Zartan/Hawk Morphing Set

Nice concept, but some decidedly lazy execution. Two figures that are essentially the same, and a Zartan wearing Zubaz? Very strange. The transforming Zartan has been a cool concept since the days of the Ripcord/Zartan storyline in the original Marvel comic. This set however strikes me as too much of a lazy custom. It’s too bad the club didn’t decide to incorporate the “Kirby crackle” from the comic art.

The Tiger Force color scheme used throughout that year’s set was striking, but too different from the 80s set to blend together well. They do match up nicely side by side with the Toys R Us six pack. On a positive note, the clear Zartan armor bits and the extra paint apps on the boots are a nice touch.

I kind of miss the days of lame-o convention exclusives. Imagine one of the recent attendee sets hanging around for nigh on ten years without a sell-through. Despite my other gripes, I do have two positive words for all three figures–nice pants.

9 comments

  • At the very least, this set gave us a new hood for ’84 Zartan. And a Hardtop repaint.

    All those Dreadheads, on the other hand…

  • @Clutch
    How is that hood new?

    On another note, my usual seller on Listia actually auctioned the fully-morphed Zartan-as-Hawk figure a while ago, had a really high starting bid and GIN value on it.

  • Dreadnok: Spirit

    I dunno. It doesn’t look so much like Tiger Force to me as it looks like ALMOST Night Creeper Leader’s pants.

    Zartan transforming into another character is a cool aspect of the dude, but do they really need to make a three figure set for that? If we were playing with the toys as kids, we’d just grab whatever figure it was that Zartan was supposed to be impersonating and there you go. I know these are meant for collectors, but still.

  • I remember seeing one of these sets advertised on some site [BigBadToystore?]. And they were asking for an arm and a leg. I think both this set and the International strike force [the set with Budo, Spirit, Bigben and Bigbear] were both twenty five hundred each. From what i’ve noticed over the past decade, the international strike force has dropped immensly. In rgeards to this set: it looks really lazy.

  • Dreadnok: Spirit

    Also, a compliment on one of the figures. The Zartan-in-mid-transformation figure has probably the best head sculpt for a Zartan figure. Thank God it looks close to the comic/cartoon look.

  • Not very tiger-stripey pants. The club seemed to think Tiger Force was orange and black, even though few vintage TF figures had that pattern. They also made an orange “Tiger Force” hydrofoil with no stripes at all. Honestly, if the intention wasn’t to mesh wish the 80’s Tiger Force, why bother with Tiger Force at all?

    This set was never very popular. Everyone was tired of that Hawk mold, so paying more for another version of it (two actually) wasn’t too appealing. The original Zartan mold was interesting, and maybe instead of the Hawk body with “new sculpt” head, they should’ve included a Zartan that matched the colors of the convention Dreadnoks/Dreadheads.

  • … why does Zartan have the tiger stripe pants in his unmorphed state? And (for obvious reasons) they’re DIFFERENT tiger-striped pants than what he has when morphed!

    This set hurts my head.

  • I can sortof imagine the brainstorming session that went into this, and the guys were probably pretty enthusiastic about the idea. Not sure about the figures. V1 Zartan is really the oddball; they probably should’ve used that same NS head on a V1-ish styled new body or left it at a 2 figure set.

  • I’d like to see them in “Modern Era” version!

Leave a Reply to Dreadnok: Spirit Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.