Between 1995 and 1999, Toy Biz put out a variety of figures for both the Hercules and Xena toy lines that represented women characters in a somewhat unique way. Sure, action figure lines have always had their token females, but "Xena Warrior Princess" was one of the first to focus on strong, attractive, and fully realized female characters.
Not to take away from the accomplishments of the Bionic Woman, She-Ra, or even Rainbow Bright, but more often than not action figures based on women have tended to be an afterthought, relegated to a short-packed figure with very little charm or play value.
Not surprisingly, it was the exact opposite for Xena.

It started with a very simple 5-inch figure from the Hercules toy line that exceeded most everyones expectations, and for one reason or another was pretty hard to find. I remember scalpers hoarding these initially, but later they seemed to flood the market.
Aside from the fact that the first version of Xena sports a terrible likeness, it also happens to be an ugly looking figure in general. But a year later, Toy Biz revamped Xena by giving her some new weapons, a different costume, and they opted for a slightly "cuter" cartoonish version of her face.

All things considered, version two with chakram, spears, and red dress, is a big improvement compared to the first version.
The new design carried over to the 10-inch boxed figure, as did a choice of both costumes and two weapons. But sadly, Toy Biz continued to use the fisted right hand that the smaller figures featured. I'm not happy with how it limits play value, or that Xena can never hold two weapons at once, but at the same time, it's amusing how you're almost forced to pose her with a fist in the air... or maybe she can be punching a monster... or whatever.


Two years later, with the Xena line in full swing, we're starting to see much better sculpts, as well as a whole new focus on various "attack" effects. Xena with "Sword Drawing Action" is probably the best of the lot, largely because the sword drawing gimmick actually works. As a rule, I'm not a fan of push-button action effects, but this one is fun enough, and it doesn't completely spoil the look of the toy.

Another high note for the line is the series of 12-inch figures where Toy Biz focused mainly on costumes. These are really just Barbie-esque dolls with limited play value, but they looked great, and round out the collection very well.

I'll admit that collecting Xena toys wasn't exactly my idea when they were first released. I enjoyed the show well enough, but it was actually my wife that started picking up a figure here or there when we would wander the toy stores.
Over a decade later now, she probably couldn't care less about them, and though they haven't found their way out of storage many times in the past few years, it's nice sorting through the lot, while remembering a toy line where female figures were the norm, and the occasional male figure was a rarity.
2 comments:
man that show was fun.a gay bar in chicago used to have xena nights and me and my wife would go.it was like rocky horror with xena.
The show had a little something for everyone.
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