Comic Figure Prototypes

 

 

This gallery of comic figures covers many different characters from 3 different toy companies.  Each figure will have a short description or explanation of its history. 

HASBRO PROTOTYPES

SUPERBOY, DC's Justice League of America

                           1997 copyright information on leg. The figure was finally in produced in 1999 with figure stand.

IMPULSE, DC's Justice League of America

             NO COPYRIGHT INFO ON FIGURE,  with transparent face and comes with figure stand .

ZAURIEL, DC's Justice League of America

1999 copyright information on leg, also has feature of movable wings and with figure stand.

Batman & Robin, 9 Inch, Hasbro Internet Exclusive  

Set of 2 prototypes.  Very similar to the old Mego designs.  We have shown a picture of the finished product for comparison.  There are several visible differences in the Batman. An unpainted head, belt, shin guards and wrist gauntlet. The suit is a different colors as well. The Robin has unpainted hands.  His cape snaps together instead of to his shirt.  The green short and shirt sleeves are darker color than the production version.  2000 copyright information on feet.

Prototype Boxed Set With Variations

Final Production for comparison

Batman & Robin Boxed Set, 9 Inch, Hasbro Internet Exclusive  

Set of 2 prototypes. Very similar to the old Mego designs.  We have shown a picture of the finished product for comparison only.  The box is in good shape of C8 (1-10 scale).  Has some shelf wear becuase it was probably handled by Hasbro Executives to approve the overall look of the boxed set.  It is amazing these type of things survive after getting inspected.  Usually they are thrown out.  See the variations and notes below.

1) Batman's head is an unpainted BROWN color (instead of BLUE)
2) Robin's hands are UNPAINTED ( instead of GREEN)
3) Robin's cape has ONE snap AROUND neck ( instead of TWO to upper CHEST)
4) Robin's shorts are DARK green, in ONE color.  ( instead of LIGHT green, MULTI-color print)
5) Robin's shirt has the shoulder color of DARK green ( instead of LIGHT green)
6) There maybe box color, or text variations since the box was made around the same time as the prototypes.

KENNER PROTOTYPES

proto riddler with pegprototype2.jpg (83969 bytes)

Click To Enlarge

Batman Forever , Riddler Prototype  

This prototype is made of an all green construction except for the cream colored head. The unusual thing about this prototype is that the designers left on a production stem coming out of his head. They are suppose to be stripped of the stems to be viewed as there true appearance as a toy, but this one has escaped being stripped down completely.

Fire Guard Batman 

Batman has markings released in 1995.  Has a the number " 5 " written on his left calf muscle by Kenner . With working "Spinning Cape Action".

Batman fire bolt.jpg (51249 bytes)Click to enlarge.

Fire Bolt Batman 

  All black body. See production picture for color reference.  No marking visible. Has backpack with which is suppose to generate sound and light.  Pink cape.  Year 1991.

batman rocket blast.jpg (23038 bytes)Click to enlarge

Rocket Blast Batman  

All black body. See production picture for color reference. Marking on legs. Has backpack with which is suppose to generate sound.  Pink cape.  Year 1991.

Crusader Batman

 From the "Legends of the Batman line. No markings, and no foot peg holes.  With spring loaded punching action.  Also with spring loaded rocket. 

TOY BIZ PROTOTYPES

Click to enlarge details

Apocalypse, Marvel's projector series

Awesome!  I will let the inside pictures speak for themselves. Click to enlarge them. I am not exactly sure what it is made of, but it should be some type of resin and plastic composition.  It is a hand painted prototype that was early enough in the production were the internal body parts had to be created!  There is no copyright information since this prototype was not factory made...it was made in the designer's studios. There are some tiny areas where the paint didn't take to the resin-like material. All prototypes are works-in-progress...especially this one.  That is what makes it great!

BLAZE, Marvel's Ghost Rider

1995 copyright information on feet, also has working gun with "Mystical Flame Firing Action" and hand painted blonde hair. Since all prototypes are works-in-progress, it is common for these to be experemented on and also for there to be imperfections on the plastic such as color swirls, holes, cracks, etc.  We wanted to point out a minor imperfection, a tiny opening the size of Blaze's thumb is in the back right hip area of his cape.  It is hardly noticeable. A very cool feature on this prototype figures is that it has some hand painting!  It appears the designers were testing to see how his hair would look painted and they colored his long flowing blonde hair.

CHAMELEON, Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man

1995 copyright information on feet, also has working feature of 4 interchanging heads.

MYSTERIO, Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man

1995 copyright  information on feet, also has working feature of water squirting chest 

PROWLER, Amazing Spider-Man

           1995 copyright information on feet, also has working feature of spring loaded claws.

BLACK COSTUME SPIDER-MAN, Amazing Spider-Man

1995 copyright information on feet, also has working feature of retracting chest piece.

Jonah J. Jameson / Molten Man head, Mr. Fantastic body

The markings on the body read "1994", "Toy Biz".  In 1994 there was a Toy Fare magazine offer for a Molten Man figure.  His head is shared with this prototype.  In 1995, the head was also used as an interchangeable accessory of Jonah J. Jameson's head for the Chameleon figure ( pictured above ).  There were no Jameson figures produced until 1998. Neither the Molten Man or the JJJ figure looks like this prototype.  The body is from Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four line of 1994.  Notice there is no articulation in the shoulders. The flesh color arms connect into where the shirt sleeve come down, but no articulation. This figure can not hold anything either, because they are both closed fists.  Most figures are designed to hold some type of accessory but  Mr. Fantastic's feature is to have stretching arms action.  However, the prototype's arms are hard plastic.   If you have any further information, please email us. Snakeeye@gte.net 

CYCLOPS, Marvel's X-Men

1997 copyright information on feet, also has working feature of flip-up visor and red "glowing" eyes.

Marvel Super-Villains "The Vault", Typhoid Mary   

All blue body.  See production picture for color reference. Comes with complete set of unpainted accessories.

WASP, Marvel's Avengers

1999 copyright information on feet, also has feature of movable wings and tentacles (broken left tentacle).

ULTRON, Marvel's Avengers

1999 copyright information on leg, also has working feature of light up gun and eyes ( missing battery cover ).

Cyclops, Marvel's X-Men

A packaging test.  Notice the back card.  It is sealed on a tri-lingual Transformer card stock. The bubble is of the X-Men line.  It is extremely odd that Toy Biz would use Hasbro's card stock.

Magneto, Marvel's X-Men

A packaging test.   Notice the back card.  It is sealed on a tri-lingual Transformer card stock. The bubble is of the X-Men line.  It is extremely odd that Toy Biz would use Hasbro's card stock.

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