Soon Forget: ToyBiz USAgent

This is the latest in a series (of indefinite length and regularity) of blog posts memorializing cancelled toys. Our figure today is ToyBiz's Force Works USAgent.

USAgent would have been part of the Iron Man cartoon line, but when Series 3 dropped from seven figures to just six, he was the one chosen to be removed. Why him and not Century, a character you've either never heard of before or forgot existed until you just read this sentence? Citation needed.

The result of an experimental augmentation process, John Walker uses his enhanced strength and photonic shield to defend his country's ideals in his own no-nonsense manner. Once a stand-in for Captain America, USAgent's methods and attitude often run his super-powered peers the wrong way - but he gets the job done!

There was some talk the figure would be swapped into later waves of Series 3 cases (similar to Archangel/Erik the Red in the X-Men Invasion line in the same year), but that didn't happen.

With USAgent still unreleased, ToyBiz used the molds to create Series 5's Living Laser... and then Series 5 got cancelled entirely because the cartoon's ratings were too low.

The fact this post has a photo of a carded figure (and copies its bio from the back) probably tells you that's not the end of the story, though. In 1997, "Foreign Release USAgent" figures began appearing for sale. Identified only as an "Exclusive Limited Edition" from a company called Elegant Way, these seemed to be an official release of some sort: ToyBiz had sent out a small handful of samples in the intervening years, but those were just sealed in a baggie; these had the full and correct packaging, and even a sequential production code stamped on the card. Fan talk at the time was that they were made as (unsanctioned) giveaways with a wristwatch promotion? Whatever the case, importers were bringing them into the US in numbers large enough to warrant placing print ads, so it had to be fairly substantial numbers. MOC samples were very hot for a while, but today can be had relatively reasonably.