State of the Aquaman Collection

I try to pay homage to the Aquaman Shrine once a year, usually on the anniversary of my blog, with some picks of the current status of my Aquaman Collection. Last year being the first year I dedicated a whole week, this year I was planning on filling my collection out a little more, but fell short by a couple key Aquaman toys. One being a nice looking loose Mego Aquaman, second a nice loose Superpowers, and third... I keep missing the Minimates auctions! All that aside I am happy to report that the Aquaman branch of my collection did grow this year! So in honor of one of the blogs that got me going, and a belated intro to year three I give you the State of the Aquaman Collection on Eclectorama.



First up I acquired a Black Manta from a trip to the store, I heard that the Classic Aquaman from the same series of DCUC was making an appearance at that very store... nothing but Black Manta, foiled I went home empty handed, checking back a week later, still Black Manta, I did this about three more times, finally I bought the damn Black Manta, because that was the closest I was going to get to Aquaman.



A few months later I was shopping at the "Magic Grocery Store" and stumbled upon the Modern "Chase Variant" Aquaman. I threw him in the cart and upon returning home shot Rob at the shrine an email offering him up. I was beaten by another F.O.A.M. member, so I emailed back to Rob that if he was sure, I was going to go ahead and pop him open. Because this was as close to the classic Aquaman as I was going to get.



Now it wasn't like I hadn't seen a classic version of the sea king, I had actually two days before Christmas, but the figure was horrible. The paint was really sloppy, and it has to be really sloppy for me to pass on a figure I've been looking for. So I left him at Target and went on with my Christmas shopping. I went back a week or so later and of course he was gone, I was sort of relieved as I would have felt like I was compromising quality just to get the DCUC classic figure in my hands.



So once again I find myself at the "Magic Grocery Store" and who should be swimming up from behind a pile of Superman Blue and Red, none other than a pretty decent Classic Aquaman! Yeah! I was pretty excited about getting this figure, and as a side note I am one piece away from completing my first Build a Figure ever, Gorilla Grodd. I just can't make myself buy a Blue or Red Superman, I really do not care for the character. True I have purchased a Blue Superman in the past, but man I just can't plunk down the cash for Grodd's sake. I'll probably break. A second note, this was the second and only time I have seen the Classic Aquaman in the wild.



Now Black Manta can fear both Modern and Classic Aquaman! Buhahahahaha!



Up next is Black Manta and Aquaman Man from Batman the Brave and the Bold Cartoon. These were actually sent to me from the Aqua Master himself, by way of the JLU Club! Viva the JLU Club! I know these are not JLU related, but Rob was nice enough to hunt these down for me in his neck of the woods, as they were yet to be released in these parts. Side note, whenever I receive help or order figures on line, it never fails that they suddenly appear in stores in mass. These took a little longer to trickle in, and I am happy yo report that the Aquaman figure seems to be a big seller here in Texas, he never seems to hang out on the shelves long.





Also, if you are not familiar with this line The Brave and Bold figures are made with children in mind, while they sport near perfect likenesses to the cartoon, they also have peg holes all over them so you can configure the accessories in different combinations all over their bodies. Sort of reminds me of Micronauts. Still I think they are pretty fun figures and worth it if you are interested in the style of the show.



That is the current State of the Aquaman Collection here at Eclectorama, and now I see Rob has started posting pics of F.O.A.M. member's collections on the shrine, I'll have to construct a little shrine shelf of my own and stock it with my Aquaman pretties and shoot a pic to submit.

That's a wrap!

What better way to wrap up a week of Aquaman posts than with one of my most favorite incarnations of the character! That's right, straight from Saturday Mornings of years past the Super Friends!

DC Direct put out this awesome set of Aquaman and his nemesis Black Manta a few years back, along with Batman vs. Scarecrow, Robin vs. Riddler, Superman vs. Lex Luthor, Green Lantern vs. Sinestro, and Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah! Man what a concept, a hero and a villain to fight. I was given the Robin set for Christmas a while back and I had to have Batman, but then on sale at the same time was Aquaman. It was like getting two for one. I've never seen the others at a decent price or I would have had the whole Saturday morning line up on my self!

Watching these cartoons today, they seem really bad, and not bad meaning good. But, thinking back to Saturday morning, with a bowl of lucky charms and my favorite blanket, these cartoons are golden. Why don't they have Saturday morning cartoons anymore, they seemed more special when you had to wait, now it's 24/7. I'm not complaining though.



Looking at this figure I think of all the times Aquaman was underused on that show, I was always excited to see him get to do more than agree with Superman. Plus I think of the sound his telepathic power made when he used it to command the sea life! Nanananananan Nananananana, how many times did you try that when you were a kid while you were swimming? Even though it always ended up with water being suddenly shot up my nose I kept trying to see if I could make a sea horse swim my way for a ride.

Well that's it for my Aquaman tribute and my first year! The collection is rather small, but priceless non the less. Besides, I have my eye on those Minimates, and eventually the right Mego or Superpowers Aquaman will pop up. So the collection could grow, nothing for Rob to worry about. Aqain thanks to the Shrine and it's keeper for not being to harsh on my knowledge of Aquaman, here's to another year and more found memories!

DC Super Giant Aquaman!

I'm not one for writing reviews, so instead I would like to talk about the cover and how I came by this comic.

A past coworker was in the process of dumping a long time boyfriend, so one day she came to work with two large paper grocery bags full of comics and said that they were up for grabs. She came to my cubical first and told me I was welcome to take them all, but wanting to be fair I decided it would be fun to diby them up among everyone that wanted them. So we met right before our lunch break in the art department common area and started going though the bags. I laid claim to some Batman, the first appearance of punisher, some kung fu titles, a few Star Wars, and this Aquaman. I also got some of the other "older" looking comics, because no one cared for them. All said and done I ended up with about half a bag full of comics, not bad.

It came up several times that many of us were feeling bad because these books had obviously been something someone had loved, but it was pointed out that the guy was a jerk and had mistreated our friend. I actually met him and he was really obnoxious. So that alone took the sting off a bit. I ended up later giving most of the comics away to kids in the neighbor hood, keeping a few including this Aquaman.

The back story out of the way, I remember what it was about this cover that "spoke to me" besides looking vintage, it was a great representation of all that I loved about older comics with the "thrills and chills" intros to each of the stories, the way layouts were done back in the day, and of course the colors. It's obvious that this is a reprint collection of past comics, and I'll leave the who's and wheres to Rob, but man I considered this a great find among the stack of comics. Not only is it filled with some great period adventures, but the origin of Aquaman, a world without water, and the appearance of Aquagirl! Another thing I love about this comic is that it includes an illustrated table of contents with a short intro to each story.

I was actually worried that when this one came up in the stack that I would not get it because it wasn't my turn at bat. I watched as we went around the table and everyone said pass on this title, the main reason was because it was Aquaman and it looked old! What? I couldn't believe what I was hearing, oh well their loss! As soon as it hit my turn I just grabbed it, without a word. I couldn't pass this one up, it's hard to believe that when this came out, you got that much story for only 25 cents and these people were passing it up for free!

Awh, wook at wittle Aquaman!

DC Super Friends Aquaman is a welcome site, especially after ole' Hook Hand! These were just released in 2007 by Mattel, in what I think are a response to Marvel's Spider-Man and Friends and breaking into a more kid friendly market for DC Comics. I'm not sure how well this line will do, but I'm hoping it will go on for quite some time. At least long enough to get the Aqua Sub. Which now that I think about it, why does Aquaman need a Sub?

I have two reasons for getting a set of these, one I'm a fan of the cutie or super deformed style and two, one day I will have grand children (hopefully not any time soon) and what better way to get them started in the right direction than kid sized super heroes. Well till that day I'm keeping them on my drawing desk and breaking them out when my nephew comes over.

Besides, just looking at little smiling Arthur, Bruce, John, and Kal on the desk just brightens my day. Now get with it Mattel, where's Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, and Atom!

I originally posted about a set of these guys here!

Hook Hand Aquaman!

"Aye there mattes, tis' I, Pirate Aquaman!" This first figure is the perfect example of collect what you like and not what everyone else likes. Going back now, I liked the Total Justice line, at least two of the figures Green Lantern and the Flash. I thought these two were great, but I pushed on because I fell into that peer pressure thing where your buddy says something like "Get Aquaman! That's the rare one!" I kept this guy packaged for I don't know how long until I finally said screw it! I'm open em' maybe it's a better figure than what it looks like packaged. WRONG! I've never liked this look (except for the Timm verse version) I don't care for this guy at all! So that said this is one that may find itself in the garage sale bin this spring! So I should have stopped at two.

Now below, still the pirate version, but as I said it's the Timm verse style (meaning Bruce Timm's concept of the character) I'll keep this one. Hypocrite maybe, but I can't find myself parting with such a cool member of the Justice League Unlimited, especially since I'm trying to build a set!


I really wish that Timm had used the classic style like he did in the Superman Animated series, but I realize it's not always up to the creator, so ole' hook hand, mullet head, fish guy it is! A side note the first image is from when Hasbro had the line, the second is Mattel. I've seen some pre-release images of the new stuff from Mattel and classic Aquaman, plus I've heard a few things about the King of the Sea that are coming on the horizon, that's all I'm going to say for now, but fans should be happy.

Hasbro DC Super Heroes

As Toy Biz lost the license, Hasbro swooped and freshened up the Batman Movie license as well as the other DC Super Heroes. This line was a complete surprise, around that time the internet was not your main source for toy news (I know hard to believe) but you would have to wait the month for Lee's Toy Review, Tomarts, and Toy Fare to see what was coming out. Well it must have been between issues, because this line came as a total surprise to me. I was walking down the figure aisle at TRU (that's Toys R Us for the ones not in the know) checking out the usual, Star Wars, Batman, any Star Trek, etc. After I finished I would break left and head for the car aisle, not because I liked cars, but I dug the micro machine space line (that's for another time or blog perhaps). I would zig zag my way up and down aisles till I got to the car aisle, so the next aisle after action figures was models and role play.

About mid way down the model aisle, and on the role play side were a set of the 9" DC Super Heroes. A set at that time was Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern. It wasn't unusual to find figures here, because this space would be reserved for closeouts and dead lines. It was weird because these were here, I figured it was because they were going to reset the action figure aisle and needed a temporary spot for them to collect dust. Much later they would be moved next to the Batman stuff on the action figure aisle, but that was later, much later.

Having been pretty close to my budget on Star Wars figures, I grabbed just the Aquaman, knowing full well that the rest would be there the next time. It was weird back then, because you could walk into a store and pretty much find anything that wasn't Star Wars or Ninja Turtles. I actually spread the set of three over several trips to the store. I had planned it pretty well. First Aquaman, the Green Lantern, and finally Green Arrow. By time I made it to Green Arrow they had finally been moved, which by now had been about three months.

So why Aquaman first? These figures immediately reminded me of the Megos when I was much younger. I had a few Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Spider-Man, and Captain America. I considered my self very lucky. A few that I had wanted Iron Man, Batman, Robin, and Aquaman had eluded me. To this day I have managed to get a fresh Mego Kirk, a Batman I refurbished a bit with the help of Dr. Mego (awesome reproduction stuff), and a couple of Jokers, oh and I still have my original Spock (another story for later). Anyway Mego Aquaman and others still no luck, not that I haven't bid on them only to be out bid, but I see that as an issue of funds. Hasbro Aquaman, was to be my answer to not getting that Mego Aquaman, the bonus a Green Lantern and Green Arrow.

This Aquaman also reminded me of the last day I saw Mego Super Heroes in a store. It was at or right before the Star Wars figures started to hit in 1979. Another warehouse type toy store called Toy City, actually this was my favorite toy store. I remember turning a corner looking for Star Wars stuff and seeing a display of Spider-man and Hulk, and even then being struck with nostalgia at that age (kind of funny a nine year old waxing nostalgia) before I broke off the hunt to head to that "new" toy store Toys R Us across the street. My parents liked Toys R Us better for some reason, I always considered it the enemy of Toy City, even as an adult I felt like I was betraying a friend going in there. So even though I was now buying Aquaman I was also a little sad because it was taking place at Toys R Us and not Toy City, which had long been closed.

1989-1990 Toy Biz Aquaman

There are so many reasons this figure is wrong so I'll just start with the positive! It's Aquaman in his classic outfit! I'm really not sure if Pirate Aquaman had made an appearance yet, so maybe that's the reason we got a classic version from Toy Biz. Few people remember that before Toy Biz became the house of Marvel action figures, they held the DC Comics license for a very short period. It all started with the 1989 Batman film when Toy Biz cranked out three barrel chested figures, Batman (which had three face variations), The Joker, and Bob the Goon (probably one of the craziest choices for a figure, but made sense at the time). So where was Toy Biz to go from there? The other villains and heroes of the DC Universe. Okay, I remember the day I found the Superman figure. There was a whole aisle jam packed full of kids and their parents, just looking for Batman to put under the Christmas tree, I already secured a set for my son, and was now looking to complete my set when right under a Bob the Goon was Superman, the only one in the store. So knowing at the time that this was something new I grabbed him so my son could have the man of steel on Christmas morning. I know, I know we're not here to talk about Superman.


It was a few months after Christmas when my son and I were making our regular trip to Toys R Us that we found Aquaman. They had just restocked after the Christmas holiday and there on the pegs was the largest selection of DC goodness I had seen in a long time. Aquaman was the first character I saw, and was actually happy to see. I had been around long enough to know that Bats and Sups usually got all the toys, so I grabbed a few of the Sea King and some of his other friends from the Hall of Justice and made like a bandit to the register. Thinking the whole time "my boy is going to have Aquaman!" Who wouldn't want their son or daughter to have a mini version of the Sea King? He's got that snappy bright costume and that trident to poke villain with. I can tell you He's pretty much the only hero he took in the bath and who regularly kicked Robin out of the Batmobile. So seeing this figure really brings back those memories of playing super heroes for hours on Saturdays, on the floor with my son.


That wasn't the end for the Toy Biz Aquaman. When my son "grew" out of his super hero stage, he cleaned house and decided to get rid of some of his toys, with his mother's help. I stopped by the room and saw Aquaman's head on the chopping block and offered to give him a home. Okay yes I had one, and probably one in the package, so I was thinking this guy would occupy my desk space at work. Aquaman went from job to job with me for many years, and it was one of my latest that caught me the most flack. Not because of it being Aquaman, but because he was a toy and he had rusted parts. that's right, from all those bath time adventures years ago. No matter how many times I tried to explain it was my sons, I got the "Sure, taking your toys in the bath again" line. It was all in good fun, and I started to see more people put toys on their desk.


This Aquaman may be chunky, have one of the strangest faces I've seen on an action figure, and a sea horse that he can't possible ride without crushing, but he does hold a lot of memories and is one of my favorite figures of the character. Talking strictly about the figure. His articulation is limited, but as always Toy Biz tried to pack in an action feature with the lever on his back that makes his legs kick for authentic swimming action and he can hold his trident rather securely. I always believed that Toy Biz got a hold of the old Kenner Super powers figures and just made a mold off parts of an actual toy, but never really was sure. Having missed the Super powers line I'll have to pick one up on E-bay sometime to compare.

The thing that is really hard to believe is that this figure is closing in on being twenty years old. I know in terms of say a Mego figure, it's still a young buck, but twenty years and still holding up. I have items I've purchased two years ago and are starting to break down, so I don't know what Toy Biz did at the time, but these figures were really made with a child in mind and made to last.