The Ultimate Guide to

Action Figures

Vehicles

Accessories were certainly not the strong point of the SMOS line. With no playsets and only three vehicles (one of which was a recycled Batman vehicle), the emphasis remained on the action figures themselves to carry the line. But there are a few good things to say about what actually did appear.

Superboy's VTOL Cycle

An interesting concept: A flying motorcycle....for a hero that can fly. Actually, if you can look past the apparent redundancy, this is a pretty neat toy. It comes with its own launching capture claw (an accessory that no super hero can live without apparently) and does convert (albeit in a minor way) to become a flying vehicle. Add in the fact that you had to buy the action figure separately, and you have a recipe for added sales, right? Wrong. The VTOL Cycle was pretty much a flop on the retail shelves. The price point seemed a little high when first released (approximately $9.99) and by the time it made it to clearance, many of the Superboy figures were long gone. These two factors didn't give kids or collectors much reason to check out this piece. By the way, "VTOL" stands for "Vertical Take Off and Landing" just in case you were wondering.

Matrix Conversion Coupe

This vehicle is recycled from Batman:The Animated Series (BTAS). Originally conceived as Bruce Wayne's Custom Coupe, the Matrix Conversion Coupe was recolored and slightly retooled to give us Clark Kent's car. As the original BTAS vehicle came with an exclusive repaint of the Bruce Wayne figure, the Matrix Conversion Coupe came with an exclusive Clark Kent figure. The figure itself almost made the vehicle worth buying since Clark Kent was never released as a single carded figure in this line. However, the figure itself is slightly disappointing. Clark is portrayed in his glasses with his ponytail pulled back in a set of casual clothes. But again, Kenner has shown a reluctance to put Clark in his trademarked suit and tie (last seen in Kenner's Super Powers Clark Kent mail-in figure). As one added peculiarity, Clark's right hand is molded to hold an accessory or weapon, yet none is included.

This vehicle was reissued in the Superman: The Animated Series (STAS) line in 1996-7. The car was recolored (red) and the Clark Kent figure was given a more animation-derived head sculpt. In an ironic twist of fate, the original release of the STAS version of this vehicle was much more difficult to find than the original SMOS version, even though they were practically the same item.

Kryptonian Battle Suit

This was the last vehicle to appear in the SMOS line and is arguably the best as well. A fairly accurate portrayal of the machine used by Superman when he returned from the dead (with the temporary loss of his powers). All the promotional materials show the Kryptonian Battle Suit being used by Power Flight Superman. However, to be accurate to the comics from which this is derived, the correct choice would be Laser Superman since that is the suit he is shown wearing while using the Battle Suit.

Rumor has it that the Kryptonian Battle Suit will be reissued in the Superman: The Animated Series line at some time in the future. It is unclear if there will be any alterations to the original release (e.g., a color change) but the packaging would certainly be updated.

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