Frog-Man

Today's review is a frogs-only zone. All others will be toad. Eugene Patilia suits up as Frog-Man in a misguided attempt to restore his family's good name. Indeed he does. Eugene's dad, Vincent, was the one who created this costume and went out to commit crimes under the name "Leap-Frog." (Who technically is part of the supervillain shuffle, because he was created as a Daredevil foe before fighting the Defenders, and Iron Man. But oddly, never Spider-Man.) He retired, but Eugene took the old suit out of storage and tried to be a hero. Unfortunately, he never learned how to opperate it, so most of his wins involved him bouncing out of control and accidentally slamming into whatever villain he was up against. Whoops! Rather brilliantly, the Fabulous Frog-Man uses the same molds as Series 7's Dr. Octopus. Eugene was a chubby kid, rather than being graced with the typical superhuman physique, so this suits him perfectly. Also, who ever thought Hasbro would find a way to reuse that body? Everything between the neck and the ankles is straight from Doc Ock, just given a different shade of green, and painted with pointy oval shapes that were always drawn on his suit. The holes on the back are hidden by the big battery pack Frog-Man uses to power his suit - the top two help hold it in place, while the bottom two are just concealed. The suit's only "powers" are the electrically powered coils that let the wearer jump six stories in the air (and somehow land safely); in fact, the first time Vinnie tried them out, he was jusr wearing street clothes and a bandana over his face - the frog motif didn't come until later. The toy has new feet, because no one else has had giant frog flippers as their shoes, and Hasbro's even remembered to sculpt the springs under his heels! Sure, it makes him look like he's wearing high heels, but that's the way they work. The head is a new sculpt, too. Like his father before him, Frog-Man wears a hood that completely conceals his identity. It's shaped like a cartoon frog head, but unlike so many animal-themed characters, the wearer doesn't look out through the false face's eyes: if you look into the mouth, you'll see a sculpted face, painted all black so it can be concealed in shadow, with the eyes white so you can tell they're there. Nicely done! The figure has a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, a balljointed chest, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinge kneees, swivel boot tops, and swivel/hinge ankles - all the same stuff as Dr. Octopus, and enough to suit a bouncy, flexible character like Frog-Man. And the unused holes on his back are handy for any clear display stands you might have lying around! You get your choice of fists or open, gesturing hands, because neither Leap-Frog nor Frog-Man carried any weapons. They swap out at the wrist with no trouble at all. There is a gun included in the set, but it belongs to Stilt-Man (Frog-Man's hands are too open to hold it). We get the left arm of the Build-A-Figure, plus an extra fist for it. Frog-Man is a weird, obscure character, so it's no surprise he'e one of the slowest seller of this series (the other? Peter B. Parker, weirdly. He must be heavy-packed). If you really wanted to, you could buy two of him, because it's not unheard of for both Vincent and Eugene to be out fighting crime at once. -- 05/14/21

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