Surely these two characters have both been in the same book at some point, right? Since they're both outer space types?
Starfox, brother of the Mad Titan Thanos, has often aided Earth's heroes against Thanos' schemes and used his power to stimulate the pleasure centers of those around him in service as a member of the Avengers.
Yeeeeaaaaahhhh... that's not all he's used his power for. In She-Hulk #6 and 7, Starfox was sued for using his euphoria effect on otherwise-unwilling women. It's not often a single story can completely rewrite a character on the spot, but, just like Avengers #213 made Hank Pym a wife-beater now and forevermore, these issues turned Eros from "guy who makes everyone calm down and get along" into The Date-Rape-Drug That Walks Like a Man. And just like everyone overlooks the fact that Hank hitting Janet was supposed to be accidental, not malicious, nobody remembers the second half of this story: the part where it's revealed that Starfox's powers were out of his control as a side effect of Thanos rewriting his memories of their youth.
We've mentioned before that when Thanos first appeared, all the Titans were purple, not just him. That was changed by the time of their second appearance, which is why Starfox's smiling face is pink. He has
a widow's peak and his hair comes up into two little points on the sides, making him yet another character to do that before Wolverine. Presumably the idea is to make him look vaguely vulpine without giving him ears like a fursuit, but the design pre-dates the supranym - he was only ever "Eros" until he joined the Avengers and Wasp, ever the horny one, decided that he was foxy and he'd been out in the stars, and so gave him a name on the spot. We're lucky she didn't name him Dickprint or The Sploosh. "You can fly fast, right? We'll call you Mister Thrust! Now, are you hungry? Do you want to eat what my mother made?"
It's easy to forget that Thanos and his family are all Eternals.
Yes, those Eternals. They're just from Saturn's moon instead of Earth. And so in addition to the mental coercion abilities, Starfox has all the usual Eternal powers, like flight, strength, and invulnerability. All that means this figure doesn't have any accessories, just alternate fists. You know what they could have given him, though? An alternate head. In Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos famously drags his brother along with him when he sets up base to prepare to kill half the universe, but when he realizes Eros is attempting to calm him down with his powers, he uses the reality stone to remove his mouth. Give us a mouthless Starfox head, Hasbro!
The majority of this body is an existing one, with golden cuffs on his wrists and toes that point inward instead of
going in a normal direction. The chest is new, however, and that makes a ton of difference: his costume features flares over the shoulders, a folded shirt collar, and a stylized fox symbol right in the center of the chest. That was a feature of the design even in his first cameo appearance, so it's likely he was always going to be "Starfox" and it just took seven years to get there, because it sure doesn't make any sense for a guy going by "Eros." On this figure it's a sculpted element, which is way better than simply painting it!
This Elder channels the power primordial seeking out the strongest beings to fight for the thrill of battle. For a time, he also possessed the Power Gem but lost it to Thanos during his quest for the Infinity Gauntlet.
Just as Starfox is an Eternal, Champion is an Elder of the Universe, putting him in the same group as Grandmaster and Collector. Judging by his chonsen name, you can probably guess what Tryco Slatterus's life-prolonging obsession is: like Fit Finlay in his only memorable gimmick, he loves to fight.
Champion is a big brute, so he uses a big body. A BAF body. Although this is the fifth time it's been used and only two of those were Build-A-Figures, so we may need to make a list for it.
His belt and bracelets are new pieces, with designs that are unique to him, and like Starfox, he also gets a new chest with his shirt collar (and those three small stripes below his neck) sculpted on. It's amazing how much of a difference "a new head and new pecs" makes for reusing existing molds over "just a new head." Like, it's a minor difference, but it absolutely helps make these figures feel like someone at some step in the process cared about them. Which is especially noticable on a total nobody like Champion.
This obviously isn't our first 6" scale Elder of the Universe, but it is our first 616 version, which means Champion doesn't need
to look like a normal human guy with weird eye makeup. His skin is pale blue, with darker blue lips and black circles around the blank white eyes. He has long, flowing hair that reaches the middle of his back, but it starts more than halfway around the back of his scalp. I'm surprised no modern artists have given him a big horseshoe mustache to go with that skullet. And that refusal to put anyone else over. Make him look like Hogan, make him talk like The Boulder, and let him be the clown he was destined to be.
In all the uses of this mold, I've somehow never noticed that the figure's shin swivels are cut in at an angle. Like, remember back in the dark days, when NECA was just starting to experiment with giving their toys articulation, and they had that thing we called "NECA elbow," where instead of a normal, simple hinge, like a real limb would have, they just put in a swivel at a 45° angle to the arm would sort of look bent when you turned it? This is almost like that, but drastically shallower. Like, not even 10°. Let's go back in time to 2019 and ask someone what the design directive was on those. ...and maybe do a few other important things real quick while we're there.
Surprisingly, neither of these characters is getting their first action figure: Starfox was in Marvel Universe as a repainted Quicksilver, while Tryco's stint as the Deadpool Corps' "Championpool" got him both a 4" figure and a Minimate. And while this set is expensive, GameStop (of all places) had it for a few dollars below retail as their standard price, so I grabbed it before they realized their mistake and fixed it. Champion being a BAF-sized figure helps excuse the price, a little, as do the unexpected new parts. But these are hardly must-have characters, even if they're done well.
-- 06/15/26
What absolutely inappropriate codename would you have given Starfox? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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