Yet another item from the Back Room of Misfit Toys.
DC Direct’s Pocket Heroes were, it seems, a direct response to Marvel’s extensive Minimates line of eesny-weensy superhero figurines (which you can see here at this extensive Minimates review site). The Pocket Heroes line ended once DC got in on the Minimates action, but alas, some Pocket Heroes product still remains at the shop even today.
I suppose these were a cheap alternative to the larger and more elaborate DC Direct action figures, which retail for about $16 to $20 a pop. And I guess they look…okay, but they probably should have avoiding representing characters in their civvies:
Lois comes out fine, but poor Jimmy looks like he’s in his long johns. At least you get Superman’s JLA chair! “Includes awesome sitting action!”
It seemed like, from the get-go, that the Pocket Heroes were going to be hot items. Prior to the launch of this toy series, the deluxe Solomon Grundy action figure came with a promotional Golden Age Wonder Woman Pocket Hero figure, which we received many, many requests for, and which I suspect brought about the almost instant unavailability of the Grundy figure. And the first wave of Pocket Heroes sold very well for us. The next wave…not really so much, I’m afraid. I’m still listing and, sadly, not selling them on the eBay.
There were a couple of other boxed sets like the Superman one above, pictured on the back of the packaging, and which I do not recall ever carrying:
Ooh, that’s the Golden Age Green Lantern in his Sentinel costume, isn’t it? That’s a shame. Hmmm…come to think of it, maybe we did carry this, because I just now recall a conversation I had about how the Pocket Heroes line may be the only way to get every member of the Green Lantern Corps an action figure. “Collect all 3,600!”
More examples of folks in their civvies not looking quite right. “Why, Alfred, that spandex butler outfit fits snugly to your every curve!” “Why, thank you, Master Bruce. And may I compliment you on your spandex business attire?”
Ah, well, nice try, Pocket Super Heroes Superman Box Set, but nobody around our parts wanted you. Let us cast your fate to the eBay winds, and we shall see where they will take you. L@@K LONG JOHN JIMMY RARE H@T
And the hot chick said to the comic geek;
“Is that a pocket superhero or are you just happy to see me”
I’ve got an unopened box of that Batman set. You’re right, I can’t sell it on eBay no matter how many times I list it.
I unabashedly love the Pocket Heroes! Kind of a low-fi, silver-age feel to them. More like the little army men than today’s super articulated figures. The two-packs even came with the a diorama card to serve as a backdrop to their static little world.
The Superman chair was for the JLA table/chair set. Still need the GL set!
I…I have the Superman and Batman sets. I probably woulda bought the GL set too, if it came with a Justice League chair. I found that Martian Manhunter/table and chairs set in a 50% off box somewhere, and spent a while engaged in chair-driven collecting (like, I had to get the figures to fill the chairs, and the sets with new chairs).
When time travel becomes possible, I’m going to send them all back to my younger self along with a ton of G.I. Joe and Transformers toys he couldn’t afford on his allowance and man, he is going to be so happy!
Mike–I can’t see the Jimmy Olsen figure as well as you can firsthand, of course, but it seems to be lacking a bow-tie. Given that lack of signature item, I’m guessing the green longjohns represent Jimmy as Giant Turtle Boy.
Dare thee say me nay?
Add me as another “tried to sell, but can’t” with these things.
I think I have a couple of the sub-sets, and I can really only remember the DR FATE / SPECTRE (MIP! NRFP! L@@K!) one as being in my possession.
I’ve listed it several times and it always gets many WATCHERS, but no bidders or buy-it-nows.
I think the watchers are merely hoping to see IF mine sells and then they’ll know how to price-to-sell their own.
Oh well…
Maybe I can gift it for a nephew’s birthday or something.
(with the $9.99 price permanently printed on the card, I won’t look TOO cheap. lol)
Haw! I HAVE the Green Lantern Set! It was the only way that I was ever going to get a Guy Gardner with the yellow ring. Yes, I AM that pathetic. But it looks awfully cute up on my shelf with all my other action figures.
In my pocket super-hero universe, the chair would be a shape-shifter limited to just the one shape. “Watch out or I’ll turn into a chair…and stay that way!”
Paul, I thought it might have been Giant Turtle Olsen but that’s a suit he’s wearing and he doesn’t have the bug eyes.
Like the Chairman, Tom?
He’s Marvel, you understand.
That Catwoman appears to have raided Martha Kent’s wardrobe for some sort of housedress.