I can't even remember, but what were the typical online routes people would use to order Toy Biz Marvel Legends? I don't think we were able to preorder these until much later into the run. I mostly found these at bricks and mortar, though I do remember ordering the Giant Man wave online (it was the only way I could have completed it), I remember preordering the Mojo wave for some reason (I think I wound up finding the figures at B&M before the online order was fulfilled, and I couldn't cancel). Maybe I was ordering directly from Toys R Us? I THINK that's how I got lucky on Dragon Man. I also remember ordering multiples of each of the Sentinel wave figures from Amazon (when they were basically TRU's online store) for $3-4 each. I still have two complete Rover Sentinels, but had a third that I traded away.
I got super lucky with Giant Man and found an endcap with 5 or so full sets. Even more lucky was that the power went out in the store like 30 seconds after I finished checking out and it was right near closing so I would have had to leave them.
Some of my faves:
Ghost Rider: I know the overall skeletal look wasn’t comic accurate, but the aesthetic really worked with this figure. Plus.. he came with a functional bike!!
Mecha Hulk.. This one is my favorite from the Toybiz era. Great sculpt, surprising amount of articulation, and a bonus articulated Gremlin figure. It was inspired by Titanium Man, and though not comic accurate, was still a fun, cool figure.
Sandman.. good likeness, several interchangeable accessories, and best of all, that awesome, “sandy” texture the whole figure has. 
The Monster four pack.. while they skewed a little small, Werewolf, Zombie, and Frankenstein Monster were well done. If I can paraphrase Meatloaf, three out of four ain’t bad.
The BAF Sentinel:
Other honorable mentions:
War Hulk
Hulkbuster Iron Man
Doombot /Doctor Doom
Green Goblin
Doctor Octopus (look bendy tentacles)
Colossus
I can't even remember, but what were the typical online routes people would use to order Toy Biz Marvel Legends?
Aside from ebay --which I'd use to secure the random "RARE***", "**CHASE**", "OOP", or "HTF" figure-- I remember begrudgingly resorting to the CMD Store in Quebec that reliably offered ML figures -although at exorbitant prices.
Other than that, it was all brick-n-mortar and the physical hunt. As soon as someone on Fwoosh posted that they had found a wave in the wild, if you remember, I'd often post a random image of hunting hounds or beagles or fox hunters on horseback along with "The hunt begins!" and then go drive around like an idiot.
Hell, I once drove all the way down to a New Hampshire TRU in order to successfully secure the original TB release of Tail-Strike Scorpion! Good times.
Btw, great shot of the legendary Super Skrull variants!!
Everybody loved that ML5 Colossus figure, but I owned two and both were so loose that they could barely stand.
Some of my favorites throughout the years:
- ML1 Cap
- ML2 Human Torch
- ML3 Magneto - not a great figure, but the first one I bought along with ML3 Wolverine
- ML4 Gambit
- ML6 Deadpool, Wolverine, and Phoenix - Phoenix was low-key Toy Biz's best female figure
- ML7 Apocalypse - unpopular pick, I know
- ML8 Doc Ock
- ML9 Nightcrawler - one of my favorite TB figures
- ML12 Wolverine, Iron Fist
- ML13 Green Goblin
- Sinister Six Box Set - I don't know that there was a great figure in it, but I distinctly remember getting this in the mail and opening it
- Fearsome Foes Lizard, Rhino
- Face-Off Captain America, Hulk, Sabretooth
- Hulk Classics Mecha-Hulk
- Spider-Man Classics Daredevil
- Spider-Man Classics Symbiote Spider-Man
- Spider-Man Classics Sandman
- Spider-Man Classics Superposeable Spider-Man (McFarlane)
- Fantastic Four Classics Super Skrull
I still have all of mine. Honestly, they're just taking up space in a bin. I thought about trying to get rid of them, but I don't have the motivation to do so. And doing it on Ebay especially just seems so annoying. People scam you, lie about you not shipping things, and having to take them out and take pics of everything. Plus some of it probably isn't in the best condition anymore. I haven't actually checked on them in a while, still just in the bin. And I just do not wanna deal with that hassle.
My TB Abomination was fine. I haven't checked it in a long while either. But when I first got it and until I put it away it was ok.
Juggernaut, at least before Hasbro made a new better one, was fantastic. The head sculpt especially. But now his hands and feet seem way too big. At the time though, he was magnificent. And the same price as a figure with less plastic.
I don't know if she is TB either, but Rachel Grey was actually decent. And I bring her up cause mine broke. Her waist snapped off, or fell off? She basically broke in half. I had to use immense amounts of super glue to put it back on. I hope it stays on fine. But I also hope they make a new one soon. But the figure itself looks nice. It just has some bad articulation going on.
Toy Biz's Giant-Man was like 4x retail price because he was technically an eBay exclusive. Nobody found that thing at retail.
Was it really that hard to get? I know I was much more active doing toy runs back then but I feel like it was super easy to get every figure from that wave including the variants for AoA Wolverine and Sentry. Maybe I just live in a Wal Mart hot spot - but that wave wasn't remotely hard to complete here.
I only saw leftovers or the AoA figures from the Giant Man wave once or twice at a Walmart. Never a full set. I had one, maybe two Walmarts nearby that were a pain to get to. Didn’t stop me from checking 3-4 times a week to come up empty handed every time.
Everybody loved that ML5 Colossus figure, but I owned two and both were so loose that they could barely stand.
Kiki will fix that right up. Colossus was my test figure the first time I ever used the stuff. He's nice and sturdy now.
I'm amused by how easily I (and most of us) can just rattle off the wave numbers and assortments of this line. It was really that big a deal! In making my list above, I only had to google a couple of waves to remember which figures were offered. But I can remember every BAF, wave, like I was collecting them yesterday.
To be fair, there was a lot less rattling around in my brain back then. Now I just bounce from one piece of content to the next like someone in 1984.
Giant Man - Speaking of never working out, I had zero luck finding this in a store. I wound up ordering the whole wave online from some third party vendor.. I can't remember which, or whether or not they still exist. Maybe the Canadian one? The BAF that consisted of the most pieces, including different pieces included with VARIANTS, making this the most difficult and annoying BAF to complete. I still have mine, despite its too-short torso and too-long legs. It just fits so well aesthetically with ML1 Cap, ML14 gold Iron Man/ML1 gold Iron Man, and his wave mate Thor.
I guess the only way for Hasbro to outdo most of those was to make them even bigger and 8-10x more expensive!
The HasLab's pricing doesn't look so bad in retrospect. Toy Biz's Giant-Man was like 4x retail price because he was technically an eBay exclusive. Nobody found that thing at retail.
i found everything at wal-mart... aside from maybe 1 figure (variant wolverine)
I can't even remember, but what were the typical online routes people would use to order Toy Biz Marvel Legends? I don't think we were able to preorder these until much later into the run. I mostly found these at bricks and mortar, though I do remember ordering the Giant Man wave online (it was the only way I could have completed it), I remember preordering the Mojo wave for some reason (I think I wound up finding the figures at B&M before the online order was fulfilled, and I couldn't cancel). Maybe I was ordering directly from Toys R Us? I THINK that's how I got lucky on Dragon Man. I also remember ordering multiples of each of the Sentinel wave figures from Amazon (when they were basically TRU's online store) for $3-4 each. I still have two complete Rover Sentinels, but had a third that I traded away.
I used Cornerstorecomics . c o m back in the day.. I was in college, so i remember buying a case of like 8+ (they had like 8 to 12 in a case back then it was kinda crazy) figures then for around $100 and thinking it was expensive lol. But it got me 2 sentinels, the variants, and i just sold the figures i didn't want. I got both the sentinel and galactus waves from them.
I still have all of mine. Honestly, they're just taking up space in a bin. I thought about trying to get rid of them, but I don't have the motivation to do so. And doing it on Ebay especially just seems so annoying. People scam you, lie about you not shipping things, and having to take them out and take pics of everything. Plus some of it probably isn't in the best condition anymore. I haven't actually checked on them in a while, still just in the bin. And I just do not wanna deal with that hassle.
My TB Abomination was fine. I haven't checked it in a long while either. But when I first got it and until I put it away it was ok.
Juggernaut, at least before Hasbro made a new better one, was fantastic. The head sculpt especially. But now his hands and feet seem way too big. At the time though, he was magnificent. And the same price as a figure with less plastic.
I don't know if she is TB either, but Rachel Grey was actually decent. And I bring her up cause mine broke. Her waist snapped off, or fell off? She basically broke in half. I had to use immense amounts of super glue to put it back on. I hope it stays on fine. But I also hope they make a new one soon. But the figure itself looks nice. It just has some bad articulation going on.
sell in facebook groups, its sooooo much easier. no ebay middleman. Just put the stuff up, have them pay through paypal, and ship it as soon as you can, and give them tracking. that's how i sell everything
I can't even remember, but what were the typical online routes people would use to order Toy Biz Marvel Legends? I don't think we were able to preorder these until much later into the run. I mostly found these at bricks and mortar, though I do remember ordering the Giant Man wave online (it was the only way I could have completed it), I remember preordering the Mojo wave for some reason (I think I wound up finding the figures at B&M before the online order was fulfilled, and I couldn't cancel). Maybe I was ordering directly from Toys R Us? I THINK that's how I got lucky on Dragon Man. I also remember ordering multiples of each of the Sentinel wave figures from Amazon (when they were basically TRU's online store) for $3-4 each. I still have two complete Rover Sentinels, but had a third that I traded away.
I know I bought cases of ML6 & 7 but I can't for the life of me remember from where - not even sure what email address it would have been with that long ago. I also scooped up a bunch of cheap ML10 from Amazon and built a bunch of Sentinels - still haven't been able to part with any.
I was in college when Giant-Man hit, and I remember my roommate and I hitting up Wal-Mart several times a week while I eventually tracked down every figure. I swear I did other more college-appropriate antics as well, really...
I particularly liked the variants and running changes Toybiz had done.
My favorite variants/running changes were:
"Gold" Iron Man
Doombot
Phasing Ghost Rider
Dark Phoenix
Crown of Lies Loki
Unmasked Green Goblin
I think their box sets were another high point in the line. Sinister 6, X-men, Monsters..
I also may be in the minority here but I absolutely loved the bases that came with the figures before the BaF era. Those sentinel ones, the Rider bikes, Doom castle turret, fantasticar. I still have most of them and try to incorporate them in the display.
an annoying low may be the difficulty in opening the clamshell. those things were a pain but came with an immediate high when those plastic fumes hit the nostrils
For me, there was just that feeling, of something incredibly special about those early waves. No disrespect to the current Juggernaut it is now, but the detail, the craftsmanship put into each figure, the bases, the packaging, the paint, that weird chemical smell from the plastic, slicing your hands to ribbons trying to get the clampshell open. Maybe it was because it was the first time in that scale? Closest comparison in my head is the early Art Asylum Star Trek TOS figures, one look at the box and you knew it was good. Baring in mind, this was 22 years ago! Some of my earliest memories are of getting Wave 1 Hulk and Wave 2 Thing. My Dad had grew up with comics through the 70s, 80s and early 90s, Busiek and Perez on the Avengers and Morrison X Men got him interested again and I, and Legends, came at the perfect time.
From a kids perspective, not only having your dad, font of all comic knowledge being there, but having a free comic included too, was incredible and got me hooked (and encouraged me to read too). They were brilliant action figures, but brilliant toys too, my dads bust up knuckles are proof.
Lows? Female figures, for sure, but all that plastic packaging, man, you'd look you shook hands with the T 1000 if you didn't precision slice him open!
At the end of the month, we'd take a trip to town, to Forbidden Planet, and the sight of a literal wall of all those black and blue boxes, all the way down the isle, characters like Juggernaut so hefty they warp the box!
ML1 Cap (technically surpassed now, but he is -perfect-. I remember hunting for him for years, then found him, the last one covered in dust you almost couldn't see him in the box, around 2006 on the bottom shelf of a toyshop here in the UK called The Entertainer, one of those "grail" finds)
ML2 Thing (as brilliant as the new Hasbro one has been - nothing can beat this fella, still incredible, slap hands and all)
ML2 Human Torch (non ironically a top 3 toybiz figure for me, one of those rare Toybiz figures who, small hands aside, is a normal humanoid and still fits in aesthetically, and hasn't been surpassed. He is the Torch!)
ML2 Doom (perfection, you take one look at him and can hear the disdain of DR DOOM being an action figure, maybe a little small now due to size creep, but still incredible. My absolute favorite of the line, and even more special, I lost the mask many years before, but got a spare off GlennWebs eBay store before he passed)
ML2 Namor (I didn't get this one for years, but a great figure in a rarely loved look)
(special mention to Thorshwarzenegger)
ML4, Beast, and honorable mention to the Punisher, too
ML5 Nick Fury. The headsculpt, the build, jetpack! The full package, his leg came loose in a fight with Doom as a kid, my grandad, also a Vet, couldn't stand to see it so broke out a hammer and the tool kit and repaired him! Still standing strong now
ML5 Colossus
ML7 Hawkeye - again, surpassed recently, but all the trick arrows! And you could actually pose him with them, chew on that DCUC Mouldy Arrow!
ML7 Wolverine - the best there was at what he did for a long time, I loved the claws, and the headsculpt
Galactus - Can't beat the classic look for me, I never got the figures at the time, my dad used a chunk of cash he'd made at a comic sale to buy the BAF loose
Apocalypse Wave Sasquatch, just more of a classic Sass for me, and the headsculpt, with the metallic eyes, was lovely.
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