Toy Biz | Vintage Action Figures

Marvel Superheroes Thor by Toy Biz!

With no less than three Thor movies starring Chris Hemsworth appearing at the rate of one of year – last year’s Thor, directed by Kenneth Brannagh, and the imaginatively titled sequel Thor 2 still to come in 2013, and of course, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers presently smashing box office records all over the world – Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, has never been so popular. A veteran character from the Silver Age of Comic Books, Thor was created by the comics dream team Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, together with Lee’s younger brother Larry Lieber, first appearing in Journey into Mystery #83 in 1962, looking rather like this 1991 action figure by Toy Biz.

Web Climbing Spider-Man from Spider-Man 2 movie

Web Climbing Spidey from Spider-Man 2

One of the action figure previews to generate a major buzz and lengthy blog posts all over the Internet during the recent San Diego Comic-Con was the all new Hasbro Spider-Man with sparkly metallic finishes. It will be released to coincide with the 2012 reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise – The Amazing Spider-Man – which sees the very talented Andrew Garfield with the unenviable task of taking over a role that Tobey Maguire played so nerdily well in the Sam Raimi trilogy. In my book, however, there’s simply no such thing as too many Spider-Man movies, or action figures for that matter, so until the Garfield figure hits store shelves, here’s a look at some official movie merchandise by Toy Biz from the 2004 Spider-Man 2 movie – the Web Climbing Spider-Man.

Super poseable Hulk Movie 2003 figure

When the Incredible Hulk appeared on the big screen in 2003 in Ang Lee‘s hotly anticipated Hulk, critics and public alike just didn’t seem to get the movie and it met with a tepid reception. For me, it is one of those much maligned films that I’m certain (and I hope) will one day regain its rightful place as classic superhero movie. I LOVED it!

As with every major movie release, it was accompanied by all the usual hype and marketing gimmicks, including some wonderfully sculpted action figures by Toy Biz (as Marvel Toys, the toy division of Marvel Entertainment, was known in those days). This 6 1/2 inch ‘Super Poseable Hulk with Catapult Launching Action’ was released in September 2003 as part of Series Four, which also included a ‘Smash & Scream Hulk’ and a ‘Rampaging Hulk’. This Hulk has numerous points of articulation, including wrists, fingers, ankles and toes and stands solidly unassisted in any pose you care to put him in! Each Hulk came with an accessory such as a wall to smash or, in this case, a catapult, to send him flying. Luckily, although this Hulk has lost his original catapult, he is in great shape and clearly wasn’t hurled across too many children’s bedrooms!