Old Photos: A Look Back At Some of My Superhero Collection

For one year back in 2011-12 I was really big into the Hasbro 4" tall superhero figures. From Nov 2011 to Dec 2012 we featured seventeen different figures here on Toys and Stuff. Then I stopped. I still had five more in unopened packages that were never taken out and photographed. For me the whole superhero craze had simply taken me down another path. Instead of acquiring more of these large figures, I went with smaller ones instead, concentrating my efforts on mostly 1/64 or 1/43 scale Batmobiles an superhero vehicles. So what the heck, I have these photos of the figures still in there packages, might as well share them. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

2008 Hasbro Marvel Universe #007 Human Torch

2010 Hasbro Marvel Universe Series 3 Web Slinging Spiderman

2010 Hasbro Marvel Universe Series Fantastic 4

2011 Hasbro Comic Series #03 Captain America Battlefield

eBay photo

2011 Hasbro Movie Series #15 Hydra Attack Trooper

eBay photo

2011 Maisto 1-64 #15175 Rescue Captain America (Phender)

Sunday Comics Sunday. Growing up, Sunday's were about kicikin' back, enjoying comic books or the Sunday Comics which came as a supplement to the newspaper, or watching the plethora of 'B' movies churned out in droves by the American cinematic machine: Westerns, detective stories, space, sci-fi, monsters, Bob Hope & Bing Crosby, the Bowery Boys. It all seems to revolve around a core of cheep, cheesy - but fun - adventure.  I had wanted the blog to be able to honor some of these moments by featuring anything related to that generalized, hazy Sunday genre but it has kind of turned into a Batman forum. I like Batman and there are soooo many cool things to collect but I need to break things up a little.

Today I have a nifty die-cast car to feature, a fairly recent release - last year - from Maisto. Maisto puts out a lot of nice diecast vehicles and today's offering is from a series of cars lettered for Captain America, Bucky, Hydra,etc. I'm not too crazy about the other vehicles in the series but this particular car has a nice retro look to it. The red-white-&-blue color scheme is muted, the red looking more like reddish brown/rust hue and the whites are either silver or grayed. Anywho, it's a nice little car with retro styling and cool graphics. Enjoy!

2011 Hasbro Comic Series #02 Captain America Paratrooper Dive

Well, I took the plunge - sort of - by purchasing some more Marvel Super Hero Figures. But really, what better way to celebrate a day Toys & Stuff has set aside for the Comics, in toy form of course. Today on Sunday Comics Sunday we have the 2011 Hasbro Comic Series #02 Captain America Paratrooper Dive. Now, this toy is supposed to represent a character which appeared in the comic but it is so close to what was presented in the movie, "Captain America, The First Avenger" that it still becomes a nice reminder of that movie experience. The biggest difference is of course the weapon the toy Captain is wielding, being of a more modern outline. The set comes with a 13 1/5" (34.3cm) diameter parachute with strings attached which in turn attaches to Captain America's harness. The idea is the fold the parachute, wrap the string around it a few times, and give it a hardy toss into the air and watch him float to the ground. Personally, I haven't yet tried it so I can't report how well it works. There is one small flaw to this set: the edges of the fabric parachute aren't finished (hemmed). If you look closely at the photos you can see where threads are already starting to separate. This is a part of the toy which won't last long - what a shame, because it's a neat toy. I'm not a seamstress, I don't work with fabric, so off-hand I have no suggestions as to how to remedy this. 

Also featured in today's blog is a neat item most people will never get the chance to see. Here's the background. About two years ago, if my imperfect memory serves me well, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES - pronounced 'A-fees') started passing out, free-of -charge at the register - mini- comics of Marvel Super Heroes. I call them mini-comics as they were only a few pages long, not full blown graphic novels. All the artwork was original and they were exclusive to AAFES customers. Now, dummy me, I have already gotten rid of these first issues, having done so prior to starting my blog. Crap! Oh well. Not all of the these freebies are comics. The cover shown below is actually from a 14pg coloring book which is essentially one long advertisement for AAFES with a few pages devoted to AAFES history dating back to the American Civil War. You'll notice the top of the cover is cut off - not the result of a bad scan, the original wasn't cut properly. If I come up with more I'll post them but today's selection was a natural as it features Captain America. So, without further ado, let's get on to the the photos - Enjoy!

An extract from the coloring book. here's something you won't see every day; Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor at a burger burn!

2011 Hasbro Movie Series #07 Super Combat Captain America

"When Captain America throws his mighty shield,

All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield..."

Those are the opening words to the 1966 television cartoon version of Captain America. Since his first appearance in the Timely Comics (Marvels predecessor) "Captain America Comics #1" back in 1941, the Cap has seen a number of changes. This year's release of Universal's full length feature film "Captain America, The First Avenger" is the latest incarnation of the red , white, and blue avenger starring Chris Evans as the shield tossin' hero. We went to see the movie yesterday and I was glad we did. It's just an overall good action film that just happens to be a super hero movie. I'm not a real big movie fan personally. On a scale of 1-to-10 I'm probably only a 2 or 3, so I don't run out and  try to catch every flick in the kino. This is one movie I'm glad I saw, because if I decide to actually start collecting the licensed toy tie-ins, it makes collecting that much more enjoyable!

Hasbro has released several series of Captain America toys: a Concept Series; Comic Series; and Movie Series to name a few. Today's featured toy is from the Movie Series and stands 4 1/4" (10.8cm) H. This height is in line with other super hero figures on the market - to include the McDonald's 'Young Justice' series just recently concluded here on Toys & Stuff.  One of the nice touches in the movie is that his uniform doesn't look like spandex or a head plopped onto a plastic looking CGI body. Hasbro's toy captures all the charm of the latest movie super hero and includes three separate accessories: the Shield of course, a 45mm pistol, and a removable helmet with the 'A' prominently displayed on the front. The toy has many points of articulation which allows Cap to be displayed in multiple poses. There is one drawback to the toy however. It simply has a deuce of a time standing up. You'll notice in the photos that the feet are not flat. They are concave - you can actually see that little 'tunnel' at the bottom of the shoe and this may be why the figure has a hard time standing up. For many of the poses pictured here, I had to prop him up against the background. Still, it's a really cool toy, of a great comic book super hero. Enjoy!

The following fun graphic is courtesy MilitaryVALoan.com

Click image to enlarge

Via: Military VA Loan

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