Marvel toy fans today have it easy. Sure, we may complain about the price or the costume choice, but the fact is that if we want plastic versions of our favorite characters, we can get them. Can’t find them locally? Get ‘em online. Don’t have anything in your preferred scale? Branch out and try a different one. There’s far more product out there than a working-class stiff like me can reasonably afford. But the cup wasn’t always so full. I entered the world of comics in the late ’80s. Comics were plentiful, but there was nothing to be had in terms of toys. Mattel’s Secret Wars line had dried up in the US and ToyBiz had yet to come out with their much beloved 5-inch figures. It was dark days for a fledgling collector.
Until…
There he was. Wolverine. I was 13 years old at the time, and like all 13-year-old males, I had an evolutionary predisposition to be obsessed with Wolverine. Having no idea that he already had a figure in the Secret Wars line, this simple PVC figurine was my initiation to the world of Wolverine toys. And since I couldn’t have just Logan, I also grabbed Cap, Spidey, and Punisher as they were the first released.
I’m sad to say that ol’ Frank didn’t win the war against Father Time. Some of these guys were prone to discoloration (especially when painted white), and he’s now serving up cold, hard justice in a landfill somewhere.
The line started in 1989 and eventually petered out around 1995, but by that time ToyBiz was ruling things in the Marvel toy department. Costing around 5 bucks, these figurines were kept in a giant open box up by the cash register at my comic shop. There was no checklist as I recall, and the “Internet” was just science fiction to me at the time, so my discovery of all these new characters rested upon what I actually saw when rifling through the box — and that was half the fun. It wasn’t an expansive line by any means, but they had some really interesting character choices. Yeah, it had about five different Wolverines and a bunch of Spideys, but you could also find the likes of Captain Britain, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther. Not too shabby when you think about it.
Standing at about 3 inches on average, these were completely static PVC figurines. The sculpting was pretty soft and often hit or miss, but they all captured the general look of the character. That’s the one good thing about having absolutely no other options. If Colossus kinda/sorta looks like he’s supposed to, then go ahead and mark that one in the win column.
The paint is high gloss and colorful, which definitely gives it a dated look today. There’s also a fair amount of slop, particularly on the faces. Given the way they were all boxed together, you had to keep your eyes peeled for stray paint rub marks and defects.
For all of its flaws, Marvel PVCs were a lot of fun to buy. I wasn’t a full-blown toy collector yet, so these little guys saw their fair share of play time. They don’t tug on the heart strings like Megos do, nor do they have the charm of the ToyBiz 5-inch line, but I’m thankful that after more than 20 years, I still have a nice little collection of these goofballs.
Thanks for reading!
