Toy Bender

I’m going to switch to something that I don’t normally cover on Toy Bender, Marvel superhero figures. Why go down that road now you aren’t asking yourself? For one reason and one reason only: The new Marvel Universe figures are a kick in the balls of awesome.

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The black suited version (blue suit was already gone at the con) of Cobra Commander with podium is now available to purchase at HasbroToyShop.com… but it’s probably gone by the time you read this. Good luck!

The other exclusives are also available as well if you’re interested:

Combat Heroes Snake Eyes & Timber

Savage Land Box Set

My Little Pony (For the ladies or gay fellas)

Darth Vader with Holographic Emperor

Titanium Skywarp

Nemesis Prime

There’s also some Mighty Muggs, but I don’t condone that sort of purchase so you’ll have to find them yourself. Plus, Hasbro Toy Shop is running slower than molasses with everyone rushing to purchase their toys.

UPDATE: Cobra Commander is now gone and it looks like they did have the blue one briefly. Crap!

Update 2: Cobra Commander went up again for a few minutes, but I think he’s gone now. Some other items became available again as well. Where are these figures coming from? Some are guessing canceled orders.

Because it’s a Sunday and I’m super lazy, I decided that I might be able to get away doing a classic post that takes a look back on classic posts from Toy Bender’s storied past. And since I know a lot of you might be new here and don’t want to dig through a years worth of posts that this might not be such a bad idea. So here we are with a link to a Toy Ads that Time Forgot post that dealt with the robotic toy and comic book hero, Rom The Spaceknight.

Not only is there some highlight Rom and all his awesomeness, but it also has one of my favorite “funny” picture captions that I’ve ever made. So what are you waiting for? Click on the damn link already and get reading!

Some lawsuits are just plain weird. While catching up on comic book related things, I ran across this bizarre story about how Marvel requested that a court rule that the X-Men weren’t human.

The reasoning for this is because there is a higher tarrif on dolls than there are for toys (why that is, is anyone’s guess). If a toy is a small representation of a human then in the eyes of the law it qualifies as a doll. In the 80s Hasbro’s G.I. Joe figures fit under the doll category. They tried to fight it, but lost. ToyBiz, who was making X-Men figures at the time, was paying this extra tarrif, so Marvel had a court declare that the X-Men weren’t human. How bizarre, considering that the X-Men themselves have been fighting for years in the comics to be considered human. The court agreed and ToyBiz managed to recoup the extra cash.

Now if you think about it, there’s a few non-human looking X-Men, but it with the way G.I. Joe had a lot of sci-fi elments (B.A.T. troopers for instance) you’d think that Hasbro could have gotten away with the same thing. Who knows? Maybe the court was made up of people who thought of G.I. Joe in the old 12″ more doll like sense and didn’t think of the smaller line as an almost entirely different product.

The winner of the ToyFare Marvel Legends Fan’s Choice Poll, Sunfire from the Age of Apocalypse, is available now for pre-order from Hasbro Toy Shop.com.

I’m considering picking this guy up as I’m a huge fan of Age of Apocalypse. If you’re not familar with it, the quick and dirty version is that Professor X is murdered and history is radically altered. Apocalypse has taken over much of the world, the X-Men are led by Magneto, and there aren’t any regular Marvel superheroes. And that’s just the tip of the iceburg. I just finished reading volume three of the trade collection so I’m still riding high on the AoA loving. The only thing that would stop me is that I haven’t bought a Marvel Legends figure in I don’t know how long. I just fell out of love with them. Does anyone else still care about Marvel Legends?

It’s been awhile since the last Toy Ads that Time Forgot and even longer since I had a comic book ad as some fodder, but no longer! I made a trip to my local comic book shop (Treasure Island Comics), dug through the quarter back issue boxes, and came up with a few issues of comics that contained several good toy ads in them. To reward you for waiting so long for a new TAtTF, I’ve included not one, but two ads in this update. Here’s the first:

Remember when it was acceptable to have an illustrated image in a comic book instead of a picture of the real deal? You could never get away with that now. This ad, of course, is for some Secret Wars action figures. If you have no idea what Secret Wars was or don’t have any clue what the toy line was like, be sure to check out the previous TAtTF post that went into these details (it also includes my favorite image based joke on this site ever that nobody noticed… sigh). Regardless, this ad is great because even though most of the figures are drawn much like the toys appear, Wolverine has decided to ride Dr. Octopus like he’s a cowboy breaking a wild bull.

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For those of you who dig really cute and tiny superheroes, MarvelousNews.com has images of wave 5 of Marvels Superhero Squad.

I’ve never been a big fan of Wolverine without his costume, but this Logan is fantastic. Just check out his kick ass (yet highly adorable) motorcycle.

The Ultimate version of the Marvel Universe makes an even bigger dent into the Superhero Squad line with one happy ass pairing of Captain America and Nick Fury. What are they so happy about? Killing Nazis and Communists, of course!

Be sure to head over to MarvelousNews.com to check out the rest of the wave.

toy, toy collecting, Hasbro, Marvel, comic book, superhero, action figure

Legions of USAgent fans have cried out their pleas have finally been answered by Hasbro. Finally, his smiling, not as good as Captain America face can be a part of kid’s playtime and on adult collectors’ computer desks in the new ultra cute Superhero Squad line collector’s pack.

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If you were a comic fan in the 80s, it was impossible to escape Marvel’s biggest crossover event up until that point. It was called, “Secret Wars”.

Secret Wars featured some of the biggest heroes in the Marvel Universe slugging it out in another dimension against the biggest Marvel villains in a storyline that was light on characterization and drama, but heavy in the smashing department. Take for instance the normally morally upright Captain America’s plan of attack:

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About a week ago I received a nice surprise in the mail, a catalog from Hasbro Shop at Home. I’m a big fan of catalogs, having grown up like many kids mining the Sears catalog around Christmas time for its wonderful dreams available only if you begged your parents enough for them. I hadn’t realized that Hasbro’s shop had a catalog, but there it was in the mailbox.

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I just received a toy savings alert this morning from the good folks at Toys R Us. From now until whenever supplies run out, if you purchase 25 bucks or more in Spider-Man merchandise on ToysRUs.com, then you get a free Spider-Man action figure and five bucks off your purchase. If you’re a Spider-Man fan or have kids that are Spidey crazy, don’t miss out on this offer.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, Spiderman, Spider-Man, Toys R Us, sale

I’d like to focus on a classic toy of the late seventies and early eighties that might not be remembered as well as other lines from that era. That toy is ROM, and even though it didn’t last very long on store shelves, it has a rather interesting history.

ROM was invented by a guy named Bing McCoy (not kidding), who then sold the idea to Parker Brothers. At that time Parker Brothers was interested in entering the toy market outside of their board game business. For various reasons, the toy never caught on. Before fading into obscurity however, ROM had made the cover of Time in 1979 and spawned a fairly successful comic book tie-in (more on that later). Here’s a full color comic book ad for the toy:

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Marvelous News had an updated on a Hasbro limited edition Silver Surfer figure this last week. Normally, I’m excited about Silver Surfer toy news as I think he’s Airwolf, however this figure demonstrates what’s wrong with having too much articulation (besides looking like he’s squating in preperation for a cosmic dump).

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For those of you who always wished for more potato orientated superhero action, Hasbro has created a Mr. Potato Head in the form of every one’s favorite wall crawler, Spiderman. Here’s a pic of Spider Spud:

What’s great is that he comes with “Peter Parker parts.” Me, I’d really enjoy seeing what a Potato Head Venom would look like.

Here’s Hasbro’s official press release:

MR. POTATO HEAD SPIDER SPUD

(Approximate Retail Price: $9.99; Ages: 2 & Up; Available: March 24, 2007)
Everyone’s favorite potato wants to be America’s favorite super hero! MR. POTATO HEAD, the iconic face-changing potato friend for kids, becomes the web-slinging hero, SPIDER SPUD, in a super hero make over. Kids will be able to have all kinds of mix ‘n match fun with this wacky spud dressed as Spider-Man. SPIDER SPUD comes with potato body plus 12 mix ‘n match parts, including ears, eyes, nose and glasses, for a quick change back to Peter Parker Potato.

Be sure to click here if you want to see a pic of Peter Parker Potato. (Scroll down a little bit until you get to it.)

toys, toy collecting, Mr. Potato Head, Spider Spud, Spiderman, Hasbro

Over on the Fwooshnet forums, there’s an interesting couple of pictures of additions in the ever growing ultra cute Super Hero Squad line. This time the line goes Spiderman 3 themed. Unfortunately, I think the forum is being pummeled by Spiderman crazy toy collectors like a drunken farmer’s mule, because the pictures are taking forever to load. Even I, you’re intrepid Toy Bender updater guy, cannot get them to fully load in order to bring them to you and save you the trouble. If you head on over there good luck to you, because they are worth taking a look at.

Toys, toy collecting, action figure, Marvel, Hasbro, Super Hero Squad, Spiderman