Spider-Tracer: Electro ϟ Spark Figures

Welcome back, Spidey fans! Last week, there were some bad storms that blew through my area, leaving quite a few people without power (some may still not have power as of this writing). And this lack of power, or electricity, got me thinking about one of Spidey’s most shocking foes: Electro! I remember getting these figures in the 90s when they first came out, and I have a lot of fond memories of these ToyBiz toys.

 

Around the time these figures came out, there was a huge crossover on the 90’s Spider-Man cartoon on Fox Kids which featured Electro and Captain America, which leads me to assume that this was why it was decided to have them both featured in a wave with ol’ Spidey here. With that said, let’s take a look at the figures ToyBiz was offering in this wave…

 

Captain America

 

 

This was my very first Captain America figure, but, nostalgia aside, this figure was not without its problems, which even kid me noticed right away. Like all of the other figures in this wave, Cap comes with something that lights up and sparks when you pull the tabbed string. That something just so happens to be his mighty shield! Having given his shield this feature meant it became rather fat, and, for some reason, the circumference was also very small. With no painted white star on the shield, this figure fell short because of the shield alone. I also seem to remember Cap being much bigger than the other figures in this wave. Sure, Cap’s a big guy, especially compared to Spider-Man, but he was way bigger than he should have been here. The wings on his head easily broke off, as did the handle on his shield, so my Cap was typically not sporting his most important accessory when I played with him. Cap also comes with a transforming hover jet, which he could ride, or use as body armor (everyone wore armor at some point in the 90’s!). What I don’t understand is, why not have the hoverjet spark, and let Cap have a regular shield? Some very puzzling decisions held this Cap figure back from being as great as he could have been. With that being said, he did have a nice paint job (though it did easily rub off in some spots) and a great sculpt, though it oddly left him constantly very angry looking. ToyBiz would repurpose this figure a few more times, giving at least one of those a normal, way better looking shield.

 

Electro-Spark Spider-Man

 

 

This Spider-Man’s design really bugged me as a kid, and it’s still not a design that I’m all too crazy about, which is why I skipped it back in the day. He came with huge, removable shoulderpads and a spider that sparked and clipped onto him; perhaps you could have pretended this was a Spider-Slayer? Had I thought of this as a kid, maybe I would have picked him up! Oh well…

 

Electro-Shock Spidey

 

 

This was the Spidey featured on the packaging for every figure in this wave, though, honestly, wouldn’t it have made more sense to use the Spidey that the wave is named after? Odd naming decisions aside, this Spidey gives off some Superior Spider-Man vibes with his black and red color scheme and his not-so-clean web pattern. This Spidey had a yellow spider  on his back and chest that lit up and sparked when you pulled the string on him, as well as clip on armor, which had a neat design to it and made him taller (for battling Stilt-Man, I guess? I dunno…). It being just another Spider-Man, I passed on this as a kid, and I can’t say I have any regrets on that one.

 

Steel-Shock Spider-Man (Joe Wade)

 

 

So this Spider-Man may be a bit confusing, but bear with me here. In the 90’s, many Spider-Man fans probably remember a little storyline called “The Clone Saga”. That’s actually where this design hails from, but it’s not Peter or Ben under that helmet, despite the figure having a masked Peter Parker Spider-Man under there. The armor itself was worn by Joe Wade, the second Scarlet Spider, who was a pawn of the second Doctor Octopus, Carolyn Trainer. Using her virtual reality technology, Trainer remade the FBI agent into her pawn, and he framed the real Scarlet Spider, thus furthering the need for Ben Reilly to give up the Scarlet Spider name and become Spider-Man after Peter had quit (which, obviously didn’t last long!). If this sounds like a convoluted mess, that’s because it is. This story came out when all of the monthly Spidey books were temporarily renamed to something with Scarlet Spider in the title. Anyone who remembers those stories knows how “good” they were (and I say this as a “Clone Saga” fan!)

 

With all of that out of the way, this figure looked so cool to me, that I had to have him! He looked nothing like any other Spider-Man in my collection, and just had a neat design to him. I didn’t find out about the Joe Wade thing until years later when I read “The Clone Saga” in its entirety, which only served to make me like this figure even more. Pull the little string on his torso, and his chest spider lights up just like Electro-Shock Spidey. The removable helmet was cool too, despite this actually being someone else in the comics.

 

Electro

 

 

Electro’s look here appears to have been taken straight out of Erik Larsen’s “Revenge of the Sinister Six” storyline from “Adjectiveless Spider-Man” #s18-23, which you can tell by his boots, arm cannon, and even his face! Electro comes with a giant electric bolt he can ride on (or electric sled, according to his box), which also has his shock feature; it lit up when you pulled the string, of course. Electro was probably my favorite figure in this wave, though years of repeatedly removing his hand from his canon did cause it to fall off, sadly. Still, I had a lot of fun with this guy as a kid. Electro always stands out nicely in any collection he’s in, and this figure was no different. It’s worth noting that this figure had gold and yellow variations.

 

Did you have any of these figures as a kid? Was pulling those strings to light the figures up a pain for you too? Let me know in the comments section below, and I’ll see you all next month!