#3407: Puff Adder Series Wrap-Up

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with All Time Toys, Baron Strucker, Black Widow, Build a Figure, Hasbro, Iron Man, Marvel, Marvel Legends, Orb, Puff Adder, Puff Adder Series, Yelena Belova July 25, 2023

EXTREMIS IRON MAN, BARON STRUCKER, YELENA BELOVA, ORB, & PUFF ADDER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Are you guys ready for a totally radical change-up? I’m reviewing Marvel Legends! Okay, that’s, like, not a change-up at all. In fact, that’s about as status quo as status quo gets around these parts. The totally radical change-up is *how* I’m reviewing Marvel Legends. Since the site’s inception, I’ve been reviewing single release Legends each as their own single review. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been looking at each successive figure from the latest Avengers-themed assortment on Tuesdays. Today, I’m wrapping up the remaining four figures, plus the Build-A-Figure, all in one fell swoop. Won’t this be an adventure!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Extremis Iron Man, Baron Strucker, Yelena Belova, and Orb are the last four figures in the Puff Adder Series of Marvel Legends. Iron is the one unnumbered figure in the set, while Strucker, Yelena, and Orb are figures 2, 3, and 5, respectively, in the line-up. Puff Adder is, as you might guess, the Build-A-Figure for the series, assembled by buying six of the seven figures in the assortment.

EXTREMIS IRON MAN

“Tony Stark’s new Extremis Iron Man armor utilizes nanotechnology to allow direct interface between his brain and the armor”

This marks the second time that the Extremis armor has been done in Legends, following his release in the first Return of Marvel Legends assortment, which was good for the time, but also quite a while ago. The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation, as well as rotating hip discs. This new Extremis Iron Man is sporting a brand-new sculpt, and one of its major selling points is the new and improved articulation. So, how does that work out? It’s a mixed bag, honestly. One of the major things is that the original Extremis sculpt is a really good one in its own right, and it was restricted, but workable. This one is less restricted, and more workable…but it’s not quite the massive improvement that it was touted to be. Of note, one of the big selling points was the “hero landing” pose, which got used a lot in artwork for this armor. The figure’s even shown in this pose on the back of the box. I’ve done my best to replicate this pose myself for the Wilson photo that accompanies this review, and in doing so, I got to discover just how much cheating Hasbro had to do to make the pose work with this figure. Yeah, it’s doable, but it really only looks good from one very specific angle. Anything else, and you’re looking at a horrible mash of body parts. I’m also not a fan of how the shoulderpads work; they’re not jointed on their own, which greatly restricts the movement of the shoulders proper. However, there are certainly areas where the articulation really shines, and the neck joint’s definitely one for me; he can actually look straight up, which you don’t see with a lot of Iron Men. The actual sculpting work is also pretty strong. There’s a lot of mechanical work, which is quite sharp, and he’s also properly scaled to look like there’s actually someone in the suit, which fixes the primary issue with the last figure. Iron Man’s color work is pretty decent. It’s a fair bit of molded plastic, but the colors work well, and he’s got that slightly metallic sheen. The minor bit of paint is all pretty cleanly applied, and it should hold up alright over time. Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands and a pair of repulsor blasts.

BARON STRUCKER

“Having served Hydra as far back as World War II, Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker stands as one of Captain America’s longest-living enemies. ‘Cut off one head and two will take its place.'”

In another life, with a slight change to his last name’s spelling, I bet this guy would have made some great jam. Either way, he’s definitely celebrating the advancement of some very old people. Strucker’s never gotten the Legends treatment before, but that’s not terribly surprising. He’s really just a stand-in for Red Skull most of the time. He’s seen here in his spandex garb, which seems odd for such an old guy, but when you’re an actual Nazi, I guess clothing choice is the least of anyone’s worries. The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. He’s built on the Spider-UK base body, which seems consistent with how he was depicted when wearing this outfit. It’s been modified to remove visible pins on the arms and legs, which is pretty cool. He’s got an overlay for his scarf, which is loose and free floating, and doesn’t feel especially secure. The new gauntlet sculpt is clean and sharp, and I definitely dig it. The new head sculpt is a very strong piece, and definitely the main selling point here. I particularly dig how they handled his monocle. In terms of coloring, he’s very green, that’s for sure. The face paint is very effective, and that scarring looks impressive. It’s unfortunately not all up to that quality, as the yellow paint for the accenting is very thin, showing the green below. Additionally, the neck line is very sloppy, though it’s masked a bit by his scarf. Strucker is packed with two energy effect pieces, as well as the right leg for Puff Adder.

YELENA BELOVA

“Trained by the spymasters of the infamous Red Room, Yelena Belova is the second operative to take on the role of Black Widow”

Yelena’s not new to Legends, but she’s also still had a lot less coverage than you might think, given how long she’s been around, and how easy a variant she is. Her only comics version before this was back in the Toy Biz days, and it even put her in the wrong outfit at that. This one places her in her “Dark Reign” era Thunderbolts gear. The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation. Or, you know, she would, if the neck joint on this one hadn’t busted between the first and second photos of the set here. Not sure exactly what happened there, but her neck just tore clean through. That’s a real bummer. She’s based on the Riders Widow body, which hasn’t been used all that much, surprisingly. It’s a good one, albeit one that’s a little older compared to others. She gets a new head, upper torso, and belt overlay. They’re pretty nice pieces, and I especially like the dynamic flow of her hair. She’s rather light on paint, but it’s generally not too bad. The red paint on her visor is a little off mark, so it doesn’t quite line-up, but other than that, she looks alright. Yelena gets some of the best accessory work from the set, with two sets of hands, a pistol with and without silencer, a sniper rifle, a removable strap, two shooting effects, and two barrel flash effects. She also features the torso of Puff Adder, which is his largest piece.

ORB

“Ridiculed for his appearance since his youth, the mercenary known as Orb holds the ironic distinction of being partially responsible for blinding Uatu the Watcher”

Orb’s certainly the set’s most obscure character choice. He’s also an interesting selection, given he’s not *really* an Avengers foe, but I guess he’s close enough. This is his very first figure, so that’s pretty cool. The figure is just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Orb is still using Bucky Cap body, a base that was once a very good offering, but is now really showing its age and wear to the mold. There’s some noticeable gaps in the joints, and he feels a little floppy. He gets a new head and collar, as well as using the pouched belt, flared gloves, and buccaneer boots for the body. The new head’s not bad; it’s a sphere, but it’s a good one. Orb’s color work is bold and bright, which is good. The application of the paint is a bit touchy in some spots. In particular, the blue paint is a little sloppy on torso and belt, and there’s a stray spot on one of the pouches of the belt. On the flip side, the eye detailing turned out really well. Orb is packed with his gun and the right arm of Puff Adder.

PUFF ADDER

Hey, look at that, it’s Puff Adder. Now the Serpent Society is up to four. Or five. Or six? Possibly seven? It’s honestly kinda hard to account for it all. It’s another member, that’s what I’m getting at. This time, it’s the big guy, Gordon Fraley, aka Puff Adder. Puff here is a late ’80s addition, and I honestly don’t know a ton about him. The figure is about 8 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Puff Adder is based on the same body as the Caliban BaF from 2019. He gets a new head, but is otherwise just a rather basic, by the numbers figure. It’s about what you’d expect for Puff Adder, though, so it works fine. His color work is a lot of variations of green, which is again what you’d expect. It generally works out okay, but without any actual sculpting or line-work, the two shades of lighter green rather blend together, which does muddy things just a touch. Puff Adder includes two sets of hands, one in fists, one in relaxed poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, why this radical change-up here? Let me ‘splain. No, it’s too much. Let me sum up. For the last several years, I’ve been buying every figure in a given series of Marvel Legends for the purposes of getting a whole set to review. However, I’ve been slowing down and even downsizing my personal collection of Legends a bit, so I’m not looking to actually purchase every single figure anymore. Thankfully, my sponsors over at All Time Toys were kind enough to set me up with a deal where I get to take home and review a whole set of Legends, and then just pay for and keep the figures I actually want out of the set. So, all of these guys, minus the Build-A-Figure, are the one’s I’ve elected not to keep from this particular assortment, for one reason or another. And now you know my dirty secret. Except it’s not a secret. Or dirty. So, I guess it’s just….a something? Yeah, let’s go with that.

Though I didn’t opt to keep a lot of this set, it’s one that I can certainly get behind. It’s got a good mix of heavy hitters, fan favorites in need of updates, and obscure oddballs, which actually mesh together a bit better than I’d expected. Wonder Man is unquestionably my favorite, of course, but that Cap snuck up on me for just how cool he is. Molecule Man’s cool for the novelty, so that’s neat. Strucker is better than I’d expected, if not enough so for me to keep him. Yelena *would* be in that category, if not for the breakage. Orb unfortunately really showcases the need to finally retire the Bucky Cap. Iron Man’s not bad, he’s just not quite what I was hoping for. And then there’s Puff Adder, who is Puff Adder.

#0570: Age of Ultron Minimates Single Packs

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with Avengers: Age of Ultron, Baron Strucker, Diamond Select Toys, Iron Legion, Iron Man, Marvel, Minimates, Ultron May 15, 2015

BARON STRUCKER, ULTRON MK 1, SUB-ULTON – BLUE, SUB-ULTRON – RED, IRON LEGION 02, & 04

MARVEL MINIMATES

Okay, today wraps up my reviews of the first “assortment” of Avengers: Age of Ultron-themed Marvel Minimates. For a while now, Diamond Select Toys has been doing “army dump” cases, where you have the chance to buy a few army builder figures in single packs, as well as one or two single-packed non-army builders. Just a few months ago, I looked at the army dump case for the Aliens line. They’ve also shown up a few times in the Marvel Minimates line, to tie-in with several of the movies. They’ve done it once more for Age of Ultron, albeit with a few differences. Technically, these are each single releases, but I received them all as one, and they sort of work as one entity. Also, there are some minor spoilers for Age of Ultron below. Nothing that would ruin your movie-going experience, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to hold off.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are all part of the first series of Marvel Minimates Age of Ultron blind-bagged figures. They ship in a case of 18 blind bagged figures. Previous army dump cases have not been blind-bagged and they have generally been cases of 12, so these are both changes. The ratio of the figures is 1x Strucker, 1x Ultron Mk 1, 3x Sub-Ultron – Blue, 3x Sub-Ultron – Red, 5x Iron Legion 02, 5x Iron Legion 04.

BARON STRUCKER

Strucker, Strucker, Strucker. This guy was pushed pretty hard as being really important in AoU, and, truth-be-told, his part in the film is rather small. I mean, the guy still has an impact on the story, but I was sort of expecting more, given all the lead-up. His figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. While the line is based upon Age of Ultron, Strucker’s design here is actually the one he had in the post-credits scene of The Winter Soldier. Of the two, the chosen look is definitely the more distinctive, and it means he also goes pretty well with the various Hydra soldiers we’ve gotten. As far as structure, Strucker’s actually almost identical to Black Widow. Obviously, he doesn’t have the hair piece, but he has the same belt and holster. Seeing as they’re both pretty standard paramilitary pieces, they work just as well here as on Widow. The figure’s paint is generally pretty good. His uniform is done with two different tones of green, which adds some fairly nice depth to the design. The line work is also all pretty clean, and rather detailed. The uniform has some great detailing and texturing, and it looks like the one from the movie. I can’t say that the face looks a whole lot like the actor, but it’s not like it doesn’t look like the actor. Also, it seems like the hair may be a)too low set, and b) too dark. Strucker is packed with a handgun and a clear display stand.

ULTRON MK 1

Hey, another Ultron Mk 1! Cool! It seems more than one toy company was influenced by that distinctive appearance. The fact that it played such a central role in the first trailer probably helped up the popularity of the design. Ultimately, it ended up with a little less screen time than I expected, but what screen time it did have was well-used. The figure is the same height as Strucker, but it only has 13 points of articulation, due to being down a hand. He’s built on the standard Minimate body with the damaged lower arm of the Battle-Damaged T-800 in place of his own lower left arm. The arm’s a good piece. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. The paint is this figure’s real shining point. The torso and waist are molded in clear plastic, with the actually body painted on. This allows for a more proper robotic appearance for the figure, and it works quite well. The detail lines are superbly handled, and this thing is just covered in texture. The only real drawback is that my figure has some paint rub on the back of the torso, presumable from being packed in with the stand. The stand, for the record, is this figure’s only accessory. That’s pretty much on par with the rest of the assortment, but I wouldn’t have minded getting an extra drone head or something to simulate the partial drone he crushes.

SUB-ULTRON – BLUE

If you feel like you’ve seen this figure before, it’s because you have…essentially. This figure is effectively the same as the Sub-Ultron included with Winter Ops Hawkeye. If you really want my feelings about the figure, I’d recommend reading the review here. There is one notable difference between this version and that one: the blues of the single release are much paler than the two pack version. Oddly, I actually find myself liking this look a little bit more, for whatever reason. My only real fault with this figure is that there aren’t more of him! Seriously, there are like hundreds of these guys in the final battle, and all we get is three? That’s a little weak.

SUB-ULTRON – RED

Remember all the stuff I just said about the Blue Sub-Ultron? Well, this is the exact same figure, aside from the blue accents being swapped out for red. Same head, same body, same basic detailing, same display stand. The red, of course, means that Ultron is directly controlling the drone. Thing is, we only see him control them one at a time, so having three seems excessive. Still, I like the red detailing, and this works as pretty decent classic Ultron.

IRON LEGION 02

Oh boy, the Iron Legion. These guys. Look, I don’t hate them, but I do sort of resent them. See, it’s really their fault that I don’t have more Sub-Ultrons. Because, instead of more Ultron figures, we were subjected to five each (ten total) of these guys. There are a few issues with that. First off, the Iron Legion play kind of a small role in the movie. Secondly, there are only actually 5 Iron Legion drones in the film. How might I know this, you ask? Because, thirdly, the Iron Legion are NUMBERED! As in there is one 01, one 02, one 03, one 04, and one 05. You’ll notice that the figures here are labeled as “02” and “04.” That’s because they represent those numbers of the Iron Legion. So, not only do I have TEN of these guys, but they’re also evenly split between 02 and 04, so they actually aren’t army builders. So, I just have a bunch of extras of two rather specific figures. All that aside, how are the actual figures? Well, 02 is built on the standard body, with no add-ons. Just a vanilla ‘mate. This isn’t bad, because the Iron Legion are depicted as being rather sleek, and since they aren’t actual armor, they aren’t sized to fit a person. Now, being a plain Minimate, 02 relies on paint to convey the design. The paintwork isn’t perfect, but it’s still pretty good. The colors are nicely chosen, and the detail lines are clean and plentiful. The real issue here is that the colors tend to stray outside of the lines. The 02 has a lighter blue as its accent color, which offers a little more brightness to the design. Iron Legion 02 includes a clear display stand as its only accessory.

IRON LEGION 04

Iron Legion 04 is essentially the same figure as Iron Legion 02. It too uses just the basic Minimate body, has the usual articulation, and includes a clear display stand as its sole accessory. The difference between the two is paint. Now, obviously, this one has a “04” in place of the “02” of the last one, but it also swaps out the light blue accents for black. It doesn’t look bad, but it does result in a slightly duller figure, color-wise.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased these figures as a full case from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Ultimately, I’m torn on these guys. Strucker is technically well handled, but isn’t the most exciting Minimate. I do like Ultron Mk 1 quite a bit, and he was certainly a well-chosen figure for this assortment. The additional Sub-Ultrons are certainly appreciated, but I really wish there were more of them, specifically the blue ones. The Iron Legion? Well, I like the figures well enough, but I really have a difficult time getting past how many of them were included in the case. They aren’t army builders, and even if they were, I really don’t see how anyone could see them being in greater demand than the Sub-Ultrons. It just feels like very poor planning.

#0133: Baron Strucker, Viper, & Hydra Elite

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with Baron Strucker, Diamond Select Toys, Hydra, Madame Hydra, Marvel, Minimates, SHIELD February 26, 2014

BARON STRUCKER, MADAME HYDRA & HYDRA ELITE

MARVEL MINIMATES

I’ll be wrapping up my reviews of the most recent wave of Marvel Minimates today. This wave is based around Captain America. I’ll be looking at a few of his recurring foes today, all of whom are members of the deadly Hydra organization.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures were released as part of the 54^th wave of the Marvel Minimates line. Baron Strucker was the more widely packed figure, with Madame Hydra as the one per case variant and both of them packed with one of the Hydra Elite.

BARON STRUCKER

First up, it’s the leader of the organization, Baron Strucker. Not to be confused with Baron Smucker, the tyrannical leader of that company that makes jam. Though I’m sure Strucker does love him some jam… Anyway, Strucker is depicted in his Hydra uniform(s). He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He’s fairly light on the sculpting, featuring only a set of shoulder pads, which were reused from Rictor. The paint detailing is quite nice, especially Strucker’s face, which is appropriately old and surly. I also like the simulated transparency of the monocle. Stucker is well accessorized with a coat that can be swapped out with the shoulder pads, his trusty demon’s claw, a sword, a pistol of some sort, and a clear display stand. I quite like the coat and the demon’s claw, as they allow me to set up the Strucker that I’m more familiar with.

MADAME HYDRA

Next, it’s Strucker’s second in command, Viper…er Madame Hydra…no wait, um…hmmm. Yeah, I can’t make up my mind. That’s okay, though, neither could Diamond, since she’s listed as Madame Hydra on some of the boxes and as Viper on the others. I prefer Madame Hydra because it avoids any connotations to the lackluster interpretation of the character in the recent Wolverine movie. Madame Hydra has only really had one look, and that’s the one they went with here, so that works out. She’s on the standard body, and has all the usual stuff associated. She features 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, belt, and dual leg holsters. The belt is a new piece I believe. The hair is a reuse from one of the figures in the Femme Fatales set, Dawn I think. The holsters are from the Avengers movie line, and were most recently used on the comic version of Maria Hill, second in command of SHIELD, which is kind of a neat touch, I think. The paint is a bit of a mixed bag on this figure. All of the detail lines are nice and sharp, and I particularly like the face, which even features a scarred eye behind the peek-a-boo hair, but the transitions on the gloves and boots are incredibly sloppy. Not enough to ruin the figure, but enough to be very annoying. Madame Hydra includes two handguns, a bullwhip, and a clear display stand.

HYDRA ELITE(S?)

Lastly, this wave’s army builders, the Hydra Elite! Or they could just be basic Hydra dudes. That works too. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Hydra army builder, but it’s been a while since the last one, and that one wasn’t as good as it could be, even then. So, I’m glad to see Diamond revisiting these guys. They’re built on the standard body, so they’ve got the usual articulation and height and such. They feature 5 sculpted pieces: mask, ruffled shirt arms, a cape, and a belt/skirt combo. I believe the belt and the Mask are new pieces, and the cape and upper arms are pieces that have been used lots of times before. The paint on these is quite nice, and what is really cool is the completely different Hydra mask underneath of the sculpted one. The first Hydra Agent had this piece, but it didn’t work quite as well. The colors are also brighter and bolder than the previous Hydra Agent, which looks much better. One thing that does bug me is that the gloves and boots aren’t all the same length from piece to piece, which can look a bit odd. The Hydra Elite include a small handgun, a sword, a larger gun, and a clear display stand.