After decades of fighting the never-ending battle, superheroes have finally earned their wings at retail. While tried-and-true brands like Barbie and G.I. Joe continue to lose their traction with today’s kids, the cape-and-spandex crowd eat up more and more real estate in the action figure aisle. But the success of a line like Marvel Legends must be measured against the dozens of attempts before it that have fallen short. Here are seven notable comic action figure lines that just didn’t click.
7. Mego’s Magna-Heroes
When you say Mego, many modern collector’s minds will immediately go to the beloved 8-inch action figure offerings. And while those toys are undeniably what the company is best known for, Mego produced a number of lines based on their licensed superheroes that aren’t nearly as well known. The first on our list is their 1979 offering, Magna-Heroes. Decades before the Marvel Super Heroes Mashers made it possible to swap parts between characters, the Magna-Heroes were poised to claim the interchangeability concept crown. Unfortunately for Mego, US retailers simply didn’t respond to the concept. The success of Star Wars made Mego’s superheroes seem passé by comparison, even if they were gussied up with die-cast metal and magnets. The line was eventually released in Europe, making these some of the coolest toys we never had as kids.
6. Marx’s Marvel Super Heroes
This next entry may be a bit contentious, as some folks may maintain these aren’t toys at all, but statues. While it’s true they lack any sort of articulation, I would insist that “toy” is in the eye of the beholder — ask any dog with a stick. Either way, these were the first figural representations of Marvel Comics characters, and they were certainly played with, so there’s that. The Super Heroes were produced by Marx Toys (ah!) and sold through Marvel Comics. The figurines were manufactured with an “unbreakable” plastic and were molded in eight known colors. They also came unpainted, with the first batch in red, blue, green, and orange. Later batches were more exotic-looking, with a select few coming in a nifty metallic silver color. Many collectors painted their figurines, which means each one is a unique piece of art. Collect ’em all?
5. Remco’s Energized Super Heroes
Remco threw their hat into the super hero ring in 1978 with the release of their Energized Super Heroes line. Batman and Superman were (unsurprisingly) chosen to represent the DC side of things, while Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Hulk, and Captain America brought up the Marvel side. The 12-inch figures featured minimal articulation, instead depending on gimmicky electronic action features to engage buyers. The good Captain here comes equipped with a power shield that glows and “really spins!” He also comes with a 10-inch sliding cord for fast escapes (translation: a long piece of string) and a “Ray Gun!” Cap wielding a ray gun may not exactly be canon, but who can blame him for upping his game? Sometimes a spinning shield just isn’t enough. The Energized Super Heroes line was a minimal success — it didn’t set the world on fire, but Remco sold a few toys, and that’s really what’s its all about.
4. Mego’s Elastic Super Heroes
In the world of toys, if you’re not the next big, then then you’re yesterday’s news. In 1979 Mego was the latter, but the company wasn’t going down without a fight. Marshaling its forces, it took a “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach when it came to trends and doubled down on sci-fi properties like The Black Hole and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as well as emulating their more successful competition. Case in point: the Mego Elastic Super Heroes were a blatant rip-off of Kenner’s Stretch Armstrong, right down to the latter’s creamy filling. Kenner slapped Mego with a lawsuit and the Elastic Heroes vanished overnight, with only a stray head at the bottom of a toy box or magazine ad to remember them by. Too bad, as the line never lasted long enough to produce the obligatory Mister Fantastic.
3. ToyBiz DC Comics Super Heroes
In 1989, ToyBiz was the new kid on the block. Looking to assert itself, it aggressively snapped up the rights to the DC Comics characters just in time to produce toys for 1989’s box-office smash Batman. And while everyone remembers those figures (Bob the Goon!), fewer remember its sister line, DC Comics Super Heroes. Featuring recycled sculpts from the Kenner Super Powers line and one of the most ridiculous action features ever, the line was a disaster, but it still sold thanks to being packed alongside the Batman movie product. Eventually Kenner managed to wrest the DC license back and set about doing some serious damage control for the brand. ToyBiz came out of it unscathed, picking up another comic book company license along the way and generally did all right for itself.
2. Kenner’s Legends of the Dark Knight
Hel-lo, Nurse! Remember what I said about yesterday’s news? Kenner was feeling it a bit in 1997 — while their line based on The New Batman Adventures was selling well enough, their toys were kid’s stuff compared to the hot new company on the block. McFarlane Toys was revolutionizing the action figure industry with its well-painted, highly detailed, hyper-realistic 6-inch Spawn line. In a bid to keep up, Kenner gave the green light to a new series of well-painted, highly detailed, hyper-realistic 6-inch Batman figures. Original, right? McFarlane didn’t blink and continued producing work that made the other companies look like they were standing still. Meanwhile. Kenner’s Legends of the Dark Knight sold poorly and ended almost as soon as it began, but today there is a new appreciation for many of the sculpts in this line.
1. ToyBiz 10-inch Marvel Universe
The term “Marvel Universe” gets thrown around a lot these days, but this was the first time it was used at retail. In 1997, ToyBiz began releasing “upsized” versions of their popular 5-inch figures. Unlike their smaller counter-parts, these figures were hollow, which kept profits high and production costs low. Subsequently there was a flood of this 10-inch product, most memorably at legendary mall toy store KB Toys. I have memories of dump-bins piled high with these things. Coming at the tail-end of the 5-inch figure’s popularity, but just before the advent of Spider-Man Classics and Marvel Legends, this oddball line seem to have faded from many collector’s memories, but, when remembered, it usually brings a smile to their faces. And, hey, it was the first time we ever got a figure of the Spot! That alone is worth something.
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