Toys / Comics to Toys / Marvel Legends

The Shocker

By Big Bear
November 12, 2006 - 14:43

While browsing inside the local Target, I found a bunch of new figures from Spider-Man Classics line. Assortment 18 comes with such characters as the "House of M" version of Spidey and the Stealth Venom, but What I was really looking for were the Shocker and Mad Jack. It is a good feeling to find toys that you are looking for and to have them freshly displayed so you can buy them before all the other toy hunters get in your way.

The Shocker

This is not your father's Shocker. The last time Toy Biz made a Shocker action figure was in the mid-nineties and he was based on the original artwork of John Romita Senior. This version is an up-date where he is clad more in leather than in spandex and he even looks more menacing than ever, I have not seen this version in comics but he looks really good. (This could be a combination of the original meeting the Ultimate version). Due to the missile firing mechanism that he has in both arms, the Shocker does not have elbow joints or even wrist movements, but he does not suffer from the 360 degrees-only, arm syndrome that Hydro-Man has. That means that even though the Shocker can shoot off to projectiles from his foremarms, he was not built to have limited mobility at his shoulder joints. However, he still gets the swivel and pin movements at the shoulder and has about 27 points of articulation altogether, so you can still pose him in a variety of ways.

As far as accessories and special features go, the Shocker comes packaged with some missile /projectiles that are just brown colored versions of what came packaged with the Scorpion figure, just that this time you get four missiles instead of three. Heck, the Shocker even comes with a cool extra "vibro-shock" feature that cause his to hum and shake a bit when you a button on his back up. Now I know that many will care less about the "vibro-shock" feature, but it is cool to me. I always loved the Shocker for his costume design which seemed to exude an aura of villainy and Toy Biz manages to captures that well even in a new costume. This is truly a great prize as far as villains goes.

Mad Jack is also a cool figure. Although not a favorite in my book as the Shocker is, Mad Jack has made enemies with everyone from Spider-Man to Captain America and even once allied himself with the Red Skull and Crossbones. Once known as the Jack O' Lantern, his attempt to be a new age Green Goblin rip-off was trimmed down to the new alias, Mad Jack. Mad Jack has his own circular hover board and throws pumpkin bombs like Gobby does. Jack's special action feature is a glowing head which works similar to the light-up Human Torch of the Fantastic Four movie series. These two figures are a great additiaon to any Rogue's Gallery.

Thanks to Toy Biz and Target, the birthday month ends well for me. Until I spy with my little hunter's eye the 3rd series of X-Men figures on the pegs, Happy Toy Hunting.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12