Secret Wars Triumvirate

When I was a kid I owned three Secret Wars action figures. I definitely wanted more, and remember looking at the cardbacks and Sears catalog for hours thinking how cool the other characters were. Especially Dr. Octopus. I really wanted him but never got him. I know, who ever thought Dr. Octopus was awesome? Probably just me.

Not sure who got me the three I owned, or how or why I even came about them - I don't know if they were Christmas presents or birthday presents or if I picked them out with my allowance or even if I got them all in one shot or if I got them on separate occasions. I just remember playing with them for hours and hours in my backyard and loving them all. The three I owned were the three characters heret: Iron-Man, Dr. Doom and Wolverine.

At the time, my comic book knowledge was rather limited, and my first exposure to each of these guys was through their Secret Wars action figures. I had no idea until many years later, for example, that Wolverine's claws were actually part of his body, I thought they just snapped on like the toy.

I finally have all three band members together again. Sadly I don't have Wolverine's claws or Doom's guns, but I can get over that since I got Wolverine from a thrift store and Doom from the flea market. I did buy Iron-Man a few years ago mint on card off eBay, so I do have his shield with the lenticular cards, but those were never anything I played with as a kid anyways so who really cares about those.

I love having these three together. They really bring me back to my childhood and the good times I had with these guys. If I were a comic book writer I would totally write an epic story that involved these three. And I would insist that the artist give Doom that garter belt!

Iron Man Mark I

The first Iron Man movie is still my favorite of all the Marvel superhero movies. It took a character I had loved since discovering him in the Secret Wars action figure line and translated him perfectly from 60's comic book to new century cinema.

One of the greatest moments in the character's history is the making of the Mark I armor while a POW in either Vietnam or some Middle-Eastern nation as translated into our current political climate.

Second only to my Secret Wars Iron Man this 6" Mark I movie Iron Man by Hasbro is my favorite Iron Man action figure of all time. Much like the current armored Batman for the Batman v Superman movie line, this is the perfect cinematic translation of the source material.

Mark I has a lot of articulation for a dude in extremely limiting armor, as well as a ton of detail. He also has a spring action fire missile ala his blow torch  feature from the movie,

Mark I Iron Man is not only one of my two favorite Iron Man action figures, but he may just be one of my top ten favorite action figures of all time. He's solid, beautifully sculpted, a perfect 'real' interpretation of his comic book inspiration, and he's just plain fun to have around.

Bootlego Iron-Man Robin Minifigure

One of the fun things that those crazy Chinese BootLEGOers are doing (that couldn't be done if they were following the copyright laws of our great nation) is releasing Iron-Man in Iron-suits based on heroes and villains from both Marvel and DC comics. You can get Iron-Man bootLEGOs designed after Wolverine, Mr. Fantastic, Superman, Green Lantern, Venom, and my latest addition and personal favorite...Robin!

I can see Iron-Man doing this type of thing because he's a cocky asshole and showing up to Gotham City in a suit fashioned after Robin would piss Batman off in just the right way.

Or maybe Robin built a suit of armor that looks like Iron-Man because that would piss Batman off in just the right way.

This minifigure is made by Elephant, which in the past has had some lower quality figures from what I have seen online, but seems to be doing just fine with their recent Iron-Man minifigures (at least concerning the Venom and Robin I own.)

Like with Iron-Venom, Iron-Robin came with a Jarvis arm build, but I didn't bother with building it this time around.

I did however bother to take a pic with his helmet up this time!

Under the hood is Tony Stark's snarling visage. I need to add in a Robin heapiece to make this into a Robin in an Iron suit minifigure (as I envision it). I also need to get me the Iron-Batman suit!

BootLEGO Iron-Man Black Spider-Man Armor...

Just top off the fluids, Jarv old buddy

...or maybe Venom armor, or maybe Agent Venom armor. I don't know, but I know I dig him!

The BootLEGO companies have had a field day with the Iron-Man minifigure, painting him up as everyone from, well, Iron-Man to Robin to Green Lantern to Wolverine and everyone else in between. You have to admit, it's a pretty genius move on their part.

But as much as I love BootLEGOs, I had yet to own any of the Iron-Managerie until I picked up this Iron-Black-Spider-Man minifigure which arrived this week. He was just too cool  to resist...and being sold as a single minifigure. I have passed on obvious choices for me like Iron-Batman and Iron-Robin because they are usually sold in multi figure lots and I am just not that into Iron-Man. But I'm enough into Spider-Man to have bid a few pence for this guy, and I'm glad I did.

Iron-Venom is made by the company 'Elephant', and this is my first experience with that particular bootLEGOer. And he's just as good as the Sheng Yuan and Decool I have in my possession.

Iron-Agent-Venom comes with a stand and a few parts to build a Jarvis arm.

I hear KISS needs a new drummer

The paint is simple but well applied. And yes, he's painted on his back. I always forget to take pics of the backs! His original headpiece is your basic BootLEGO rehash of the LEGO Tony Stark face, with only one expression painted on it, but I had other plans for this minfigure, so I swapped Tony for...

I Am Spidarmor-Man!

...a Spider-Man headpiece I have from another bootLEGO  minifigure. Because it makes more sense to me this way, and is far cooler than the actual Iron-Spider armor from the comics.

Bootleg Hulkbuster Armor Iron-Man Mini-Figure

The Chinese LEGO bootleggers have done it again! This time giving us a wholly unique over-sized 'Minifigure' of Tony Stark's Hulkbuster Iron-Man Armor!

Hulkbuster Iron-Man is an 'oversized' minifigure ala the larger Incredible Hulk figure. He is also not necessarily a bootleg, as there is nothing here that copies LEGO besides the aesthetic.

It is amazing enough that these crazy bootleg companies are copying hard to get LEGO minifigures, but the fact that they are creating completely unique characters like Hulkbuster armor Iron-Man (and a large sized Thing from the Fantastic Four) is simply incredible!

Hulkbuster Iron-Man has 'articulation' at the shoulders, elbows and wrists. In LEGO terms that means each arm is in three pieces (plus the 'pin' that holds the arm in the shoulder socket.) The shoulder shields are also separate pieces, making an un-built Hulkbuster Iron-Man come in at a whopping 11 separate pieces.

Since when did bootleggers give so much and ask so little in return?

Hulkbuster Iron-Man fits right in with bootLEGO Hulk.

Both of these figures come from the DeCool company, whihc has thus far put out some good quality bootlegs.

"Hulkbuster SMASH!"

My Hulkbuster does have a scuff on his face, but I can just pretend it's a battle scar. For the unbelievable low price these go for on eBay, as well as the fact that there is no other version of this minifigure from any company anywhere, I can accept some paint smudges!

Epic Lego Super Hero Battle Royale!

This epic Lego Super Hero Battle has been a waging work in progress since I acquired the Lex Luthor Mech Suit set for Christmas in 2012. Every time I get (or customize) a Lego Super Hero I add it to the battle. I have yet to add any villains - it's more fun to imagine Lex, in his hubris, thinking he can take them all down on his own.

Currently in battle with Lex are the Superman and Wonder Woman minifigures that came with this set, as well as Batman (from the Catwoman Catcycle City Chase set) Iron Man and Thor each from individual poly-bag releases, a modified Robin from a poly-bag set, Aquaman from the Batboat set, and my custom JSA Sandman and JSA Flash to round out the mix.

Iron Man 3 Assemblers

Part of my recent Iron Man 3 win from ActionFigurePics.com were these two 'Assemblers:' War Machine and the Mark 42 Iron Man armor. The first thing I noticed when I got these two next to each other was that War Machine is much bulkier than Mark 42. I'm surprised they did that, especially since interchangeability is the theme for this line.

They're both neat basic action figures with limited articulation and basic paint but good detailing in the sculpts.

The 'Assemblers' gimmick is that you pop off and re-attach or swap limbs for armor modification. Each figure comes with extra arms and an action shooter of some sort. While this feature does nothing for me as an adult I think it would have been pretty neat as a kid; it's well executed with the arms snapping in securely and not feeling loose or wobbly or like they'll just fall right off.

War Machine looks great, although the shoulder cannon piece he comes with looks lame when attached, it's just too tiny and barely peeks over his shoulder. I didn't bother attaching it for the photos.

War Machine's extra parts are even less exciting then Mark 42's. There's no added paint apps, and the plastic color doesn't even match up.

Of course you can add one figure's parts to another, which might be fun for kids but in this case ends up looking a bit odd, especially since Mark 42 is more svelte than War Machine.

The Assemblers gimmick is clever and well executed, but I don't think they are making enough armors in this line to make it truly worthwhile. If there were ten or more armors you could make zillions of cool creations, but to my knowledge there are only three: War Machine, Mark 42 and Iron Patriot.

But I'm not complaining, free toys are free toys, and if you're an Iron Man fan you could have been treated a lot worse by the toy companies. In my experience the third film in a trilogy usually gets the worst of it when it comes to toys, be it through repaints or rushed, lazy product. At least these are new and nice representations of the on film armors!

Iron Man 3 Swag!

I just won a pile of Iron Man 3 swag from ActionFigurePics.com!

A helmet, a shooting hand thingy, two action figures and two Micro Muggs!

My intern is impressed!

The helmet fires missiles from the side. Looks like I'll be Iron Man for Halloween this year!

These Assemblers are pretty neat with their interchangeable parts. I'll be opening them up and looking at them more closely soon.

I got the Mark 42 and War Machine.

The Micro Muggs are blind packed, I ended up with Maskless Iron Man and Ironless Iron Man, aka Tony Stark. Fun!

'I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. BubbaShelby.'

'I said CLOSE-UP!'

Interns...you get what you pay for!

Thanks to AFP for this fun Iron Man 3 prize package!

Flea Market Haul

'Throw him to the robot lions!'

I set out to take pictures of this past weekend's gems from my visit to the local Flea Market and a downtown used book store, but my Intern had other ideas. So I ran with it.

As you can see, I scored some great 80s heavy hitters - Voltron's black lion and Perseus from Clash of the Titans (the original GOOD movie, not the crappy re-make.)

I got both for around .75 each.

'Hey robot lion, don't eat me, I'm your friend!'

I also scored a Super Hero Squad Hulkbuster Iron Man which is missing a couple bits on his shoulders but is otherwise pretty neat. He was only .50. I scored my Intern a Fisher Price Little People Helicopter for .50 too, but she left it in the car so I didn't get a chance to take it's picture this time around. Clearly she could care less and is fine playing with my toys instead anyways.

But incredibly, all of these toys pale in comparison to the Plastic Man Archives Volume 1 I scored at a downtown used bookstore for only $20!

'Okay Perseus, we can be friends. Want a ride?'

I have been wanting this book for years but have never seen it go for less than the cover price of $49.99, and sometimes significantly more, and have never been willing to pull the trigger at that price. Originally published in 1998, this Archive edition re-prints Plastic Man 's first 20 appearances in Police Comics, beginning with the August 1941 issue #1 that introduced Plastic Man to the masses.

I always hoped Plastic Man's early adventures would get a reprinting, or a less expensive paperback printing, but it hasn't happened since this volume's printing in '98 that I am aware of, so finding this volume in mint shape for a mere $20 is incredible! The bookstore had all 8 volumes, but most beyond Volume 1 can be had for around $20 or less, so I only nabbed Volume 1 on the spot. I'll probably pop back in sporadically and see if any of the rest drop in price now that the store's collection is incomplete and missing the most valuable component!

I can't tell you how excited I am to finally have this volume in my collection. I've already read about half of it and am loving every crazy panel. I'll be sure to blog more specifically about this one in the near future.

The Voltron black lion was a pretty good score too - he's got a lot of play wear but is complete and in good shape with no broken pieces. My first Voltron lion ever! Perseus is in great shape too but needs a cleaning.

A great weekend haul indeed!

Tiny Heroes and Villains

My oldest daughter and I picked up this bunch at the flea market last weekend.

My favorites are Gorilla Grodd and classic Iron Man (the shiny one back row center.) We also have Batman (with what I assume are Kryptonite gloves) an Iron Man with removable mask, Ice Man, an Iron Man movie Mark 1 (or 2? - same as first movie armor but in gold,) another movie Iron Man, the classic Iron Man armor again but this time in more subtle colors, movie Green Goblin and Dr. Doom!

We got the lot for five bucks - that's fifty cents each! Not too shabby!

Avengers Assemble!

The final bunch of stuff I hauled away from the swap meet this past Saturday literally gave me the shakes, I was so excited to find them!

6" Marvel superheroes by Marx! Thor, Iron Man and Captain America - Avengers Assemble!
Made of solid plastic and molded like your typical little green army man, these toys were originally manufactured by Marx in 1967. I believe the first run of these guys was a silver/grey plastic, and that these colorful guys were a later release from some time around 1971 or so.

There I was at the swap meet last Saturday when I spotted a pile of six colorful toys from a few feet away. I casually made my way towards them and walking up to them asked the vendor how much he wanted. He said "$3" and I said "for all of them?" He said "Yes" and I could barely contain my excitement! Now understand the pile had six figures in it, so without inspection or any delays whatsoever I grabbed them all and payed and skipped away like Gollum having just secured his precious. I later discovered three of them were in pretty sad shape, with their fingers chewed to the point that they look more like Arthritics than Avengers. I won't show them here because treating toys as such is blasphemy here at Toyriffic, but they would have been pretty sweet if they (2 Spider-Mans and a Daredevil) weren't used as a teething ring for some dumb kid. I hope he got lead poisoning, whoever he is!

But I digress. Let's turn our attention back to the three great examples I got - still more than worth the three bucks I paid for them! 

First up is Iron Man! Stark is showing off by breaking a chain in an awfully strange manner. Yeah that was impressive in 1938 when Superman did it first, dude.

Iron Man is a little roughed up around the head but is otherwise in great shape. It's fun to imagine this toy being one of the first toys of Iron Man back then, having been sculpted a mere four years after Iron Man was introduced in the comics! And what a sculpt - you can even see Tony Stark's eyes inside the mask's eye holes! What must kids have thought of this strange metal man, and what could they have foretold of his pop culture destiny at the time?

Next up is the good Captain America. The Cap gets a pretty sweet sculpt here too, with his shield being held out in front of him in a defensive posture instead of stationary at his side, which would have been a lot easier to pull off I imagine.

If I had an old car I'd cast this in chrome and make it my hood ornament.

The final of the big three and the figure that is surprisingly (given some dumb kid's penchant for sticking his toys in his mouth and all the nice chewable parts sticking out of this one) in the best shape of them all is the God of Thunder himself, THOR!

I love how all these guys are not overly musclebound, reflecting the art and aesthetics of the times the toys were were made. You will never see a skinny Thor in this day and age, that's for sure! Plus, whosoever holds that version of Mjolnir, be he worthy, is probably hanging a picture in his girlfriend's apartment or repairing a broken wheel on a small wooden toy duck, not calling down thunder from the heavens! I love it!

These Marx plastic superheroes have amazing sculpts and are a fun look at the type of toys kids of yesterday would have played and cemented their love for superhero lore with. They were before my time, but I know some of my readers are a little older than I am; I'd love to hear from those of you who had these or remember them from your youth!

Random Toy Pic: Seeing Red!

Tin Soldier

Iron Man 2 toys are starting to hit retail! I spotted the whole first release line-up of 3 3/4" figures at Toys R Us the other day. They all look spectacular, and if I had the funds I would have bought them all on the spot. The first movie Mark I and Iron Monger looked especially nice in this scale with tons of detail and articulation, and the comic-book armors all look amazing as well.

I didn't buy them all (yet,) but fear not True Believers. My self control is only so strong. I had to have one in particular on the spot, simply named "Iron Man."

This Iron Man is clearly IM's 1st comic book appearance, as seen in Tales of Suspense #39.

I've wanted this version of Iron Man's armor for a looong time. I missed out on the Marvel Legends release, and although the movie Mark I is very cool and a nice "realistic" look at this armor, I must say this figure finally fills the void in my collection and does so perfectly.

In addition to his very comic book accurate sculpt, this figure also has great subtle paint apps. He's brushed to appear like real metal; both freshly scratched and rusted up a bit in places. Very nice details...until you turn him around...

Mine has none of the "rust" coloration on his flip side. I don't know if this is standard or just a flaw on mine, (why would they do the shiny scratches but not the rusty wash?) but it gives him a sort of sunburned effect depending on how you pose him, as if Stark fell asleep on the tanning bed. Either that or Stark stores this armor against the wall, and needs to look into the humidity of his armory.

Paint flaws aside, Hasbro is REALLY on the ball with this scale, and by allowing movie based figures to fit seamlessly into comic book based toylines, they are guaranteed to please kids, casual fans and life-long collectors alike.

Iron Man, like all the figures in this series, comes with a base and a file card with two overlays so you can see what mixed and matched armor components look like when you mix in more cards from the set. The card also has a code on it, but the website it lists (ironmancard.com) currently re-directs to marvel.com. I'm sure that'll change as we get closer to the movie's release.

Oh yeah, Iron Man comes with one more thing: His "Repulsor Blast" accessory, which looks more like a marital-aid and should be called a Repulsive Blast, especially when strategically placed (which I won't show you here but I guarantee you will try when you get this figure in your hands.)

"Oh Pepper? Come here...I've got something for you!"

The 3 3/4" Iron Man 2 figures are $7.99 at Toys R Us. This price is pretty standard nowadays for figures in this scale, so Mattel better wise up and start making their Infinite Heroes figures contenders in this competition. I love DC in general and DCIH as a toyline, but come on Mattel, next to this Iron Man your DCIH are all pretty bad and they aren't worth half what this guy costs. But Mattel insists on matching the price point while avoiding a match in quality. I hate to kill teh line, but let's face it, if I'm standing on a toy aisle with fresh cases of Iron Man 2 figures and DCIH figures, guess which toy company gets my money.

This Iron Man 2 movie line also has all the articulation Marvel Universe fans have come to expect. I'm not an articulazi, but I think Hasbro did an excellent job integrating all that articulation into this Iron Man figure without sacrificing aesthetic; none of it feels like it steals from the sculpt, and the bulkiness of the figure really feels like a guy in armor.

So until Mattel gets on the ball and/or until I have them all (Iron Man 2 figures that is,) make mine Marvel!