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.

Marvel Legends – Absorbing Man Wave – Jack O’Lantern and Beetle (Janice Lincoln)

Continuing on with the Absorbing Man Wave, we have two sets to look at.   Today one great and one not-so-great figure.

Jack O’Lantern:

Jack O’Lantern is one of my favorite figures of this wave, and one of my favorite new figures for a long ways back. He has a great body, with skinny arms and legs. Jack is wearing a great outfit with lots of straps and buckles.

Even though he is a little top heavy, he has a great sculpt for the head, with flames.

He comes with a sickle, flaming broomstick, and a fire bomb. All nice touches that go well with his overall theme.

 

Beetle (Janice Lincoln):

Oh Beetle, what a disappointment for the wave. Clearly they wanted to reuse the wings from Wasp, and this is who they picked. A bit of a nobody, that clearly has a few loose screws. Who else would wear a head to toe body suit and then add on a dancing dress?

She is not all bad. The body sculpt is sound. They went with the mid-range female body, so she is not too skinny. The wings look great in the transparent pink. It sets her apart from Wasp.  Even though the outfit is weird, it is well done. The green is nice and dark, and the pink/purple color really shines.

 

Up next we will finish off this wave of figures, working our way to the BAF of Absorbing Man himself.  After that, the plethora of fun stuff I got on my 3 1/2 week car trip.   It is so hard to decide what comes next.  I am certainly leaning toward the Transformers: Titans Return line.  It looks like it is going to be so much fun.