Tornado Spin Doc Ock :: Spider-Man & Friends

The north of the border Father-Son blogging team at Fully Jointed Play Figures has been blogging this past week about their sweet Spider-Man & Friends figure collection. So far they have covered Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Lizard, and Hulk. I decided to join in the fun and post the only one from this series that currently exists in my collection: Doc Ock!

These preschool aimed Spider-Man & Friends figures were originally released back around the turn of the century. I had mistakenly thought they were by Playskool, but it turns out they were actually made by Toy Biz! Back then I had a few because I thought they were so cute: namely Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man and Spider-Girl.

Sadly I did not hold on to any of them and only recently stumbled on to this Doc Ock at the flea market. He's the only figure from this line that I currently own, but I hope to find a few more in good shape so there's someone around to thwart his evil plans!

Also, I just love how much this guy looks like Buster Poindexter:

'zat you, Spider-Man?

Ock was apparently released in a couple color variations. this version is 'Tornado Spin Doc Ock.' He comes with a detachable backpack with a wind-up button feature, that is supposed to make his arms spin. Mine works, but not too well. Fortunately he's an otherwise clean specimen and displays well. Since this line was geared towards pre-schoolers, it's difficult to find them in good shape second-hand.

The backpack is embossed with the...Ock Symbol...?

The Spider-Man & Friends toyline was a lot of fun and, if I am not mistaken, it set the superhero preschool trend. One that continues to thrive today in lines like Imaginext, Half Shell Heroes and Playskool Heroes. There were plenty of forgettable and corny figures, like snowboarding Spider-Man, but there were a lot of gems too!