I got really excited when I saw these at an estate sale this morning (what can I say? I'm a major nerd).
There were 9 figures overall with 5 unique and 4 duplicates. I was excited because at first I thought these were 1960's Marx Marvel Superhero figures like these.
Image courtesy Spidermancollector
But at closer look, they weren't Marvel figures at all.
However, upon an even closer look, there was clearly something up with these figures.
These figures were made by Processed Plastic Corporation (PPC, formerly Tim Mee) and were simply called "Fantasy Figures" and sold in a header bag of 10.
Image courtesy Fantasy Toy Soldiers blog
But it's no coincidence they resemble Marvel characters. These figures started out life as "Activated Super Heroes".
Image courtesy MegoMuseum
They even came in a set with a sweet off-road pickup truck.
Image courtesy MegoMuseum
Here are some closeups of the figures with their Marvel counterpart. Kirk over at Secret Fun Spot beat me to punch doing this several years ago, but darn it, I get to have some fun too! I might add I stole borrowed a few images from his site.
Image courtesy MegoMuseum
Image courtesy MegoMuseum
Hulk caveman is supposed to have a club. Mine is broken.
Image courtesy Secret Fun Spot Blog
Likewise, my "Thor's" axe head is broken off.
Image courtesy Secret Fun Spot Blog
And Human-Torch-turned-Catbat is is also missing an axe head.
Image courtesy MegoMuseum
There's some speculation on who this figure was resculpted from, but given the stance, I think it's most likely The Green Goblin.
Image courtesy Secret Fun Spot Blog
Image courtesy MegoMuseum
Excellent research! I'm picturing three guys in a boiler room office somewhere, making up the cheapest alterations they could to the designs.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know the process behind reculpting a model form like this.
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ReplyDeleteGreat post and great find! At first, I thought it was going to turn out that these were He-Man figures. That kind of looked like He-Man and Skeletor. .... Then I thought the creepy guy with wings resembled Bernie Casey's character from the 1972 TV movie "Gargoyles." ... But you did a terrific job with the research. This was a fun read!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris. And good call on "Gargoyles". I haven't thought of that movie in years. I watched it late night with a friend back in the '80's. Just Googling now, I didn't realize it was a made-for-tv movie.
DeleteInteresting post; but FYI, Thor had a hammer, not an axe.
ReplyDeleteHe sure did. These figures took the original Marvel characters and altered them replacing Mjolner with a generic axe.
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