The best & worst Super Powers figures

[10incher]

Just wondering who everyone thinks is the best figure and the worst, and why

The Best: Definately Mr. Miracle. Not only because he is the toughest to find, but he just looks cool. I always loved the New Gods in the comics as well

The Worst: The Penguin, mostly because he is just a blah looking character in general though Kenner did a good job on the sculpt. I also remember seeing him everywhere as a kid. Funny though, I never owned him as a kid??

[clambo]

Captain Marvel/Shazam or Cyborg are the best in my opinion. Shazam because of his closed fists, great for beating the crap out of the other figures. Cyborg fpr his chrome, I just dug the look. The worst was Mantis, what a lame ass. There were so many choices and they picked Mantis? I did dislike the Penguin as well, but he has the history at least.

[matt]

I would have to say the best fig in my opinion is Clark Kent. I think he looks awesome, plus how often do you get a Kent figure. The worst fig I'm not to sure (as I really like the line) maybe Orion as he looks pretty scrawny and I have never heard of him aside from this line.

[treckmeyer]

I always thought the firestorm character was well done. That head is tough to do. I also thought desaad was well done. I never liked cyclotron, kinda of a goofy figure.

[biged98]

The best figure has to be shazam, he is just in my opinion the best looking figure

[michaelmensinger]

Great topic! :^)

My vote has to go to Batman as being the best action figure from the Super Powers line. Infact, I consider it to be the greatest figural rendition of the character produced by any toy company thus far.

It's hard for me to choose a least favorite character due to a significant appreciation for the ingenuity and talent that went into designing and sculpting all 34 released figures. If I was absolutely forced to choose, I'd probably say Desaad, but that's not to say I dislike Desaad by any means. ;^)

-Mike Mensinger

[daltron]

I like Batman too...as far as heroes go. For villians it's got to be Brainiac or Darkseid. I didn't buy too many of these as a kid, they were always really expensive and often broken in the package. That was a big indicator that they were crap, when they were BIP. I bought Brainiac he broke right away...duh. I never see modern figures BIP, they have more secure packaging. That doesn't mean they're not crap like...MCFARLANE!

[michaelmensinger]

Brainiac was definitely the most prone to breakage due to his construction, IMHO, however Kenner did deliberately definitely design the figures to withstand breakage during playtime. The legs specifically were designed to break away from the figure without actually snapping anything off if too much pressure was exerted upon them. Many of the arms were attached in such a manner that also allowed them to come away from the arm attachment points without breakage. It's likely that the "BIP" examples you saw at retail were not necessary broken, but moreso had a limb that fell off during transit or perhaps wasn't attached properly at the factory.

I own a carded Parademon, purchased during my early collecting days at Woolworth's on clearance,. which to the casual toy aisle goer probably appeared "BIP" when infact the arm had simply dislodged from the attachment point and could have easily been put back on...a clearance diamond in the rough. ;^)

-Mike Mensinger

[THE KNOCK-OFF MESSIAH]

cyborg is the coolest i also really liked plastic man. the worst would be superman. but thats due to be not like him at all.

[80s Action Figures]

I like Martian Manhunter, Batman, Joker...the worst...Desaad!!!

All the others in this line were alright in my opinion...Golden Pharoah and Clclon were not to great but all these guys were fun to play with, read the comic and watch on saterday morning!

[80s Action Figures]

By the way anyone have or collect the Robinhood Prince of Thieves figures...they used Super Powers molds for these guys, most of them anyways. I would vote they could be the worst Super Powers figures.................

[vintagenate]

spillspleen said:

By the way anyone have or collect the Robinhood Prince of Thieves figures...they used Super Powers molds for these guys, most of them anyways. I would vote they could be the worst Super Powers figures.................

lol...I've got the set (minus the Costner varients of both Robin Hood figures). I love those figures for their quarky charm and cool weapons and cloth vests and whatnot, but they can't touch Super Powers.

My favorite good guy figure was, and is, easily Batman. He's just such a great figure. The sculpt, the paint...he looks good on and off the card. When I was little, he was definitely Adam West under that mask. lol My favorite bad guy of the line is probably Brainiac. He's much cooler as a robot than he ever was as a green-skinned alien. The worst good guy was Cyclotron. He was pretty pointless. Why would a group of super-powered heroes need a robotic police officer to help them do battle with evil? It's just kinda stupid. Worst bad guy (and worst figure) IMHO, was Samurai. He's just so lame. I don't want a mostly-naked Asian guy holding a sword that looks like lightning bolt. Who ever wanted that?

Anyway, Super Powers is one of the greatest toy lines ever thought up, and at the end of the day, even the lame figures are still pretty cool. Good sculpts, bright colors, fun comic characters for everyone. Kenner had a winner on their hands. It's just nobody recognized it at the time.

[robthethundercat]

damn i didnt think there was so many in the super powers line..especially clark kent, thats gotta be rare. I got my penguin not so long ago friom ebay, turns out the paper on the cover was ripped, but its easily hidden once u press it down, had a gd mind to ask for my money back cos he didnt mention this when selling.

[shaxper]

Best - Brainiac. What detail. This figure has always impressed the heck out of me. Just a beautiful sculpt.


Worst - Orion. I never saw the episodes that had him in it, but what was up with the enormous helmet?

[80s Action Figures]

brainiac was great...

but orion was not as bad as desaad was he?

the helmet was only to cover the head revolving thing...but i never saw that version in the comics...

[shaxper]

I like Desaad. He's a little flimsy, and his action is useless, but he LOOKS pretty cool.

[Deleted]

As a kid nothing topped Superman. The symbol on the cape was a nice touch. And this probably doesn't really count as a fig but the Justice Jogger was just dumb. Why not make the Tower of Darkness Kenner!?!?

[WishItWas1984]

The Best: It's a Tie between Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Green Arrow. Why? The action! Punching is so basic. These guys would actually act out the swimming, blocking bullets, and shooting arrows!

The Worst: Clark Kent. This is SUPER POWERS!! Did we really need a figure of a newspaper reporter? Especially when we had the chance to get The Wonder Twins!

FORM OF...missed opportunity

toyotter.com/spfind/

[neoviper76]

My best was either Batman or Superman. The worst?? The Green Lantern repaint "Riddler" from "Super Amigos".

[Meatybat]

Even though common , Steppinwolf was cool. However the hell you spell it.
Never was a real fan of Freeze.

[timothyc]

Firestorm and Batman are the two best IMO. Perfect sculpts and action on both. Aside from the Batmobile and Batcopter, the other vehicles collectively get my vote for the worst thing to come from the SP universe. Every time I see a Justice Jogger box I cringe ;^).

-Timothy

[Captainamerica]

I liked all the New Gods characters, but Bucket-head Orion rates at the bottom for me. Big O's just above Brainiac- a super intelligent android and his attack is a kick to the nuts-WTF?

[darwin873]

Like a lot of people, I think the Batman is excellent. Way better than any Batman I have seen since. Let us not forget the Joker and that cool hammer. And the Parademon with his wings flappin hoe down style woo eee!

As for the worst, I remember several of my friends having Green Arrow, but nobody seemed to be able to hang onto that bow, which renders him quite useless and lame in a sense. Still a cool sculpt on all the figures that I have seen.

[joshtx]

I really liked the mold for plastic man. It looked perfect right down the sheepish grin on his face. Definetly a corny character but a cool figure for sure.

Worst, I'll say penguin. The mold was fine but I just never got much enjoyment out of playing with that figure as a kid. Who wants to play with an old fat guy when you had all those cooler villians?

[hanginloosefigures]

The Super Powers Line is probably my all time favorite Toy Line... It is hard for me to pick a favorite.. Martian Manhunter (because first time I ever saw him in Plastic), Green Lantern still one of the HAL Jordan Figures ever, Shazam becauze he looked cooler than Superman and Samurai who woudl ever think they woudl make this Super friend! As far as the worst figure I really think the Orion figure could have been done much better! This line is one of the Crown Jewels of my collection. GOOD HUNTING!

[10incher]

Martian Manhunter was also one of my favotites as a kid as well as Firestorm, Green Arrow, Aquaman and the Flash.

I think Hawkman was the first one I ever got, I remember playing with it while watching Beastmaster on Laserdisc that we rented (wow, am I getting old!).

As for the final series, I hit the age where I was starting to get outta toys, but did pick up Tyr, who was the last SP figure I got at retail.

[joshtx]

I don't remember seeing too many of those 3rd wave figures on the shelves. Then again, I guess they were alot more rare than the others. I think I read awhile back on a Super Powers site that boxes shipped by Kenner to the toy stores only contained one 3rd wave figure in them for every 5 of the others or something crazy like that. Don't quote me on that though because I can't remember the ratio exactly, but they were alot fewer and further between.

My parents would buy me toys as a kid but were pretty strict - I didn't get to go pickup figures nearly as often as I wanted to and I was too young in 1986 (7 yrs) to just go buy what I wanted, so I really missed out on grabbing some of the rare guys. My fondest memories of the line were the basic guys - Batman, Joker, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Supes, etc.

[10incher]

My local Woolworths at the time (if I remember correctly) seemed to have only wave 3 figures on the shelves, or at least I remember there being a fair amount of them.

That SA Cyborg price is retarded, I picked mine up for around $40 from a guy a few years ago

[joshtx]

I've noticed that when people sell big lots or collections on ebay usually the cyborg fig they have is a super amigo version. I guess even though hard to find, it must be quite a bit easier than finding the genuine article super powers one.