THE BLOB

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Fred J. Dukes has long used the massive bulk and near-impervious skin granted by his mutant powers to combat the X-Men alongside the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants proving time and again that nothing moves the Blob!”

The Blob is a shockingly early addition to the X-Men universe when you really delve into it.  He’s only their third antagonist as a team, beaten only by Magneto and the Vanisher.  He was also pretty quickly worked in as a recurring foe, working for both the alien Lucifer and Factor Three, before finally being added to the Brotherhood roster in an issue of Defenders of all things.  He’s surprisingly absent for the formative years of Claremont’s run on the book, before finally returning with the new and improved Brotherhood in “Days of Future Past.”  From that point forward, he stuck around in a more recurrent capacity, though he’s never really been at the forefront of the stories being told.  But hey, it does get him some decent action figure coverage, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Blob is a deluxe standalone Marvel Legends release, timed to hit during the 60th anniversary of the X-Men, with all of the associated tie-in stuff for that.  This is Blob’s second time getting the Legends treatment, following up on the Build-A-Figure version released in Hasbro’s second ever Legends assortment.  It’s been a long 16 years waiting for an update.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Blob’s articulation scheme works surprisingly well given his bulk.  I especially like the range on the neck joint; the ball-joint is very well placed there.  The range on the elbows is also pretty solid, but the slight offset to that is that they break the flow a bit when posed.  Not that it’s the end of the world, or anything.  Also, the weight distribution on this guy works out quite nicely, allowing for some really fun posing options, with running poses and the like.  Blob is sporting an all-new sculpt; the Build-A-Figure had a rather stylized look to him, angling for a more grotesque appearance, in line with some of the more monstrous additions from Toy Biz’s tenure (which makes sense, since Toy Biz’s team actually sculpted the original Blob).  This one’s a bit more all-purpose, going for a more classic comics styling.  It downplays things like the excessive fat rolls, and I think it’s ultimately for the better, especially when it comes to him fitting in with the rest of the Brotherhood.  There are two different heads included; one calm, and one screaming.  The two heads also have slightly differing hairstyles, with the screaming version getting a look that’s all on the top, versus the visible sides on the calmer head.  I appreciate the options, though I definitely lean a bit more towards the screaming one myself.  The paint work on this guy is sort of a mixed bag, with some of the base work being rather sloppy, especially for the yellows.  On mine, there’s a lot of slop on the edges, and the application’s also kind of thin, so there’s a change of color visible where applications overlap.  Also, despite the prototype shots not showing it, he’s got the same spotting on the arms and legs that the BaF had.  I can only guess it’s got something to do with making the large swathes of unpainted plastic look less plasticky. Blob is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and the other in open gesture, which makes for some nice variety in posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the Build-A-Figure back in the day, but I was never really that enamored with him.  Admittedly, I’m a bit hot and cold with the Blob in general, so I wasn’t dying for an update, or anything.  That said, with so many of the Brotherhood accounted for recently, he was a notable omission.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by him, especially when it comes to posing.  Also, while we’re still a Destiny figure shy of the full DoFP Brotherhood, this guy does at least let me wrap up my “Pryde of the X-Men” Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists line-up, so my X-Men have someone to face off against.  And that makes me very happy.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’d like to see a video of this guy in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.