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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.

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