Hypno-Hustler

Saturday Night Furor. Small-time hood Antoine Delsoin attempts to put his music career over the top by combining his mind-numbing hypnotic numbers with grand larceny. Despite his reputation for being a nerd and a loser, Peter Parker was always being shown going out to various clubs and parties as though that were a thing normal people would do. For instance, in Spectacular Spider-Man #24, he went to Beyond Forever, a "fancy" disco where the featured act was the Hypno-Hustler and his backup singers, the Mercy Killers. That hardly sounds like the name of a disco group, but hey, who are we to judge? Hyp used his powers to mesmerize the crowd so he could steal their wallets and jewelry, which honestly is pretty dumb: if you've got hypnotic music, make people like your music. You could be living that rockstar lifestyle, Antoine, and instead you're out on the corner sparin' for change. Hypno-Hustler's new parts were sculpted by real smooth groover who don't let no jive turkey bring him down, Paul Harding. In fact, it's fair to say this figure wouldn't exist without Paul Harding: he included Hypno-Hustler in his "Marvel in the '70s" line of portraits, and this figure's face, with its big sneer and the swirled circles on its lenses, is taken directly from that work. But while, yes, other pieces in that series have been adapted to toy form, you cannot convince us that any company anywhere would have come up with the idea of making a Hypno-Hustler toy on their own without first seeing Paul's cool artwork and being reminded the character existed. In addition to the head, the new costume elements include his clunky boots, a large belt with what looks like a speaker in the center, a smooth collar that has the same, and a pair of segmented rings around his shoulders. While the Mercy Killers seemed to have natural hypnotic powers (they were three women, and sang like the Sirens, which is why Hyp has to wear earphones), his abilities were all tech-based - originally it was just his goggles, but later appearances spead it around - so it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility that his belt or collar were now an integral part of his gimmick. This figure would never have been as good if it were done in the ToyBiz days. Reemember, they liked to paint bright blue shadows on white figures as a way of doing shading, and Hypno-Hustler's costume is pure blank white with vibrant pink accents for the belt and armpit rings. Hasbro's made him the fully uncolored white he deserves to be, other than the metallic blue on his throat speaker and the orangey-red for his goggles. He looks like he should be in a team with Nimrod. The rest of the body is reused, so that means you know what the articulation is going to be like: head, neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, thighs, knees, shins, and ankles. There are no pec hinges, because they would have gotten in the way of his shoulder-rings, and that's why the collar is a molded part of the chest rather than separate. One thing that is odd about the sculpt is the boots. In his first appearance, he wore what almost looked like ski boots, very thick but also very shaped, with large clasps holding them shut. These have rounded, folded-over cuffs that make them look soft and floopy. They have appeared in the comics like this (particularly, in Hobgoblin when Roderick Kingsley was leasing out superhero identities), but they do mean the ankles don't move as far as they perhaps could. His accessories are all reused as well, but they all make sense for him. There's a microphone and a guitar, and then two muzzle flashes and wisps of gunsmoke done in translucent green. What are those about? Well, in case the hypno-goggles didn't work, he could also shoot some kind of gas from his boots. Knockout gas? Hypno gas? Sure, something. There's a hole in the front of each boot where either effect can be plugged in, just like there would be in the barrel of a gun. The rectangles on the soles of his shoes represent the spots where he could cause spikes to pop out for deadly kicking power, but that feature isn't included here - just having it referenced is still more than you'd expect, though. Although he comes with alternate hands, none of them are shaped to hold the mic: the best you can do is jam it into the "guitar pick" hand; it doesn't really fit, but it's as close as you're gonna get. The Hypno-Hustler is a minor joke character at best. He first appeared in 1978, and has been in about a dozen issues since then. There isn't a sane company in the world that would make a Hypno-Hustler action figure, especially not one at their usual high standards, and released at general retail. At one point Donald Glover was announced to produce a Hypno-Hustler film for the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Movies, but since Kraven managed to hunt the SPUMM to death, that's never going to happen. So this remains a standalone example of just how deep into the catalog Hasbro is willing to go. -- 02/11/26 What is the name of Dazzler and Hypno-Hustler's chart-topping, smash hit song? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.