how would you have changed Super Powers?

[Mr.Marion]

I loved the line but careless character choices doomed the line. Also the reason Its not important to own a complete set. To do some fantasy reimagining I would make the following changes.

Cutting Mantis- nobody knows who he is and didn't appear on the super powers show. Black Manta would be choice to replace him since he had a following by that point.

Cutting Cyclotron- made up character that didn't even look cool.
Adding Reverse Flash. A simple repaint of flash would work.

Cutting Golden Pharaoh - as a kid I thought he was the comic version of King Tut from 1966 Batman.Only as an adult I learned that he was conjured from thin air like his boy Cyclo.
Adding Batgirl. I'm a Batman kid at heart so my option might be bias. But I think she would have sold well due reruns of Batman still being in regular retation.

Tyr- who?

Deathstroke the terminator. He was planned for the 4th wavewave. And I much needed villan for Robin, Cyborg, and Green Arrow.

[enyawd72]

I wouldn't have left any of the characters they did make out, but I would've included more well known characters into the various waves.

I would have made:

FIGURES:

Black Manta
Ocean Master
Batgirl
Cheetah
Catwoman
Bizarro
Metallo
Sinestro
Grodd
Captain Cold
Mirror Master
Reverse Flash
Riddler (proper version)
Scarecrow
Two-Face
Commissioner Gordon (mail away)
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson (mail away)
Lois Lane (mail away)

VEHICLES:

Invisble Plane
Daily Planet Helicopter
Armored Bank Truck with Metropolis/Gotham city labels to customize
Jokermobile

PLAYSETS:

Metropolis/Gotham City Bank
Fortress of Solitude
Batcave

[Werewolf]

I would have added more mainstream popular heroes and villains and removed the Kenner created and less popular New Gods ones. Not knocking Tyr, Kalibak, Orion, etc. as characters. But kids in the 80s didn't want or care about them. The first series filled with popular well known characters sold very well. As soon as the New Gods started filling the pegs, the line was dead.

I think figures of Batgirl, Catwoman, Riddler, Scarecrow, Teen Titans and Supergirl would have been more popular.

[palitoy]

Daily syndicated cartoon packaged called "Super Powers"

I'd have kept figuring out new ways of including Batman and Superman into every wave.

Sorry that's a very dry answer.

[Mr.Marion]

Daily syndicated cartoon packaged called "Super Powers"

I'd have kept figuring out new ways of including Batman and Superman into every wave.

Sorry that's a very dry answer.

I believe that everyone from series 1 and 2 got issued in wave 3. But yes superman and batman should always be on the shelf. Mego got that right all along. Remember how hard the toy biz superman was to find? I think he was packed in the same numbers as everyone else.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Kenner got too wrapped up in the "toyetic" aspect of the line, and sacrificed known characters. Had they made some of the proposed series 4 and beyond characters, it may have lasted longer. A Batcycle set with Batman and changing phone booth with Clark Kent and Superman would have been a good way to keep those characters on the shelves.

The allure of having one bad guy like Darkseid (ala Skeletor for MOTU and Cobra for Joe) also hurt them. If they'd deviated a bit more from the Fourth World with Riddler, Manta, Bizarro etc, it would have helped.

Chris

[palitoy]

On the money Chris, I really think focusing on Darkseid was a gross miscalculation, he didn't sell and clogged shelves well into the 1990s here.

Instead of brightly coloured, well recognized, villains from comics/movies and TV, we got these drab characters just being introduced to an audience through a once a week program on Saturday morning.

I don't even think ancillary characters like Mantis or Steppenwolf got on the show.

Superfriends Reruns were being syndicated throughout the US and Canada at that time, they should have concentrated on old favourites rather than trying to push the Fourth World so hard IMO.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I've always thought that was Kenner's reaction to MOTU's popularity, and even Star Wars, which they of course knew well, which had one central "villain" in the Empire, and it's poster boy, Vader. Only Darkseid, Desaad, Kalibak and the Parademons appeared on the show. I only knew of Mantis and Steppenwolf from the comic mini-series and Who's Who. You are dead-on on the syndication aspect, Brian. Super Friends repeated daily along new Transformers, GI Joe and He-Man episodes. The Challenge episodes were of course always the most popular, so mining the Legion of Doom would have made more sense.

Tyr is the perfect example of "he'd make a great toy" vs. being a character anyone wanted.

The Wonder Twins and Gleek should have been in wave 3 as well. We groan about them now, but every kid knew who they were.

Chris

[Werewolf]

I really think focusing on Darkseid was a gross miscalculation, he didn't sell and clogged shelves well into the 1990s here.

And then they did the same thing all over again with the Super Powers "extreme" reboot, Total Justice, in 90s. They again shoved Darkseid down kids throats. He was the only villain in wave one. No doubt he warmed the pegs at Kaybee side by side with the original Kenner one. Wave 2 was no better. Instead of popular villains like Lex or Joker, they released Despero and Parallax.

[The Toyroom]

I didn't mind the Darkseid figure but I had no interest in picking up any of the other Fourth World and ancillary characters created for the line.

[Figuremod73]

Would have been better to leave the made up characters out. More popular characters would have been a plus. Thought Darkseid was a impressive and good looking figure, but I also knew of the Kirby work in the comics, including the superpowers mini-series he was involved in.

Parademons would have been good army builders but I wouldnt have thought of that at the time.

[msenger76]

as a kid i didn't want any of the 4th world characters. just the "super friends". until Justice League International came out and then i really wanted the impossible to find Mr Miracle. still want one of those on the card!

[Earth 2 Chris]

I didn't mind Darkseid, but they didn't have to go that deep into the Fourth World. Darkseid (in shorter case ratios) Kalibak and Desaad were plenty.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

At least they stopped before they got to Vermin Vunderbar...

[bigdicebuddha]

Cool thread, and I agree with the sentiments posted thus far. My interest waned immediately after series one (which I hail as the single best superhero action figure series ever produced). I had every single figure, vehicle, and playset from series one as a kid. The last one I recieved was the Hall of Justice playset, and that set really disappointed me. I didn't understand the color scheme on that one, and as far as action features, it felt cheap and unimagined. I consider the Batmobile from that line to be the best batmobile ever produced for a mass produced toy line.

Things I wanted as a kid from that line:

Batcave playset
Joker Vehicle
Invisible Jet
Wonder Twins
Mister Mxyzptlk
Batgirl
Some sort of Villain Lair Playset that was related to Series One