Right after Mego and just before Secret Wars, Activated Superheroes are a forgotten series of Marvel Superhero figures produced by Processed Plastic Corp (sexy name eh?) or PPC for short.
These are well sculpted "army men" type characters (that remind me of similar figures produced in South American by Gulliver) with a gimmicky device that allowed the figures to fight. It's kind of low rent but also, absolutely charming. I'm very smitten with this line.
Activated Superheroes did receive a little bit of comic advertising in 1983, I remember being very excited about the idea of new figures but never saw them.
Eight Heroes were produced and four villains, all are excellent choices.
The amazing Bronze Age Marvel art on the packaging is probably a big help in this addiction. In addition to figure sets, they also created "combat sets" which included generic stuff like trucks and army men.
This is the kind of ridiculous toy you'd see when your family went on vacation, displayed amidst the pails and inflatable items at a "Stedman's" type store.
Activated Superheroes seemed to have had very limited distribution and sales, they are difficult to find on the collector market (a lot of people don't know what they are when they find them) and boxed sets like these are very pricey affairs.
If you collect these and want to share your input or photos of your stuff, I'd love to hear from you. kid70s*at*gmail.com
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