ToyBiz Famous Covers Hawkeye and Avengers

I got this 9" Toybiz Famous Covers Hawkeye back when I started the Super-DuperToyBox, in the autumn of 2010.  I took to my new hobby with such enthusiasm that properly photographing & writing about every purchase I made became impossible. With the new Avengers film dominating all previous box office numbers this past weekend, now is a good time to stop and look at him. I'll be seeing the film in 3-D on a "super-screen" this Thursday with a couple pals, so this won't be a critique on Jeremy Renner's big screen performance.

I showed the spectacular packaging ToyBiz put these in my post on the Scarlet Witch- really snazzy. The front/fifth panel opened to show a biography on the verso and the entire figure posed within a clear window- no ties were used, the figure posed within a molded gold plastic tray. The whole box was glossy with embossed, metallic labeling- they really went out of their way to make these deluxe. I've kept all the boxes for these in case I ever want to sell them- they take up a lot of room in the toy vault, but are too beautiful to throw away.

I'm pretty sure Hawkeye came with 3 arrows originally- being new at collecting on eBay back then, I neglected to ask the seller and was disappointed when he arrived with only one. I do remember getting him for a decent price however, and his outfit was really clean. ToyBiz did a lot right on this figure, including a decent black paint wash on the accessories, particularly the design adorning the ends of the quiver.

I was a little disappointed they didn't put Jeremy Renner in an outfit a little more like Clint Batron wears as Hawkeye in Marvel Comics. Like DC's Green Arrow, Hawkeye has such a great costume- must be the cool vibe of the archer. Absent from the updated Hawkeye is that great mask with the "H" emblazoned on his forehead- yes it's outdated against today's modernized heroes, but I love it. Hawkeye's outfit was a dark compliment to Captain America's red white & blue uniform. The glossy purple pleather on his cuffed boots and other outfit appointments have survived pretty well on this one, which have a tendency to crack and shed. There's a tiny ding in his chin, but he looks pretty good for being 14 years old!

The bow is limited in it's pose applications due to both the figures articulation and the bowstring's limited elasticity. His clawed forefingers can be difficult to get around everything, but look cool when all is in place. The joints on my Hawkeye, as on most all my Famous Covers figures, aren't super tight, so posing takes some patience.

Now for some pictures of Hawkeye with my other Famous Covers Avengers dollies action figures: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, & Hulk. I was inspired to do this grouping by an October 2011 post on the Almighty TOYHAVEN- my vision for the Super-DuperToyBox was born looking at Alex's great blog, searching for info in these ToyBiz figures. Along with several of our mutual friends, he has been a valued source of great encouragement. While on the subject of inspiration, perhaps BubbaShelby can think up a limerick about Hawkeye and the boys... you know of course that he owns a few dollies himself   ;D

*Read more about Hawkeye at Mavel.Com

*Read my post on Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol.1 -Clint doesn't join the Avengers until issue #16, but this was the beginning of the legendary Marvel super group!

*Read my post on the Marvel Universe 3 3/4" Classic Avengers Box Set!

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Captain America Series Red Skull

I started working on this post late in 2011, and am finally getting around to posting it! I'd posted about a few of the other Captain America Series figures around that time, and was partially underwhelmed by this one, moving onto other things. I liked his paint and sculpt okay, but was somewhat frustrated by his articulation, stiff in a lot of the joints, and severely limited in the legs due to his long coat. He does have a cut waist joint that eases the pain somewhat though, and that's nice. Another thing that seemed off was his size, which may be to scale with the other figures in the series, but seemed...  frail on his own. I poke fun at Hasbro for a lot of the action accessories that have been included with the 3 3/4" movie figures, but I kinda like this rocket launcher. At least it fires a projectile, and what's not fun about that?  :D

My favorite included accessory is really this Cosmic Cube, and the reason I took a chance on Red Skull here. For whatever reason, I associate the cube with Thanos, who is associated with the reality-warping matrix along with Doctor Doom and Red Skull. The frequently appearing, fictional object has a long-standing place in the Marvel Universe, going through several reincarnations since it's creation by King of Comics, Jack Kirby. Red Skull's left palm is cupped to hold it, but it merely sits loosely in it.  His right hand grips the German Luger pretty well. I'm not the biggest fan of those hinge/swivel elbows, but they do work.

 The paint apps on this guy are pretty good, particularly the eyes, which look pretty real for being so small. And the tiny buttons and belt buckle are expertly painted as well... a pretty clean overall job, overall. The military green is fine, but I'd have preferred all black with a trenchcoat like Hugo Weaving in the Captain America movie, or even the SDCC Invaders Red Skull for that matter. That said, he's not such a bad action figure- I may have been too opinionated about him at first. See Ewan's fun post on this figure over at Chase Variant!

Let's face it though,  I really wanted the Cosmic Cube for my Marvel Universe Thanos  :D

Let's see how Red Skull and Crossbones fare against Captain America:

Looks like the star-spangled sheild slinger has things well in hand!

What a perfect opportunity for BIGTOY/littletoy! My ToyBiz 9" Famous Covers Red Skull with 3 3/4" Red Skull:

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Spider-Man: The Manga #6... The Lizard!

Another birthday present my folks picked up were a couple late 90's issues of Spider-Man The Manga, originally published from 1970-1971. Marvel had licenced it's popular character properties out to Japanese companies, in this case Monthly Shōnen Magazine, which then reimagined the webslinger's origins. In Spider-Man: The Manga, Yu Komori is the teenage science student bitten by a radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker, becoming Tokyo's greatest hero! I found the simplicity of these stories and the drawings very charming, and their melodramatic narrative of the shy, conflicted Yu Komori romantic. While I realize a lot of you readers may dismiss the value of these, particularly Ryoichi Ikegami's drawings. But I'd suggest an adjustment of your expectations upon viewing these works created by an artist from a different culture and decade. And remember art appreciation: you wouldn't expect Shel Silverstein to draw in the same way as John Romita.

Manga is the Japanese word for "whimsical drawings", and a pop culture term used outside Japan referring to comics published there. Historians on the subject divide this art culturally and historically at the point following Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, after which a new period of creativity flourished during the rebuilding of Japan's economic infrastructure, bringing the influence of the modern Manga we know today. (Wikipedia)

Originally published as "The Transformation of Doctor Inumaru" (reprinted in Spider-Man: The Manga #4-6), this story arc involves the Marvel villain we know as The Lizard. We pick up about 1/3 the way through here, Yu Komori following  The Lizard has kidnapped Yu's friend, Araki, offering to trade his life for the formula to Koda Pharmeceuticals' new medicine, developed by Araki's father.  Spider-Man secretly accompanies him to the drop-off, the Miyashiro Zoo, hoping to capture the Lizard.

Listening from a high window in the crocodile house, Spider-Man is shocked to hear Doctor Inumaru's story of murderous deception: Araki's father had attempted to murder him on a herbal expedition in the South Pacific for a Japanese pharmaceutical association. Having pushed Dr. Inumaru off a cliff in order to claim the rewards of the field research for himself, Araki's father left him in a terrible place, surrounded by gigantic lizards! He survived their attacks, but in his singular will for survival, Dr. Inumaru's body took on a "Darwinian change" as he continuously imitated the lizards movements. Now when he becomes stressed, a complete transformation occurs, as an urge to slaughter as they did fills his mind!

"But don't forget... you're the monster wearing human skin!" Dr. Inumaru reminds the scientist, throwing the bound Araki to the thrashing crocodiles!

A shocked Spider-Man leaps from his vantage point, literally pulling Araki from the jaws of death at the last moment. "You ruined my plan, " Dr. Inumaru shouts in anger, "I'll kill you!" 

...and with that, Dr. Inumaru transforms into the Lizard right before their eyes!

Spider-Man tries to reason with him, "Doctor! It's me, Komori!", but the monster is on a mindless rampage, not recognizing his former young acquaintance. Fearing for his life, the young hero knocks the Lizard into the crocodile pool with a mighty punch, clinging to the rails with his feet!

Realizing the Lizard has returned to his human form, Yu covers his face in horror & regret, realizing Dr. Inumaru has met his gruesome fate!

Spider-Man realizes the dubious result of rescuing Araki and his father, that the death of the cursed Dr. Inumaru to save them was wrong, even if unavoidable. He leaves the scene without a word, a lesson learned- that it is sometimes difficult to recognize true evil, often hidden within men.

The final page shows Yu walking home alone under the streetlights as a military convoy passes by, his long hair blowing across his boyish face, leaves swirling around his feet... a stereotypically, forlorn manga youth. I'll admit that I'm a complete novice to manga, my only related experiences being the anime I experienced watching Battle of the Planets and Speed Racer as a kid, but I'm of the opinion that Spider-Man translates well. Caught between boy and man, the conflicted and awkward nature of Yu Komori is really the essence of the character's mythos as well as the often adolescent melodrama of modern manga. 

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Birthday Edition!

...I knew Cap & the guys would need me sooner or later  ;D

I may act like I'm 12, but I'm actually 40 years old today- hard to believe! But hey, I'm still just a big kid like the rest of you dorks out there, and I love comics as much as I ever did as a kid- probably more  :D  My roommate picked me up this GREAT birthday card- Captain America's shield spins, the Avengers theme music plays, and boy is that fun!

Perhaps more fun was the gift certificate from one of my favorite places to get comics tucked inside, The Fantasy Shop! Mike knows what I like, and is such a good sport putting up with our apartment full of my toys, comics, and pop memorabilia. Thanks Pal!

There's gonna be a cookout tomorrow night with some friends, a couple of which are going to take me to the new Avengers movie next week- can't wait!  :D

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Batman: The Brave & The Bold Rocket Blast Firestorm

Got together with my family this past Sunday for some early birthday celebration, and my parents surprised me with this really cool Batman: The Brave & The Bold Rocket Blast Firestorm! If you are new to this blog, you may not know that I'm a HUGE fan of the animated show these 5" Mattel action figures are based on, and have kept an entire shelf dedicated to them for over a year.

A lot of action figure fans are annoyed by the hexagonal slots at the joints to accomadate the "Snap & Attack" play feature on these, but they are made for kids- made for play! I love they're chunky styling, and hope they continue with the "Stealth Strike" banner they've been rebranded under!

The folks at Mattel did a great job adapting Firestorm's character to the buck of these toys, his uniform details sculpted into the body, bringing just enough detail to make an artful but simple rendering. This appears to be the current Nuclear Man, Jason Rusch, his serious visage capped with a translucent orange flame. He looks great- had a ball taking pictures of this one!  :D

Firestorm has the standard articulation for this line of figures: a cut/swivel joint at the neck, waist & shoulders, hinged elbows, and T-hips. Simple, but tough enough for real play, and more articulated than the 5-point Star Wars figures we grew up with.

Firestorm's rocket blast accessory is the exact same as the one included with Total Armor Stealth Blast Rocket Batman, but molded in gold plastic. The press of a button fires the projectile at the end. The jets can be removed and popped into the hexagonal slots on any of the action figures in this line of toys.

The strange face capping the end of this accessory is a reference to the Metal Men characters, this one representing Gold, who could utilize whatever traits of their namesake metal necessary to accomplish a task or do battle. I actually have regular figures of both Gold & Iron from this series I'll have to show you some day. In fact, I have several more of these figures yet to be photographed! 

Firestorm has a complicated history, even for DC's convoluted continuity! Debuting in March of 1978, he is unique among all other superheroes: he is not merely one being with superpowers/super-abilities/super gadgets (as most superheroes are, such as Superman and Batman), nor is he one being when human and another distinct being in "super" mode (a la Captain Marvel or Etrigan). Firestorm instead is two normal human beings when non-powered, who then combine in "super" mode to form Firestorm. (Wikipedia) A crazy but interesting idea, the cast of alter egos having changed four times since the character's inception.

And now it's time for one of my favorite things here at the Super-DuperToyBox: BIGTOY/littletoy! Brave & the Bold Firestorm with DCUC Firestorm and Action League Firestorm...

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