have less range than the Super-Friends, and he has a simple swivel at the neck as opposed to a ball-jointed head. He is sturdy however, and quite a looker!

The whole thing comes together, however, when Spidey's helmet is on and the wings on his jet pack are engaged... fun!

The jet pack is as chunky in design as the figure, to chubby turbines at the rear, and wings that flip up when the blue button is pressed. He's a "cutsie" toy, but very well designed with lots of detail in the sculpt, great color, and clean paint apps. The helmet looks particularly cool, webbed on top reaching to a widow's peak down the front, and crowned by three scooped headlights painted yellow. Red piping around the helmet's mouth is echoed along the figure's boot soles.

There was also a conventional Spidey released in the line, along with several variants, but  thought this one was one of the better designs. I have snowboard Spidey from the series that is pretty cool as well, but haven't had the chance to inspect him out of packaging. Maybe I'll get a chance to get some shots of him this winter, though I must say I like the way he is positioned in the package, his snowboard upright behind him. These are a little harder to find now, and some folks want a surprisingly hefty price for some of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see some showing up in garage sales for cheap, the toddlers of 2004 now grown out of their toys. These two are particularly rare on eBay lately, but the two you should be on the lookout for.

More Later-Make It FUN!