My biggest concern with the Avengers movie was what Hasbro would do with the toys. Providing a toy company with all the big names they would possible want could have meant disaster. But instead of turning the Avengers Super Hero Squad line into a bunch of rehashes of Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor, they actually showed some restraint. In fact, if you buy all three of the 3-packs, you get the entire cast! Read the rest of this entry »

With the Captain America marketing blitz in full force, the first Avenger has finally gotten his own three-pack in the Avengers Super Hero Squad line. Amazingly, this set goes pure, classic Cap by releasing three figures that couldn’t possibly make more sense together. Read the rest of this entry »

The packaging on these has changed once again – but just for this pack! Instead of heralding the Super Hero Squad, this pack claims to be part of the Super Hero Squad Show! Though part of me just thinks that means the currently unreleased Iron Man, Invisible Woman & H.E.R.B.I.E. pack was originally planned to be in this wave. Read the rest of this entry »

By packing the Super Hero Squad movie packs under the Avengers banner, Marvel doesn’t have to worry about getting too much stuff on the shelves at once like they did when Iron Man and Hulk kept bumping heads in the toy aisle. But they’ve got to be careful trying to sell people on Captain America when Thor is after the spotlight. Read the rest of this entry »

While the second of the Super Hero Squad 7-packs doesn’t feature any brand new sculpts, it definitely fills a hole or two in most people’s collections by bringing together a fantastic New Avengers team up and three who haven’t been seen in a long, long time.

Devious plotting is revealed as the Avengers strike at the heart of the base where the Leader hides. The evil super genius has recruited a number of dangerous villains to his cause. Crossbones is more than happy to test his skills against Captain America and Wolverine, while Red She-Hulk battles Spider-Man and Iron Man! Read the rest of this entry »

One figure was oddly omitted from the Iron Man 2 Super Hero Squad – Scarlett Johansson (well, and Happy Hogan too)! What made it even weirder was the fact that there was a Black Widow figure already made! A simple repaint would have made a lot more sense than some of the figures in that line.

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Sometimes the Super Hero Squad doesn’t make much sense. Some of the packs seem so mainstream that they’re clearly pandering to the most generic audience possible. Other packs though seem to be so absurdly specific; you’ve got to wonder how they ever got made. Of course, four of the packs never did get released in the US, but I’ve finally tracked down the Winter Soldier Saga.

Cap’s old partner Bucky is back, but he’s been brain washed by the bad guys, and became the dangerous Winter Soldier! Captain America and Falcon rush to find him, hoping to stop him before he gets into real trouble. Unfortunately, Crossbones is waiting for them, and he can’t wait to tear into the two Super Heroes.

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Nowadays, whenever a bad guy is needed for a movie or comic book, there’s one group you can always go after: Nazis. They’re the catch-all for boogey men and super villains. But it wasn’t always that way, when Captain America #1 was published, the cover showed Cap punching Hitler in the face. It’s now one of the most iconic covers on any comic book, but at the time it was highly controversial for one big reason: the US wasn’t involved with the war yet.

At this point, it wasn’t even apparent just how evil the Nazi party really was but Jack Kirby and Joe Simon quickly learned just how crazy the world can get. Before they knew it, they started getting death threats from Nazi sympathizers and ended up getting a call from Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia who promised to make sure they were protected. Fast forward almost 70 years, and Ed Brubaker is in the same boat with his Captain America run and Tea Parties. Yes, I just compared the Tea Party movement to Nazis.

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The Super Hero Squad has been avoiding making figures of civilians, which explains why we haven’t gotten a classic Tony Stark in just a suit. But for figures based off the movies, omitting Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan just seems wrong. This pack kind of remedies it and kind of doesn’t.

On the run from a powerful, worldwide organization bent on his destruction, Iron Man must rely on his friends for help. Captain America can always be counted on to do what’s right for his allies. Meanwhile, Pepper Potts, in armor designed specifically for her, hits the skies as the new hero Rescue!

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I loved Marvel Zombies when they first came out in the Ultimate Fantastic Four series. Sure, it was originally heralded as the first cross over between the 616 universe and the Ultimate universe (that didn’t actually happen until a vague off hand reference in She-Hulk during some crazy universe hopping). While I’m not the first person to make Marvel Zombie Super Hero Squad customs, I did try a different method to set mine apart from the absolutely amazing set made by MutieJoe.

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