I got 3 MOC copies of the old Toy Biz Xena figures in trade a few months back. I'd considered selling them, as being MOC they took up a lot of space. But then I found myself in need of a small anchor decoration and Gabrielle's arrow tips suited my needs, and I saw no point in selling the figure for whatever little bit they're currently worth, only to pay that for a small earring or something. And with Gabrielle opened I just opened all 3.

Now then... these are 6" scale, but before Toy Biz began Spider-Man Classics/Marvel Legends so articulation is not up to par. Jointed knees and ankles are hindered by v-crotch hips, and nearly every figure had a gimmick. The figures also seem to suffer from mediocre faces... the heads shown on the card back prototypes were wonderful, yet on the production pieces they look bad. I would guess shrinking from the 2-up to final lost a lot of detail, though you think they could have fixed that. But the later wave stuff I've seen pictures of (mostly) seems to do a better job. They are still a good deal better than the Hercules line, especially in making Xena look like Lucy Lawless.

For the most part, these are not worth much now and much of the cost in buying them online will be high postage rates thanks to large boxes for MOC toys. If you can find them in thrift stores, or buy them loose with cheap shipping, they work out to be a better deal. the cards were large with a lot of open space in the bubble as well... there tends to be a good inch of dead, empty space behind the figures. Figures were also sold as "episode specific" though only about half of them were really tied to any one episode. We got costume variants of Xena and Gabrielle, one-time characters but a lot of them were the usual character. It was also almost the female cast... Autolycus got a figure(which Bruce Campbell fans probably went nuts for until the Ash figures began, though his toy isn't really expensive anymore) and Ares was only made for the 12" line. No Joxer, no Draco, no 6" Ares.

There was a 12" line though the bodies were more like doll bodies than action figures. But you might be able to transfer the clothes and heads to modern 1:6 female bodies, with any luck.



Xena. This one is mostly pre-posed with a sword gimmick. You can move the neck and left arm but it looks bad because the sculpt only lines up one way. The right arm ha no articulation, and is tied into a button on the back. In theory, a magnet in the hand latches onto a magnet in the sword and she draws the weapon. In practice, the sword is in too tight for this to work, and trying to use the gimmick to sword slash will just throw the sword. It will work with the whip though which seems flexible enough to flail around. The chakram pegs to the left hand. The dagger is a total write-off because neither hand can hold it.



Gabrielle. It's her typical season 2-3 outfit, and the face sculpt is quite soft, more like the early X-Men series. You can tell who it's supposed to be, but it looks too young. The sculpting is almost halfway decent, but the big rubber clips used to attach the skirt are too big- these figures often had armor attached on as separate pieces, clipped together ala vintage MOTU, but then it was glued in place, making it pointless. She gets a dagger and sheath- all the sheaths were oversized and made of hard plastic, BTW- which I guess I can live with, though Gabrielle was really only using her staff at this point. Plus the giant axe with a hinged head, which is just throwing in random accessories at this point. Forget the bow and arrow, it's worthless. The arrows fit in too tight to actually fire and the string is too weak even if it did work.

Her gimmick is a spinning staff, where turning the waist causes the right arm to raise while the hand spins on an internal rod. It works only okay but the tiny nub to put your thumb is small and it gets a bit painful to work the feature.The shoulder can ratchet but the arm can't ratchet.



Callisto. This is a nearly wonderful figure, hampered by the face. The loss of detail, coupled with thick tooth paint makes it look a bit ugly. though I've seen pics of their second Callisto, it doesn't look much better. The shoulders are ball joints, the wrists move and if not for the v-crotch would have been a decently articulated figure. There is no gimmick in the figure, the gimmick is installed in the base. The top winds up, and releasing the lock causes it to spin. the idea is that this spins the figure, and with the nunchuk in hand, that will flail around nicely. The spring and winding motor inside are actually strong, and without the toy in it'll spin for about 30 seconds with only a moderate wind up.

Just a pity about the face though.




I do wonder why we haven't seen any new Xena toys. I can't think there's a lack of interest, given this was a very popular show when ti was on and we've seen toys of much more obscure licenses recently. Maybe the rights are buried and complex? Maybe someone isn't willing to lend their likeness out? Maybe the toy rights are too expensive? I doubt Toy Biz still has those rights. At the very least I'd love to see a new Xena and Gabrielle, possibly a Callisto and Autolycus.

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Nope, lack of interest. It is right up there with Playmates Star Trek line, it was hot for a while but when the shows went off the air so did a lot of the interest in the line. At best you would see a Neca one off of Xena maybe Gabrielle but they'd peg warm. I'm not putting down the show or the toybiz figures at all here. I think Firefly would suffer the same fate. You'd have the ravenous diehards getting them and then it would stagnate.

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Yeah, plus I recall this line at retail and it rotted terribly after it was first released. The Firefly comparison is apt. They had some Firefly figures. Mal and Jane, IIRC, and I don't think anymore were made.

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Waiting on the Hercules line to come out first. Then Xena.

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I think Xena more or less died halfway through season 5, thanks to a pair of writers that were hired on and sort of did a lot of really stupid things. One of their episodes ended up so bad, they were fired, and the staff tried to salvage the show, but by then the damage was done and it was too late. Nor do I think that locking the two in ice and forgoing 25 years was the best plot move and they seemed willing to retcon out a lot of what we saw in earlier seasons regarding the future. In fact, the current running comic series started by undoing the finale of the show and replacing it.

But I remember we're talking about s show set in ancient Greece, which compacted centuries of events into a span of 4 years. The Trojan Horse/battle of Troy happened less than a year before Christ was born(we saw Mary and Joseph with the baby!), and the assassination of Caesar happens after Christ was born, not some decades before... I guess it's the result of the first season playing itself off a bit goofy, then seasons 3 and 4 picking up pace when the show caught on. Plus the fact they can seem to walk between entire countries or across continents like you or I would walk to the corner store.

The comparison to Star Trek is apt, it was a line that sold heavily to collectors but interest eventually died, and their value isn't that high thanks to a flood of them that most people kept MOC. In Xena's case though they didn't keep it going... I can't find any proof they made anything themed beyond season 4. Considering the span from prototype to store, I'd guess season 5 killed not only the show, but the toys. The only two toys that seem to really command any worth are the 12" Ares and 2nd Callisto as it had "coccoon" Hope as an accessory and probably saw a low run. That's not counting sellers who list a price because they think "old toy = valuable" and won't lower prices based on current average so you get a lot of $50 MOC Gabrielles. But even the Toy Biz LOTR figures are suffering from the "it's not worth above original retail" fate now.

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I think hype mostly kept it going. That last season being as out there as it was seemed to turn people off. Like a jump the shark sort of deal. Plus that was when action figures were making the turn to becoming more detailed and articulated. Now I don't think anybody cares. Of course you have some fans that would like it, but I don't think it's enough for most companies to rush to the table.

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I may try to get some of the 12" figures that Toy Biz made. I dug up info that says they're more like doll bodies with ratcheting elbows and knees, but if you don't want visible articulation everywhere then swapping to a new body is out of the question... unless you want to swap each one to a $60 Phicen body, and I wouldn't go that far just for the fact Phicen's bodies are notorious for breaking. IF the head and neck plug is compatible with the Cy Girls standard neck post, anyway.

Looks like I can get them for about original retail, shipped. That's if I get just Xena, Gabrielle and Callisto, and I may get the Amazon suit Gabrielle as it's cheaper and looks better. Seems these 12" figures have better likenesses than the 6" figures did.

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