SmileGuard Marvel Heroes Toothbrushes

It’s gotten to the point where my collector detector is always on now. No matter where I am, I’m always on the lookout for some kind of toy to buy. I bought a miniature tricycle that’s about 1:18^th scale while my girlfriend and I were shopping in a souvenir shop. I picked up several silly looking figures made of native materials at a prison in Palawan. In Sorsogon I got a not so little whale shark made of wood. My G.I. Joes use it for anti-submarine operations.

The other day, I was in National Bookstore in Galleria and found these: SmileGuard Marvel Heroes Toothbrush Travel Kits.

Now you might ask, “Did you say, ‘Toothbrush’?” I might then reply, “Why, yes I did say ‘Toothbrush’”. I also said “Marvel Heroes” and something about a whale shark. I might also say, “Goddammit! Sit down, get yer hand outta yer shorts ‘n’ pay attention!” if I hear any more lip.

So there are 3 parts to the thing. You get a small toothbrush, sized for a kid (meaning it’s got a huge, thick grip and a tiny, tiny head with soft bristles), a travelling cover with a lenticular print of etiher Spider-Man or Wolverine and Hulk (depending on which angle you’re viewing it from), and a toothbrush buddy, which is attached to toothbrush via a short chain.

There are 4 designs to choose from, each with a different color: Spider-Man’s brush is blue, Iron Man has red, Hulk is green, and Wolverine (who I couldn’t find) is well... also blue if the back of the card is to be believed. They each cost about Php 100.00 (a little over $2.00 US), which is steep for a tooshbrush, but remember when I said, “Marvel Heroes”?

The back of the card has a whole lot of text I can't be bothered to read. I just tore them open as soon as I got home.

I guess I can use the toothbrushes, even if they are sized for hobbits, but the lenticular cover was cool for about 2 seconds. The real draw of course were the figurines.

They're all attached to a sturdy 3" long keychain that ends in a small carabiner clip. It looks to be fairly high quality chain, and the connection to the figure is made by a small plastic loop on the head of each hero. The loop is pretty thick as these things go, so there's no fear that it'll snap. That doesn't mean you should go handing it to your dog as a chew toy, though.

The figurines are also about 3" tall. Scale isn't really followed here, though Hulk is the heaviest of the three. Spider-Man is the tallest hero, with Iron Man being a smidge shorter. Despite Hulk out classing the other two,  he's the shortest.

The figurines are all solid plastic, which gives them a very nice heft. As I said, Hulk is the heaviest, and I think he even outweighs the toothbrush itself.  The material is nice, being soft enough to feel flexible. I'm not sure if it's PVS, but it doesn't feel stiff and brittle like ABS. You could probably use the heat and freeze techniques successfully, though I couldn't fathom why you'd need to.

The paint is a little too simplistic if you're a sucker for realism, but these aren't exactly  top shelf collectibles. Hulk gets the short straw, with his eyes basically just drawn in with a pen. Honestly I don't have a problem with the applications since I was just in it for the novelty. It's kind of how I felt with the Marvel Self-Buildable Figures.

I mean how cool is it that I now have a Hulk with me where ever I go?

Grr. Argh.