STRIPE DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL) Fun FiQ Fact #0080: The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy are a unique instance of a kid superhero having an adult sidekick, with Pat “Stripesy” Duggan serving as sidekick to both Sylvester Pemberton and Courtney Whitmore during their turns in the role. When I was a kid, I got my first introduction to the “modern” incarnation of Stars and STRIPE via their guest appearance in Impulse, an issue I got as a free give away at an early Baltimore Comic Con I attended (which was also my introduction to Impulse himself). I had known of their golden age incarnation tha ..read more

NIGHTCRAWLER MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO) Fun FiQ Fact #0078: Nightcrawler’s creation predates the All New, All Different X-Men, and in fact predates his creator Dave Cockrum’s time at Marvel; he was originally intended to be part of Legion of Super Heroes spin-off book from Cockrum’s time at DC.  When Dave left DC, he took Nightcrawler with him. Though certainly a popular X-Man, it feels like we never get enough Nightcrawler figures.  He’s always just a little sparser than you might expect.  Since the introduction of Marvel Legends, he’s gotten two, now three figures.  Th ..read more

GOBLIN QUEEN MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO) Fun FiQ Fact #0076: Though she’s existed since 1983, Madelyn Pryor has had, to date, only two action figures, more than 20 years apart from each other. I find Madelyn Pryor a generally tedious character.  The concept’s not awful, I guess.  I can certainly understand Claremont’s initial desire to give Scott Summers his planned “happily ever after” even with the adjustments to the end of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” resulting in Jean’s demise.  But, it does put Madelyn in an unfortunate spot of being nothing more than a placeholder, which isn’t ide ..read more

BATGIRL DC: THE NEW 52 (DC COLLECTIBLES) Fun FiQ Fact #0075:  Barbra Gordon, the second Batgirl, was introduced into the comics in 1967 as a prelude to the character’s introduction in the third season of the live action Batman. Barbara Gordon’s victimization at the hands of the Joker in Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke” is a pretty messy story for a lot of different reasons.  Ultimately, DC’s decision not to quickly reverse Barbara’s paralyzation, and in fact embrace it and make her a stronger character *because* of it worked in her favor, with her Oracle role becoming quite a de ..read more

SHADOWHAWK SPAWN (MCFARLANE TOYS) Fun FiQ Fact #0074: Today’s review increases my Spawn line reviews by 50%! Hey, remember back in 2017, when I reviewed a ShadowHawk figure?  Well, this review is gonna be very similar because, um, the figures are also very similar?  Because, if there’s one thing McFarlane has always enjoyed, it’s very easy variants.  And early on, he made up a lot of very easy variants, exclusively for the purpose of having very easy variants.  Here’s one of those. THE FIGURE ITSELF ShadowHawk was released in Series 4 of McFarlane’s Spawn li ..read more

JEAN GREY MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO) Fun FiQ Fact #0073:  This figure’s technically two figures in one! Well, X-Men ’97 continues to deliver on the awesomeness front, so I’m going to keep jumping into that particular well.  I already looked at Cyclops earlier this week, and what better follow-up to him is there than Jean Grey!  Jean’s gotten her fair share of ’90s inspired figures, and here’s one more! THE FIGURE ITSELF Jean Grey is part of the second X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  She’s the first ’90s Jean at regular retail since the Rock ..read more

ULTRAMAN ORB SPACIUM ZEPERION S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI) Fun FiQ Fact #0072: Ultraman Orb is the 14th form-changing Ultraman in the franchise. I’m gonna level with you guys: I’ve gotten back to Ultraman reviews, and I can’t kick the habit all that easily.  So, there’s gonna be more Ultraman reviews.  Not a ton, because, well, I have slightly more limited means of getting new Ultramen right at this moment, but still, there’s more Ultramen, and that’s always a great thing.  Alright, let’s look at an Ultraman Orb variant! THE FIGURE ITSELF Ultraman Orb Spacium Zeperion was a December ..read more

CYCLOPS MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO) Fun FiQ Fact #0071: Since taking over the Marvel license, Hasbro has released Cyclops as a Marvel Legend 13 times. I have spent the last few weeks in a X-Men bliss, thanks to X-Men ’97.  X-Men: The Animated Series was an unquestionable influence on me as a kid, and I was thrilled by the announcement of the continuation.  The end result (or the four episodes we’ve seen of it thus far) has been nothing short of phenomenal, and one of my very favorite things about the show has been its fantastic focus on the X-Men’s field leader, Cyclops ..read more

NIGHTWING DC: THE NEW 52 (DC COLLECTIBLES) Fun FiQ Fact #0070: Though he had an early lead on the Fun FiQ Facts, Nightwing’s been stuck on two since January.  Now he’s up to three! When the New 52 launched, everybody got a new costume design.  For his part, Nightwing, who has classically been very blue-skewed for coloring, was swapped to red accenting, calling more to mind his days as Robin, especially his Batman & Robin design from 1997.  His initial costume was one of the more short-lived ones, but his initial redesign still stuck to the red…for better or for worse ..read more

ABE SAPIEN HELLBOY (MEZCO) Fun FiQ Fact #0069:  In the 2004 Hellboy movie, Abe Sapien is voiced by an uncredited David Hyde-Pierce, who after seeing Doug Jones’ on-set performance of the character refused to be credited. 20 years ago this week, Hellboy hit theaters.  It was a big deal for the franchise, and it was a big deal for me, because it was my first introduction to the characters.  I found myself instantly enamored, and I was particularly a fan of Hellboy’s fellow “freak” from the BPRD, Abe Sapien.  Abe’s remained my favorite part of the franchise since, a ..read more