In the ToyBiz 5-inch days — a time of minimal articulation, simple sculpts, and more mutant and mutant-related figures than you could scratch a donkey with — there was a Hulk drought between the years of 1990 and 1996. While that six-year gap doesn’t seem like much now, when I think back it seems much, much longer. This changed when the Hulk got his very own cartoon. Cartoons, as anybody knows, have magical powers that bestow action figures on a wide variety of properties, especially in the ‘90s.
Hulk received a figure in the inaugural line of Marvel Superheroes back in 1990, but his figure was a short, stocky one whose arms were destined to be forever connected by his action feature. If you pulled the tab on his back, his arms squeezed, allowing him to crush the rock he came with, or squeeze the bendable pipe. Yeah, that was fun for one squeeze, and then you’ve got a figure who can’t raise one hand without raising the other one. Oh, toys, your action features suck.
In 1996 it all changed. A Hulk cartoon meant cross-marketing, which meant Hulks abound. He received not one but two separate lines: one scaled at 5-inch, and one at a strange-for-the-time 6-inch scale (years before the Spider-Man Classics/Marvel Legends genesis) that they seemed to be trying out with a few properties, including X-Men and Silver Surfer. Remember the Silver Surfer line? It got a 5- and a 6-inch as well, also due to a cartoon. Those were strange times. A Meegan alien on the pegs? Odd.
After so long without having a proper Hulk, the sudden onslaught of Hulk figures made for a banner year. HA! I went there.
I’ve always been a fan of the Hulk in all of his variations. Luckily, the new Hulk lines delivered a handful of Hulks that fulfilled various Hulk-sized holes in my collection.
First up was the basic green savage Hulk, called “Rampaging Hulk.” To show how little was learned in six years, he also had an action feature requiring you to pull a tab to make his arms crush together.
That did not make me froth with anger like a big green thing. Not at all.
As you can see from the back shot, I removed the tab. While his arms still went up and down together, I could still have him pull back one arm and not have the other one mirror the motion. But still, he was hampered, and he would be the only decent-looking Hulk at a good size made during these times. There was a crappy one that you could fit a Banner inside, but I never got that one, plus some smaller ones in the 5-inch line. So if I wanted a correctly scaled Hulk, this was it, in all his bastardized glory.
Dude’s got a pinhead though.
Next up was the gray Hulk in his tattered “Joe Fixit” mob clothes. This was my favorite because he had good size, had no action feature, was well-sculpted, featured wrist swivels, and had a hell of a face. He came with a tattered jacket and a fedora, but I didn’t dig around for them. You’ll have to take my word for it. This Hulk was a lot of fun, all attitude and Vegas charm. There’s something brutal about his ripped white gloves that enhanced the fun of having him beat the crap out of Thor, Thing, Drax, or the Abomination. Or even himself.
That is a great head.
Finally, the third variation that Hulk went through when he turned into Smart Hulk. A Hulk with the brain of Banner was not a new concept, but Peter David did some great things with this merged personality. The figure itself is a mixed bag: on the one hand, I’m glad he got a figure at the time, but on the other, he suffered from the preposed aspect that ToyBiz was giving a lot of their figures then. Lots of crouches, twisted torsos, weirdly angled legs and such. I think it was a McFarlane Toys influence, giving them that dynamic-statue look. I kind of hated it because I didn’t like their already limited articulation to be limited further. At least he had wrist swivels as well, which added a bit to his playability.
Another pinhead. That’s his “check for spinach” face.
Until Marvel Legends came around, these were the best Hulks out there. I remember having plenty of fun with them at the time, even though I was already in my 20s when they came out and probably shouldn’t have been punching little plastic dudes with little plastic fists. Like I cared then.
I still don’t.
Benty smash.
