Tag Archives: Avengers: Age of Ultron

#0549: Quicksilver

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

QUICKSILVER

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 7 days remaining.

Alright, we just took a look at Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye, two of the most important Avengers in my books. They both joined the team back in Avengers #16, along with the subject of today’s review, Quicksilver. They were led by Captain America and dubbed “Cap’s Kooky Quartet.” Yeah, it was the 60s. Anyway, Quicksilver is an Avenger of moderate importance, though he’s not quite on the same level as the other two. Still, he’s an important guy, and seeing as he’s Scarlet Witch’s twin brother, it’s a little difficult to have one without the other. Plus he had that fantastic scene in X-Men: Days of Future Past, so he’s going places. Let’s look at one of his action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Quicksilver was released in ToyBiz’s 90s X-Men line as part of their infamous “Muntant Armor” series. The figure was available in two possible decos: his classic blue and white and his current (at the time) white and grey. This one, in case you hadn’t already noted, is the white and grey, which, for those interested, was designed by legendary artist George Perez when he helped re-launch The Avengers in the 90s. The figure is 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation. Quicksilver was built on one of ToyBiz’s recurring male bodies of their 5 inch lines, which first popped up in the sixth series of ToyBiz’s Spider-Man line. It’s a pretty decent sculpt, with a nice, lean look, and a decent amount of movement. The only real downside is the left hand, which was hastily retooled from a web-shooting pose, resulting in a rather strange looking fist. In addition to the base body, Quicksilver features a head that is sort of new. The facial structure is the same as that of the “Battle Brigade” series Archangel, but the hair is completely new, giving us Pietro’s signature ‘do. The face is actually a lot better for Quicksilver than it was for Archangel, and the hair is very nicely handled, so it works very well. The figure’s paintwork is generally pretty well-done, though mine has taken its fair share of wear and tear. The lines are a bit fuzzy in some places, but overall the figure is pretty decent. The semi-metallic sheen on the dark grey parts is actually pretty cool, so there’s that. Quicksilver was packed with a stands shaped like a dust cloud and some sort of strange machine gun thing. Most intriguing about this is that he doesn’t actually have any armor, not even of the “Muntant” variety.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Quicksilver at a local toyshow, which my dad took me to, probably about 15 years ago. I remember that I was never able to find either of the Quicksilver figures when they were at retail. My dad had the blue and white version, but my collection was sadly Quicksilver-less. So, when I found this guy, I was pretty excited. I didn’t have a choice in deco, but I actually like this one, so it worked out. This figure’s still a pretty strong figure, even after almost 20 years. I’m certainly glad I found one!

#0548: Scarlet Witch

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

SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOYBIZ)

ScarletWitch

Countdown to Avengers: Age Of Ultron: 8 days remaining.

Yesterday, I talked about Hawkeye, and how he’s one of the quintessential Avengers. Well, today I’ll be looking at another one of those. Scarlet Witch joined the team at the same time as Hawkeye, and she’s been just as much a fixture over the years (at least until the writers decided that having a competent, high-powered female hero on the team was too hard to write…). Sadly, she’s kind of gotten the short end of the stick in the toy world. So, hey, why don’t we look at one of the worst action figures ever made! Aaaaaaaaaah! It burns! …Sorry, I’ll try not to do that too much.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ScarletWitchMLWilsonScarlet Witch was released in Series 11 of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends, which was officially dubbed “Legendary Riders.” The figure (aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!) stands just shy of 6 inches tall and features 33 points of articulation. So, how about that sculpt (aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh)? Well, ummm, simply put, it’s hideous. She makes use of the same body as the previous series’ Mystique. ToyBiz was, at the time, trying to use it as some sort of a standard female base body. The problem is that it just isn’t a particularly good sculpt. It does pretty much nothing to work any of the articulation into the sculpt organically. The joints are just out on display. Plus, the body is really scrawny, which not only emphasizes the issue with the joints, it also makes the figure feel really frail. That’s not what I want out of my super hero toys! Okay, so the base body isn’t so great, but what about the rest of the figure? Well, Scarlet Witch features a unique head, gloves, and boots, as well as an add-on for the cape. The gloves are okay, though her hands seem too big, only further playing up the scrawniness of the body. The boots are decently sculpted, but they’re inaccurate; Wanda didn’t have cuffed boots. The fact that they sculpted all-new boots that are wrong seems wasteful. The cape is a fair piece, but it is a little on the short side. That just leaves the head. …*ahem*… Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Sorry, I just needed to get that out. Yeah, it’s hard to tell if the head or the body is the real issue here. Regardless, they certainly don’t help each other. The head is WAY too big for the body, the hair is a solid block of moving, un-flowing plastic, and the jawline is cut straight across, with no organic shape to it. Add in a facial expression that looks not unlike she ate some bad oysters, and you’ve got a sculpt that, at its best is sub-par. Wanda’s paint does the figure no favors either. The body paint is alright, I guess, but there’s some slop from the pink on her right breast, which is….unfortunately placed. The paint on the head just makes an already lackluster sculpt worse. She’s really pale, she’s got brown flecks all over the place, her lips are definitely too dark and don’t even get me started on those eyebrows. Yikes. Being part of the Legendary Riders series, Wanda includes some strange jet cycle thing, which is totally made up for this figure. I don’t really know why she was in in this particular series.  She also included a copy of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #8, which was a retelling of Avengers #16.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this series was first released, Wanda was easily the most sought after figure. See, ToyBiz realized just how badly they had screwed up, and ended up pulling a lot of Scarlet Witches from cases before they hit retail. A few got out, but they were going for top dollar. Amazingly, I actually found out this figure at a retail store for retail price. Since it was this figure or nothing, I bought her, because my collection certainly wasn’t going without a Scarlet Witch. She’s gathered quite the reputation for being one of the worst figures ever made, and it’s not an unearned reputation. However, now that Hasbro’s released a far superior version, my hatred of this one has died down just a bit. She’s still a terrible, terrible figure, but she brings me a certain degree of amusement.

#0547: Hawkeye

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

HAWKEYE

IRON MAN (TOYBIZ)

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 9 days remaining.

Okay, we’re very definitely getting into the selection of characters that I consider to be the quintessential Avengers.  And no one gets more quintessential-y than good ol’ Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye!   So, let’s have look at a figure of that guy, shall we?  In fact, let’s look at the very first figure of that guy ever released!  That’ll be nifty!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkeye was released in Series 2 of the 90s Iron Man line, which was done to tie-in with the Iron Man cartoon of the time.  Unsurprisingly, Hawkeye is based upon his appearance in that show, which in turn was based upon the design he had in the comics around the early 90s.  It’s a tweak on his classic design, and it’s not too overly 90s, so it works.  I do miss the buccaneer boots and loincloth, but oh well.  The figure stands roughly 5 inches in height and sports 8 points of articulation, which is actually a little bit below the standard of the time.  The lack of proper arm articulation is certainly odd, what with him being an archer and all, but he actually managed okay, thanks to the pose of his arms.  The figure’s sculpt was wholly original to him.  It’s not bad, especially for the time.  The proportions are generally pretty good.  The hands and feet are a little on the large side, and the shoulders are a little high-set.  He’s also got some ridiculously defined musculature, but to be fair, that’s actually true to the show.  The costume details are pretty well handled, with clean lines and some nice texture work on the purple parts.  The head is pretty much spot on for the character, with just the right amount of cockiness in his expression.  Hawkeye’s paintwork is pretty much on par with other figures from the same time.  It’s simple, but well-done.  The colors are nice and bold, and everything is clean, with no real slop or bleed over.  The eyes are totally white and pupil-less, which is not in keeping with his appearance on the show.  However, given how small they are, it’s likely that pupils would have looked rather goofy here, so it was probably the right call.  Hawkeye included a bow, arrow, quiver, a small knife, and the weird character badge thingy that was included with all of the figures in the first few series.  Of course, my figure has none of these things because silly child Ethan decided to lose them all.  Way to go younger me! [EDIT–But then adult me found them again, and I talked about them in this figure’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!]

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I don’t recall the exact circumstances by which I came to own Hawkeye.  I’m fairly certain that he was a gift from my parents.  I know my Dad had a Hawkeye figure first, and that I really liked it, so I’m pretty sure he took note of this and bought me one of my own.  It’s definitely an important piece in my becoming such an Avengers fanatic, I know that much.  Looking back at it, it’s not a perfect figure.  The arms are a weird choice, and he’s held back a little by the fact that he’s in a relatively short-lived costume.  All that said, he’s my first Hawkeye figure, and he’s still my favorite.

#0546: The Hulk

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

THE HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOYBIZ)

Hulk1stAppML1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 10 days remaining.

The original, founding members of the Avengers are an interesting bunch. Iron Man and Thor made sense. They were two of Marvel’s more popular heroes of the time. Ant-Man and Wasp, as minor as they may be now, also had a decent following. Hulk? He was the oddball. The character was only moderately successful, and his whole thing was not playing well with others. In fact, he was also the first member to leave the team, quitting after only two issues. Officially, his founder status was given honorarily to Captain America, and the Hulk remained separate from a team. In the last few years, thanks in no small part to The Avengers movie, Hulk has found his way back to the team, but only after moving away from the whole green rage monster thing. But that’s less fun, so let’s look at a figure of the more rage-y variety.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hulk1stAppML2Hulk was released as part of the ninth series of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends, also known as the “Galactus Series.” In case you hadn’t gathered, the series featured Galactus as a Build-A-Figure, and it’s noteworthy because it’s actually the series of Marvel Legends that introduced the concept. This particular figure was officially dubbed “1st Appearance Hulk” and he was offered in two different color schemes: Grey and Green. The green version, which I’ll be covering today, is the variant of the grey version, and it’s actually NOT a 1st appearance Hulk, due to the coloring. The figure is 8 inches tall and features a whopping 38 points of articulation. The sheer size and bulk of the figure means that most of that articulation is rather limited in range of motion. In fact, the joint in his torso is almost completely inert, making you wonder why they bothered at all. From the neck down, Green Hulk’s sculpt is identical to that of his grey counterpart. It’s rather typical of a ToyBiz Legends sculpt of the time. There’s lots of detail and texturing, which is really great, but the figure also suffers from some odd proportions, and some spots where the articulation interferes with the quality. The feet are probably the worst offenders. The ankles are set too far back and the toes are too wide and flat in comparison to the rest of the foot, resulting in something that looks more like a duck’s foot than Hulk’s. At the very least, I guess they make him stable. The head is unique to this particular version of the figure. It’s not much different from the grey version, but this one is showing teeth, while the other had a closed mouth. Apart from that, it’s actually a very nice translation of Jack Kirby’s version of the Hulk, in his more Frankenstein’s Monster-like state. It’s definitely the best part of the figure. Hulk’s paintwork is really quite well done, and features some nice subtleties. The basic green and purple are admittedly a little dark for my tastes, but they aren’t bad. In addition, there’s some brown airbrushing on the green parts, which help to make him look a bit more organic. Hulk’s only accessory was a piece of Galactus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Series 9 was first released, I quickly assembled a complete set of figures so that I could get my Galactus just as quickly as possible. However, given the scarcity of Legends figures in general at the time, I picked up the regular grey version of Hulk first. A little while later, I was walking through my local Walmart. There weren’t any Legends on the hangers, but I happened to bend down to check something on the bottom shelf, where I noticed a stack of Marvel Legends. The stack was three each of the variants for the Series 9 Hulk and Bullseye. So, I grabbed one of each for myself and placed the others in their proper spot (because I certainly wasn’t going to scalp!) While the figure hasn’t aged spectacularly well, I still really like this version of Hulk, and it remains my go to Hulk for Legends set ups.

#0545: Black Widow

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

BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

BlackWidowMU1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 11 days remaining.

So, sure, the Avengers count on the “Big Three” of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, but they’re really only as good as their second tier characters.  Now, what’s interesting about today’s focus Black Widow is that she hasn’t technically had a very long run with the team. She’s really only been a member for a few short spots of time.  Now, to be fair, she’s been around since almost the beginning, as sort of an honorary member, and she’s an important motivator for for a few members joining and sticking with the team.  So, really, she deserves the spot, she just hasn’t taken advantage of it.  However, she’s a permanent member in the  movies, and that’s what counts to most people.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackWidowMU2Black Widow was released as part of Series 7 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line.  The figure was actually released just prior to the character’s first film appearance in Iron Man 2, so it was actually pretty timely.  The figure is roughly 3 ¾ inches in height and features 19 points of articulation. She’s ostensibly based on the “classic” Black Widow appearance, with a few more modern touches here and there.  The figure is built on Hasbro’s first MU female buck.  As I’ve mentioned before, it’s probably the best of Hasbro’s initial bodies for the line. Of course, that’s sort of faint praise, and it certainly doesn’t make it a GOOD body, just better than the others.  Viewed as a whole, the body isn’t bad, but a piece by piece analysis brings out the worst of the issues.  The torso is rather squat, the arms are too short, the legs are a touch too long, and the hands are enormous.  Plus, there’s the really questionable choice of articulation in the middle of the torso. So, yeah, it’s not really a great starting point.  In addition, Widow features a brand-new head, as well as add-ons for her belt and Widow-Stingers.  The head sculpt is okay, but nothing of any note. It’s really generic, and doesn’t have much detail at all.  I suppose the hair helps identify who this is, but this head could ultimately be just about anyone. The belt and stingers are probably the best things about the figure.  They help to hide some of the issues present in the base body, and they actually do have some rather nice detail work. The paint on this figure is… well, it’s there.  Not much more can be said about it.  It’s clean and well applied.  The bluish sheen on her body suit is a nice touch, but the silver for the belt and stingers is an unfortunate choice, as it robs the figure of some much needed variance in color.  Widow was packed with a big machine gun (which isn’t really her style, but that’s what you get with re-use) and a display stand with her name on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased Black Widow from my local comic book store.  They had just gotten this and the preceding series in stock.  At the time I was slowly moving to collecting this particular scale, so I decided to pick up Widow.  I remember being at least a little excited by the figure at the time, but that was before there was really a wide selection of Black Widow figures.  Ultimately, this figure is alright, but what really kills it is that it’s just rather boring.  Which is probably one of the most damning thing that can be said about an action figure.

#0544: Thor

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

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

ThorLoA1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 12 days remaining.

Alright, we’ve seen Captain America and we’ve seen Iron Man. How about we take a look at the remaining corner of the “Avengers Trinity,” Thor, God of Thunder! Ummm, so I don’t actually own that many non-movie Thor figures. I know, bad Ethan. So, this one got picked by default. I swear I didn’t intentionally pick two Marvel Legends figures in a row to torment the readers still waiting for that Hobgoblin. Or did I? No, I really didn’t. Let’s just get to the figure already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ThorLoA2Thor was released in second series of Marvel Legends following Hasbro’s takeover of the Marvel license. The figure is roughly 7 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. He’s based on the Thor’s more armored, Lord of Asgard appearance from the early 2000s, not long before he died for the first time (spoilers?). It was sort of current at the time, so I guess it makes sense here. Thor got a brand new sculpt for this figure. Supposedly, this was one of the figures ToyBiz had finished before passing the license over, and that actually does make a fair bit of sense. This figure, like a lot of the early Hasbro Legends, ends up feeling more like an extension of the ToyBiz Legends than part of a new line. It’s a pretty decent sculpt, though it’s certainly stylized, at least as far as the proportions go. There is a lot of nice detail work throughout the sculpt; his clothing has lots of texture, and there’s some pretty good work on the hair and beard. One real downside of the sculpt is that it ends up being rather restricting to the figure’s movement, so he ends up being really only good for a basic standing pose. Sure, it’s an intimidating standing pose, but it’s a little bland coming from a line that prided itself on crazy amounts of articulation. While the sculpt may be filled with lots of detail and texture, the same cannot be said for the paint. To be fair, it’s not that the paint is bad, sloppy, or messy. It checks all the basic boxes. The problem is that it’s just very flat. The colors are pretty much just there, with no accenting of any sort or even variety. Also, like a lot of the initial Hasbro Legends, his color palette seems really washed out, meaning he just sort of fades into the back of a display. Thor includes his trusty hammer, Mjolnir, a double-bladed axe, and a piece of the series’ Build-A-Figure, the Blob.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Hasbro first started to release Legends, I was deep in my obsession with the line. Still, I mostly skipped the first series of the line due to just not being interested in any of the figures. The second series, however, I was rather excited for. I ended up finding most of them at my closest KB Toys (gee, I miss them…). I ended up buying them in batches, and Thor found his way into the second “batch” of figures. Up until Hasbro’s most recent Infinite Series Thor, this was actually the only Legends Thor I had in my collection. He’s not a bad figure, but he’s definitely held back by the paint. Hasbro actually ended up re-releasing this figure with better paint as one of the figures they did to tie-in to the first Thor movie, but I’ve never actually seen one in person.

#0543: Iron Man

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

IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

IronManNeoClassic1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 13 days remaining.

Okay, so it’s time for another Avengers review. Yesterday was Captain America, and today we’ll be taking a look at everyone’s favorite armored Avenger (provided you aren’t a much bigger fan of Black Knight, or War Machine, or Iron Patriot….) Iron Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IronManNeoClassic2Iron Man was released as part of Series 3 of Hasbro’s Return of Marvel Legends. The prior two series had each been centered around a Build-A-Figure and given a designation to match. However, this particular series had no Build-A-Figure, so it was instead titled “Epic Heroes.” Iron Man stands just over 6 inches tall and sports 34 (36?) points of articulation. The figure is based on Iron Man in the armor he was wearing in the comics during the mid-to-late-80s. It’s commonly referred to as his “Neo-Classic” armor, due to it being his return to the traditional red and yellow armor following several years in the Silver Centurion armor. This is actually the 5th action figure that this particular armor has seen, though this is the first, and so far only, time it has been done in the 6 inch scale. Structurally, this figure is technically a new sculpt, but comparing it to the 3 ¾ inch version of this armor from the Iron Man 2 line, this appears mostly to just be a scaled up version of that sculpt. There are a few differences, aside from the obvious thing with the size, such as the different style of mid-torso articulation and a completely different set of boots. This figure is from right around the time that Hasbro really started to up their game in the sculpting department. The sculpt is nice and clean, with great proportions and a great deal of accuracy to the source material. The boots, which are wholly original to this figure, are something of a point of contention amongst fans of this particular armor. The original prototype and the 3 ¾ inch figure both featured more classically styled feet, based on the armor’s initial appearance. However, the final figure features a much bulkier pair of boots, based on later depictions of the armor. They are decently sculpted and certainly make the figure a lot more stable, but it’s not the look a lot of people wanted. The figure’s paint is fairly straight forward. The red parts are red, the yellow parts are, well okay they’re actually gold, but that’s essentially the same thing. Okay, actually it’s not. In fact, I generally prefer a straight yellow, especially on my classic Iron Man armors. But this one doesn’t look terrible, so I’ll let it slide. The red is very nice, though. Also, there are a few spots where the red bleeds over into the gold, but it’s generally the application is pretty clean. Iron Man’s only accessory is a hexagonal-based display stand, which was included with all of the figures in this series.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Hasbro kicked off the Return of Marvel Legends, I did my best to avoid it. Their last attempts at Legends before it went on hiatus were pretty lackluster, and I had pretty thoroughly moved on to the smaller Marvel Universe line. I even managed to avoid picking up a single figure from the first two series. Then I saw this guy at my local comic book store. For whatever reason, he called to me, but I remained vigilant. No more Marvel Legends for me! Well, my dad was with me at the time and took note of my interest in the figure. So, a month later I found this guy amongst that year’s Christmas gifts. Because my parents are just that awesome. Truth be told, this may very well be my favorite Iron Man released at this scale. He’s an all-around solid figure, and like the original ToyBiz Legends Iron Man before him, he’s responsible for dragging me (back) into Marvel Legends. Thanks a lot Tony….

#0542: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL RETRO FIGURES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

CapRetro1

So, today, you were probably expecting to read a review of that Marvel Legends Hobgoblin I’ve been building for the last week. Well, dear reader, you’re just going to have to test your patience on that one, because I’m going to be doing a bit of a theme for the next two weeks.  Aren’t I just the worst?

If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months, you might be unaware that a little movie called Avengers: Age of Ultron is set to be released (in the US, anyway) on May 1st. That means that there are 14 days until it’s released. So, I’ll be counting down by doing a review of a figure of each of the film’s main characters each day between now and then.  Let’s kick things off with “The First Avenger” Captain America.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapRetro10Captain America is the second figure in Diamond Select Toys’ Marvel Retro Figures line, which is DST’s new line of figures based on the old Mego figures from the 70s. Cap follows Spider-Man and will be followed by Wolverine and Thor later this year. The figure is built on the line’s standard body, which is a re-fit Mego Type II body, with a few improvements by Paul “Dr. Mego” Clarke. Said body (with the addition of a head) stands roughly 8 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation. As I noted in my review of the Spider-Man figure, this version of the body has a sturdier construction than the original Mego bodies, and is even a little sturdier than DST’s previous Star Trek and Planet of the Apes retro lines. Just like Spider-Man, Captain America is essentially three figures in one. There are three complete sets, each consisting of a head, a costume, and accessories, and one body for them all to share. For the purposes of this review, I have provided two spare bodies of my own, but the actual set only has the one.

CapRetro9First of the three looks is Cap’s “vintage” look, which is the one that comes pre-built on the included body. He’s a recreation of the original Captain America Mego. The vintage Cap is widely remembered for the changes to his costume and his overall goofy look. This figure remains true to that. He uses the same head sculpt as the original figure. Purely looking at the sculpt of the head, it’s actually not bad. It’s a teeny bit dated, but it’s generally a fairly generic hero head. What really makes the head goofy looking is the paint, which has also been recreated here. Overall, it’s a pretty good match for the original Cap head. Some of the line work, particularly on the “shadow” of the mask, is a little fuzzy at the edges. Also, the already goofy eyes are made a little goofier by the fact that the pupils are just a tiny bit misplaced. It looks a little bit like he’s glancing to his right. The figure’s body suit is tailored to match the original, and they’ve done a pretty great job of that. It sits very nicely, and the colors of the cloth are all well-matched. The star emblem presents a bit of a problem. The original figure had a decal, which, over time, fell off of just about every single figure. On this one, it’s been replaced by a piece of thick pleather-like material. It’s an understandable change, but rather than properly affix it to the costume, it’s held on in the center with a rather simple threading. The end result is a) a fairly noticeable dot in the center of the logo and b) a logo which sticks up at the sides and doesn’t stay straight. Surely there had to be a better solution than that to get the logo to stay in place. The other essential piece of the costume is the boots. The original was notable for not having the proper buccaneer-style boots of Cap’s comic look, and that’s replicated here. The original Mego Cap boots, like all Mego boots, were molded in a thin, stiff plastic. Here, they’re done in a rubberier material, making them both sturdier and easier to get on and off the figure. This version of the figure includes the same one accessory as his vintage counterpart: his shield. The actual piece is a pretty straight re-cast of the original shield, but the decal is noticeably not as smoothly applied as the vintage one, which is too bad.

CapRetro4Second up is the updated take on the classic Cap design. Like Spider-Man, this figure is meant to be what a Mego Cap might look like with modern toy making technology at its disposal. To start with, the figure gets a brand-new head sculpt. This one offers a more… idealized take on Cap’s head. Where Spidey’s head felt like an evolution of the original head, this one feels more like a start from scratch. Many of the same elements are there, but placement seems better. The eyes aren’t buggy, the jaw is a little more chiseled, and the facial feature in general are a little bit more evenly place on the head, so he doesn’t have such a huge forehead going on. He also has a lot more detailing, especially on the actual mask which sports some seams along the top and a more defined set of eyeholes. The head is a little bit on the large side, and this is emphasized by the fact that the neck is perhaps a touch too long. It’s not terrible, but it is noticeable in light of Spider-Man, who had a more accurately proportioned head and neck. The paintwork on the head is pretty great. The colors are well chosen and everything is bold and mostly clean. The tailoring on the figure’s costume is tighter than the vintage one, and is actually a little too tight in a few areas. CapRetro5Once the costume is fully in place, it looks pretty good, but it’s a real pain getting it to that point. The material chosen for the costume is quite nice; the blues match very well with the mask and I like the scaled pattern on his upper half quite a bit. Also, the option to have him with or without the shorts is nice, though, once again, those can be a bit difficult to get on. The star is the same as the one on vintage costume, which is disappointing, but at the very least it’s consistent. This version of Cap fixes the vintage one’s issue with the boots, supplying a pair of the proper cuffed boots, grabbed, I believe, from the Mego version of Will Scarlett. They’re pretty straight forward and pretty much perfect for the character, so they’re a great choice. Cap includes three sets of sculpted hands, each sculpted with the proper gloved look for the character, and cast in a red that matches the cloth potion of the gloves. There is a pair of fists, a pair for saluting, and a pair in an open pose for shield throwing and such. Speaking of shield throwing, Cap also includes a brand-new version of his mighty shield. The rings and star are sculpted and then painted, rather than just being a sticker, resulting in a very nice final product. The figure also includes Cap’s original, pointed shield, done in a similar fashion to the round one.

CapRetro3Last up is Cap’s “alter ego,” Private Steve Rogers, wearing his WW2 Army uniform. The figure features a head sculpt built from the same base sculpt as the updated Captain America head, meaning they match up appropriately. According to the included booklet, this head was sculpted first and then reverse engineered into a Cap head. Truth be told, I do think this might be the stronger of the two heads. The Cap head certainly isn’t bad, but this one really feels like it gets the Mego aesthetic down and it captures the “classic” Steve Rogers look pretty much perfectly. It helps that it’s topped off with the cleanest paintwork of the three included heads; there’s pretty much not a drop out of line on this one. Steve’s outfit is made up of a shirt, pants, belt, tie, boots, and boot covers (EDIT: As an astute reader reminded me, the outfit also includes an extra set of regular flesh tone hands.  They’re identical to the ones that come on the body, so I’m not certain what their purpose is, but they’re there). Getting Steve’s uniform properly assembled is certainly quite a task, and it took me a good 15 minutes to do so, but he stays together pretty well once CapRetro7assembled. The uniform is well-tailored and the shirt in particular has plenty of layers to it. One thing I did notice is that on my figure the boot covers had two different lengths of elastic at the bottom, which is minor, but slightly annoying. The boots are very nicely sculpted, with lots of nice little details, and they go on fairly easily. Steve’s only accessory (unless you opt to give him the pointed shield) is his helmet, which sits very nicely on his head.

Like the Spider-Man set, this set also includes a booklet with a few articles about Mego and the creation of the set. It’s a pretty fun read, so there’s certainly some value to it.

The packaging is similar to that of the first. However, there were a few changes for the better. First of all, the reproduction of the original box isn’t glued in place this time, which is much appreciated. Additionally, the extra costumes are place on mock bodies instead of being clipped in place, which avoids the small holes the Spider-Man costumes suffered. Unfortunately, the extra pieces are still blister packaged in place, so they can’t be removed without tearing up the backing.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Growing up playing with my dad’s old Mego figures, I had one particular figure who was my favorite above the rest. That figure was Captain America. Sure, he was goofy, and inaccurate, but he was just so much fun. I would sit there at my grandparents’ house, watching my VHS copies of the 60s cartoon, holding that figure the whole time. When this line was announced and Cap was shown, there was no doubt that I was buying this figure.

Most of the time, when I get a figure, my initial reaction to the figure is rather indicative of my final opinion of said figure. In the case of Captain America, my initial reaction, especially to the updated version of the figure, was one of disappointment. I love the old Cap figure, and this one seemed to fall short of what I wanted. But then, I played around with him a bit, and I took the pictures for the review. And somewhere between taking the pictures and writing this review, I fell in love with this figure. I don’t know quite how it happened, but it did.

The set isn’t without its drawbacks. For the price they’re asking, some work could still be done on making the packaging a little bit more collector friendly and on making sure the costumes fit the figures as best they can. All that said, an admirable job was done on this figure, and I’m extremely happy to have gotten him.

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*Incidentally, I had originally intended to review a completely different Cap figure today. However, this guy arrived, and I didn’t want to push him back to after the Age of Ultron prep stuff, so I bumped that one. The rest of the AoU-themed stuff will be older figures from my pre-existing collection.

#0534: Hulk

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

HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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One of the breakout hits of the first Avengers movies was very definitely the Hulk. After his two movies were met with a rather cold reception, a lot of people moved away from the character, including both of the actors who played his alter ego, Bruce Banner. But then Avengers brought us Mark Ruffalo, who thoroughly (his words) “Ruffal-ized the Hulk,” and he became a “smashing” success. It’s no shock that Marvel has decided to give Ruffalo’s Hulk a prominent role in this year’s sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron. And it’s also no shock that Hasbro’s merchandising the crap out of him. So, let’s look at the only one of the Hulk figures I’ve picked up so far!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HulkAoU2Hulk is the 6th and final figure in Series 2 of The Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s also the third of the three Age of Ultron-based figures in Series 2. The figure stands about 8 inches in height, with 31 points of articulation. For Age of Ultron, Hulk has ditched the usual “tattered remains of Banner’s pants” look in favor of more of a stretchy pants look. For a guy that triples in size on a regular basis, that seems like a pretty sound move. Initially, it seemed like AoU Hulk would be an excuse for Hasbro to re-use a lot of pieces from the Hulk they released for the first Avengers movie (ala Iron Man and Captain America). However, the final figure ends up only having a few pieces in common with his predecessor. The arms, right hand, calves, and feet are from the 2012 figure, meaning this guy gets an all-new head, upper and lower torso, hips, thighs, knees, and left hand. The old pieces are definitely a good starting point. The feet are probably the best, and they actually look like real feet, so that’s a plus. The calves work, though the fact that the pants are just painted on rather than sculpted is a little off-putting. The arms are decent, but the aesthetics are ruined a bit by the elbow joints. The right hand is a pretty good sculpt, aside from the palm not going quite deep enough. For the new parts, the head is really where the best work shows up. It manages to be a pretty good translation of the Ruffalo Hulk, and there’s plenty of texture work. The torso is decently proportioned and well-built aesthetically, but it’s rather devoid of texture, which is a shame. The legs, however, are not devoid of said texture, and end up actually looking pretty great because of it. The left hand has been done to mirror the right, which is all well and good, but I kind of wish they’d kept the open hand for variety’s sake. Hulk relies on a lot of properly colored plastic, but he does still get a few spots of paint. The head exhibits most of the paintwork, and is overall very clean looking. Hair and eyebrows are clean, and the eyes don’t look too wonky. There’s also a little bit of red striping on the legs, and the bottoms of the pant legs, which, while not super thrilling, are at least well-handled. The fact that all of the exposed skin is just straight green, with no accents is a little bland, and only exacerbated by the more simple sculpting of the torso. Hulk’s lone accessory is the right arm of Thanos, but given the sheer size of the figure, the fact that he even gets that is rather impressive!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, yeah, Hulk was another figure in the Big Bad Toys Store order. Like several others in the series, I didn’t really feel drawn to this guy. Mostly, I just bought him for the Thanos piece. Hulk’s certainly a big figure, which does help him seem worth the current going rate of a Marvel Legend, but the paint and sculpt aren’t really anything exciting. All-in-all, he’s a well-executed figure, and he’s a nice addition to the series, and that’s more than can be said about some figures on the market these days. Plus, there is that Thanos piece. Never under estimate the Thanos piece!

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#0532: Iron Man – Mark 43

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

IRON MAN – MARK 43

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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When it comes to casting comic book characters for the big screen, it can be difficult to find someone who can properly convey such an important, larger than life character. Often times, things end up toned down, causing a less entertaining end result. Occasionally, those casting directors strike gold, and end up finding someone who is irreplaceably brilliant in a role. That’s what happened with Robert Downey Jr in the role of Tony Stark. That guy is just totally spot on! He’ll be reprising the role for the fifth time in this summer’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is, of course, getting its fair share of action figures. So, let’s have a look at a figure of RDJ as Iron Man, shall we? (I need to work on my segues a bit…)

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IM43bIron Man is a part of Series 2 of Hasbro’s Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He’s the second of three figures in this particular series to be directly from Age of Ultron (following Sunday’s Captain America). From the looks of things, Iron Man will have at least three different looks over the course of the film. This figure is based on the first of those, the Mark 43, which appears to be just a re-decoed version of the Mark 42. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and sports 31 points of articulation. Sculpturally, the Mark 43 is 100% identical to the Mark 42 released in the Iron Man 3 tie-in line. Luckily for you, dear reader, I don’t own the Mark 42, making this one all-new to me! It’s a pretty good sculpt; it looks accurate to the film design, it has pretty good internal proportions, and it’s at least a little bit feasible that there’s a person inside of this armor. The legs could probably stand to be a little thicker, as they seem just a tad thin currently, but that’s minor. The details of the armor are all pretty well handled, and everything seems to line up with where it would be on the “real” armor. One issue of note has to do with movement related to the shoulder pads; if the arms are in an upward position for any decent length of time, the shoulder pads get a little bit warped. Previous Hasbro figures with such a design have usually had articulated shoulder pads in order to prevent such issues, so it’s possible that said joints are just stuck on mine (which is a whole other issue). Paint is one of this figure’s key areas, what with it being a re-paint and all. Fortunately, the Mark 43 ends up with a generally well-handled paintjob. The colors all seem right, and everything is applied to the right areas. Some of the gold areas are a little fuzzy around the edges, but they are generally pretty good. The only real issue I encountered on my figure was a bit of paint rub on his right thigh, where some of the gold rubbed off. It’s a minor issue, but one to keep an eye on if you find them in-store. Another thing that separates the Mark 43 from the 42 is the accessory complement. In addition to the requisite Build-A-Figure piece (Thanos’ left leg, in this case), the Mark 43 also includes an extra head with the faceplate up, revealing Tony’s face. It’s a well-sculpted, well-painted piece, and it actually manages to get a pretty decent RDJ likeness. It’s a really great piece to have, especially given how often IM is presented this way in the movies, and it’s even backwards compatible to the Mark 42 figure!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, if you’ve read the Cap and Spider-Woman reviews, it really shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where the Mark 43 came from. Mostly, I just wanted this figure for the Thanos piece, but I was interested in the figure at least a little bit. I didn’t actually have a proper Movie-style IM in this scale, and I will admit to liking the 43 design a fair bit. The 42 wasn’t bad, but the colors didn’t jibe with me. Reversing them for the 43 really makes it work. Add in that the figure is actually pretty well executed and the inclusion of that pretty sweet flipped-up faceplate head, and you’ve got a figure that is quite a lot of fun. And he also comes with that Thanos piece!

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