Action Figure Overview: Swamp Thing - Skinman (Kenner, 1990)

1990 Kenner Snare Arm Swamp Thing captures the Evil Un-Men "Skinman!"

 In 1990, Kenner teamed up again with DC Comics (Kenner and DC had a huge hit with the Super Powers collection from 1984 - 1986).  Unfortunately, despite numerous tie-ins and making it to a second wave of figures (if you want to call two new re-paints a second wave), the Swamp Thing line wasn't much of a hit.

1990 Kenner Swamp Thing "Skinman" action figure

The total line consisted of 12 figures: six different Swamp Thing figures, two hero figures, and four Evil Un-Men Villains.  There were also two playsets and three vehicles.  As in the comic books, movies, and TV shows, the villains of the line consisted of the evil scientist Anton Arcane and his Un-Men monsters.  Each of the Un-Men figures came with an accessory and a monster Bio-Mask which was supposed to represent the transformation from man to Un-Men monster.  All of the Un-Men had glow-in-the-dark eyes and all of the masks also had glow-in-the-dark eyes.  The masks look much more like finger puppets than action figure accessories, so it's no surprise that many figures currently for sale don't come with their masks. The masks were honestly pretty goofy and in my opinion, the figures were much more interesting without the masks.

1990 Kenner Swamp Thing "Skinman" with "Fangbat" Bio-Mask

The first figure I ever owned from the Swamp Thing toy line was Skinman.  He came with a lot of figures I'd purchased on ebay and I had no idea who the character was or what line he came from, but I thought it was a cool figure regardless of his origin.  He didn't have his accessory (a pickaxe) or his "Fangbat" mask.  When I decided to collect the Swamp Thing line years later, I picked up both the mask and the pickaxe pretty easily.

1990 Kenner Swamp Thing "Skinman" action figure

Most of what I have read online about the character "Skinman" is not much more than a one-line summary saying basically that he was a frail dude transformed into the Un-Men character Fangbat by Anton Arcane.  The cardback for Skinman describes him as a "goulish zombie" who "transforms into flying terror with his Fangbat mask," but I don't think in the Swamp Thing cartoon he was literally supposed to be a zombie.  In the cartoon, Skinman piloted an airboat (aka Bayou boat) while attempting to capture Swamp Thing and was shortly thereafter transformed with Arcane's "Transducer" into Fangbat (in the cartoon, it looks an awful lot like a gray version of the Batman villain, Man-Bat).  Later, Skinman is the pilot of the "Bayou Blaster," one of the vehicles produced for the toy line.  Apparently, the Un-Men in the cartoon transform back to their more human form between episodes so each episode, they have to use the "Transducer" again to become Un-Men. 

(left) Skinman Carded, without Bio-Mask, & with Bio-Mask and Pickaxe. (right) Skinman Cardback.

The Skinman figure is relatively common and without his accessories, can be purchased easily for under $10 (at the time of this writing).  In fact, I've seen him available on ebay recently for around $6 shipped.

1990 Kenner Swamp Thing "Skinman" action figure

Do you collect (or randomly acquire) Swamp Thing figures?  Which figure is your favorite?  Tell me below in the comments!

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