I wish I would have gotten this figure MOC.Instead I picked it up used/loose for a couple bucks and essentially got what I paid for.I still love the heck out of this figure despite the fact that whoever owned it before me stuck him inside of the freezer one too many times,causing the translucency of the figure to cloud up a bit.Either that or the figure just lost it’s luster over time,not 100% sure.He still looks great on display and will serve it’s purpose until I can get my hands on a MOC.
A quick peek at my humble vintage Marvel action figure collection.
I first found out about Corsair in an old X-Men Classic issue where the Starjammers join forces with the X-Men.Finding out that he was Cyclops’ father was also pretty cool and made his character more appealing.It doesn’t get any better than a swashbuckling space Pirate now does it ;)In ’95 Toy Biz released this super cool Corsair figure!This is one of those figures that make me say “Man,why didn’t they have this out when i was a kid!”I’m not big on obscure characters but some deserve a little more attention than others,and Corsair is one of those more popular obscure characters.This Toy Biz rendition of him is pretty accurate and typical of a 90’s action figure.He came with his sword and trusty space pistol which you so often saw him holding in those old X-Men issues.He also comes with an additional accessory that hooks on to a zip-line of sorts and works pretty well.Toy Biz got a lot right with these later released figures and the sculpts of there late 90’s stuff is evident of that.This is pretty much going to wrap up my Toy Biz segment but by no means will I stop at just these figures.There is a seemingly endless variety of characters to choose from within this colorful collection of 90’s Toy Biz figures and there are still a few that remain on my radar so stay tuned!
Needless to say X-Men was a personal favorite of mine along with the Wolverine spin-offs back in my comic book collecting days ,and then there was X-Force!X-Force made a small impact on me as a kid and shortly after picking up a few copies I would ultimately give comic book collecting the boot and move on to gaming.This had nothing to do with the quality of the X-Force stuff that was coming out, and while the art in them was a little off (Shatterstars hands looked funny as heck when holding his swords) the overall idea and characters were great.Warpath was one of my favorites and while I never knew much about him or his backstory,he was still a powerful and bad a#$ looking character .After Toy Biz released their line of Marvel Super Heroes and X-Men figures,the first wave of X-Force figures would surface.Much like the previous X-Men figures,the X-Force line would get similar treatment in the sculpt department and individualized gimmicks as well.These figures weren’t the most aesthetically pleasing,but warranted a second look especially if you were a fan of X-Force.My Warpath figure has similarties to the Thundercats line of figures as far as articulation goes.The knees don’t bend and neither do his arms to facilitate his thunder punch action.He also comes with a red blaster which didn’t come with the loose version I picked up.What I love most about these figures are their vibrant colors, superb glossy paint apps and heavy duty plastic that brings me back to a time when toys were simple yet effective enough to keep us entertained for hours at a time in our rooms and living room floors as kids.I won’t go after every wave 1 X-Force figure but will most definitely pick up a Cable and Shatterstar at some point.
I was going to pick up a ’91 TB Wolverine figure already but after acquiring his Mutantcycle in a trade with Jason Vorhees,it was almost imperative that I snag one up pronto!Because I kind of rushed the process a bit when it came to picking up this Wolverine figure I wasn’t able to find a complete one in better condition,but this one more than serves it’s purpose and looks great when placed upon his Mutantcycle.This little gem arrived in it’s original box and while it’s in pretty rough shape I’m still going to hang onto it as a reference and for the cool pics and graphics.The cycle itself was in mint condition and still attached to the protective inserts.It’s a good thing to acquire a piece like this still MIB because of it’s easily scratched and damaged chromed out parts.I must say that i’m not too thrilled with the funny looking Wolverine face on the front of the bike ,but again,it was all about the fun factor with these toys and as a kid I would have had a ball with this motorcycle.Luckily the Wolverine face flips upwards when a figure is placed on the bike and turns into what i’m assuming are Wolverine fangs. I’ll be placing this baby alongside the rest of my Toy Biz figures in chronological order as later on this week we’ll be taking a look at a Toy Biz X-Men/ X-Force figure released in ’92!
What I liked about these Toy Biz figures was that they kept all the characters in scale and Wolverine here is a perfect example.No he didn’t have 678,985,234 points of articulation and yes his mask looks like something you’d find in a gum ball machine,but the fact still stood that at the time this was one of only two(if you count the SW version) existing Wolverine action figures.Not only that but being able to remove his mask to reveal Logan’s iconic face was too cool.These figures conjure up way too many awesome memories for me and not having any in my collection just wouldn’t be right.I’m also pretty psyched about uniting Wolvie with his trusty Mutant Cycle,a piece I obtained via a trade with Jason Vorhees.Stay tuned!
I nearly lost it when Toy Biz released their line of X-men figures back in ’91 and almost relapsed into collecting toys again.While these figures weren’t outstanding in the sculpt department,they still gave fans of Marvel comic books the chance to own some really cool action figure versions of their favorite characters.After Toy Biz’s initial Marvel Super Heroes line of 3 3/4 figures, they then released a wave totally committed to the X-Men.It was 1991 and at that time I had been reading a ton of X-Men,X-Force and X-Factor books so the addition of Archangel and Apocalypse to the line really made the set that much more appealing to me. Many Apocalypse figures have been released since the early 90’s but this version(correct me if i’m wrong) is his very first!These figures were meant to be played with and each came with there own little gimmick.For instance,Apocalypse’s gimmick was the ability to grow by extending his legs and torso.This is far from the definitive version of Apocalypse to own but still is a fun figure and a nostalgic piece to add to the old toy collection 😉
A little while ago fellow blogger Jason Vorhees and I worked out a little trade and my package arrived today!I pretty much knew what I was getting already but Jason surprised me with a sealed set of 1989 Fleer Update baseball cards!The funny thing is that I was already thinking about collecting cards again and my focus was going to be on the ’88 and ’89 stuff so this gives me a bit of a head start 🙂 Within the set are RC’s of Randy Johnson,Robin Ventura,Jim Abbott,Todd Zeile and Deion Sanders!Awesome extra Jason!I’m also finally a proud owner of a vintage Thundercat figure and it is of my favorite character from the 80’s series Panthro.I’m also super impressed with the Bumblebee figure and can’t wait to make him an official member of the Wreckers ;)Last but certainly not least is this gem of a Toy Biz item still in its original box!Don’t let the box fool you,though,as the contents within are in Gem Mint condition and also alot bigger than I expected it to be.Thanks again Jason!
While HASBRO keeps hitting home-run after home-run with their Marvel Universe figures,there’s no denying that Toy Biz had the 90’s on lock when it came to Marvel action figure production.Toy Biz gave us what MATTEL’S Secret Wars line didn’t,character selection and variations!I mean if MATTEL really wanted to they could have released a load of other characters who appeared in the SW series like The Thing,Colossus or even Nightcrawler but never did.Toy Biz gave us all of these characters and then some!When Toy Biz hit the scenes in 1990 they really made it hard on then ex-action figure collectors like myself with the release of figures like Punisher,Iron Man(with removeable armor 😉 ),Daredevil,Captain America and a host of other MARVEL characters who had never seen the 3 3/4″ – 5 ” light of day.I nearly got back into collecting again when this line released but ultimately fought the urge.I would, however, buy a couple here and there for my younger nephew and would find myself playing with them more than he did.After the MARVEL Super Heroes release, Toy Biz then broke out with an X-Men line of figures that featured everybody from Wolverine to Apocalypse!Needless to say I was ecstatic and even though I had stopped collecting at the time it was still nice to see them hanging on the pegs at my local Toys R Us and other department stores as well.Toy Biz would take the ball and run with it from there releasing figures of characters from nearly every corner of the MARVEL universe.These days i’ve been on the look out more and more for these simple yet neat little figures from the 90’s and this week i’ll be posting about a couple of Toy Biz items that have made their way into my collection!
AF&T 