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90's Action Figure Treasure Hunt
By: Hoju Koolander
For my birthday this year, my fellow nerd neighbor, Dan gifted me with an experience I can only describe as Exci-Mazi-Stic. See? It was so unique I had to make up my own word just to convey the radical nature of the event. Since you weren't there, let me clue you in on how this all went down and make you a little jealous in the process.
You know how guys usually invite their buddies over to hang out in the garage to talk sports, or admire a classic car they've been tinkering with? That's not why Dan invited me to his garage. Instead he pointed me to 2 shelves housing 10 giant moving boxes and said, "These are filled with action figures, my wife says I need to thin out the collection, but I want them to go to a good home. Go ahead, pick out as many as you want".
Can you hear the heavenly chorus singing now? It was my own personal version of the Toys R Us Super Toy Run shopping spree, I couldn't believe it! now unfortunately Dan's wife and my wife were on the same page about thinning out our collections, so I had to very selective about what I walked away with. Be that as it may, I literally didn't stop smiling for an hour as I dug through those dusty boxes and here's what I walked away with.
J.T. Marsh, Exo Squad
Do you remember this 1993 animated adventure show that acted as an Americanized version of Japanese mech-suit anime like Gundam/Macross? The main selling point was that militarized rebels battled genetically engineered bad guys in what were basically suped up versions of Ripley's Power Loader from Aliens called E-Frames. Pretty cool premise.
I only caught a handful of episodes on TV, but my buddy Andy had a couple of the toys from Playmates, including J.T. Marsh aka The Leader Guy. The intricacy of guiding the figure into the suit and loading the missiles for battle always fascinated me. At the time Exo Squad didn't really fit in with the rest of my super hero toy collection, so I never bought one for myself, but now here we are.
She-Hulk, The Incredible Hulk
I'll admit it, the Hulk was never really my cup of gamma-irradiated tea. The idea of a big, anti-social toddler throwing tantrums just didn't entertain me the way Spider-Man's witty jokes and acrobatics did. Even the TV show was too boring to get me interested. That's why Bruce Banner's cousin, Jennifer Walters aka the She-Hulk always appealed to me.
"Shulkie" was originally imagined by Stan Lee as a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type character in the Savage She-Hulk, but by the late 80's writer/artist John Byrne re-defined the jade giantess in the pages of Sensational She-Hulk (and prior to that, Fantastic 4) as a clever heroine, with a fantastic sense of humor who embraced her powers by staying in She-Hulk form 24/7. This is She-Hulk's first action figure ever as inspired by her appearance on the 90's Hulk cartoon, where the voice actress really brought the character to life in a wonderful way.
Transforming Lamont Cranston, The Shadow
If you've been reading my work long enough, you know I can't go 6 months without bringing up the 1994 film, The Shadow starring Alec Baldwin. Well, the failed toy line by Kenner is a big part of that. When I started digging through Dan's collection and found this baby, I was super excited, though Dan was perplexed at my choice, "Really? I've never met anyone that cared about Shadow toys" to which I had to reply, "Yeah, that's been my experience too".
If you're a 90's Batman fan, this snap-on transformation armor feature may look familiar, as Kenner use the same gimmick for a transforming Bruce Wayne toy in The Dark Knight Collection. I already owned this figure (of course), but had lost all but one glove, so this was a chance to have a complete version. The head is a pretty faithful sculpt of young, Alec Baldwin's face so you can also re-create scenes from The Hunt For Red October if you're so inclined.
Spider-Man 2099
I have always been a Spider-Man fan, and though the black costume is my absolute favorite, this version is my first runner-up. Technically not Peter Parker, but a future analogue named Miguel O'Hara, this 90's comic was basically Spider-Man as imagined in the world of Blade Runner and I loved it. This is the first attempt to immortalize the character in plastic with some pretty wacky accessories.
For the record, Spider-Man 2099 did not blast people with laser guns or flaming Death's Head axes, but that wouldn't have been totally out of place in the 90's era of EXTREME heroes. This is another case of already owning the "Special Collector's Figure", but because this box was pretty warped, I felt I could take it out to display and enjoy it without too much remorse.
Grifter and Bullet Bike, WildC.A.T.S
Is there anything more 90's than Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.S. series? Amazing character designs, that were light on characterization pretty much sums up the Image line of "funny books" as a whole. I remember buying toys, cards, stickers and pogs of SPAWN, Cyberforce and yes, WildC.A.T.S. without having ever read their adventures. The visual was all we needed back then to approve of something as Rad.
Grifter is by far my favorite of the group with that thrown together mask and trenchcoat. He's got a great outlaw, rebel vibe that is enhanced by the fact that he rides a motorcycle. The Bullet Bike is definitely inspired by the vehicles in Akira (more anime!) and if there is more engaging box art, I've yet to see it. Plus it's Collectors Edition #00802, so I'm sure it's worth a million bucks by now. I'm not going to lie, owning these 2 items now just makes me feel cooler. Ridiculous, but true.
Oh man, this was a retro moment in time I'll never have again. Just imagine being able to go back to a 90's toy store and shop til you drop. Thanks, Dan for making my birthday memorable an allowing me to add some unique pieces to my collection.
So tell me, what figures would you hope to find in a collector's stash?
Rick Ace Rhodes Posted on Jan 19, 2017 at 05:53 PM
Cool article Hoju. I could just spend hours looking through old boxes filled with action figures.
And by the way, their's only one thing more 90's then Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.S.: every single thing that Rob Liefeld has ever produced!
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