Toy OTD: Tyco Talking Looney Tunes Figure: Marvin The Martian (1993)

There's some minor curse hanging over Warner Brothers cartoon merchandise. Most of it (including the vintage stuff) just isn't all that great - not even in that wonky, Hanna-Barbera-toy way. So it's always nice to find a good specimen!

I'm not sure what motivated this toy line, since Space Jam was three years away. There were just three characters made in this format: Bugs Bunny, The Tazmanian Devil, and Marvin (above). I must not have like the other two figures very much at all, since they were released when I was much more of a completist than I am now!

This version of Marvin isn't perfect - his head's rather small when you compare it to the original design, and his body is heftier - but it's a good compromise with balance and safety issues. The early Marvin (left) has a radically different color scheme, but the toy is on-model with the current colors.

There isn't a lot of articulation - neck, shoulders and hips. Still, it's reasonably posable when you consider how few joints it has. the helmet's visor (of all things) is movable, so you can mimic how it drops down when Marvin gets "very angry indeed"!

The talking feature is good, with reasonable volume and clarity. I don't remember the voice all that well, but since there was no sound effects or music mixed in with the sound bites, I have to assume they were re-performed (and fairly well) by a sound-alike. Marvin says, "Ooh, that makes me so angry", "Prepare to be vaporized", and "Where's my space modulator?" There's also a disintegration pistol included as an accessory - it's very appropriate for the character, big enough that it won't get lost easily, and fits well in Marvin's hand.

The sculpt is nice and simple, and the figure is built with just a few colors of plastic. That keeps the paint to a minimum (only two or three colors), which is especially good in this case - the paint work is kind of shaky. Overall, though, it doesn't really detract too much.

The packaging consisted of a basic cardboard box with a cellophane window, decorated with the most perfunctory of style guide art. The box gets a small bonus for including a "try me" window in the back (so you can make sure the toy works before purchasing it), but other than that, it's pretty lackluster. At least you won't have much guilt over ripping it open and tossing it in the trash!

I don't see this figure for sale all that often, but you can bid on one right now through eBay. It's only up to $6.00 + shipping so far, with three days left to go. Get to it!

Toy OTD: Thinkway Incredibles Interactive Action Figure: Syndrome

Thinkway Toys has made talking, interactive figures since A Bug's Life (at least). Put a pair of them together, and they'll have a chat all by themselves! It's a super-cool feature - when you throw strong articulation, great sculpts, clever use of materials and sharp paint work into the mix, you've got a high standard to match.

You can either set the toy to sound off several phrases at the press of a button (or possibly triggered by your own voice), or adjust it to interactive mode so he can talk with Mr. Incredible, Dash, or both at once! The pre-recorded phrases allow for some enjoyable back-and-forth between them.

The articulation is of particular notice here because it allows for a good amount of posing without making the character look artificial or awkward. The cloth cape and vinyl parts are nice touches, as well. The ankles make balancing the figure a bit tricky, so a doll-type stand or a pegged base might have been a good accessory. "Zero Point Energy" sound effects or lights on the figure's wrist bands would've been awesome, but since (I think) this toy was partially assembled after opening, adding those features would probably have been prohibitively expensive.

I can't remember how much this toy originally cost - I think it was between fifteen and twenty dollars. Unfortunately, it's not available online at all right now, so warm up another eBay Favorite Search if you want to add this toy to your collection!

Toy OTD: Bandai Talking "Big Guy" Figure (1999)

Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow sparked off a mini-franchise when they teamed up their versions of Gigantor (Tetsujin-nijūhachi-gō 鉄人28号) and Astro Boy (鉄腕 アトム, Tetsuwan Atomu) in their comic, The Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot. Even though they were only featured in short, sporadic comic book appearances, the concept spawned a short-lived animated television series, and a line of merchandise.

You really couldn't ask for a better toy of the Big Guy than this! It actually is pretty big - thirteen inches tall - and speaks four phrases (his eyes glowing red) when you push his chest button. I'm assuming that they're from the show: "Candygram!", "For the luvva Mike!", "Fire in the hole!", and "This is serious business!" I've never seen the program, so I can't tell you if it's the same voice actor or not.

One arm opens to reveal a pair of cannons, while the other can fire off from his arm, Shogun Warrior-style. The former can be tricky to close back up, and the latter has a hair trigger, but they're still cool features! He also comes with accessories: a ray pistol, his human pilot (though he always came across as autonomous and sentient in the comic), and a roughly-to-scale Rusty figure. I don't remember how much this figure originally cost, but it was affordable enough that it was a good deal for the money!

There are two talking versions of this toy - the 13" size that has four phrases, and a 6" model with just two (and no accessories). This'll make buying one online a little tricky, so make sure that you're getting the version you want when bidding on eBay!

Speaking of which, I can't find this toy for sale online. You'll have to set up a favorite search - Good luck!