Tag Archives: Avengers: Age of Ultron

#0566: Iron Man – Mark 43 & Black Widow

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

IRON MAN – MARK 43 & BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL MINIMATES

IM43WidowAoU1

Alright, it’s the Age of Ultron Minimates extravaganza part 2 (Electric Boogaloo)! I kicked things off with two of the film’s new characters, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but now I’ll be turning back to the “old faithful” characters that we’ve seen a few times before. Iron Man is the “oldest” MCU character, and Black Widow isn’t far behind him. And look at that, they’re even packed together. How convenient.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man and Black Widow are part of the first assortment of Avengers: Age of Ultron-based Marvel Minimates. They are one of the two sets in the first assortment to be available both at Toys R Us and as part of Marvel Minimates Series 61.

IRON MAN – MARK 43

IM43WidowAoU2It would be weird to have an assortment of Avengers merch without an Iron Man, so here he is. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12(ish) points of articulation. As noted in the name of the figure, this is Iron Man in his Mark 43 armor, which he ends up wearing for the first half or so of the film. It’s worth noting that this makes him not actually fit with the rest of the team’s final battle looks, though it does mean you can display them from the opening battle. Structurally, this figure is the same as the Series 49 Mark 42, which is rather sensible, given that the 43 was just a recolored 42 in the movie. The add-on pieces for the 42 are serviceable, and they do a decent job of replicating the movie’s armor, but they have a few issues. Chief among them is that the upper arms are sculpted in such a way that the shoulders are effectively nothing more than cut joints. That’s really limiting to the figure. In addition, the figure feels a little too built up in general. The 42/43 are meant to be rather sleek, but the ‘mates are rather chunky. All that aside, the pieces do feature some nice detail work and some nice, sharp lines. The paint on Iron Man is pretty decent, actually. In particular, the shades of red and gold that have been chosen are nice and vibrant and have a really great finish to them. The line work is all pretty decent, although it’s perhaps a touch faint. As has become the norm on Iron Men, there’s full detailing under the helmet and torso. The torso offers a cool look at the inner workings of the armor, and the head offers a look at Tony’s face. The Tony face isn’t as good as some of the previous ones; they seem to have missed the mark on the RDJ likeness. The Mark 43 includes a spare hairpiece, a rocket blast piece, and a clear display stand.

BLACK WIDOW

IM43WidowAoU3In the comics, Black Widow is a marginal member of the Avengers at best, but the movies have changed that. There, she’s upgraded herself to one of the most central members of the team. And that’s pretty cool. Her presence in Marvel Minimates is rather reflective of this change. Of the seven Minimates of the character, five of them are movie-inspired. Anyway, onto the actual figure. Widow is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and she’s got 14 points of articulation. She is, of course, based on Widow’s main appearance in the movie. Structurally, she’s similar to the Winter Soldier version of Widow from Series 55. She shares the same belt and one of the holsters, but loses the Widow’s stingers. Also, the hair has been replaced with that of Battlestar Galactica’s Pegasus Six, which is actually quite a good match for her hair from the movie. This Widow ends up being a bit sleeker than previous versions of the character, which is a plus in my book. Widow’s paintwork is certainly passable. There is a bit of slop around the edges of her arm bands, but other than that pretty much everything is clean. One thing I noticed is that the detail lines seem a little duller here than usual. Things such as the “tron lines” kind of fade into the rest of the costume, and the details on the face seem a little light. Speaking of the face, it presents a good likeness of Scarlett Johannssen, but the somewhat vacant expression is a little disappointing in light the Winter Soldier Widow’s more intense look. Widow includes two eskira sticks, a handgun and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the craziness that was acquiring Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, getting this set was actually rather simple: I just picked them up from my local comicbook store. I can’t say that this is a set that thrills me. The Mark 42 was not my favorite Iron Man Minimate, and the 43 still has several of the same issues, plus the step down in likeness. Widow fairs a bit better, and I do like a lot about this figure. I think that swapping the heads on this one and the Winter Soldier version might provide me with my preferred version of the character.

#0565: Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

QUICKSILVER & SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL MINIMATES

QS&SWAoU1

Let me kick things off here by saying that Avengers: Age of Ultron was a really, really, really, really, really good movie. Just fantastic. If you haven’t seen it, you should do so. I’ve seen it three times and I still feel like I should see it a few more.

As a Marvel Studios movie, it is of course entitled to the usual tie-ins, specifically Marvel Minimates, one of my favorite lines. The first round of them hit just before the film’s release, so I’ll be taking a look at them over the next few days. Let’s kick things off with newcomers Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are the Toys R Us Exclusive two-pack from the first assortment of Avengers: Age of Ultron-based Marvel Minimates. They were released to coincide with Series 61 of the main line.

QUICKSILVER

QS&SWAoU2Quicksilver gets to go first because he’s technically 2 minutes older. Also fast. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of unimpeded articulation. He’s based on the character’s appearance in the film’s big climactic battle scene at the end. It’s a good choice, given that it’s the look that sees the most action. Pietro is built on the standard Minimate body, with an add-on piece for his hair. The hair was previously used on Series 58’s Young Magneto figure. Father and son sharing the same hair piece really appeals to the comic nerd in me. The hair piece is a pretty decent approximation of what his hair looks like in the movie, so it was well chosen. The rest of the design is handled via paint. There’s some good, some bad, and some just plain annoying on that front. The good is that the face features an excellent Aaron Taylor-Johnson likeness and the detailing on the torso and upper legs does a fantastic job of evoking the costume details from the movie. The annoying is that the patterns on his arms don’t line up quite right, resulting in some colors being too thin and some lines being much more jagged than they ought to be. The bad is that the brown detailing of the lower portion of his hair has been missed entirely. This leaves his hair a stark white, which isn’t accurate to his depiction in the film and also looks rather bland. As a whole he isn’t a bad looking figure, but he could be better. Quicksilver includes a dust cloud base to simulate running, as well as a more conventional clear display stand.

SCARLET WITCH

QS&SWAoU3Quicksilver may have been first, but Scarlet Witch is definitely my favorite of the twins, both in the comics and the movie. This marks the fourth time that Wanda has graced the Minimate form, beating Pietro by one. Like her brother she is about 2 ½ inches tall and she sports 14 points of articulation. The articulation here is a little more impeded than it was with Quicksilver; the hair and skirt both do their share of restricting. Scarlet Witch is also based on her final battle look, I’d gather for much the same reasons as Quicksilver. She uses the basic body, with add-ons for her hair, jacket, and skirt. All of the add-ons are re-used. The hair is from Series 50’s Songbird, the jacket is from Knight Rider’s Michael Knight, and the skirt is just one of the generic skirt pieces. They add up to a pretty decent approximation of Wanda’s film appearance. The only piece I’m not 100% sold on is the hair, just due to how it sits, but it isn’t bad. Wanda’s paintwork is actually quite good. I can definitely see Elizabeth Olsen’s likeness on the face and the outfit features plenty of great detail work. She’s even got little gold rings on her hands, which is an easily overlooked detail. Wanda’s only accessory (unless you count her brother) is a clear display stand. She feels kinda light without any extras. Something to illustrate her powers, such an energy piece for her hand or an extra head with red eyes, would have been a very welcome addition to the figure. Oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh boy, the story of getting these guys. Well, my local Toys R Us sold out of this set before I got there. So, I had to resort to ordering via TRU’s online store, which is really never a fun experience. The item shipped, and I got my tracking information. Like any good collector, I religiously watched the tracking, waiting to see when it would arrive. The item was marked “Out For Delivery” a whole two days before the expected delivery. Cool, I was gonna get it early. But, then it didn’t arrive that day. Or the next. Or the one after that. Another day passed and I finally called my local postal service about it. I was informed that someone would look into it, and I’d get a call back shortly. The next day, after not hearing back, I actually drove to the post office to check on things. I was informed that it was on a truck somewhere and I should come back the next morning before business hours. So, the next morning, I got there before business hours. And no one was there. So, I called them from outside the building and had a long, rather uninformative chat with someone in the back. They told me to go home and wait. Finally, these guys actually arrived, a week after going “Out For Delivery.” Yay, I guess. Anyway, I have them now. To be honest, they aren’t the most thrilling Minimates, but I like them well enough, and I’m damn sure going to enjoy them after all the stress of actually getting them.

QS&SWAoU4

#0557: Iron Man vs. Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

ULTRON PRIME, IRON MAN, & ULTRON – MARK 1

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

IMvsUltron1

Happy Free Comic Book Day everyone! Yes it’s that joyous time of year where we all go to pick from a small selection of pre-determined free comics and we get to hear the inevitable stories about less informed people attempting to wander out of the store with hundreds of dollars-worth of comics. Yay?

So, the official countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron ended yesterday, but fear not, the Ultron fun isn’t done just yet! I’ve looked at (almost) all of the comic-based Ultron figures. Now we start getting into the movie-based stuff. I’ve already looked at some of the Marvel Legends that were released to tie-in with the movie, and I’ll be taking a look at the first series of Minimates in a week or so. Today, I’ll be taking my first look at Hasbro’s line of 3 ¾ inch figures from the film, with two versions of the titular villain and an Iron Man thrown in for good measure.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This trio of figures was released as a Target-exclusive “Iron Man vs. Ultron”’ three-pack, which is part of Hasbro’s wider Avengers: Age of Ultron line. The figures were released just prior to the film. Iron Man and Ultron Prime are repaints of their single releases (though Ultron Prime hasn’t actually hit retail yet) and Ultron Mark 1 is, for now anyway, exclusive to this set.

ULTRON PRIME

IMvsUltron2Ultron Prime here is Ultron’s main appearance from the film. The figure is just shy of 4 inches in height and features 5 points of articulation. That presents some issues. The limited articulation is an issue to be sure, but the real issue here is that he’s just too short. In the movie, Ultron was somewhere around 8 feet tall. To be properly in scale with the rest of the figures, he should actually be over 5 inches tall. In its current state, the figure ends up being woefully small. Moving past the scale issue, let’s just look at the figure on its own merits. The figure’s sculpt is new (though it will see another use fairly shortly on the regular Ultron Prime), and, obviously, it’s based on Ultron’s final film appearance. The sculpt is okay, though I certainly wouldn’t call it perfect. The details are mostly well placed and seem fairly accurate to the source, but the sculpt seems a little bit soft. In addition, it feels as if the figure has been stretched to add some height, resulting in a rather thin figure. Couple that with the figure’s short stature and you have a rather dinky, unimposing Ultron. Paintwork doesn’t do much to help this figure, either. He’s mostly just molded in a dark, brownish grey. It’s not metallic or anything, and it’s certainly too dark. His arms are molded in a translucent red, with some paint thrown in to make the switch from grey to red gradual. Some metallic sheen shows up there, and there is some pretty decent work. The red for the eyes and the detail on the torso is also pretty decently applied, and it breaks up some of the monotony of the grey. Ultron includes a blast effect piece, molded in red, which can be placed on either of the figure’s hands.

IRON MAN

IMvsUltron3Here we have the set’s requisite heavy-hitter, Iron Man. He’s represented here in his Mark 43 armor from the movie, which is the same armor we saw in the Marvel Legends assortment as well. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation as Ultron Prime. Structurally, this figure is identical to the Iron Man figure from the first series of single release figures. It’s actually a fairly decent sculpt. The proportions are pretty spot on, it’s accurate to the armor from the film, and it has a more than passable amount of detail work. All-in-all, a good sculpt. Paint; here’s what sets this figure apart from the single release. The single release was rather disappointing, with only the most basic color placement and a lot of “broad strokes” work. Here, the paint is actually very nicely handled. Everything is pretty clean, with no slop or bleed over. All of the parts that should be red are red and all of the parts that should be gold are gold. There are even a few spots of silver thrown in for good measure. The end result is a paint job that accents the sculpt rather nicely. Iron Man includes a blast piece molded in blue.

ULTRON – MARK 1

IMvsUltron4Look! Another Ultron! It’s like a sandwich or something. This Ultron is, as noted by the name, the first version of the character we see on screen. Rather than being specifically designed to be Ultron, he’s constructed from the remains of several of the Iron Legion drones. It’s a look that figured pretty prominently into the early trailers for the film, delivering the distinctive “strings” speech, so it got a fair bit of notice. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation, just like the other two in this set. Though he may be built from Iron Legion drones in the film, this Ultron figure features a sculpt that is wholly unique to him. And what a sculpt it is! This figure features a ton of texture and detailing, all throughout. The inner workings of his body are all nicely defined, and all of the armor plating is scratched and dented, giving it a nice touch of realism. The head is probably a little too large, especially when compared to the Iron Man included, but it’s minor, and the sculpt of the head is fantastic on its own. The figure is also sculpted with his legs in a bit of a step, giving him the appearance of a limp, like the one he has in the film. It’s a nice change from the standard standing pose of the rest of the figures, but it isn’t so extreme that it takes away from the figure. Ultron Mark 1 probably has the best paintwork in the set. It could probably stand to be a little more detailed, especially on the grey parts (some metallic grey plastic would have gone a long way in this set), But there are some nice touches, and he has enough different colors to make him a bit more visually interesting than the others. On top of all that, the paint is nice and clean and there isn’t any real slop or bleed over to speak of, which is always a plus. Ultron Mark 1 includes no accessories of his own, though I suppose you could give him one of the other two’s blast pieces if you really wanted to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually stumbled upon this set pretty much completely by accident. I just happened to find a rack of them at my local Target, while I was looking to see if the second series of singles had shown up yet. I hadn’t seen any news about this set, so its existence was new to me. That’s a rarity for me nowadays, so it was a fun little find. I’m still not totally sold on Hasbro’s move to the more simplistic figures for this scale. After years of fully articulated figures, the move back to the basic 5 hurts more than a little bit. Ultron Prime is easily this set’s weak point; there are just too many things against him, and the fact that he’s not even a “default” version of the design doesn’t help. However, Ultron Mark 1 is a fun figure, and more than makes up for the failures of his more advanced counterpart. The lower articulation is much more forgivable here, and the sculpt is just far superior. Add in an Iron Man that is easily the best version available in the line right now, and you’ve actually got a pretty decent set. If we can get more figures like those two and less like Ultron Prime, my opinion of the line would definitely improve.

IMvsUltron5

#0556: Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ULTRON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

UltronMLH1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: IT’S HEEEEEEEERRRREEE!!!!!!!

Hey guys! Hey guys! Hey guys! Do you know what got released today? AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON!!!!!!!! *ahem* Okay. I think I got it out of my system. Sorry. I’m just a teeny bit excited.

So, yes, Age of Ultron is out today. By the time you read this, I’ll have already been to see it once at a Thursday showing, and I’ll be prepping to see it again later today. Because I’m insane. Anyway, I’ll be wrapping up my countdown to the movie with one last look at my Ultron collection. This time, it’s a return to the Marvel Legends style. That didn’t go so great last time, but I think Hasbro can turn it around. Let’s look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronMLH2Ultron was released as part of Series 2 of the Iron Man 3 Marvel Legends line. He was the only of the three figures in this series to be comic-based (because, no, Ultron wasn’t in Iron Man 3. I would have noticed), and the only figure in the entire line not to be specifically Iron Man-based. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. Sculpturally, this Ultron marks the first time the character hasn’t gotten his own unique body sculpt (not counting the Minimate, of course). He’s constructed using the body of Titanium Man from the Iron Man: Armored Avenger line, along with a new head and shoulder-pads. Titanium Man’s body is a decent enough starting point. It’s well enough articulated, and it certainly has plenty of clean, sculpted detail work. It isn’t really a match for any of Ultron’s designs, but given the fluidity of his body design, that isn’t an inherently bad thing. The shoulder armor is fairly straight-forward. They’re decently sculpted, and the fit the aesthetics of the rest of the body well-enough. In a startling change from the first few Ultrons I looked at, the head is definitely this figure’s strongest point. It’s not quite the expert piece we saw on the Marvel Select figure, but it’s still a pretty great translation of the classic Ultron design to three dimensions. The details are all pretty clean, and symmetrical (important for a robot) and there’s definitely a machined quality to it. And I can’t stress enough how nice it is to see that they’ve gotten the antennae correct. That’s a key detail. It’s also worth noting that the head fits with the rest of the body very nicely, stylistically, which is always a good thing. Ultron is actually pretty simple on the paint front. Mostly, he’s just molded in silver, with a little bit of red paint for the eyes, mouth, and… uhh… shoulder-pad circles as well as a little bit of blue shading on the silver,. The silver is fine, though maybe a little too light (in contrast to the MU figure being too dark) and it has the common “swirly plastic” look that metallic colors can sometimes get. The blue accents look really nice, but they are just a bit inconsistent. It isn’t super noticeable, but it can be the slightest bit jarring. The red paint is cleanly applied, and it’s nice and solid. Some sort of variance or energy pattern would have been cool, but it certainly doesn’t look bad. Ultron included no accessories of his own, although he did include a piece of Iron Monger.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After taking a bit of a break from Marvel Legends, I was finally pulled back in by last week’s Neo-Classic Iron Man. This figure was announced not long after I got that one, and I was definitely excited to get it. I’ve been waiting for a more proper Ultron ever since the disappointment that was the ToyBiz version. Ultimately, this figure had its thunder stolen a little bit by the MS Ultron, who provided a more faithful classic Ultron, but that actually doesn’t ruin this guy for me. He’s a fun update on the character that still manages to stay true to the spirit. Plus, he’s just a heck of a lot of fun!

#0555: Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ULTRON

MARVEL SELECT

UltronMS1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 1 day remaining.

Man, thing are really moving along now! Seriously, I can’t begin to describe how exciting stuff is right now! It’s not just that Age of Ultron is being released tomorrow (though that is kind of a big deal), it’s also that today and tomorrow I get to review my two favorite Ultron figures. And these two rule. Super hard.

Now, after Hasbro gave us a whole two (count ‘em: two) classic Ultrons, the other major Marvel toymaker, Diamond Select Toys decided they needed to step up their game and brought Ultron into their Marvel Select line. And boy did they step up their game.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronMS2Ultron was released as part of the aforementioned Marvel Select line. He was released in the last quarter of 2013, and, like just about every other figure in this line, he was a solo release. The figure stands 7 inches in height and has 32 points of articulation. Ultron is one of the earliest Select figures to implement a lot of articulation, and he actually benefits quite a bit from it (unlike a certain ToyBiz release…). Some of the joints are a little tight, but he really does have some great range. Ultron features a sculpt that is unique to this particular figure. From head to toe, this guy is a pretty direct translation of the classic Ultron design. Every piece of this figure is cleanly sculpted and well-proportioned. The articulation is, by and large, pretty smoothly worked in. The only real stand outs are the hip joints, but given how Ultron is a robot, they really don’t look too out of place. The head sculpt is easily my favorite piece of the figure. It’s an excellent translation of the comic design. It’s made up of three separate pieces, allowing a nice touch of depth to the assembly. The eyes and mouth are laid out in just the right places and feature proper sizing. Then there are the antennae. Oh, the antennae. They’re just so perfectly placed and sized, which is pretty much unique to this particular version of the character. In general, the construction of this figure feels a lot more solid than yesterday’s MU figure, which is definitely a nice difference. Ultron’s paintwork is pretty straightforward, but it’ still pretty good. The silver is nice and consistent, and seems to be just the right vibrancy for the character. The red of the eyes and mouth is appropriately bold, and the black lines help to bring out some of the sculpted details. All of the paint is clean, with no real slop or bleed over. Ultron only includes one accessory, but it’s a pretty good one. He has a display stand, designed to look like the wreckage of the Avengers Mansion. Ant-Man and Wasp lie on the ground, defeated, and there even some broken arrows courtesy of Hawkeye. It’s really well sculpted, with lots of texture and detail, and it’s a fantastic addition to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, it’s all Ultron’s fault. How, you ask? Well, before this Ultron, I had managed to steer totally clear of the Marvel Select line. Then, stupid Ultron had to come along and be the Ultron I’d been waiting to own for, like, ten years. And then my local comic book store just had to have a promotion where subscribers could get any one item in the store for 40% off. So, I bought Ultron. And he’s just a fantastic figure. Seriously, he’s possibly the best Ultron figure ever made. So, of course, I had now broken into Marvel Select. There was no going back. Now I have 14 Marvel Select figures. Thanks Ultron….

#0554: Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ULTRON

MARVEL UNIVERSE

UltronMU1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 2 days remaining.

Alright, now we’re really getting into the good stuff. After going a fair bit of time without a proper classic Ultron figure, he suddenly started showing up all over the place. Hasbro decided to take their first crack at him in their Marvel Universe line. They released him as part of their sub-line of Secret Wars-based two-packs, which puts them ahead of Mattel, for those of you keeping score. I don’t actually have the two-pack version of said figure, but I do have the next best thing. So, let’s look at that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronMU2Ultron was released as part of the 15th Series of Marvel Universe. This is the second appearance of Ultron in the line, but the first to be released on his own. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation. As noted in the intro, this figure is based upon the classic Ultron design. The sculpt of this figure is a head-to-toe re-use of the Secret Wars version. It’s a pretty strong sculpt for the most part, although it does have a few small issues. The lower torso in particular is a little oddly shaped, and the sculpt of the upper torso makes the arms a little bit more limited in movement. It’s worth noting that this figure actually does get the proper head antennae, which is awesome to see. Due to the scale, they’re a little thicker than they should be, but that’s forgivable. Perhaps the figure’s biggest problem is that he just feels a little on the unsteady side. His joints are all rather loose and, while he doesn’t feel fragile, he does feel like he may keel over at any second. He can sustain a basic standing pose, but anything more dynamic and he’ll topple over. The figure’s paintwork represents another questionable area, though it isn’t bad, per say. Ultron’s traditional color scheme is predominantly silver, with a little bit of red thrown in for the eyes and mouth. Occasionally, the red might be swapped for blue, but that’s rare. On this figure, they got the silver pretty much right (although it could be argued that it’s a touch too dark), but the accents are… green? Yeah, I’m not sure what happened there. I mean, Ultron’s never been green. I guess Hasbro wanted to be different. To be fair, it doesn’t look bad. It’s applied fairly cleanly, and the move from white to green in the larger areas gives a nice bit of dimension. The use of the green to outline the etched in portions of the body is also quite cool, and makes it look like he’s overflowing with power. Ultron’s only accessory is a display stand with his name and the Marvel logo on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For whatever reason, I missed out on the Secret Wars two-pack that included Ultron. I saw it once or twice, but I just didn’t get it. I think it had to do with the crappy Mr Fantastic he was packed with. Anyway, after those had sufficiently disappeared from stores, I figured I’d missed my shot on a classic Ultron. But then Hasbro announced this guy, and I figured he was a pretty decent stand-in. It’s not a totally straight forward classic Ultron, but it’s really not far off and the green is actually quite cool looking. Plus, I’ve just convinced myself that this figure is actually Ultron-12, the heroic Ultron, in some sort of alternate universe where he didn’t die and he changed his colors to green to differentiate himself. Which actually makes me appreciate the figure all the more.

#0553: Ultron & Ms. Marvel

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

ULTRON & MS MARVEL

MARVEL MINIMATES

Ultron&MM1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 3 days remaining.

Okay, yesterday was a bit of a downer. Sorry about that. Guess not every Ultron can be a winner. But hey, things do get better from here out. And what better way to kick off that whole “Turning things around” thing than a look at one of my favorite lines, Marvel Minimates. They not only got us a good, classic Ultron, but also a Ms. Marvel to go with him. So, why don’t we take a look at them now?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ultron and Ms. Marvel were released as a two-pack in Series 19 of Marvel Minimates. 19 was released in conjunction with Series 20, and together they helped to fill some rather sizeable holes in everyone’s Minimates Avengers.

ULTRON

Ultron&MM2Alright, first up is the man (or robot) of the hour, Ultron. This is not only his very first Minimate, but also the first figure to depict his classic design, so it’s a two-fer. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Ultron is constructed from the standard Minimate body, with the addition of a brand-new sculpted head. The piece sits a little low on the shoulders, causing a little bit of no-neck syndrome, but aside from that, it’s a rather nice classic Ultron head. It has, of course, been adapted into the ‘mate style, which works very nicely, and it includes all the important details for an Ultron head, plus a few additional texture details here and there. And check out the antennae! They’re actually where they should be! Imagine that… The paintwork on Ultron is pretty great. He’s mostly just silver, but he’s got plenty of detail lines to effectively translate his design and give him quite a bit of dimension. Also, the head is molded in translucent red plastic, with silver painted over it, which, when combined with the patch of unpainted plastic on the back of the head, allows the eyes and mouth to be illuminated. It’s not perfect, but it looks cool enough, and the patch isn’t visible from the front. Ultron included two energy blast pieces, molded in red, which can be placed on his hands.

MS MARVEL

Ultron&MM3This is really Ultron’s week, but seeing as this was a two-pack, it seems good ol’ Carol Danvers here is along for the ride. Surprisingly enough, this remains Carol’s only Minimate to date, but I have a feeling that might change soon enough. Ms. Marvel is about 2 ½ inches in height with, you guessed it, 14 points of articulation. Ms. Marvel is presented here in her second, Dave Cockrum designed costume. It was far more distinctive than her first, and it was the one she was most associated with before switching over to Captain Marvel a few years back, so it’s a good choice. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for her hair and sash. The hair first saw release way back in Series 5, on the New X-Men Phoenix. It ended up finding its way on to quite a few Minimate females, but I think this actually may have been its last appearance. It’s not a bad piece, but it seems just a little too big and blocky for Ms. Marvel. I think the sash was a new piece, but I can’t say for sure. It’s well sculpted and accurate to the character regardless of its origins. Ms. Marvel features a far more detailed paintjob than Ultron, with several different colors and accents. Generally, it’s pretty good, though there are some minor issues with fuzzy lines here and there. Also, I kind of would have preferred straight black for her costume instead of dark grey, but I suppose that’s just me. Ms. Marvel included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was released right as I got back into Marvel Minimates in full force. It was picked up the day it was released from my local comic book store, Cosmic Comix. I remember being quite excited, specifically for the Ultron. It’s a pretty fun little set, and it’s still a pretty important one, too. The two figures aren’t without their flaws, but they both hold up pretty well, especially for only being released a third of the way into the line.

#0552: Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ULTRON

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOYBIZ)

UltronTBML1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 4 days remaining.

Ultron first made his way into the toy world courtesy of one of ToyBiz, as art of one of their many one-shot lines of figures from the tail-end of the 90s. He then quickly received his second figure thanks to the tie-in line for the short-lived Avengers: United They Stand cartoon. Eventually, Ultron made his way into ToyBiz’s popular Marvel Legends line. Interestingly, his first induction into the line was not as a figure himself, but rather as a non-articulated piece of the stand included with Series 8’s Modern Iron Man. Eventually, he got a whole figure to himself, but the results were… mixed at best. I’m gonna be upfront here: this review is going to be rather critical of ToyBiz, to, like, Mattel levels. You’ve been warned.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronTBML2Ultron was released as part of the eleventh series of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends, also known as the “Legendary Riders” series. The figure was one of the shortpacks of this particular series, because he was a fan-demanded character and ToyBiz didn’t understand how business worked. Ultron is roughly 7 inches tall and features 35 points of articulation. Of course, the way the sculpt works, most of that articulation is mostly blocked, but, hey ToyBiz just wanted the number to print on the front of the box, so who cares how it actually works, right? Now, Marvel Legends began as a way to release characters in their classic, memorable looks. They were Legendary, if you will. So, what classic, unforgettable Ultron design did the go for on this one? None of them. See, ToyBiz looked at all the classic Ultron designs and thought “Nah, we can do better!” So, ummm, we got….this thing. To their credit, it was a totally unique sculpt. And viewed purely aesthetically, it isn’t bad. The details are all nice and clean, and each piece is appropriately symmetrical and even. There are lots of cool little details and layers all over the place. The sculpt is definitely a quality one.  …But it’s not Ultron. Like yesterday’s Vault Ultron, this figure’s weakest point is the head. Now, to be fair, it could have been much worse. The prototype had a head that featured some sort of built in visor thing in place of the eyes, further distancing it from the classic Ultron look. The final head is better, but still not really there. Right off the bat, they’ve done the antennae wrong again, in pretty much the exact same way as before. Moving past that, you’ve got the actual head. The mouth is alright, but the “teeth” are a bit too close together, making them look a bit like buckteeth. The eyes are just plain the wrong shape.  They’re way too square. The sum of these parts ends up looking like some sort of mechanical bunny, which really isn’t what you should see in an Ultron figure. Like Scarlet Witch, Ultron feels really shoehorned into the “Legendary Riders” theme. He included a glider thing, which actually had a halfway decent classic Ultron head mounted on the front of it, but was otherwise complete nonsense. Also included was a copy of Avengers Vol. 2 #22, which, for the record is a fantastic showcase of the CLASSIC ULTRON EVERONE ACTUALLY WANTED BUT DIDN’T GET!!!!!! …Just in case the poor design choice wasn’t present enough to begin with…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this figure up from my local comic book store, at a rather marked up price: a whole $18. That, of course, is actually a little lower than the current retail price of a basic Infinite Series figure. However, it was almost three times what the figure was supposed to retail for. I bought it because I didn’t want to not have an Ultron in my collection, but I wasn’t particularly thrilled about it. Looking back at this figure, he reminds me of just about every reason I disliked collecting ToyBiz Marvel Legends: stupid packout decisions, the inevitable markup, pointless articulation, and questionable sculpting choices. Plus, this one adds in ToyBiz’s own arrogance regarding their designs being better than what was in the comics. The package might have said Ultron, but that wasn’t what was in it. This is a well-constructed toy and all, but it’s just not what anyone wanted.

#0551: Ultron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ULTRON

THE VAULT

UltronTB1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 5 days remaining.

Alright, now we get to the main event! Before, I was looking at figures of the various Avengers members from the upcoming movie, but from here on out, it’s all Ultron all the time! Poor Ultron went quite a while without seeing any action figures. He didn’t even get a figure in Mattel’s Secret Wars line, despite being a part of the comic upon which the toyline had been based (thanks Mattel…). He was finally granted a figure during ToyBiz’s 5-inch Marvel heyday.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronTB2Ultron was released as part of ToyBiz’s The Vault line. The Vault was one of several one series lines that ToyBiz released around the same time, covering lots of different parts of the Marvel universe. The Vault is named after the Marvel universe high-security prison of the same name, and it featured a line-up of three lesser-known Marvel villains. This figure is on the larger side for this scale, at roughly 6 inches in height, and he has 16 points of articulation. The figure features an all-new sculpt, which remained unique to this figure. I’m not 100% certain, but I don’t believe this design is one from the comics. It definitely isn’t the “classic” Ultron, that’s for sure. It plays up the more robotic aspects of the character, which I suppose is a plus, but it lacks the elegant simplicity of the classic design. All that said, it’s a perfectly reasonable sculpt from a purely aesthetic standpoint. There are a nice variety of textures and details, and that helps to liven the figure up a bit. I quite like the clawed hands and two-toed feet. The head is probably the figure’s weakest point(and that’ll be a recurring point for the rest of the week); Ultron’s had loads of different body types over the years, but the one thing to remain fairly consistent is his head. It’s not awful here, but it’s pretty far from the standard Ultron noggin. It’s too thin, and it looks particularly pinched around the antennae. And speaking of those antennae, they represent another pretty big departure from the usual Ultron look. They should be further down on his head, hovering over his cheeks. Instead, they start where his “ears” would be and go upwards, looking a bit like a rabbit’s ears. The figure also suffers from some somewhat wonky paint apps. The actual color of his outer shell is wildly inconsistent, ranging from sliver with very slight blue overtones to a rather deep metallic blue in a few areas. Also, there’s this weird thing on his torso and lower legs where he’s got these strange somewhat transparent dark grey brush strokes. I don’t really know what they’re supposed to be, but they just kind of stick out and they were rather different from figure to figure. Ultron was packed with some sort of containment piece, which went over his head and hands and plugged into his shoulder. It was kind of cool, but ultimately non-essential (and I lost mine anyway). In addition to the restraints, Ultron also has a light-u feature, which made his eyes glow red when a button on his back was pushed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was actually my very first exposure to the character of Ultron. My dad, who was an avid Avengers fan, purchased one for himself, and when I asked who he was I was presented with several of his comic appearances to read. I pretty much immediately fell in love with the character. Not long after, I received my own Ultron figure as a Christmas gift from my good friend Pat Sponagle. Sure, he’s not the most accurate Ultron figure, but he was the only one in existence at the time. And, as the old saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers. Eventually, I got the more classically inspired United They Stand Ultron, but this one served as one of my favorite figures up to that point, and he still holds some meaning to me. Inaccuracies aside, he’s a good toy.

#0550: Vision

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

VISION

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

VisionMU1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 6 days remaining.

I’ve made it no secret that Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch are essential members of the Avengers as far as I’m concerned, on the same level as Captain America himself. Well, there’s one more Avenger who I think really makes the team, and that’s the Vision, the focus of today’s review. He didn’t show up until 57 issues into the series, but once he’s there he sticks with the team for a rather hefty portion of the book’s original run. For a time, he was the team’s signature character. But, he’s not Spider-Man or Wolverine, so he disappeared in the 2000s. Yay. But now he’s working his way back to the top! Go synthezoid, go!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

VisionMU2Vision was released in the sixth series of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line. The figure was offered in two different versions: regular and phasing. Today, I’ll be looking at the phasing version. Originally, it was supposed to be the rarer of the two, but poor distribution of this series’ initial cases meant that the regular version ended up being a lot harder to find. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 20 points of articulation. He’s built using the first mid-size male buck from the line (initially used for Daredevil), which is something of a rocky starting point for any figure. The initial base bodies were…well, they weren’t very good. The mid-size body wasn’t the worst, but it’s got some issues with proportions, mostly in the torso area. It’s too short, and most of that comes from the fact that he looks like he’s missing an entire section of abdominal muscles. It’s weird. It’s also just a bit too short for Vision. Of the base bodies available at the time they produced this figure, this one was the best, but that doesn’t mean it’s very good. It’s not helped by the fact that a far superior mid-sized body was introduced in the very next series, making this figure look almost immediately out of date.  To the figure’s credit, he did feature an all-new head and cape, both of which were very nicely handled. It’s a little harder to tell on the clear figure, but the head has some nice, clean detail work that works quite nicely for the figure. The cape has a really nice flow to it, and it sits nicely on his shoulders. It’s a shame these pieces didn’t have the chance to be used on a better body. The paint on Vision is relatively minor. For the most part, he’s just molded in the appropriately colored plastic. The colors seem a little on the light side, but not too badly. There is a little bit of green on the tops of the lower legs and arms, and some red for his face. They’re applied well enough, and the end result is pretty nice. Vision’s lone accessory is a black display stand with his name and the number 006 on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy while in the midst of putting together a set of MU Avengers. I held off of getting this particular figure for a little while, since I was hoping to track down the regular version. However, once it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, I tracked this version down on Amazon. I can’t say he’s one of the best MU figures or even one of the best Vision figures. The outdated body really holds him back, which is a shame. That said, he’s not terrible, and given that MU has one of the most expansive Avengers rosters available, he’s kind of important.