Spider-Armor Spider-Man and Superior Foe Beetle – Marvel MiniMates Toys R Us Wave 25 (Toys R Us Exclusive)

We are continuing our look at Toys R Us Wave 25 of Marvel Minimates. This time around, we get Spider-Armor Spider-Man alongside the Superior Foe Beetle. We are heavy on the Spider-Man figures this time around, with one variation of Spider-Man in each of the 2-packs.

Looking at the tray, this 2-pack isn’t quite as heavy on accessories as the Spider-Sense Peter Parker and Chameleon pack. It looks like we will get some good variations though.

First up, Spider-Armor Spider-Man. This is actually the Mark IV version of Spider-Armor. The first was in 1993, and only lasted one issue. Then we had MK II in 2011, MK III in 2012. This MK IV armor lasted two years from 2015-2017, before being utterly destroyed. Thankfully Peter was wearing his “underoos” under that costume. It has a bit of a different look, with stylized webs, and green around the chest logo and eyes. Not much of a difference from a standard figure, so easy to see why they decided to go with the version.

His accessory is Peter Parker’s head. This is more of a smiling version of Peter than the head that came with Spider-Sense Peter Parker, but they are interchangeable, so you can vary his look pretty easily.

Janice Lincoln, known as Beetle, is the daughter of Tombstone. Her outfit is a great iridescent green and purple. Hasbro did a great version of her in the Marvel Legends line, and she looks great again. She comes with a flight stand, though she is REALLY back heavy, so I had to put her on the stand backwards.

Her wings are fantastic. They are really large and are fully posable. The attachment points are on a backpack that fits over the waist post, and her neck. Those wings are safely in place.

Along with the wings and flight stand, Beetle also comes with hair and a cell phone. Her face and hair are pretty simple. I would not expect a lot more than that. Her cell phone fits nicely in her hand. She is probably taking a call from one of the other members of the Sinister-Six.

This is a fun wave for sure. Toys R Us got lucky to get their hands on this one. One more 2-pack to go. Stay tuned.

Beetle – Marvel Legends (Vulture Series)

About a year ago to the month we had a Beetle in a Spider-Man themed series of Marvel Legends. Then it was Janice Lincoln. Now it is Abner Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins here is the original Beetle. He made his debut in Strange Tales #123 back in September of 1964. At the time Beetle was wearing a loose fitting suit, and had suction cups on his fingers. He was not the trim man with sleek suit you see here today, though the mask is still right on. Spider-Man enters the scene a year later in 1965 when he and the Human Torch have to team-up to once again send Jenkins back to prison.

What we get in the figure is the much more sophisticated Mark II version of the suit, where Jenkins decides he has to step up his game to take on the likes of Iron Man. He kept the purple and green color scheme for now.

There are two sets of holes in his back. One set is for the shell, and the other is for the wings.

Beetle can just wear the shell, which looks pretty cool, and then the wings can be attached separately.

The wings, which we have seen a few times now, are a great size. Even though they were used on women figures before, they are large enough to work for this Beetle. He has a nice strong stance, so he can support the extra weight on his back, and stay standing.

Janice Lincoln took on the mantle of Beetle in 2010. Her armor is based on the Mark II armor that we have Jenkins wearing.

It is pretty easy to pin down which version she is wearing, since the earlier Mark I was more like a fabric suit, and the later Mark III was more like Hulk-Buster armor.
Jenkins turned his life around and became MACH-I. Lincoln uses her armor for bad guy stuff.

I like this Beetle. He is fun with all of the functioning wings and the fun paint colors. He stands out on the shelf nicely. And he is a good team-up figure for the new Beetle.

Road Trip Finds

I was gone on a 21 day road trip with my wife and dog. We got a travel trailer and took it out on the maiden voyage. 21 days, 11 states, 4200 miles. Along the way I was able to stop in a plethora of WalMarts, Targets, a few Toys R Us’ and a couple of Walgreens. I even made it to a Fred Meyer in Oregon, which is owned by Krogers, so they had lots of Hot Wheels.

The tally of finds was:

Marvel Legends:
6 of the 7 Spider-Man Homecoming
The Walgreens Exclusive Invisible Woman
The Toys R Us Exclusive 2-pack Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson

The Jim Lee Cyclops figure from the Warlock Series

Transformers:
Blitzwing (Voyager Class)
Octane (Voyager Class)
Bumblebee (Deluxe Movie)
Barricade (Deluxe Movie)
Berserker (Deluxe Movie)

Star Wars:
Tusken Raider (Sand People) (40th Anniversary Black Series)

Diecast:
10 Premium brands
Lightning McQueen (Target Exc)

13 Matchbox
75 Hot Wheels

 

Tennessee State Trooper Volkswagen Beetle (Greenlight – Hot Pursuit)

When I saw this little Beetle sitting on the peg at Toys R Us, I knew it had to be in my collection. I love Beetles, but they are not the end all vehicle for me. What I love more, are unique vehicles. And to have a Tennessee State Trooper Beetle was too cool to pass up.

On further investigation (who wouldn’t want to know more about this car), the 1:1 version is known as the “Litter Bug.” They take it around to shows and parades and speak out about littering on the highways.

The original car was seized in a drug bust. What a great way to honor this Bug, by giving it a new life in the line of duty. There are other “new” Beetles being used by police forces, but it takes a classic Beetle to be something special.

Marvel Legends Absorbing Man Wave – Morbius, Speed Demon, and Absorbing Man

Morbius:

A lot of people skipped Morbius. He is not that great of a character, and he comes with a second set of arms. So most people looked at either Ben Reilly or Morbius, and swayed their way to the better figure to get Absorbing Man’s arms.

Morbuis is a bit of a strange guy. He has a weird skin color. Of course he is a vampire, so his skin would be a bit off, but he is pretty far off.  His outfit is just skin tight paint with added bare forearms. Not a lot of originality here. He does come with two capes, so he can have arms up or arms down. That could be useful for the ACBA photographers.

Overall, this is the guy to skip in the line if you are trying to save money.

Speed Demon:

Speed Demon uses the skinny buck, and it works great on a speedster. Wait, are they still speedsters in the Marvel Universe?!?! Ah well, whatcha gonna do?

As with many of the fast guys, he seems to have a good sense of humor, and it shows with the smirk on his face. The rest of his body is just a painted buck, but there really isn’t a lot more they could have done for this guy.

He comes with a second pair of hands laid flat for running. It really adds to the illusion of his moving fast. They could also be used for karate chopping the good guys.

Speed Demon comes with one of the strangest accessories to date. A head mounted on a RC car. This is Silvermane, and he is missing his body. I guess Speed Demon is going to help him get it back. Either way, we get a bonus character in this wave.

Absorbing Man:

Absorbing Man comes with a lot of extra parts when if you get Morbius AND Ben Reilly. He comes with four arms, and two heads, along with the rest of his body, and a wrecking ball.  This is the comic photographer’s dream. Each arm is a different material, flesh, steel, stone, and wood. Even one of his faces has stone to add to the effect of being able to change.

The wrecking ball is garbage. It is a hollow sphere with a molded chain attached. It isn’t even molded into a usable shape. This is definitely going to need some work.

This is definitely a wave for Spider-Man. It is potentially the first wave with 7-1 good to bad guys, if you give Ben Reilly the Carnage parts. Poor Gwen has a lot of work to do. There are generally more good guys in waves than this.

The next two waves coming up, Space Venom, and Juggernaut have nearly all good guys, so the hero factor will once again climb.