Marvel Comics has produced some of the most well known superheroes -- Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man, the X-Men. Unlike DC Comics, Marvel Comics also has more Asian Pacific Americans in toy form. Marvel has a better track record at making a variety of toys rather than sticking to reproducing the same character over and over again in different outfits. Part of this is due in part to the popularity of the X-Men line which has had a large, diverse group of members throughout its history.
These are some of the figures I have so far:
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Jubilee Generation-X Series 1995, Toy Biz Generation-X Individual Figure Jubilee's real name is Jubilation Lee. She is a Chinese American adoptee and described as a sassy, street-smart ex-mallrat. She has the mutant power to generate energy plasma-explosives in the form of fireworks and belongs to the mutant superhero team Generation-X, trained by Emma Frost (White Queen) and Sean Cassidy (Banshee), although she served for awhile on the X-Men team. The Generation-X figure itself is kind of dorky looking. It's not the best figure I've seen. I think part of it looks like pieces of her hair are shaved off and her eye brows look really thick. I've seen the same kind of paint job on almost every other figure I've seen of her. So, she really doesn't look Asian, despite her Chinese heritage.
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Jubilee X-Men Robot Fighters series 1997, Toy Biz X-Men Individual Figure This figure is much better than the Generation-X figure. Not only does she look distinctively Asian, but she also sports a much nicer costume than the yellow overcoat that she wears as the Generation-X figure. She also seems to be sculpted much better. The nice thing about Jubilee is that they never really make her race an issue. She's just Jubilee the ex-mallrat with the mutant powers.
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Sunfire Modern X-Men Gift Pack 1999, Toybiz X-Men From a Boxed Set with Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee and Thunderbird Sunfire's real name is Shiro Yoshida and he weilds the mutant power to absorb, generate and control thermal energy. He first presented himself as an enemy to the X-Men when he was investigating his father's murder, but then he came to an understanding with the group and actually worked with Professor X to restart the X-Men team as a member. But, he realized that he didn't work well within a team setting. He eventually formed a group of Japanese superheroes called "Big Hero 6" This figure that I won from eBay comes from a boxed set that includes some of the Modern X-Men, including Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee and Thunderbird. He's dressed in his original costume design, which is actually my favorite of his uniforms.
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Sunfire X-Men Mutant Genesis Series 1995, Toy Biz X-Men Individual Figure This figure is from the Mutant Genesis series. He is dressed in removable solar armor. Overall, a cool figure, but I seem to have a preference for the original costume. I think its because that's the way I remember him from my childhood.
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Psylocke X-Men Light Up Weapon Series 1996, Toy Biz X-Men Individual Figures The story of Psylocke is a strange one. I had stopped reading the X-Men comics by this time. But, I did remember her as a proper British woman. Apparently, somewhere down the line, she was eventually used by a group called "The Hand" and Lord Nyoirin, an Asian crimelord, to bring back the mind of Wolverine's Japanese assassin, Kwannon. Psylocke was successful, but her mind entered the body of Kwannon and she turned evil somehow (I'm still trying to figure out the whole story). Anyway, to make a long story short, Psylocke then became Asian...although, she looked surprisingly like her original self. Anyway, if you have any clarity on the story, please e-mail me.
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Shang-Chi Marvel Comics Modern Age 1999, Toy Biz Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Individual Figure Shang-Chi is a character from the silver age of Marvel Comics. He was the lead character from a pulp-style comic called Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu. I didn't know a great deal about this series...but, the figure is really nicely done. Very nicely sculpted and the cloth costuming is quite nice. If anybody would like to share more information about our friend here, please e-mail me.
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The Mandarin Iron Man 1994, Toy Biz Iron Man Individual Figures Okay, can we say "Fu Manchu." The Mandarin is one of Iron Man's main enemies. He was once an archaeologist who went mad after finding an alien spacecraft. He was transformed from ten rings of power within the craft and found himself to be the heir to Genghis Khan. So, as all stories go, he wants to control the world. The figure is okay. I like the clear green hands...but otherwise, really a very standard figure.
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Lady Deathstrike Battle Brigade X-Men 1996, Toy Biz X-Men Individual Figure Lady Deathstrike's true name is Yuriko Oyama. Again, I'm not so familiar with this character. So, I did some research on the Web. According to Mutant Mutandis, "The daughter of the crimelord said to have invented the adamantium-bone bonding process, Deathstrike has for years been trying to kill Wolverine, the only person known to have survived the process. Part of the reason for her vendetta was the need to recover the lost process from whoever stole it (possibly the villain Bullseye) and also to take the adamantium itself, as she believed it should have been bonded to her. To accomplish her mission, Yuriko allowed Spiral and her Body Shoppe to transform her into a cyborg. She possesses bionic limbs and senses, telescoping arms, and lethal claws, among other enhancements. However, since Logan lost his metal bones, her life's mission has been upset, to say the least. When she first left Japan (before her transformation) she used a katana, with which she was quite skilled. For much of her career afterwards she has operated with Pierce's Reavers, but she also works alone." The figure itself is nicely sculpted. She comes with Bio-Morphing Armor with a giant bio-organic pincer, removable forearm cannon and an infrared headset. I like the detail on the little pieces of mechanical wiring running through her arms to give her the bionic limbs.
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Silver Samurai X-Men Special Metallic Edition 1994, Toy Biz X-Men Two-Pack with Robot Wolverine (Albert) and Bonus Steel Mutant of Cyclops According to X-Fan, "Cousin of Sunfire, Keniuchio Harada is a mutant with the ability to generate a tachyon field around the sword he weilds so that it can slice through any object, except adamantium. His dealings have been linked to a few villains in the past, including the Mandrill and Viper, as well as the Japanese crime organisation the Yakuza. The teleportation ring which Harada possesses, which is activated when twisted, was possibly gained when in service to the Viper. Silver Samurai is currently the field commander of Big Hero 6, despite his former criminal ties and failures. He is learning that the role of leader is much tougher than his former role as a freelance ronin. He believes that he will never be accepted as leader in Sunfire's presence." A very nice figure with removable helmet and chrome armor. If anybody can tell me the connection between Silver Samurai and the Robot Wolverine, please drop me an e-mail. I know that Silver Samurai has been, in the past, an enemy to Wolverine, but I don't know the story arc for this particular set.
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The following are items I still need to complete the set. If you notice any other items that should be added, please e-mail me.
- Silver Samurai X-Men Series (1994)
- Sunfire in original costume (unknown date)
- Lady Deathstrike (Archnemesis series)
- Mandarin (in the Wall-Mart Exclusive - Silver Surfer vs. Mandarin)
- Mandarin (die cast metal Heavy Metal Heroes miniature figure with Wolverine and Iron Man)
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