Skip to main content

Toy Biz DC Superheroes - Flash, Wonder Woman, Robin, Riddler, and the Penguin



Toy Biz's DC and Marvel Superheroes lines were my first comic book toys growing up and I loved them! For DC, I had Superman, Luthor, Batman, Robin, Joker, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, and the Riddler. For Marvel, I had Spider-man, the Punisher, Captain America, the Hulk, Deathlok, Human Torch, Doctor Octopus, Venom, and Silver Surfer.

Now, these were not the best toys by any stretch of the imagination. They were very gimmicky and cheap, especially the DC line. A lot of the issues were straightened out for Marvel. With all of that in mind, these toys still hold a special place in my nostalgic heart. Unfortunately, most of my figures broke, were lost or their paint wore away, so I decided to get back in on the line.

Ebay, my ever present nemesis and vice, had a lot of carded figures that I was able to snag for $37. Not a bad start by any means of the imagination. All of the cards had some water damage and Wonder Woman's bubble had some yellowing but the figures themselves were in great shape.












Pesky Perpetrators of Plotted Pilfering  


Splendid Super Sleuths


A big gripe I had at first was the scaling, mainly with Wonder Woman and Flash. He comes across like a Center in the NBA while she hardly bears a similarity to an Amazon. After awhile, though, their charm kicked in and I got past it.

Another thing to point out is that Flash and Wonder Woman's gimmick affect their poseability. Flash has a wind up spinner on his back that makes his arms move like he is running. Because of this, his arms are mostly stationary and won't move forward at all, only backwards. No punches will be happening here. Wonder Woman has a lever on her back that makes her arm go up and down to assist her in tossing out her lasso. This results in her arm constantly floating back to being straight up in the air.







Despite their flaws, I really do like these figures. I can see myself collecting the line and possibly digging into the Kenner Super Powers figures as well.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GoBots: Guardian Command Center

If there is one thing that gave GoBots a leg up on Transformers it was that they had playsets. They had two official, two unofficial, and one unproduced set. Playsets go a long way with me and if you've followed this blog for awhile that shouldn't be a surprise to you. Probably the most important GoBot playset was the Guardian Command Center. I never had one growing up but I did get a brand new one from Dallas Vintage Toys this week. There is always a magical feeling when you get something brand new. It is a little bit like time travel for the emotions. Everything here was brand new but unfortunately it had water damage, as you can see in the pictures. This wasn't a huge problem but it did cause me grief in the stickers department. The entire sheet had developed a few layers of grime from dust and being in a water damaged box. I was able to clean it a little bit but some of the stickers were unusable. To compensate I ended up finding some repro stickers fro...

Toy Biz DC Superheroes Flash v2, Hawkman, Two Face

I started getting back into the DC Superheroes line early last year. Even though the Kenner Super Powers line is superior in a lot of ways, this line has a nostalgic value for me. Recently, I was able to add three more figures to my collection: Hawkman, Two Face, and the second version of the Flash! Version 2 is a HUGE upgrade over Version 1. V2 Flash doesn't rely on a wind up action feature so it actually has arm articulation. Now Flash can actually do some better posing... let alone throw a punch! V2 Flash also comes with a Quicksilver/Silver Surfer-esqe platform. It even moves forward on its own if you pull it backwards.  Toy Biz vs Kenner. The Kenner figure is obviously the better choice. Just one look at his weapon and his head sculpt and that is obvious. However, there is a dumb charm to the Toy Biz figure and I'm happy to have him. I really like this Two Face figure. He has a winding feature for flipping his...

Super 7 Man at Arms and Beastman

I know a lot of people have had their issues with Super 7 and their handling of the MOTU license. Speaking for myself, I know things haven't been perfect but I have not experienced the same issues that others have had. I've purchased the entire MOTUSCLE line, one of the Power-Con 3 packs, and many of the vintage style figures. Not everything has been perfect but everything has definitely improved with each release. The Three Terrors were definitely the best figures they have put out from my experience. The Hordak and She-Ra both had issues with their legs being too stiff. From the next wave, I bought Man at Arms and Beastman and I can vouch that that problem has been fixed. I never owned the vintage Beastman because I hated the face sculpt. The Super 7 face, however, is wonderful. It is not as a great as the 2008 Classics version, but it is miles above the vintage figure. A great team I always wanted to see. Beastman will never top He-Man.....

Toy Biz Marvel Superheroes Training Center

I think I can go out on a limb and say, that in 1990, every kid had at least one Toy Biz Marvel Super Hero figure. Most likely, it was Spider-Man. And just like every kid had one figure, every kid also had that picture of a playset on the back of their toy's card. You know what I'm referring to, the Training Center. It was the playset that everyone saw but few of us actually knew someone who owned it. Now, to be completely honest, there is nothing super impressive about it. Seriously. It wasn't based on anything that we had read about in the comics or previously seen in a cartoon so it has no in-universe connection. The actual set itself doesn't really assist in "the adventures" you play out with your toys. All it really does, and honestly was intended to do, is let you utilize a lot of your toy's action features. There were pillars that Hulk could knock down, a wall that worked well with Spidey's suction cups and a hook that Daredevil could ...

Star Wars Power of the Force Red Box Vehicles X-Wing, AT-ST, and Speeder Bike with Scout Trooper

Speeder Bike with Scout Trooper This was the only one of these three vehicles that my brother and I had as kids. We had two vintage scout troopers so finally having a speeder bike was a big deal. An added plus was that it was the same mold as the vintage line so our original scouts could finally feel the air fog up their goggles. The new scout figure introduced one of my least favorite things about the new Power of the Force line: wide stance, bending knee figures. They just look awkward off of their vehicles and besides the speeder bike, no one else could ride unless they had similar legs. Say what you will about the vintage vehicles and beasts but the trap door mechanism made it possible for most anyone to ride. Thankfully, like I mentioned, this was a vintage mold so we didn't face that issue YET. AT-ST My best friend had the AT-ST so I never felt the rush to go buy one. Though, if it had been in stores longer I probably would have. Return of the Jedi was my favorite Star Wars m...