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Fri 5 Mar 2010 |
Howdy all, and welcome to another edition of the Super Powers Highlight here at Action Figure Insider. Today I’m calling attention to a rarity most people might not know about. What’s generally known amongst people who collect this fantastic line is that there were three total waves of figures released from 1984 to 1986. The figures that were among the first two waves all came with a free mini-comic that illustrated a short adventure of the character. The third wave of figures had no comics, probably due to the second wave of figures performing so poorly on the retail shelves. Cost-cutting to sell the retailers on the 3rd wave, you see.
The advanced Super Powers collector also knows about at least a few of the more popular foreign releases…namely the Pacipa Super Amigos Riddler from Argentina, the Gulliver El Capitan Rayo from Columbia, and the Super Amigos Cyborg from the same Pacipa line as Riddler. Most people even have the carded Cyborg in their collection instead of the (mislabeled) "rare" US-released Cyborg.
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – The Cyborg Mini Comic
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Wed 3 Feb 2010 |
Goofy in-house characters for the win! Yup, I’m of the minority, I know…I actually *like* these guys. While news of their upcoming release in the DC Universe Classics line has caused tremendous uproar and their original inclusion in Super Powers (instead of some of the 3,000 characters already inhabiting the DC Universe) has never been explained…I still like ‘em. On the surface, they’re goofy…they’re neat…and they’re a couple of the more difficult figures to find carded in the line. Due to the quality of plastic Kenner started using during those years (and also on the Return of the Jedi and Power of the Force Star Wars waves) yellow bubbles are very very common. I believe I’ve only seen one Golden Pharaoh with a clear bubble, and the price nearly hit $200 on eBay last year.
Proof cards, on the other hand, are an entirely different beast. Most Super Powers pre-production items are very difficult to come by. First shots and proof cards are very rare with most items having 2-3 examples out there. In most cases hardcopies and presentation boards are one-of-a-kind pieces. I’m certainly fortunate to acquire what I’ve come across, and in the case of these two proof cards there are only two or three of each known to exist. Since this blog will be primarily visual (there’s only so much you can say about these guys), I’ll get right to the pics.
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – Cyclotron and Golden Pharaoh Proof Cards
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Mon 25 Jan 2010 |
Howdy all! Welcome to yet another CAPtivating edition (hee hee) of the Super Powers Highlight. This go-around we’re looking at one of the oddest things ever to come out of the Super Powers line in any country…El Capitan Rayo from Gulliver Juguetes in Brazil. Covered in this blog, and I believe for the first time in-depth anywhere with detailed pictures will not only be the regular version of Rayo but also the rarer release with the correct chest emblem.
As most people somewhat familiar with the Kenner US line know, there were 33 characters released at retail, with a 34th offered as a mail-in premium (Clark Kent). Those that are a little more advanced in their obsession in collecting the line know of the Super Amigos Riddler released by Pacipa in Argentina. However, once one delves a little deeper into the madness of acquiring everything toy-related released under that awesome logo, worldwide…you will learn about the good Captain, and wonder WHAT THE FLUFF were they smoking down there to come up with such ridiculousness?!
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – El Capitan Rayo
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Mon 18 Jan 2010 |
Hellay hellay! (Bonus points for anyone who knows what that’s from!) Welcome to another edition of the Super Powers Highlight!
In this installment we take a look at a piece that, as of this writing, is the only one yet to be seen in the collecting community : the Estrela Joker. Estrela is actually a pretty odd entity in the Super Powers world. A Brazilian company that had the license for all the Kenner characters, they released an odd mix of Waves 2 and 3 after producing Wave 1 in it’s entirety. The only characters released from Wave 2 were Darkseid and Green Arrow, and the only characters released from Wave 3 were Plastic Man, Shazam, and Cyborg. A further odd occurrence is that the Wave 3 characters all were released with corresponding comics! The comics are exclusive to Estrela’s line only and were not released anywhere else world-wide. One wonders if there were comics for all the 3rd series characters before that plan was scrapped to get what were eventually did from Kenner.
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – Estrela Joker
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Sat 16 Jan 2010 |
Howdy folks…welcome to another highlight of the best vintage line around…Super Powers! I can’t really call it Kenner Super Powers anymore, simply because of the vast differences that make the foreign variations so wonderful to pursue. Obviously, if you’ve followed my previous blogs you’ll know one of those lines is Gulliver. Here’s a prime example of how wonderfully goofy a release from a foreign company can be : the Man of Steel, Superman
As one of the rarer characters to find MOC, I don’t think it’s been brought to light just how pencil-necked this geek really is. Until I was finally able to acquire one I had no idea…going off the grainy figure line up on the back of the card it’s not as prominent. Hopefully my pictures will bring a tear to your eye and a knot in your stomach as to how badly ol’ Clark has been mistreated here.
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – Gulliver Superman
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Sun 10 Jan 2010 |
As promised…another blog! Yes, I know…so soon after the first one of the year, too! Well, let me tell you, it’s exhausting work bragging…errr, BLOGGING about the cool stuff I’ve acquired for my collection. It really satisfies my huge ego…errr, makes me humbled to share with my fellow like-minded brethren.
Up for showcasing today are both the Pacipa Brainiac & Playful Hawkman…"The Bubble Boys." I decided to feature them together because they both share a trait unique from all the other Super Powers figures released worldwide over the years…contoured bubbles based on the shape of the figure. Visuals work far better than words, so I’ll just show ya what I’m talking about as I blather on…
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – Super Amigos Hawkman and Brainiac
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Fri 8 Jan 2010 |
…and we’re back! Boy, that commercial seemed like an eternity, eh? Wait, what? It really HAS been over 5 months since the last highlight? Wow…I’ve been a supreme slack-ass, for sure. Well, rest assured loyal readers (reader?) that one of my (few) New Year’s resolutions is to blog more…to the tune of once a week at least, and to start things off I’m "debuting" a vintage piece that has previously not shown up on the collector’s market…the Playful Super Amigos Shazam!
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Read the rest of Super Powers Highlight – Super Amigos Shazam!
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Sat 26 Sep 2009 |
…and yes, there will be detailed blogging. 
Peace,
Chip
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Tue 18 Aug 2009 |
 Well, in the six or so months since I last updated the classic Super Powers line-up with DCUC figures we’ve seen a few more slots filled. It’s amazing to think of it, but within a year we should have (for the first time!) the entire Super Powers roster recreated with a modern day line. So once again, I’ve recreated the well known shot from the back of the 3rd series cards using DCUC figures that have been released or revealed as of now. It’s a lot bigger than the last one, and with all-new, nice big pictures of these greats sculpts (and big thanks to Cornboy for helping to fill in a few gaps!). Click on the pic to embiggen.
Lots of rumors are hitting as to what’s coming next. The biggest being that next year’s SDCC exclusive will be a Plastic Man figure with multiple attachments. Fans are already going nuts over the news (and not entirely in a good way) so we’ll see what actually plans out in the next year. There has also been talk of completing the line-up by SDCC, with Desaad in Wave 12, and a Golden Pharaoh/ Cyclotron 2-pack to be revealed on MattyCollector.com next year.
Is any of this true? Who knows for sure. We did get a pretty accurate leak about Waves 10 & 11 all the way back in Nov. 2008, so anything is possible. It’s a pretty safe bet in any case that we’ll wrap up the Super Powers homage sooner rather than later. And that’s where it gets really interesting for me:once the full lineup is released, will we see any of the characters that WEREN’T produced? We already have a few of them: Man-Bat, Bizarro, Kid Flash, Vigilante, John Stewart, Deathstroke, Supergirl, and the Wonder Twins. But is it possible we might see Quadrex? Silicon? Howitzer?!?
Only time will tell.
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Fri 17 Jul 2009 |
A deconstruction of the practice, in pictures…because I don’t need someone else to tell me my figure is in great shape. I also like the "5 Feet" argument : an AFA90, AFA85, AFA80 or AFA75 all look *exactly* the same from 5 feet away. Also, as far as I’m concerned it’s "artificial rarity" due to the fact that there could be 1,000 carded Super Powers Robins out there, yet the AFA90 "Only one in existence!" goes for $750. Give me a break, eh? Enjoy this "freedom" pictorial!
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Read the rest of I don’t really care for AFA-graded figures…
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