Alana’s Ageless Toys: DC Super Powers

Aloha CHUniverse and welcome everyone to the first edition of my new weekly toy write up. Lately I’ve been moving from comic collecting to toy collecting, with good reason. The vintage toy market which has been down in the dumps, starting about 7 years ago, but is coming back stronger then ever, much like comics have done in the same time frame. Toys have first appearances like comics but you will find, finding unopened 1st appearance toys is a lot harder and in most cases rarer than their comic counterparts. Each week I’ll go over a different toy set from the past or have a universal theme for the toys we talk about like “Batman” toys. I’ll try and keep as comic related as possible but some weeks we may not. By no means am I professional toy collector, so I may get things wrong from time to time. Vintage toy information is not as easy to come by as comic info. So if I make a mistake I look forward to being corrected and please do so. Now let’s talk toys!

Kenner was able to steal the DC characters rights away from Mego in 1984 to create the Super Powers toy line. The toys are called “Super Powers” because when you squeeze their legs they create an action like a judo chop or wing flap. The characters in this toy line where redesigned by Jack Kirby, sadly some of the only royalties Kirby ever received in his career is from Kenner and this toy line. The toy set also spun a few comic miniseries of the same name in 1984 by Kirby and Infantino. The toys lasted 3 waves before being discontinued before a 4th wave could be released. Some of the 4th wave did later appear in foreign mass produced non-licensed fakes and recent convention exclusive releases like the Gold Superman (available on eBay). The original full toy list of all 3 waves is pictured above. Just about all the toys in this Super Powers toy line are going to be first appearance toys minus the characters that were in Megos like Batman, Superman, Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Penguin, Riddler, Arrow, and Catwoman, even though she was never officially released in Super Powers.
Here’s the full list including the 4th wave that wasn’t released and faked. Also the foreign characters like Riddler (available on eBay) which is just the Hal Jordan toy with a different paint job. This has became a very hot toy set as of late with some figures topping $500. Look to pay $100-$200 for a unopened Batman or Superman (both available on eBay). Believe it or not, every toy in this set unopened goes for about a minimum of $80 unopened in decent condition these days.

Something as meaningless as the first Parademon toy (available on eBay) because of its rarity and the recent JL flick is fetching $150-$300 dollars.

The weird 80’s Brainiac (available on eBay) can fetch a couple hundred dollars and doesn’t come up for auction very often at all. The Darkseid toy (available on eBay)  goes for about $100 now when I bought mine they were $20-$30. I should also note the Darkseid has a larger size card then the rest of the toy line they even make a specific protective clamshell case just for him.

Cyborg  (available on eBay) is the grail right now for the toy line fetching $400-$700 dollars. Really rare to find even loose. All the wave 3 toys like Cyborg are hard finds. I could be wrong but I think this toy is the first black superhero toy which is a factor in its recent high priced sales.

We also have a great set of vehicles in this toy line. Obviously the most popular is the Batmobile (available on eBay) , which fetches about $125-$200 with the box. Can pick it up loose for $10-$30 I rather stare at the toy then the box on this one. The other vehicles include Batcopter, Darkseid Destroyer, Delta Probe One, Kalibak Boulder Bomber, Lex Soar 7, Supermobile, and the Justice Jogger, (all available on eBay) a hilarious mech pair of legs for Superman because I guess he’s too lazy to fly.

There was one playset made the Hall of Justice (available on eBay) . A second playset was advertised on the back of the wave 3 cards Darkseid’s Tower but was never made before the toy line was canceled.

I hope you enjoyed the write up, a trip down memory lane or some new info depending on your age. Next week we will be covering the Megos and all their importance. If you happen to see any unopened DC Super Powers at your local comic shops I’d suggest buying em up, if they are priced right. It’s one of the hottest vintage toy sets today on eBay and with all vintage unopened toys quantities are very limited. Thanks for ready and until next time happy hunting.

19 thoughts on “Alana’s Ageless Toys: DC Super Powers”

  1. Love this stuff. Just don’t do one on 80’s He-man. I had every figure. Drives me crazy seeing the prices on those figures now. And of course, Mom throws it out.

    1. I beat myself up in getting rid of all my Star Wars figures (originals) with most of the vehicles and space ships. I also beat myself up thinking I had almost every GI Joe figurine with vehicles as well. Don’t get me started on my M.A.S.K. vehicles and figures, I know I had all of those. Who would have thought right to keep all those?

      2. I Even had all the MUSCLE men, battle beast, the really sad part is I turn the big 40 in May. I think that’s why I still love comics. They make me still feel young

        1. I quit riding a skateboard in my 30’s. Comics and going to the skatepark kept me young. I turn 44 this month and still try to stay in touch with my inner youth.

  2. Im not a toy collector, and honestly dont see me becoming one, but this was an awesome read. Def a trip down memory lane. I was a GI Joe and Marvel fan as a kid, so i didnt have many of this DC line. Im pretty sure that I had Green Lantern and Flash from wave 1, but im pretty sure Cobra Commader, Destro or Serpentor each possessed one limb of each DC hero. Lol.

  3. I shoul note I’m a wrong on Cyborg being the first black superhero toy. Forgot about falcon from the Mego line.

  4. Kenner didn’t steal the Superhero license from Mego, it was up for grabs since Mego went bankrupt and folded in 1983.
    I’ve collected Megos on and off for close to 30 years and had the 1st wave followed by every other WGSH figure as a kid.
    Looking forward to your Mego article

  6. I have a foggy memory of a repack of the first four to ten of these, on a mini-card. Don’t know if anyone else remembers this, but up here in Canada, I remember my dad picking them up for me on the cheap when he filled up with gas at a Shell station, like a two dollar toy with a tank of gas. I remember the card not being much bigger than the bubble, but the figure was the exact same. Can anyone confirm this?

    1. That might explain how I ended up with a Green Lantern and Flash. I had no interest in DC as a young kid, but it would make sense if i (my dad) got them at the gas station on the cheap.

    2. There was a couple that were released on mini cards as well like Superman and Batman even though the same toy as what comes with the bigger cards from wave 1 they were released sometime after wave 2 and tend to go for a little less then their wave one counterparts unopened. There is also a recent miniature set of these toys that are tiny and go for pretty cheap.

  7. You should still be able to find carded Darkseids in the $30-$40 range as they’re common as dirt. They were on markdown racks everywhere up until the mid-late 1990’s.
    Basically he’s the Super Powers version of Mego Hulks

  8. ellanna,ellanna,
    congradulations. I am going to spend money tonight. I now want to relive my boyhood. going to chace a supermobel. the mail aways are tough stephenwolf&clark kent thanks for this please do secret wars next blind adam out
    congradulations. your making me spend money. I now wan

  9. Thank you for starting something like this. Looking forward to many more.
    My thing has been transformers. I still have g1s but not in the best shape. I’m strictly a g1 fan, and beast wars. The last few years I’ve been buying Hasbro Masterpiece versions (which somehow look soooo close to the originals in both vehicle and robot mode it’s amazing), or very high quality “knock offs.” I put that in parentheses because some of the knock offs are of characters that Hasbro just want take on, for one reason or another, but are just as good. I have Jazz, Beachcomber and mirage knock offs…some of these are rare, out of production and command hundreds of dollars.
    Anyway, hoping you can squeeze a transformers review in there sometime.

  10. I don’t collect figures anymore, but I do have some that I have gotten along the way, mostly because I would think they look cool. I did collect some power of the Force stuff back in the mid 90’s but they were all over produced…..Still remember as a kid getting the original Boba Fett on the Star Wars card from my sister for Christmas and tearing it open thinking it was a cool new robot…. Oh, the pain of it all. I do have whats left of the blister card though as beat up as it is.

  11. I collect toys as much as comics. Great article. Can you do one on Batman the Animated Series some time ?

    1. Yes I plan on doing those as well as everything else mentioned above. This week will be Megos followed by Secret Wars.

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