McFarlane Toys - Reviews

Each figure comes with a letter stand of either 'K,' 'I,' or 'S.' Get them all to spell 'KISS.' Later these figures were reissued without the letter stands and included a miniature copy of each members' respective solo album instead. These figures weren't very accurate in costuming but had by far the most accurate faces. Figures had real hair and chains and incuded a variety of weapons and instruments. Gene Simmons has his signature axe bass and a winged snake staff; Paul Stanley has a guitar that shoots a missile; Ace Frehley's Guitar transforms into a rocket sled, he also holds a laser pistol, and has removable rockets on his boots; finally Peter Criss had mace/drumsticks, a sheild, two spears, and a drum that can shoot the spears. These figures were the first figures produced by McFarlane Toys and were obviously designed to be actually played with as they have points of articulation at the neck, shoulders, elbows, legs, and knees, and they are more durable than the other figure lines.

This figure line was based more on the Psycho Circus comic book characters than on the actual KISS band. Each figure comes with his respective alter ego from the comic series. The Demon comes with the ringmaster, the Beast King incudes the animal wrangler, the Celestial has the stiltwalker, and the Starbearer is packaged with the jester. Each figure not only includes the alter ego but also several other items such as the jester's juggling balls, The stiltwalkers stilts and a stand, and the animal wrangler's panther. The figures have points of articulation at the shoulders and legs only, and have real rooted hair but the faces on them are more cartoonish and bear little resemblence to the actual members of KISS asside from the make-up designs.

These figures were offered by the tour vendors during the psycho circus tour and were supposed to depict each member in his tour costume, although in reality great artistic liberties were taken in that respect. Each figure has limited points of articulation and the heads are the same as the earlier Pycho Circus figures. Each figure includes his instument -- Gene Simmons , Ace Frehley, and Paul Stanley all have guitars and guitar stands (of note the Paul and Ace figures were both packaged with the other's guitar) and Peter Criss was packaged with a drum kit which includes bass, snare, high hat, and cymbols.

The most realistic of the four sets, these figures were designed based on a famous photo taken of the band for the Alive! album. Each figure includes not only his instument but also a real guitar pick. Gene, Paul, and Ace each hold their trademark guitars (Gene also includes a candleabra and Paul has a red police light) and also include amps and speakers; Peter Criss includes a drum kit (the exact same kit included with Tour Edition figure, only painted white this time) and a stool to sit on. These figures are designed for display only and include hardly any articulation at all. Of note -- The left arm of the Peter Criss figure is very delicate and has a tendency to break off at the shoulder. The Paul Stanley figure is posed in a very awkward possition and has a tendency to fall over. My only gripe with these figures was that each should have been packaged with a stand to hold them up.