Tag Archives: Doctor Doom

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0047: Dr. Doom

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

DR. DOOM

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

At the beginning of the week, I officially finished of my reviews of the first series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, wrapping up a thing I started when I launched the site, 12 years ago.  But, I’m not quite done.  Oh no.  I’ve still got at least one more thing I can do, and that’s a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum of Latveria’s mad dictator, Doctor Victor Von Doom!

Today, we look at another figure from Toybiz’s Fantastic Four line from the 90s. Yesterday, we looked at Reed Richards, today we look at his arch nemesis Dr. Victor Von Doom

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The patriarch of Latveria was released in the first wave of figures. He’s based on the character’s look on the cartoon, which was obviously based the comic book look. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. He has a removable cape and a spring loaded right hand. The hand is launched by pushing the extremely obvious lever on the shoulder. It’s kind of an odd feature, as I don’t recall Doom ever doing anything that resembled what this figure seems to emulate. I guess maybe if he were a Doombot, but it just seems like an odd choice for a figure that would have probably been better without it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dr. Doom was a great figure. I remember being pretty content with this figure, and as a kid he was one of my go to bad guys for whatever hero I was playing with that week. I think he still holds up pretty well for the time, aside from the odd action feature.

Man, check out that brevity.  Love it.  Miss it sometimes, honestly.  I do manage to at least cover all of the basics, so hey, pretty efficient.  I’ve always quite liked this figure’s sculpt, even if it does make him tricky to stand at times.  I do stand by my assessment that the arm launching bit is weird.  12 years later, and I still don’t quite get it.  When I first reviewed him, he was missing his only accessory, and black blaster, recolored from the X-Force line.  It’s basic and boxy and not really his usual style, but it gets the job done alright.

In addition to all the new fancy pictures, I also put together a quick video for this guy over on the newly launched FiQ YouTube page, so please check that out here!

#3823: Doctor Doom

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

DOCTOR DOOM

MARVEL FAMOUS COVERS (TOY BIZ)

“Victor Von Doom was a brilliant, if arrogant scientist, studying alongside Reed Richards. But when he was caught in a horrible accident, Doom was driven over the edge. Covering himself in armor, he became Doctor Doom! Ruler of his homeland of Latveria, Doom will not be satisfied until he has taken over the entire planet. Using the vast resources at his command and the incredible technologies he has created, Doom faces off against his old nemesis, Reed Richards, now the leader of the Fantastic Four.”

In the ’90s, Toy Biz’s main scale for Marvel was of course their highly expansive 5-inch line, but they tried out a number of other sizes in tandem to sort of see what stuck.  The 10-inch line certainly had the most longevity of the secondaries, but they also had a pretty solid go at their own sort of Mego follow-up, Famous Covers.  Famous Covers was sort of an odd line sort of at cross purposes, but it’s nothing if not an interesting experiment.  We got a weird, quirky cross-section of the Marvel universe, and that did *not* include a full Fantastic Four, but it *did* at least include a Doctor Doom.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Doom was released as part of the “First Appearances” Series of Famous Covers, which was the line’s second assortment.  Though branded as “first appearance” and showing the cover to his original appearance on the cover, Doom is not actually his first appearance design, but rather his later, more classic design, which makes sense.  The figure is about 8 1/2 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation…in theory.  In practice, he’s got, like, two, because the rubber armor pieces they’ve put on him restricted almost all of his articulation to the point of not really being worth it.  For whatever reason, Toy Biz opted to handle his armor in the same way they did the boots and gloves, so they’re just these thick rubber pieces, that mostly just flop around.  They’re also really clunky, especially when compared to the size of the figure’s head.  The head’s at least a very nice sculpt, even if it’s very small.  Since he’s got a full mask, he lacks the overly intense expression most of the other figures in the line had, which isn’t such a bad thing.  In addition to the rubber armor pieces, Doom gets a cloth tunic and cape; the tunic’s fine enough, and the bulk of the cape works out alright, apart from the hood being quite difficult to get the lay in any fashion that’s not just really silly looking.  The paint on this guy is decent enough.  The head’s particularly good, as expected, but the armor on the body at least gets some panel lining.  Famous Covers figures were always a bit light on accessories, and given the number of sculpted parts, it’s not much of a surprise that Doom was sans-accessories for this release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember getting Doom when I was a kid.  There was a Toy Liquidators outlet near us, which my Nana had taken me, I wanna say for my birthday?  This guy was there, but still a little pricier, so I didn’t get him at that time.  I instead went back with my dad later that same day, and he bought it for me, I believe as an incentive for finishing the summer reading program.  He’s not the most playable figure, and he’s quite goofy looking, but I also kinda love him?

#3581: Dr. Doom

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

DR. DOOM

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0060: While the Fantastic Four jumped into the world of action figures during the Mego days, their longtime foe Dr. Doom wasn’t alongside them, and wouldn’t get his own figure treatment until Mattel’s Secret Wars, a line that, ironically, didn’t feature any of the FF.

I sure do like Dr. Doom. He’s the quintessential comic book villain, and he’s just great.  While he’s got his fair share of toys, they do have a tendency to be…hit or miss.  As a kid, I had the Fantastic Four line’s version, which wasn’t bad, and left me without a real need for other versions, prior to the switch to other scales.  Toy Biz themselves seemed pretty happy with that one as well, since they mostly took to just re-releasing that one a bunch.  That one wasn’t their first try, though, so let’s look at his predecessor.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Doom was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1990.  He was then re-released in Series 4, three years later.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7(ish) points of articulation.  His sculpt was a unique one and…well, it’s kind of…umm…stiff?  Scrawny?  Small?  Not real great?  Yeah, it’s a bit all of those things.  It’s also awkward, so let’s throw that one on the list, too, shall we?  It’s further removed from that Super Powers styling than most of the Series 1 figures, but I’m not sure that’s really a good thing, because he winds up as perhaps the weakest of the bunch.  There’s just not really a part of it that really works.  He’s got a cloth cape, in contrast to later figures, but it’s really short and wide, which again feels odd.  The color work on the figure is pretty basic.  I mean, I guess it’s better than the sculpt, but the green feels really bright for Doom.  Doom featured a rather odd action feature, where turning the wheel on his back spins his right hand.  Not really sure why.  Toy Biz liked to give Doom odd action features on his right hand, I guess, since they did it with the later figure’s spring-loaded hand as well.  This one just feels especially pointless.  He included a gun/drill thing, as well as a wheel/fan thing, which he could hold and spin in his hand.  Yay?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t really recall this one as a kid.  I had the second, superior, one, so I wasn’t in the market for a Dr. Doom anyway, but this one didn’t seem to really be around as much.  I really only got this one in my move for completion.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a loose one through All Time a while back.  It’s not a good figure.  It’s not even a really fun figure.  But, it’s a Doom I didn’t have, so there’s that.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3462: Captain Marvel vs Doctor Doom

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CAPTAIN MARVEL VS DOCTOR DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Whisked to another planet by the mysterious Beyonder, Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) joins forces with fellow heroes in Secret Wars to stop Doctor Doom from becoming an all-powerful being”

It’s not really a secret 1984’s Secret Wars was really just about selling toys.  Mattel had the Marvel license and wanted a central book to tie them into, so that’s what they did.  Even the title, which was originally meant to be “Cosmic Champions,” was picked because focus groups found that kids liked the words “secret” and “war.”  The resulting 12-issue series is *not* good (to be fair, neither are the toys it tied into), but it was certainly very marketable.  With this year being the 60th anniversary of the Avengers, and next year being the 40th anniversary of Secret Wars, it’s a perfect time to do something that strikes those two themes, I suppose.  So, let’s look at Captain Marvel and Doctor Doom!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain Marvel and Doctor Doom are part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Marvel Legends, which is celebrating the Avengers anniversary.  Secret Wars isn’t specifically an Avengers story, but they’re present for it, and it’s a good enough excuse to trot some new looks out, I suppose.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

After years of no toy coverage at all, Monica Rambeau is finally getting her due, with two whole figures in the same year, no less.  That’s downright amazing.  When she was first introduced in the ’80s, she was the second character to bear the title “Captain Marvel,” which she held onto until Genis-Vell took the mantle in the ’90s.  Since this is meant to actually be her in the ’80s, she finally gets a figure with her original name, which is also pretty amazing.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She’s using the modified base-body parts last used on Spinneret, with a new head, arms, and lower legs.  The head is definitely the strongest part; she matches well with Monica’s depictions in the comics from the ’80s, and the hair even gets an impressive level of texturing and detailing.  The arms feature her “wings,” which are a little stubborn to work with, due to their split construction.  They look alright in straight-armed poses, but they’re awkward in other poses.  I’m not sure if they’re better or worse than the cloth set-up on Banshee and Siryn…it’s more a lateral move, I guess.  The new legs get flappy boots, which are cool.  I don’t dig the lack of peg-holes on the feet, but that’s about it.  Monica’s color work is pretty solid; she’s got some sufficient pop, and the white and black works really well for her.  Monica is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

DOCTOR DOOM

One of the things that Mattel requested of Secret Wars was a new, more toyetic design for classic villain Doctor Doom, so Marvel obliged, and Doom got a more armored up appearance for the run of the series.  Despite its toyetic-ness, it’s actually kind of rare in toy form, with only its original Mattel release and a Minimate prior to this version.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  In a similar fashion to the vintage figure, he makes use of Iron Man parts, specifically the arms and legs of the “80 Years” Iron Man, along with a new head, torso, pelvis, and add-on piece for his leg band.  The new parts get a lot of really nice detailing, and mesh well with the prior existing parts.  I do particularly like the new head, which is a really nice classic Doom design.  His color scheme is a bright take on classic Doom colors, and they’re metallic, which is honestly pretty fun.  Doom is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and open gesture), as well as an unmasked head, a pulled down hood piece, and a separate mask piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m on record as being a pretty big fan of Monica Rambeau.  I’m pretty much always down for her in figure form, and I’ve been hoping for a classic version of her for some time.  I was definitely down for this one when it was announced.  She’s ultimately pretty by the numbers, but I can’t say I really need much more from her.  Doom is kind of the dead weight of the set for me, but I’m not necessarily the target market, since I’ve been content ever since the Retro card version got released.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this set to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3336: Marvel Villains Box Set

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GREEN GOBLIN, MAGNETO, DR. DOOM, & RED SKULL

MARVEL MINIMATES

After Iron Man hit in 2008, everything Marvel got a bit of a rebirth as Marvel prepared for what would become the MCU.  This included a lot of their licensed products.  Over in the Minimates corner, it was exactly the bump they needed, and in many ways the line effectively started anew, with a focus on circling back around to some of the heaviest hitters, as they aimed to sell to a new audience.  In 2009, to aid with this, they produced a pair of boxed sets, one heroes, and one villains, which served to update the big guns, all in a nice, concise package.  I’m taking a look at the villains today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Marvel Villains Box Set, subtitled “Bring on the Bad Guys”, was a specialty release boxed set for Marvel Minimates, hitting in the spring of 2009.  It overlapped with the second TRU-exclusive assortment; three of the villains included here were re-packed with a hero from the other pack.  Green Goblin was packed with Spider-Man, Magneto with Wolverine, and Hulk with Dr. Doom (hey, they had to pair them off with *someone*).  Red Skull was exclusive to the release, as was his opposite number Captain America from the heroes pack.

GREEN GOBLIN

“The Green Goblin is perhaps Spider-Man’s most deadly, dangerous and unpredictable foe. Deemed rehabilitated after time in a mental institution, Norman Osborn pretended to leave his life of crime behind him and became head of the Thunderbolts with an army of super-powered villains under his control.”

Absent from the line since its second series, the classic Green Goblin returned with this set.  It marked his third overall ‘mate, but only his second classic one, since the middle one was the Ultimate version.  This figure’s bio is a rather time-specific one, referencing his place with the Thunderbolts, something closely linked to Civil War and Dark Reign, and not really all that important to him being Green Goblin.  Yeah, it was an odd time.  The figure uses the standard Minimate base, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Green Goblin makes use of four add-on pieces for his hat/ears, satchel, and gloves.  The hat and satchel were re-used from his original Series 2 figure, while the flared gloves came from the Series 5 Captain America.  The set-up is a little more on the basic side, but it works.  They never really did top the hat, and while the satchel’s a little blocky, it’s certainly not bad.  The gloves were a nice bit of flair, but the one downside was that they meant he didn’t get a pumpkin bomb, which was a shame.  The paint work on this release was far more detailed than the original, with a more intense expression, a more subdued palette, and a downright insane level of detailing on the scales.  They would rein things back in just a little bit for later releases; this one definitely felt just a little bit overdetailed.

MAGNETO

“One of the most powerful mutants to ever live, Magneto’s powers first manifested in the weeks leading up to World War II and allowed him to survive the events that followed. Able to manipulate electromagnetic fields, he vowed to prevent mutantkind from sharing his family’s fate.”

At this point, Magneto was technically getting his third Minimate, but seeing as the Dark Tide release was just a change to the face of the original exclusive one, this Magneto was effectively only the second outing for the character, which does seem a little surprising all things considered.  Structurally, he was the same as the first version.  Not a bad call, really, since his helmet and cape add-ons were rather nice pieces, and not really out of date at this point.  There’s a very definite vibe of not fixing what isn’t broken there.  The new paint was again a lot more detailed.  In Magneto’s case, it doesn’t go quite as overboard, which works more in his favor.  Apart from his stubble being perhaps a little heavy handed, he works pretty well.  Magneto was packed with an alternate hair piece and an energy effect to go on his hand.

DR. DOOM

“Victor Von Doom rules the nation of Latveria with an iron-clad fist as he pursues his goals of ruling the world and finally exacting revenge from the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards. Created using both his scientific and mystical talents, Dr. Doom’s arsenal contains some of the most destructive weapons ever invented.”

Doom was also on his third ‘mate, by virtue of the original release having gotten a variant.  Like Magneto, it feels like that doesn’t really count, though.  This marked the first true update, however, and that’s what’s most important, I feel.  This figure uses the same cloak and skirt pieces as the first release, but adds a pair of gloved hands (which are the FF gloves, amusingly enough) and affixes a holster to his skirt.  Both of the re-used Doom pieces were nice enough on the original, but by the time of this one felt a little bit out of place and stiff.  The gloves at least bulked up the arms a bit, but he’s generally the figure in this set that feels the most outmoded in the sculpting department.  His paint work was alright; admittedly, the paint on the original wasn’t bad, especially when it came to the armored parts.  This one does a bit better on the tunic, so there’s that.  I’m not a huge fan of the face on this one, especially given how oddly slanted the eye holes on the mask wound up being.  Doom was packed with a gun (re-used from the BSG line) and a chalice (borrowed from Loki).

RED SKULL

“Born in the fires of Nazi Germany, Johann Schmidt was personally trained by Hitler and served as the evil tyrant’s right-hand man – instilling fear and hatred as the Red Skull! Kept in suspended animation for decades, a re-awakened Red Skull now fights against Captain America for control of the world’s destiny.”

The real selling point of the set was this guy, since he was not only an exclusive, but also the first version of Red Skull.  Another Skull, this time more modern, followed in the main line later that same year, but this one was definitely first.  He depicts Skull in his classic green jumpsuit, which is my favorite look for the character.  It’s one that’s not really in need of any extra parts, so this guy’s all vanilla.  The paint work carries him well, though.  The face is an absolutely perfect rendition of the Skull, crazed look in his eye and a mad cackle clearly being let out.  It remains to this day my favorite face for a ‘mate version of Red Skull.  The jumpsuit is more basic, but that’s expected.  The important details are there, and it looks decent overall.  Red Skull was packed with a small pistol.  Sadly, the budget for a Cosmic Cube just wouldn’t be there for a few more years.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this pack brand-new, day of release, from Cosmic Comix back in the day.  I recall being pretty excited for this set at the time of its release.  I didn’t have the original Magneto or Doom, so I was excited by the updates, and Green Goblin seemed pretty cool too.  It was really Red Skull that most excited me, since he was all-new.  It’s a set that is very dialed into its specific era of the line, but it’s also still a pretty fun set all these years later.

#2838: Dr. Doom

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

DR. DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“From the wreckage of colliding universes, Dr. Doom emerges as the supreme ruler of a new domain known as Battleworld.”

Ah, 2015’s Secret Wars, a Marvel cross-over event which had Dr. Doom as the main antagonist.  Not to be confused with 1984’s Secret Wars, a Marvel cross-over event which had Dr. Doom as the main antagonist.  Or 2003’s Secret War, which did *not* have Dr. Doom as the main antagonist.  Or 1985’s Secret Wars II, which also didn’t have Dr. Doom as the main antagonist, but did at least have Dr. Doom in it, so that was a step in the right direction.  No, we’re talking 2015, the source of God Emperor Doom, from when Doom gets a major power up and decides to ditch his shirt, apparently.  As you do.  Shirts cannot contain his power.  But then he loses the power, so he has to go back to his old shirt-wearing ways, like some sort of pleb.  But, at least he gets a toy to commemorate his time amongst the shirtless, right?  Right.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Doom is the final figure in the Xemnu Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s not officially numbered like the others, as he doesn’t feature a Build-A-Figure part like they do.  He is also the double pack, presumably because he’s really the only villain who’s justifiable in doubling up on.  It’s a good thought in theory, but less so in practice, since last year saw two variations on standard Doom released, which meant that this one had to be a variant look in order to justify his existence.  Hasbro went with the aforementioned God Emperor look from Secret Wars, which is not really a standard Doom look, nor is it an amazingly memorable one, really.  Also, it’s just kind of a weird concept.  Like, the white is all fine and good, but why ditch the shirt?  And also, if you’re ditching the shirt, why swap out the cool metal gauntlets for just regular cloth gloves?  That seems weird, right?  And really, why not just be Doom 2099?  Because you know what’s a cool Doom variant?  Doom 2099.  This should just be Doom 2099.  And now I’ve made myself upset that this isn’t Doom 2099.  Great, now I’m gonna have to deal with this.  I was already luke warm on the whole idea behind this guy to begin with.  Well, might as well just get this disappointingly non-2099 Doom review out of the way, then.  I’m sure I’ll be quite balanced and fair with the figure now.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s very similar to the last two Dooms, sharing the entire lower half, as well as the upper arms, and the modern head from the first figure.  He gets a new torso, lower arms, and cape in order to facilitate his conversion into God Emperor.  They’re fine from a technical stand point, I suppose.  They mesh alright with the older parts, and he looks like the design from the comics, so it checks all of those boxes.  The sculpting on the gloves is pretty nice, with the various wrinkles and stitching being well-defined.  In terms of paint, he’s pretty basic, since most of his coloring is just molded plastic colors.  It does what it needs to.  What paint is there is well applied, so that’s at least fairly nice.  Doom is okay on the accessories front, with 5 different hands (a pair of open gesture, a right wide grip, a right pistol grip, and a left fist), the gun from the last two (in silver this time), and the skull and spinal column of Thanos, which is a direct reference to a sequence from the comics.  The Thanos skull is certainly a more fun and unique piece, so kudos to them on that one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was happy with my Super Skrull Series Doom, and felt no need for a replacement.  Then the retro Doom came along and replaced him, which was a good move on Hasbro’s part, but it did leave this guy kind of in the lurch, because I really didn’t need him.  And then I got him in hand, and I still felt like I didn’t need him.  And then I got to thinking about other Doom variants we could have gotten, which took me down the Doom 2099 rabbit hole, and that just made matters a lot worse.  Admittedly, none of that is this figure’s fault, but at the same time, if they were going to kind of do a phoned in Doom variant anyway, why not just go with the Future Foundation look, which is also an all-white Doom, but one that at least doesn’t need any new tooling.  Because, if I’m honest, the new tooling doesn’t really do this guy many favors.  Maybe it’s just not for me, and there’s a market for God Emperor Doom out there, but for me, this guy’s just a testament to how there *could* have been something cooler in this set.  Which, again, isn’t really his fault.  But I’m gonna be all unreasonable and cranky until I get my Doom 2099, I suppose.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2614: Dr. Doom

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

DR DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Victor Von Doom is bent on complete world domination. As Doctor Doom, he applies unlimited resources to square off against his arch nemeses, the Fantastic Four!”

A few times on this site, I’ve discussed Victor Von Doom, who under the monicker of Doctor Doom, is the truly the greatest villain in comics.  He’s well-rounded, intriguing, knows how to monologue, and is just thoroughly evil, through and through.  He’s also a fantastic choice for an action figure, but thanks to the wonkiness surrounding the rights on both he and his greatest foes the Fantastic Four, he was rather absent from such things for a few years.  He returned to Marvel Legends in style earlier this year with a really strong figure as part of a wider FF assortment this year.  But, that apparently wasn’t enough for Doom.  No, he needed to outdo the cursed FF in raw numbers, so he snuck in a second figure, as part of Hasbro’s ongoing Retro Collection initiative.  I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGRUE ITSELF

Dr. Doom is a standalone Retro Collection offering for Marvel Legends, no doubt as a pre-cursor to a proper FF assortment.  Like Deadpool and Grey Hulk last year, he comes in a white shipper that goes around the retro-style card, suggesting he was at one point intended for some sort of convention release.  Given how those two were dropped even without a global pandemic going on, though, it’s also possible that Hasbro just planned him as a Fan Channel offering from the start.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s pretty much identical to the standard release Doom from early this year.  It was a pretty spot-on sculpt, and my favorite by far from that assortment, so I’m certainly not complaining.  He ditches the more modern of the two head sculpts, sticking only with the more retro one (my favorite of the two anyway), and also adds a soft goods collar to the mix to change things up just a little bit.  Also aiding in changing things up a bit is the new paint scheme.  The standard release had a more subdued palette, more in keeping with modern appearances.  This one pumps up the saturation and makes him a much brighter figure, more in line with the old ‘90s figure, which this one is of course looking to emulate.  It really works, and while I certainly didn’t dislike the prior colors, I do really think that this scheme gives the figure an extra pop, and gives him some new life.  It really works for me.  The other change-up for this guy is the accessory selection.  Obviously, he drops the head and the Build-A-Figure piece, and keeps the alternate hands and the pistol.  He gains a pair of books (using the same mold as was included with the Retro Beast figure), the Ultimate Nullifier, two magic effects, and two blast effects (which can be used on the jets on his back).   It’s a pretty killer accessories set-up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was really happy with the prior Doom figure, and I didn’t really see myself as being in the market for another one this quickly.  When this one was shown off, I wasn’t sure if I was going to go for him.  Upon seeing him in person, though, I really couldn’t turn him down.  The changes made to this figure are really strong, and make him a sufficiently unique variation of the character.  Now I’m going to have a really hard time choosing between the two variants…

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2469: Thing & Dr. Doom(s)

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

THING & DR. DOOM

MARVEL MINIMATES

While the first year of Marvel Minimates certainly gave us an impressive spread of Marvel characters, there were some very notable areas of the universe left completely untouched.  This included Marvel’s own first family, the Fantastic Four, who, like Captain America signaling the first of the the Avengers, were first inducted into the line via Series 5, with the group’s most marketable single member The Thing facing off against their greatest foe Dr. Doom!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Thing and Dr. Doom marked wrapped up the line-up for Marvel Minimates Series 5, also taking the variant slot for this particular assortment.  The standard pack had Thing vs a fully-armored Doom, while the variant swapped out Doom for an unmasked version.

THING

For his debut ‘mate, Ben gets a fairly classic Thing design.  He’s orange, he’s rocky, and he’s wearing blue shorts.  Sure, the shorts aren’t quite standard FF-issue, but they’re close enough for a single release.  He’s built on the standard long-footed body, of course, so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Like Venom, Hulk, and Juggernaut, Ben’s a large character who’s not very large.  That said, with the head piece and the sculpted “Thing Fists”, he actually makes out the best of the bunch in terms of relative scaling.  He’s got cartoonish proportions, of course, but he doesn’t feel quite as scrawny as the others.  It helps that the sculpting is really good on the new parts.  It also helps that the paint does an incredibly impressive job of conveying Ben’s rocky skin, and the painted features end up matching pretty darn well to the sculpted rocks on the head and hands.  The only slight nit I have with the paint is that the face is just a touch too high on the head, which means that it doesn’t *quite* interact correctly with the head piece.

DR. DOOM

Marvel’s greatest villain was a pretty natural choice for inclusion here, but his variant ultimately falls into the same level of “this wouldn’t be a separate figure”-ness that Unmasked Daredevil had.  Whichever version you look at, he’s got the same two sculpted add-ons, one for his cloak, and the other for his belt/skirt.  The cloak is actually kind of nice, and concise.  It’s maybe not the greatest for posing, but I find it less obtrusive than the versions that followed.  The skirt piece doesn’t work quite as well, being really flat and without flow.  Even with the much more streamlined philosophy of the earlier ‘mates, it seems a bit lacking.  The paint on everything but the head is identical between the two releases.  It does okay for the most part.  The armored detailing on the arms and legs is definitely the best work.  Comparatively, the tunic feels kind of devoid of detail, but again, that’s owing a lot to the early style.  The standard Doom gets his mask, which is nicely detailed, and matches up with the rest of the armor’s details.  It’s limited to just having details where the hood reveals it, which isn’t surprising, but does mean displaying him without the cape doesn’t really work.  For the variant, we get to see Victor Von Doom’s scarred face.  It’s a more minor scarring than some depictions, but it’s still there.  Unlike the masked head, this one has detail that goes all around, even under the hood, which is actually pretty darn cool.  It just would have made much more sense to include the extra head with the standard release, is all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another one of those sets that I had as a kid, but I lost most of the parts to over the years.  I was pretty rough on these early guys.  Of course, I only had the standard Doom, so I was able to go back and get both versions when I tracked them back down again.  Thing’s not a bad little version of the character, especially within the confines of the early line.  Doom isn’t quite as cleanly interpreted here, but I think he works well-enough, and while he has some trade-offs, so would all of his eventual follow-ups.  They wrap up Marvel Minimates‘ first oddball assortment pretty nicely.

#2309: Doctor Doom

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

DOCTOR DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Victor Von Doom uses his incredible intelligence and mystical abilities to oppose the Fantastic Four.”

On this Valentine’s Day, I’m examining the truest love of all: the love of hating one’s enemies and watching them unquestionably defeated by circumstances that you and you alone control.  A love that Victor Von Doom, greatest villain in all of comics, has been striving for since his introduction in 1962.  But that curse-ed Richards just keeps preventing him from attaining it.  How dare he?  Alas, Doom will just have to settle for the love of having the best action figure in the latest assortment of FF-themed Marvel Legends.  It’s the small victories that keep you going.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Doom is figure 1 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends, a great example of Hasbro knowing to lead with their best foot forward.  Alongside the Thing, Doom is one of the double-packs for this assortment, again an example of Hasbro knowing what’s up here.  While Victor Von Doom returned to Legends last year as a Walgreens exclusive, it was under his Infamous Iron Man moniker, and as cool as that figure was, he wasn’t classic Doctor Doom.  We haven’t gotten one of those since 2012, and even that one was a re-used mold from ’08.  The need for a proper update, especially in light of the FF getting classic-inspired updates in the Walgreens line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.   Doom gets an all-new sculpt from head to toe, and it’s one of Hasbro’s most impressive sculpts, pretty much in their entire time on the license.  It takes the classic Doom design and effectively just translates it to how it would look if manufactured in real life.  The armor has rivets, seams, and leather straps and clasps, and under the main plates, you can clearly make out a chain mail under suit.  Even under the skirt of the tunic, the armor remains fully detailed, even though there’s absolutely no reason for it to be.  The tunic is appropriately detailed in its own way, with a distinct fabric texturing sculpted in to differentiate it from the armored segments.  At first glance, I felt the skirt of the tunic was too long, but after messing with the figure a bit, I’m actually quite happy with the length, and also pleasantly surprised by how posable the hips remain even with it in place.  On the back of the torso, there are jet thrusters, as have become customary for Doom figures.  He’s also got a very nicely detailed belt, with a fully working holster.  There are two different heads included with the figure.  He comes wearing the more modern design of his mask (seen in the shot with Wilson), but also includes a more Jack Kirby-inspired head.  Both are beautiful pieces in their own right, but the Kirby head is my favorite by far.  Doom’s paintwork is pretty solid.  While a lot of the colors are just molded, there are never the less plenty of spots where paint *could* have been missed but wasn’t, especially with those straps on the sides of the armor plates, which again continue up under the tunic.  Truly impressive.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, Doom also includes his signature Luger, plus two sets of hands (fists, and a trigger finger/open gesture combo).  He also includes the leg of Super Skrull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Doctor Doom is my favorite comics villain ever, and frequently a favorite of mine when it comes to action figures.  Since completing the Walgreens FF, I’ve been patiently waiting for this guy.  As soon as he was shown off, I knew he’d be my favorite in the set, and in hand he absolutely lives up to my expectations, and makes for the perfect counterpart to my FF.  This figure is clearly a labor of love for Hasbro and I’m very glad to have him.

I picked up Doom from my friends All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2064: Infamous Iron Man

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

INFAMOUS IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Once one of the world’s most evil villains, Infamous Iron Man Victor Von Doom has a change of allegience and assumes a new identity as the tech-powered hero, Iron Man.”

Victor Von Doom (not to be confused with Victor *con* Doom, which is Victor with Doom, and is what my computer wanted to put there), better known as Doctor Doom, is perhaps the Marvel Universe’s greatest villain.  And, of course, being the top villain means also getting a story evry so often where you stop being a villain and try to be a hero.  Doctor Doom’s actually been there a couple of times, but was there most recently after the fallout of 2015’s Secret Wars, which eventually led to him taking over the role of Iron Man for a bit.  That’s the source of Doom’s latest figure, dubbed the “Infamous Iron Man.”

THE FIGURE ITESELF

Infamous Iron Man is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends release, and he started hitting stores in early May.  As a Doctor Doom-variant, he’s well at home with the Fantastic Four-theme that’s persisted through the last few years of Walgreens exclusives.  Like his team of nemeses, Victor’s been away from Legends for a little while, with this being his first figure in seven years.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  In the comics, Victor’s Infamous Iron Man suit was a re-working of Tony’s most recent ANAD armor, and the figure follows true to that, re-using the molds of the Okoye Series Iron Man.  It’s honestly my favorite Iron Man sculpt in recent years, so I don’t mind seeing it crop up again, especially since it’s accurate to the source material.  The base figure is mostly identical between the two of them, with only the head getting a slight tweak to the back to allow for the hood to be attached.  Speaking of the hood, both it and the cape are new parts.  The appearance is nice, and I certainly dig the sculpted texture, but I don’t know how crazy I am about the implementation.  The hood is permanently affixed to the head, but the cape isn’t actually attached in any way; it just rests there.  And while the hood can hold it in place in most poses, it still slides off more often than I’d like.  The paint on Victor is the main change-up, since it transitions him into his more classic “Doom” colors, being predominately grey and silver.  The application’s mostly pretty good, but there’s something about the outlining on the face plate that looks a little goofy to me.  Doom is packed with two repulsor blast hands, and matching repulsor blasts, as well as the lightning effects in a matching purple, and an unmasked Victor Von Doom head.  The unmasked head is definitely my favorite piece, and I only wish it was easier to use it in conjunction with the cape.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This one is technically Max’s fault, but he gets a bit of a pass, since it’s mostly circumstantial.  I fully intended to buy this figure on my own, but he happened to find one before me, and was nice enough to pick it up for me.  There are a few notable issues with this figure, however they mostly get a pass from this guy being undeniably a placeholder for the inevitable classic Doom figure down the road.  As it stands, he’s more fun than frustration, which I can get behind.