Marvel Hall of Fame
Toy Biz
1996-1997
Marvel Hall of Fame was a series produced by Toy Biz which featured several rereleased figures from their prior lines, most of which were repainted, as well as many new figures based on characters that prior to the series were never made available. The line was available only online at Puzzlezoo.com, and was a rather successful line lasting seven waves, and featuring thirty-five figures.
Series one was a basic set of figures which feature a repainted Colossus from series one of The Uncanny X-Men line, Daredevil and Invisible Woman from the Marvel Superheroes line, Deadpool from the X-Force series one line, and Rhino from series three of Spider-Man.
SERIES 1
Colossus*Daredevil*Deadpool
Invisible Woman*Rhino
Series two was labeled as She-Force, and featured only female characters. They included; Black Queen, which was a repaint of a White Queen figure to create the new figure, Jean Grey, who was repainted from a Domino figure, Ms. Marvel, who was repainted from a Medusa figure, a repainted Spider-Woman from the Iron Man series two wave, and Storm from the X-Men series one wave with a few more paint details - such as the yellow stripe down the front of her outfit.
SERIES 2
Black Queen*Jean Grey*Ms. Marvel
Spider Woman*Storm
Series three switched back to the basic line of figures, and included Iceman from series two of The Uncanny X-Men line, another Invisible Woman figure from the first Fantastic Four line, a new Spider-Man, Venom from the Marvel Superheroes line, and Wolverine in his yellow costume with the head of Wolverine from the third series of The Uncanny X-Men.
SERIES 3
Iceman*Invisible Woman*Spider-Man
Venom*Wolverine
Series four was the first series in 1997, and included Cyborg Cable from the fifth series of X-Force, Green Goblin from the third series of Spider-Man, Samurai Iron Man from the fourth series of Iron Man, a new Spider-Man in his black suit, and Wizard from the fourth series of Fantastic Four.
SERIES 4
Cable Cyborg*Green Goblin*Iron Man
Spider-Man*Wizard
Series five was released under the sub title Unmasked, and featured Carnage from the sixth series of Spider-Man, Deadpool, who was the same as Deadpool II from the sixth series of X-Force, Magneto, who was a repaint of the figure released in the Age of Apocalypse line, Venom from series four of the Spider-Man line, and War Machine who would be the same from series four of Iron Man, but now featuring a removable helmet.
SERIES 5
Carnage*Deadpool*Magneto
Venom*War Machine
Series six reverted back to the She-Force sub series and stayed as such throughout the remainder of the series. The figures released were; Dazzler, which was an all new figure, Marvel Girl, who was created by repainting a Spider-Woman figure from the Iron Man line, Ms. Marvel who was created by repainting a Phoenix figure, Black Cat from the Spider-Man line, but with a tail added, and the all new Wolfsbane.
SERIES 6
Dazzler*Marvel Girl*Ms. Marvel
Tigra*Wolfsbane
Series seven was the final wave of figures from the Hall of Fame line, and featured a bald Elektra who was created by repainting a Psylocke figure. A fun fact about this figure is that the headband is actually the belt from Psylocke's waist. The remaining four figures were; Shanna the She-Devil who was created by repainting an Invisible Woman figure from the Fantastic Four line, Savage She-Hulk was created by repainting a La Lunatica from the X-Men 2099 line, and a plastic shirt added, Silver Fox, who was created by using the head of the Ninja Force Psylocke and body of Invisible Woman with a cape added, and finally, Viper, who was created using the head from a Generation X White Queen, and the body of a Psylocke figure with a belt added.
SERIES 7
Elektra*Savage She-Hulk*Shanna the She-Devil
Silver Fox*Viper
Join us next time when we take a look at Venom: Planet of the Symbiotes and Along Came A Spider!
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Thanks for this amazing guide to the ToyBiz X-men and related lines! Just wanted to note that Dazzler is made up from the 1st Fantastic Four Invisible Woman body with the Spider-Man Black Cat head/hair. Wolfsbane used Deathbird with her wings removed and hole filled in ( can see the ring on her back) with tufts of fur glued to her head, arms, and legs.
ReplyDeleteStumbled upon this article while researching my latest lot of vintage toys. Just wanted to say thanks for the comprehensive run down!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and leaving a comment.
DeleteThere's an error on the spider-man figures in waves 3 & 4. The marvel superheroes sculpt black costume spider-man was released in wave 3 not 4. The standard red/blue spider-man (animated series re-issue) was in wave 4 which were just minor repaints (green goblin colors) & repackaged overstocked figures.
ReplyDeleteAlso unmasked deadpool was a significant red & silver repaint of his first release. Unmasked carnage was a metallic "powered" version. Unmasked venom was a flat black repaint. Unmasked magneto is based on the x-men animated series adaption of age of apocalypse magneto (where the animators added the "M" from his other costume when he lead the x-men in the comics).
Another commenter mentioned the parts used to make dazzler & wolfesbane, all of the line's "new" figures reused existing parts.
Puzzle zoo just had the first 3 waves as exclusives - these were a mix of re-issued/repainted and in some cases "recalled" rare out of production figures and characters omitted from their main lines over previous years.
For example, the 1st release color change iceman & MSH invisible woman had production/quality issues and were pulled, so they were re-released here. MSH Daredevil & venom, also the fantastic 4 invisible woman (repainted spider-woman variant) were scarce in their first runs so they got reissued with daredevil getting a revised DD logo. Rhino was also short packed in the animated line tho they opted to repaint him brown. Similarly Deadpool grew in popularity so they repainted the scarce 1st version here in vibrant colors. Spider-woman was made purple in the animated iron man line, corrected in comic accurate black here. Storm was made more accurate to her black comic costume. They added unmasked wolverine (head swap) as a legit variant. Jean grey, black queen/Selene & ms marvel were skipped over and finally made available here for the first time.
Wave 4 were just repacked/overstock figures available at select retailers, notably drugstore chains like CVS & Walgreens hence its insignificance (boring). Other than shared packaging due to laziness, this wave has no real purpose like the other waves did in re-issuing rare figures & previously unmade characters.
Wave 5-7 were shared specialty market exclusives available at comic shops. Previews had solicitations in catalogs, entertainment earth also sold them in sets.
As I obtained toybiz figures during their original releases throughout the 90s, I kept meticulous lists on all releases including obscure repaints like these, plus store exclusive gift sets, big box multi-packs, plain mailers from JC penny & FAO and the tail end marvel gold and previews exclusive sub sets/themes waves & 2 packs that followed after hall of fame waves 5-7.
Thanks for this very thorough write up. Unfortunately, my drive that had all my photos and posts died, and all of that information is gone. Comments like this are helpful to fill in the gaps that I can no longer correct.
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