Today's Toad review talked about a lot of art. Let's look at some of it.
This is the original Toad, as drawn by John Byrne for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe:
Next is Jim Lee's altered version of the character (from that big Villains Gallery in X-Men #1), as well as the merchandise re-draw by Scott Johnson:
The bare arms have never appeared anywhere else, which is why we think it influenced this unknown piece:
And finally, the Ultimate and Evolution versions of the character:
Seeing the OG Toad and his more recent version, I can totally see a similar situation to what happened to Peter Parker: as Peter he was an unfit nerd, but years of web swinging and wall crawling caused him to develop a very impressive physique.
I somehow doubt Toad could stay looking as dumpy as in his first appearances if he's spent years hopping around and fighting heroes and villains alike. It's not like he's the Blob, yeah?
Hey, nice head cannon!
I can see Toad getting more fit over the years, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'd slim down that much. He can still keep his more uncommon (in comics) endomorph body type. Even his more "pudgy" classic look has swole gams.
Chris Bachalo drew thin Toad the best by making him look like a meth head.
Hahah. I do think that we will have to agree to disagree there. I could certainly buy the idea that he wouldn't be anywhere near as fit as Peter Parker got (since Spidey gets a full body workout thanks to his wall crawling), since Toad's fighting style and even normal method of locomotion involves hopping around I can't imagine him being really pudgy after years of it.
Well, unless he's like Kingpin and eats enough that his muscle is hidden under what looks like fat, but I admit I'm not familiar enough with comics nowadays to know if Toad has a reputation for gluttony.