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

Will It Motu or Notu? Schleich Big Knights Castle

Schleich has been around for quite while. They specialize in super detailed animals and fantasy creatures. More recently, they have been adding figurines and now "action figures". These toys are all pretty awesome and are in a 3 3/4 scale, like Star Wars and G.I. Joe. They have been making playsets and dioramas, as well, and a few of them really caught my eye. Since I have been on a vintage MOTU binge, my mind immediately began trying to figure out just how well these playsets would scale with my toys. I asked sellers on Amazon.com who responded negatively, but it didn't sit well with me. Being a toy collector for as long as I have been, my mind has become pretty adept at this. Many of you, I'm sure, can say the same. I decided to reach out on He-Man.org. Nobody was negative on it but they weren't really sure either. One member, Barbecue17, had the playset I was thinking about and had covered it on his blog, which you can check out here -  http://www.actionfig...

Custom Vintage style Swift Wind

Finally finished my custom Swift Wind for the Super 7 She-Ra! I used an Imperial rubber unicorn as the base figure. Besides the obvious new paint job, the torso was way too thick for She-Ra's legs. Luckily, the figure was hollow. I cut a hole in the bottom of the figure and used a zip tie to compress its waist. For the wings, I reused and repainted the wings from the vintage Zoar figure.  I'm very pleased with the final product as She-Ra and Swift Wind look great alongside He-Man and Battle Cat.

Mega Construx MOTU - Wind Raider, SDCC Battle Bones, Man at Arms and Evil Lyn

I'm always sold on when a toy line is offered in a similar way to lego. I have the Mega Construx Power Rangers, the Kre-O G.I. Joe series (that I will showcase at some point) and now I have added Masters of the Universe to my collection. Previously, I purchased and did an entry covering the Heroes of Eternia 5 pack but over the summer I have stocked up on their other offerings. 1 - The Wind Raider (w/ alternate He-Man and Skeletor) At $20, this is a really nice set. The Wind Raider is supremely well built, detailed, and articulated. It has all of the same action features as the vintage vehicle as well - winch, wheels, wings, tail fin. It is very sturdy. I know a lot of people worry about that when it comes to non lego brands, but this thing holds together well. V1 and V2 He-Man. Only differences are in the coloring of the harness and weapons. V1 has the Powersword and Shield in light grey. V2 has the Battle Axe in a silvery color. V1 Skele...

Wayne Manor/X-Mansion

Batman and the X-Men were the two biggest and best superhero cartoons of the 90's. They were also the two biggest action figure brands of the 90's. While the X-Men did have some cool playsets, they never really had a Mansion playset. Batman, on the other hand, did. Starting with Batman Returns, this playset would be reused many times and with many different color schemes. Unfortunately, it wasn't until my days as an adult collector that I would realize how perfect it would be for an X Mansion. 5 years ago I was lucky enough to find one on Ebay in pretty good condition for under $30. A great deal, if you ask me!  As a teacher, I used to hold a Comic Book Club after school and I used this as a display in my room. Later on, I switched grades to Kindergarten. I didn't really think it fair to keep toys in my room that children that age couldn't play with, so I brought it home and sold off most of my X-Men. Recently, I decided to get back into the X-Men game...

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...