Saturday, September 28, 2013

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - XENA!

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Xena II (Warrior Disguise) - ToyBiz 1996

In 1995, the creators of the popular series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys set out to to create a secondary character to interact with the title lead.  Their creation was Xena: The Warrior Princess.  Xena was originally presented as an outlaw who teamed up with Hercules.  Her character was intended to die early on, but she tested really well with the viewing audiences and they decided to give the character her own series.  Xena: Warrior Princess lasted six seasons and eventually surpassed its predecessor with 23 more episodes than Hercules by the 2001 series finale.  The show was a cult phenomenon and had a huge fan following.  The title character was played by Lucy Lawless who portrayed Xena as a stubborn, strong, honorable, and fearless warrior.  She was amazing and totally unique, which is made even more amazing since she was a second choice casting.  Xena got plenty of love in the toy world.  She received two figures in the Hercules line and a separate line dedicated to her own show.






















Xena came with an oversized crossbow, two spear-sized arrows, a "civilian disguise", and her signature Chakram weapon.




Here she is stripped of her "civilian disguise", so this is technically her Warrior outfit.  I keep using quotes because I don't see much difference in this disguise outfit and her typical warrior gear besides some sculptural details and the color.  Yes, the outfit that came with the "Xena I" figures in the series more closely resembled her show look, that version did not come with her Chakram (which I view as an essential accessory for Xena... without it it's like Thor without his Hammer or Captain America without his shield).





 Here are the two figures together.























Time for a Comparison Pic!



Cheers!



5 comments:

  1. She is cute! I have that figure out in storage somewhere. Atlanta is there too & the Xena figures. I never did get Echidna but I plan to one day.

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    1. I love Echidna as a character, but I think I really dislike that toy. Maybe I just need to see her in person to change my mind, but all the online photos I see seem pretty disappointing.

      Someday I'll pick up the regular Xena from this line and do a comparison. Their faces seem pretty different.

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  2. I have this figure but it looks different then yours. The one I own doesn't have paint on the stomach or the top of her chest. Yours looks like a censored version of mine.

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    1. Interesting. Not the first time this has happened. DCUC Cheetah comes to mind. But upon researching, I think you might just have the Amazon Princess version (with a detachable black outfit) as opposed to my Warrior Disguise version (with a red outfit). But then things get confused because there appears to be a deluxe version that comes with both outfits and the undergarment paint has a mix of low cleavage and covered belly. So who knows haha.

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    2. From what I remember and from what I have just discovered from google there appears to be a different head between the two figures, mine being the more anime looking faced Xena II. But then there is a wild card with the deluxe versions because I might have both sets of armor but only one figure but the pictures Iv found of that set has the Xena 1 nonanime head..Its a confusing mystery !

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