It's time for another installment of giant Marx figures, and this time I have two new acquisitions, one that I've had for a little while and another that I got just this weekend. They also represent two different directions; one is part of a rare if not entirely obscure Marx line, while the other is a Mexican reissue/ copy of a famous Marx set already covered several times. Here's a few pics of the pair, a Marx Daredevil figure and a Mexican astronaut.
"Whatever you do, do not try to fix your own lawn mower."
Of the pair, the Mexican astronaut had interested me longest. I believe I saw the same item listed several times before I finally ordered it. It's a copy of the astronaut I call Scooper, which I had previously acquired a possible variant of. Something I noticed from photos is that he looked rather different in expression; however, this did not bear out when I inspected the actual figure. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the color variation. What had looked gray in photos for the online listing turned out to be a metallic sheen, brighter than may be apparent from the pics though a bit too dark to be considered "silvery". Another interesting discovery was a unique mark on the base. Rather than the Plastimarx logo of the company's Mexican division or the simple sticker I had seen on the reissue Japanese soldiers, this one has a large and attractive "Hecho En Mexico" stamp, which appears to date the figure after Marx's 1979 bankruptcy. Here's a closeup of the base with Daredevil for comparison.
On further comparison, the reissue Scooper is rougher and cheaper-looking than his "vintage" counterpart. Fortunately, this mostly shows in rough edges where the molds would join. There's also a strange injection mark, which sinks down as a hole on one side and sticks out on the other. I was most interested in the pack, which was "bulgy" in the variant I previously discovered. In fact, the shape of the pack is nearly the same as in other figures, but maybe just a little more filled in than some. This reinforced my suspicion that differences in the packs are at least partly the result of the use of different plastics and certain variables in casting. Here's some pics of the three together.
Meanwhile, I have been genuinely baffled by the Daredevil figure. As usual, it was part of a group of six, the others being Iron Man, Spiderman, Thor, the Hulk and Captain America, released in 1967 and sold through mail-order ads in comic books. They are agreed to be among the rarer Marx figures, and even more difficult to find in good condition. I suspect the mail-order figures may have been available for a limited time without corresponding distribution in stores, which would certainly further account for their rarity. Because of these issues, it was necessary to settle for one in comparatively poor condition. However, I still cannot fathom how it ended up this badly preserved. Compared to intact figures, he is missing not only all the fingers on one hand, but also a club and a pair of horns. Here's a comparison pic of Daredevil with my authentic
"casualty" figure, itself practically all red flags for condition issues, yet still in vastly better shape.
Here's another pic of the Marvel figure with the Mexican reissue Japanese officer and a
Ukrainian figure. Even these outright copies compare favorably both in condition and the quality and detail of the sculpt.
What I very quickly noticed is that the plastic is very different than any figure I have seen. It's an oddly dull color, and almost rough to the touch. Put through my usual "clack test", it made a lighter sound, though not nearly as loud as the reissue Japanese soldiers. But what stands out even more is the quite limited detail of the sculpt. The whole thing feels as if the designers simply weren't trying, or else they couldn't quite adjust to the stylization of a comic book. Still, it's one more intriguing chapter in Marx's history covered here. As always, more to come!
For links, see
ToyMania and
Back to the Past for details of the Marx Marvel line.
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