Just Doodling - The Uncanny X-Men

I'm not personally a fan of X-Men comics, but I won't deny their cultural impact and legacy in comics.

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Comics Corner: The X-Men 35

Title: The X-Men

Issue Number: 35

Release Date: August 1967

Highlights

• When you only pop into a title here and there, the editor's notes which reference specific issues really help to bring you up to speed quick - Such is the case with the one in this issue which points to a scenario from issue 32 which saw Professor Xavier being taken by Factor Three, which explains why the X-Men are currently looking for the group 
• Events unfold after The Amazing Spider-Man issue 52, and Spider-Man makes reference to his battle with Kingpin from that issue
• The X-Men attack Spider-Man and he beats them all down
• The X-Men try the old, "Oops sorry, I thought you were someone else," routine after the fight, and Spider-Man tells them all to pound sand

Low Points

• Banshee sends a message to the rest of the team, before blacking out form a recent battle, which states, "Beware the spider," which lead to the team attacking Spider-Man
• Does every super hero in the Marvel universe attack first and ask questions later? Are they all really that dumb?

Oddities

• Issue was released one full month before The Amazing Spider-Man issue 52, and essentially ruins the cliffhanger of issue 51 (released the same month as this X-Men issue) where Spider-Man has just been defeated and knocked out by Kingpin

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: The X-Men 27

Title: The X-Men

Issue Number: 27

Release Date: December 1966

Highlights

• Puppet Master creates a puppet of Professor Xavier in hopes of taking control of him and the professor instantly denigrates it with a psychic shield
• Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch make their first appearance in The X-Men since issue 4
• Professor Xavier asks Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to join the team, they decline because they are full fledged Avengers
• As Beast and Iceman change into their X-Men garb to stop a robber, they emerge to find Spider-Man has already taken care of the problem for them
• Spider-Man meets the X-Men (Beast and Iceman) for the first time
• Beast asks Spider-Man to join the team, but he declines
• Mimic is invited to join the X-Men team
• Jean Grey provides the X-Men with redesigned costumes
• Cyclops steps down as leader of the team and the position is given to Mimic by Professor Xavier
• Puppet Master creates a puppet of Mimic to control him and Mimic seemingly defeats them all
• However, they intentionally held back so that Professor Xavier could discover who had tried to control his mind and who was currently controlling Mimic's

Low Points

• Puppet Master goes a very round about way of trying to defeat the X-Men

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Comics Corner: Giant Size X-Men 1

Title: Giant Size X-Men

Issue Number: 1

Release Date: May 1975

Highlights

• Featuring (in order of appearance) the new team; Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Sunfire, Colossus and Thunderbird
• Additional appearances by the old team; Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Lorna Dane and Havok
• The new team, lead by Cyclops, is sent to Krakoa on a search mission for the old team
• The island of Krakoa is alive, and feeds on mutants
• Cyclops escapes Krakoa after the first battle which saw the original team's disappearance, but it turns out was set free intentionally by the island because it knew he would come back with more mutants
• When working together, the X-Men's powers compliment each other to seemingly provide a solution to every situation
• Decent read for my first "official" introduction to X-Men comics, but can't say as I see myself as a long term fan - I mainly read it for the introduction to the characters due to Spider-Man crossing over into their book(s)

Low Points

• Both the old and new X-Men teams bicker a lot with each other, often taking low blows - How are they a team when they don't seem to like each other?

Oddities

• Thunderbird doesn't want anything to do with Xavier's offer to join...Until he's called a coward. Then he's all in, no further questions asked. "What's the matter McFly? Chicken?"
• One of the X-Men refers to Sunfire as, "The Jap" - WHOA!
• Thunderbird calls Storm, "The Chick" and Colossus, "The Russkie". What is going on with this team and their disrespect for each other?

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Mutant X (Toy Biz)

Mutant X
Toy Biz
1999

Fans of "X" books can't seem to get enough of the numerous iterations of them, and Marvel Comics is more than happy to oblige. One such answer for more was the 1998 to 2001 Mutant X written by Howard Mackie and inked by Andrew Pepoy.

The series involved a story with lead character, Havok, who had been transported to a parallel dimension - The Mutant X Universe. Taking the place of an alternate Havok, he leads a team known as The Six, who are altered version of his companions from Earth-616. I won't spoil any of the plot specific elements beyond that for those of you looking to read the series.

Toy Biz produced a small, fan favorite, set of figures based on the books. While it was well received by Marvel Comic figure collectors, it was sadly never intended to be anything more than a niche series with no life beyond the initial four figures. This was common during this particular era of Toy Biz Marvel related lines. Just a little taste before the company was on to other things.

Bloodstorm*The Goblin Queen

The thing I like most about this particular set of figures is the unique cardbacks. Not only does each one feature fantastic art of the character inside, but it's not your traditional "rectangle" style. The cut to the card follows the character's body, making for a really nice look, but a fragile one at that. I really like when toy companies put that little added extra effort into their packaging.

Havok*The Fallen

The figures aren't too common on secondary markets. However, at the same time, they're by no means "valuable". I've seen them sell for as much as twenty-five bucks a piece, but typically the more common selling price point is around seven dollars. Out of all of them, Bloodstorm and Havok appear to be the most common, but again, they're still few and far between to be found.
 
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X-Men: The New Mutants (Toy Biz)

Before I jump into today's post, make sure you check out all the updates from this weekend. I posted quite a few Order of Battle posts. Additionally, the side bar at the bottom of my Blog has been updated with a link to all of my Order of Battle posts. This is more so a quick reference for myself, but also a great way for visitors to quickly check out my own personal collection as well.

X-Men: The New Mutants
Toy Biz
1998

Marvel was always on the lookout for how to expand its popular X-Men series, and in 1982, this came in the for of the New Mutants. The group made their debut in Marvel Graphic Novel, a series of trade paperback produced in response to DC's DC Graphic Novel. Issue number four to be exact.

The group's origin followed five young mutants who are just starting to learn about their powers. Each one has their own trouble past, but with the aid of Charles Xavier, are given a path to follow.

With the popularity of the book, Marvel green lit a full volume series for the team, which debuted in March of 1981. The series would run for a well rounded out one hundred issues as well as seven annuals before evolving into Rob Leifield's popular X-Force.

This however wouldn't be the last of the team's comic days under the "Mutants" banner. A second volume was published July of 2003 and June of 2004, lasting for thirteen issues. Then again in July of 2019, a third volume would run for fifty issues through December of 2012.

In between it's comic series, Toy Biz delivered a set of four action figures - Well, three actually, as one was a variant of Magik. Each figure featured the quality one would expect at this point from a Toy Biz Marvel line, and as was the case of the era, was pretty cross compatible with other comic lines from the manufacturer.

 Warlock*Wolfsbane

Unfortunately for fans, the series never got rounded out with the remaining team members. It would have been great if Toy Biz would have finished what it started, and delivered Sunspot, Karma, Psyche and Cannonball.

Magik (Red Outfit)*Magik (Yellow Outfit)

Toy Biz's The New Mutants line remains yet another one of the companies numerous "mini" lines which came and went during their desperate attempt to make anything and everything Marvel related. It will be interesting to see if popularity comes back full circle on this one as the New Mutants make more and more of an appearance via television and big screens.

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Video Game Super Stars - X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (Toy Biz)

X-Men Vs. Street Fighter
Toy Biz
1998

Toy Biz's Video Game Super Stars - X-Men Vs. Street Fighter is actually one of the larger, if not the largest series in the Video Game Super Stars lineup.  It features two series with a total of ten two packs for a whopping twenty figures - Though some of those are repainted variants.  Still, for fans of both Marvel's X-Men and Capcom's Street Fighter, this series was a treasure chest of toys, and a shame it didn't last a little bit longer to encompass a few more figures such as Guile, Storm, and all the other characters from the game.

The figures complimented the game perfectly, which quickly became a quarter eater in local arcades in 1999.  The video game series would go on to spawn several sequels, and be ported to several consoles year after year, and remains one of the hottest fighting games of this generation.

SERIES 1

Cyclops Vs. M. Bison*Magneto  Vs. Ryu

Sabretooth Vs. Ken*Wolverine Vs. Akuma

SERIES 2

Gambit Vs. Cammy*Gambit Vs. Zangief

Apocalypse Vs. Dhalsim

SERIES 2

Juggernaut Vs. Chun Li*Juggernaut Vs. Dhalsim

Rogue Vs. Zangief

Thank you for joining us for our month long look at some fantastic series from Toy Biz.  Join us November 30th for a special announcement!

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(The Uncanny X-Men) X-Force (Toy Biz)

X-Force
Toy Biz
1992-1996


The original concept for the comic book series was conceived by artist Rob Liefeld during his years with Marvel Comics. The team made their first appearance in New Mutants number 100, and since then have gone on to be as popular as most of the "X" titles produced by Marvel. The team has featured iconic heroes such as Cable, Deadpool, Domino, and even Wolverine - Just to mention a few. Oddly enough - The title is one of the very few at the helm of Liefeld's that actually got less popular when he left the series (most have gotten more popular).

With the numerous mutants at their disposal, and a strong license already well utilized, Toy Biz developed the below series to coincide with their highly popular Marvel based toys. X-Force began as a sub series of Toy Biz's The Uncanny X-Men (later shortened to just X-Men) series, but encompassed so many waves of figures that collectors began treating it like its own series.  In its five year run, almost fifty action figures were produced, making it one of the most largest sub series to any toy line to date.

SERIES 1

Cable*Deadpool*Forearm

G.W. Bridge*Gideon

SERIES 1

Kane (Blue Holster)*Kane (Red Holster)*Shatterstar

Stryfe*Warpath

SERIES 2

Cable (2nd Edition)*Cable (3rd Edition)

Cannonball (Pink Jacket)*Cannonball (Purple Jacket)

SERIES 2

Grizzly*Kane

Krule

SERIES 3

Cable (4th Edition)*Mojo

Pyro*Quark

SERIES 3

Rictor*Shatterstar (2nd Edition)

Sunspot

SERIES 4

Black Tom*Cable (5th Edition)

Commcast*Killspree

SERIES 4

Slayback*Warpath (2nd Edition)

X-Treme

SERIES 5

Avalanche*Black Tom*Cable (Urban Assault)*Commando

Exodus*Mojo

SERIES 6

Cable (Cyborg)*Caliban

Deadpool*Domino

SERIES 6

Genesis*Nimrod

The Blob

SERIES 7

Cable (Arctic Armor)*Cable (Stealth)

Killspree II*Shatterstar III

Join us next time when we take a look at Marvel's Famous Couples!

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The Uncanny X-Men (AKA X-Men) (Toy Biz)

The Uncanny X-Men
Toy Biz
1991-1998

When it comes to incredibly large lines, Toy Biz's The Uncanny X-Men certainly stands out as a line to be reckoned with.  In it's eight year span, the series managed to churn out seven series of basic figures, a few vehicles and playsets, and about two hundred figures related to various sub series and gift sets.

Truth be told, Toy Biz's X-Men line is a series we've wanted to tackle here at The Toy Box for a long time.  However, because its so large, and so many X-Men related figures were released during this time period, its difficult to tell which figures in the sub series were actually intended to be connected to the basic line, if any at all, and this is really a best guess effort after several months of research, and a whole lot of photograph work.  While we believe this to be complete, if you don't see something that you feel should be a part of the series, or if you see something you don't think should be here, please let us know what, and why.  Please note that we have not included the X-Force series as while this line started out as a sub series, it really took off on its own as a series unto itself.

We've labeled every photo with its series title, and to help organize everything, with the exception of the basic series which is listed first, everything else is listed in alphabetical order.  All the photos are also date stamped with the year that the particular represented series came out.

It's also important to note that while the series launched as "The Uncanny X-Men" in 1991, by 1994 the series title was shortened to just "X-Men".  The majority of the sub series lines fall under the "X-Men" title.

Without further delay we present to you what we feel is the entire 1990's Toy Biz (The Uncanny) X-Men line!

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 1

Apocalypse*Archangel*Colossus*Juggernaut

Cyclops*Magneto

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 1

Nightcrawler*Storm

Wolverine

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 2

Banshee*Forge (Brown Holster)*Forge (Yellow Holster)*Gambit

Iceman*Magneto

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 2

Mr. Sinister*Sabretooth*Sauron

Wolverine (3rd Edition) (Blue Pants)*Wolverine (3rd Edition) (Yellow Pants)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 2

Mr. Sinister*Sabretooth (Black Cape)*Mr. Sinister (Red Cape)

Wolverine (Second Edition)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 3

Archangel (Gold)*Colossus (Red Boots)*Cyclops (Red Belt)*Iceman (Blue)

Juggernaut (Orange Boots)*Magneto (Striped Gloves)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 3

Mr. Sinister (No Goatee)*Nightcrawler (Suction Cups)*Sauron (Gold and Black Belt)*Storm (Silver)

Wolverine (4th Edition) (Green Cables)*Wolverine (4th Edition) (Red Cables)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 4

Apocalypse (2nd Edition)*Bishop*Omega Red

Strong Guy*Tusk

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 4

Wolverine (5th Edition) (Black)*Wolverine (5th Edition) (Blue)

Wolverine (5th Edition) (Green) (Kay Bee Toys Exclusive)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 5

Ahab*Brood*Cyclops (Blue and White)*Longshot

Professor X*Sabretooth (Snarl and Swipe Action)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 6

Beast*Morph*Random*Silver Samurai

Trevor Fitzroy*Wolverine (6th Edition) (Robo Wolverine)

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 7

Bonebreaker*Ch'od

Kylun*Raza

BASIC FIGURES SERIES 7

Rogue*Senyaka

Wolverine (7th Edition) (Street Clothes)

BASIC VEHICLES

Wolverine Mutantcycle

BASIC VEHICLES

Blackbird Jet

Mini Blackbird Jet

BASIC VEHICLES

Magneto Magnatron*Wolverine Mutantcycle (Repack)

BASIC VEHICLES

Wolf Cycle*Wolf Jet

BASIC PLAYSETS

Cyclops Light Force Arena

Wolverine Combat Cave

BASIC PLAYSETS

Cyclops Light Force Arena (Repack)

Wolverine Combat Cave (Repack)

BASIC PLAYSETS

Sentinel Robot Playset

BASIC PLAYSETS

Headquarters Playset

Here's where we'll being our look at the various sub series. As we mentioned above, everything from here on will be listed in alphabetical order, but is stamped with year that the particular line was released.

ACTION FIGURE GIFT SET

with Wolverine*Iceman*Mr. Sinister*Sabretooth

DANGER ROOM FIGURE SET

with Battle Ravaged Wolverine*Gambit*Captive Sabretooth*Nimrod

AGE OF APOCALYPSE

Apocalypse*Cyclops*Magneto

Sabertooth*Weapon X

BATTLE BASES

Magneto

Wolverine

BATTLE BLASTERS

Beast*Sabretooth

Storm*Wolverine

BATTLE BLASTERS

Cyclops*Jean Grey

Omega

BATTLE BLASTERS VEHICLES

Battle Blaster Bomber

BATTLE BRIGADE

Archangel*Colossus*Lady Deathstrike

Post Apocalypse Beast*Wolverine Patch

BATTLE BRIGADE REPAINTS

Archangel*Colossus*Lady Deathstrike

Post Apocalypse Beast*Wolverine Patch

BATTLE TALKERS

Magneto*Sabretooth

Wolverine

CLASSICS (THE ANIMATED SERIES)

Beast*Cyclops*Gambit*Magneto

Storm*Wolverine

CLASSICS (LIGHT UP WEAPONS)

Elektra*Gambit (Pink Shirt)

Juggernaut (Orange Waist)*Nightcrawler

CLASSIC (LIGHT UP WEAPONS)

Nightcrawler (Silver and Black)*Psylocke

Wolverine (Blue and Purple)*Wolverine

CLASSIC (LIGHT UP WEAPONS)

Gambit (Yellow Shirt)

Juggernaut (Gold Waist)

ELECTRONIC "TALKS"

Cyclops*Magneto

Wolverine

FAO SCHWARZ EXCLUISVE THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA

with Phoenix*Corsair*Ch'od*Wolverine Space

FLASHBACK

Bishop II*Omega Red II

Polaris*Savage Land Wolverine

INVASION SERIES

Archangel II*Eric The Red

Havok*Iceman II

INVASION SERIES

Captive Sabretooth*Spiral

Battle Ravaged Wolverine

KAY-BEE EXLUSIVE FIGURES

Apocalypse*Cable III*Deadpool*Juggernaut

Longshot*Morph

KAY-BEE EXCLUSIVE FIGURES

Sabretooth*Civilian Wolverine*Robot Wolverine

Space Armor Wolverine*Spy Wolverine

KAY-BEE EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL METALLIC EDITION

Silver Samurai and Robot Wolverine with Mini Cyclops

Maverick and Trevor Fitzroy with Mini Wolverine

MARVEL COLLECTOR EDITION

Giant-Size X-Men with Storm*Colossus*Nightcrawler*Sunfire*Banshee*Thunderbird

The X-Men with Cyclops*Marvel Girl*Iceman*Beast*Angel

MISSILE FLYERS

Future Apocalypse*Future Bishop

Future Shard*Future Wolverine

MONSTER ARMOR

Cyclops*Mystique*Rogue

Mr. Sinister*Wolverine

MUTANT ARMOR

Heavy Metal Beast*Iceman*Professor Xavier*Quicksilver (White and Black)

Quicksilver (Blue)*Wolverine

MUTANT GENESIS SERIES

Cameron Hodge*Maverick

Senyaka*Sunfire

MUTANT GENESIS SERIES

Wolverine Fang*X-Cutioner (Dark Green)

X-Cutioner (Light Green)

MUTANT MONSTER

Dark Beast*Sugar Man

Werewolf Wolverine

NINJA FORCE

Dark Nemesis*Ninja Psylocke*Ninja Sabretooth

Ninja Wolverine*Space Ninja Deathbird

ONSLAUGHT

Apocalypse Rising*Jean Grey (Blue)*Jean Grey (Green)

Onslaught*Wolverine Unleashed

PHOENIX SAGA

Corsair*Gladiator*Jean Grey

Warstar*Wolverine (8th Edition) (Space)

THE PHOENIX SAGA CD-ROM

Wolverine

PHOENIX SAGA REPACKS

Corsair*Gladiator*Jean Grey

Warstar*Wolverine (8th Edition) (Space)

POWER SLAMMERS

Gambit*Master Mold

Rogue*Wolverine

POWER SLAMMERS VEHICLES

Assault Vehicle

ROBOT FIGHTERS

Cyclops*Gambit*Jubilee*Storm (Hair Behind Head)

Storm (Hair Over Shoulders)*Wolverine

SAVAGE LAND

Angel and Sauron*Joseph and Amphibious

Ka-Zar and Zabu

SAVAGE LAND

Savage Storm and Colossus

Savage Wolverine and Crawler Rex

SHAPE SHIFTERS

Juggernaut*Morph

Wolverine

SPACE RIDERS

Beast*Cyclops

Jean Grey

SPACE RIDERS

Professor X

Wolverine

STRIKE TEAM

with Talos*Wolverine*Forge*Super Skrull*Banshee*Storm*Gambit*Jubilee

SUPER SHOOTERS

Apocalypse*Beast

Colossus*Wolverine

TOYS R' US EXCLUSIVE ALTERNATE-X

Weapon X*Wolverine

TOYS R' US EXCLUSIVE MUTANT HALL OF FAME

Iceman*Cyclops*Professor X*Wolverine*Archangel

Juggernaut*Sabretooth*Sauron*Magneto*Apocalypse

WALMART EXCLUSIVE COLLECTOR CARD BONUS PACK

Bishop and Apocalypse

Cyclops and Mr. Sinister

WALMART EXCLUSIVE COLLECTOR CARD BONUS PACK

Professor X and Ahab

Strong Guy and Tusk

WALMART EXCLUSIVE COLLECTOR CARD BONUS PACK

Spy Wolverine and Omega Red

Wolverine and Sabretooth

WALMART EXCLUSIVE X-MEN/SPIDER-MAN COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Beast and Spider-Man (Web Shooter)

Juggernaut and Spider-Man (Web Parachute)

WALMART EXCLUSIVE X-MEN/SPIDER-MAN COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Nightcrawler and Spider-Man (Web Racer)

Sabretooth and Spider-Man

WALMART EXCLUSIVE X-MEN/SPIDER-MAN COLLECTOR'S EDITION

Weapon X and Spider-Man

Civilian Wolverine and Peter Parker

WATER WARS

Iceman*Sentinel

Nightcrawler*Storm (Pink Stand)

WATER WARS

Storm (Hair Behind Back)*Storm (Hair On Shoulders)

Wolverine*Wolverine (Unmasked)

WATER WARS PLAYSETS

Water Wars Playset

In closing, if you are a major package variant hunter, then it is worth noting that Canada produced and released several limited two pack sets from the various sub series, and even had their own X-Men/Spider-Man two pack waves.  These sets were limited from 4,000 to 6,000 pieces, and are very difficult to get at reasonable prices.

Join us next time when we take a look at a somewhat continuation of The Uncanny X-Men line with the sub series that turned into its own series, X-Force!

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