Toy Biz

Every so often, I regress to those halcyon days when a comic book could be had for the deposit refund of 4-6 bottles, and proceed to re-immerse myself in Marveldom. Now I don't want to get into a Marvel vs. DC faceoff, but save for Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and some of the Batman villains, I was--am!--a Marvel freak all the way.

This latest regression has hit me pretty hard, and I have gone to some lengths to play catch-up since my last "escape". I will address each of my acquisitions in their own posting as the situation warrants.

From 1996-99, Toy Biz (now known as Marvel Toys, the toy division of Marvel Entertainment, LLC) released over a dozen plastic kits of Marvel Marvel characters in three series. These, at first glance, were what all of us frustrated "Marvel kids" had been pining over for more than three decades: Aurora had first tested the waters with Spidey, Cap'n America, and the Hulk in the mid-late '60s! Since then, only the now-defunct Horizon had made any effort to address this significant void. BUT, as most of us know, the Horizon kits, no matter how good or impressive, were vinyl--and they were 1/6th(!) scale.

The Toy Biz kits were classified according to level of difficulty: Level 1 (Beginner) were snap-together/no glue required; Level 2 (Intermediate) required glue to assemble; and Level 3 (Advanced; there was only one Level 3 release: Ghost Rider). Personally, I believe that a Level 3 label was marketing schtick to justify a higher srp by the inclusion of a vehicle.

These were received with great fanfare by an all-but-starved community, but the initial enthusiasm quickly faded as word of the contents of the uniquely-shaped, sturdy, flattened hexagonal boxes got out. I will address the actual shortcomings, as well as some of the perceived ones, in my review of THE RHINO.