Tag Archives: Fantastic Four

#0732: Thundra – Fearless Defenders

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

THUNDRA – FEARLESS DEFENDERS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Thundra1

While Marvel’s various licensors have been “politely discouraged” from releasing any Fantastic Four-related characters, there comes a point where the character is left-field enough that, despite their relation to the team, it doesn’t really give Fant4stic any real publicity. So, let’s talk about Thundra, member of the future-based Femizons (just go with it). Seriously, how many people would look at Thundra here and go: “Better go see that Fantastic Four movie.” No one. Because people who like Thundra have taste and people that actively wanted to see Fant4stic don’t. There’s next to no overlap, though that’s probably because no one seemed to actually *like* Fant4stic. I’m getting off-topic. Sorry, let’s just look at this here Thundra figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thundra2Thundra is part of the third series of Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series, which is officially dubbed the “Hulkbuster Series.” On the packaging, she is referred to as “Fearless Defenders,” a name she shares with series-mate Valkyrie. Given the two characters sharing the name, I feel like “Lady Liberators” may have been more comic appropriate, but I guess Fearless Defenders is a bit more gender neutral. The figure is a little over 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. Thundra is based on the Red She-Hulk body (which we last saw on the SDCC exclusive Hela). It’s a decent sculpt overall, though the hip joints are still out of date. The body does feel just a touch on the skinny side for Thundra, especially on the legs, but it’s a close enough fit that it’s not a huge issue. She gets an all-new head/hair and hands (though, the hands are shared with Valkyrie). I had initially thought she might share some pieces with the un-released She-Hulk Lyra figure, but a quick look at that figure’s prototype shows that isn’t the case. The head is a pretty good sculpt; it’s nice to see a female facial expression that isn’t just vacant, but I wouldn’t have minded them taking her a bit angrier. The hair is certainly well sculpted and accurate to the source material, but it does render her neck movement essentially inert. In addition to the head and hands, Thundra also gets a new belt piece; it’s a fairly standard piece, which was certainly designed with re-use in mind, but it’s nicely sculpted and it sits well on the figure. Technically, to be properly accurate, Thundra should also get a set of cuffed boots, but a whole new set of shins presumably didn’t cost out for a low-tier character like Thundra. It’s honestly not that distracting in person, and some art for the character shows her this way, so it’s not totally inaccurate. Thundra’s paint work is passable. Most of it is pretty cleanly handled, and the colors are nice and vibrant. The gold lightning bolts on the sides of her legs are surprisingly sharp, which is cool, but they don’t match up with the boots, which is less cool. The “collar” of her shirt would probably look better if it were sculpted instead of painted, but it’s handled well enough, so I really can’t complain. One somewhat perplexing issue with the paint: for some reason, she’s got a bunch of red, right around her left elbow joint. No clue how that got there, but it’s kind of annoying. Thundra was packed with her signature “ball and chain” weapon thingy, which is a little awkward for her to hold, but looks pretty good in the right pose. She also has the Hulkbuster’s left arm, which is almost as big as she is!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Vision, I came across Thundra here while at a nearby Walgreens. That was certainly a bit of a surprise. I’ve always liked Thundra in the comics, so I was pleased to see she was getting a figure. Sure, she’s not perfect, but it’s literally the only figure of Thundra ever produced, so I’m more willing to cut them some slack.

#0639: Invisible Woman

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

INVISIBLE WOMAN

MARVEL HALL OF FAME

InvisibleWoman1

The Fantastic Four have sort of become personae non gratae over at Marvel Comics in the last few years (thanks Fox) but they’re kind of one of the most important sets of characters Marvel’s ever had. Without them, there really isn’t a modern day Marvel Comics. It’s a shame they aren’t getting the respect that they deserve. It’s been a little while since any of the team has graced the toy world, but there’s a pretty decent back catalogue of stuff out there, including today’s focus, Invisible Woman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

InvisibleWoman2Invisible Woman was released as part of the first series of ToyBiz’s Marvel Hall of Fame line. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. She, like most of the other figures in the line, is more or less a re-release of a previous Marvel figure. In this case, she’s a rehash of Marvel Superheroes’ series 3 version of the character. That figure was available in both color-changing and non-color-changing versions, but this one seems to just have been offered with the feature, hence her somewhat odd coloring. The sculpt for the figure is definitely a dated one; it’s from very early in ToyBiz’s run with the license, so they were still finding their footing. The head is rather small, the articulation isn’t worked in very smoothly, and the figure just feels rather clunky in general. It’s not the worst thing ever, and it’s not even the worst female figure of the time (I’m looking at you, Monkey Face Princess Leia) but it certainly shows its age. The paint on the figure is somewhat hard to judge, mostly due to the figure’s color-change “action feature.” I can’t speak for when it was new, but the feature doesn’t really work anymore, which leaves the InvisibleWoman3figure sort of in this middle state. I tried putting her in cold water, as the packaging says to do, and all it really did was slightly change the back of the figure. Now she looks like a pie…(Tim’s been calling her Miss Meringue). Invisible Woman’s only accessory is…uhh…well, it sort of looks like a Tron disk or a Fantastic Four Frisbee. I don’t know. It plugs into her back. So, there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure’s another piece of the slew of figures I bought from Cosmic Comix a few months back. I actually own the original, non-Hall of Fame release, but I didn’t have the color-change version, so I figured this one was probably worth the $3 I paid. She’s not a figure that’s going to win any awards or anything, but she’s a neat little product of the early 90s.

 

#0615: Wizard

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

WIZARD

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

Wizard1

The 90s was a great time to be an action figure fan, especially if you liked Marvel comics. Thanks to animated versions of several of their properties airing on TV, there was a lot of tie-in product to be found. Entire lines of figures would be devoted to one particular hero and his rogues and allies, providing a rather large depth of characters, many of whom had not and would not get another figure. One such character is today’s focus, the Wizard, a slightly lesser-known Fantastic Four foe.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wizard2The Wizard was part of the fourth series of ToyBiz’s first Fantastic Four line. The character made an appearance in an early episode of the show’s second season, which had just kicked off when this series of figures was hitting stores. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The figure features an entirely unique sculpt, which is…odd to say the least. Let’s start with the posture: he seems to be somewhat hunching, with widely splayed legs, and strangely outstretched arms. His head is atop a crooked, flexing neck, and his torso is oddly shifted to the left. Then there’s the proportions: his head and hands are huge, and his torso is far too short. The Wizard has always had a helmet that made his head look a little bigger than it was, but here it’s his whole head that’s huge, which ends up making the helmet look too small by comparison. Then there’s the arms, which start off somewhat normally sized, and then quickly shift into some sort of jacked-up, oversized monstrosity. I actually kind of like the positioning of the hands, but they look like they belong to another figure. And, of course, you can’t look at this figure and not mention the muscle definition. Seriously, most of those are just made up. The figure’s paint is passable, but not really anything outstanding. It accurately represents his garishly clashing color scheme of the comics, so that’s good, I guess. However, the figure has more than a few instances of bleed over, and his belt in particular is only a slight approximation of where it should be. If you read my Medusa review, you’ll remember that Series 4’s gimmick was that each figure had a base with some sort of action feature. Medusa got her hair, which wasn’t bad, but Wizard’s been given some strange disk…thing. I really don’t know what it is. It’s big, yellow, circular, and so goofy. There’s this lever on the right, which he can loosely hold. It doesn’t do anything, though. If you want to activate the action feature, you have to use a second lever, located behind the first, which shoots some blue disk things. That’s fun I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wizard was one of the many figures I picked up from my local comicbook store a month or so back when they were running a big sale on action figures. They had several, and I’d passed him up several times over the years, so I figured I might as well break down and buy one. I don’t say this often, but he’s really not a very good figure. So much about him is just so off, and there’s no real rationale as to why. And, to make things worse, this is literally the only figure the character’s ever had, which makes it a serious bummer.

#0604: Medusa

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

MEDUSA

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

Medusa1

The Inhumans. They seem to be Marvel’s new pet project. They served as major players in Agents of SHIELD’s second season, they’ve had a couple of recent events that centered on them, and they’re slated to get their own movie. Rumor has it that Marvel’s hoping to elevate them to a near X-Men-like status. Best of luck to them on that. The Inhumans have been rather obscure for a while, but they’ve shown up a few times in toy form over the years. Let’s have a look at the very first figure of the hair-controlling Medusa, member of the royal family.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Medusa2Medusa was released as part of the fourth series of ToyBiz’s 90s Fantastic Four line. This series was based on the cartoon of the same name, and it was the first (and only) series to be based specifically on the show’s second season. Medusa was a recurring character throughout the season, so her inclusion here is quite sensible. The figure is roughly 5 inches tall and features 10 points of articulation. The articulation is…odd. She has some very nice shoulder movement, but she’s got the v-style hip joints that plagued most of the female figures of the 90s, and she has no neck movement at all. Posing her isn’t the easiest thing. Medusa had a sculpt that was new to her (though it would end up being re-used a few times), and, truth be told, it’s not great. The proportions are all pretty off; the hands and feet are rather large, and the torso feels way too small, especially by comparison. Also, for a character whose whole shtick is hair, hers seems rather lacking in volume. Then there are her legs, which are a) at a weird angle, and b) two different lengths, resulting in a figure that’s rather difficult to stand. At the very least, the figure’s face isn’t terrible, which is a good thing for the time. Paint on the figure, sadly, doesn’t do much to salvage the sculpt. It’s not terrible, but there’s more than one instance of bleed over, the face is kind of sloppy, and the purple paint on the lower arms and legs doesn’t match the molded color of the rest of the body. This particular series’ main gimmick was that each figure included a stand with an action feature of some sort. Medusa included a stand sculpted to resemble her hair. It has a set of wheels on the bottom, and when it’s pushed forward, the “pinwheel” at the top spins. Yay?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Medusa was another Balticon purchase. She was actually packaged when I got her, but still pretty low priced. She’s a figure I’ve seen lots of times before, but never actually gotten around to buying. She’s not exactly the most thrilling figure, which is kind of a shame, since was her only figure for over ten years. Oh well.

#0318: The Thing – 1st Appearance

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

THE THING – 1ST APPEARANCE

MARVEL LEGENDS

Thing1st1

Following Toybiz’s venture into the 6-inch scale with Spider-Man Classics, they quickly launched a more general series of figures based on the larger Marvel universe, dubbed Marvel Legends. The Thing initially appeared in the second series of the line, but that figure suffered from slightly odd proportions, and was before Toybiz had quite figured out how to articulate larger characters. Once they got into the swing of things, they saw fit to give the Thing a second shot! Let’s see how that turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thing1stWilsonThe Thing was released as part of the Legendary Riders series of Toybiz’s Marvel Legends, which was the 11th series of the line. He’s just over 6 inches in height and features 36 points of articulation. The Thing has been dubbed 1st Appearance, though he’s better described as “early appearance.” He’s based on Jack Kirby’s early renditions of Ben, prior to the character taking on his more widely known rocky appearance. Interesting tidbit about the figure: while he’s based on Jack Kirby’s work, he was actually designed by prominent artist Art Adams, who did a fair bit of Toybiz around the time. The Thing features a completely unique sculpt. It’s one of Toybiz’s better sculpts from this line, and it’s actually aged pretty well, which is more than can be said for the majority of Marvel Legends. Ben has a truly unique build that sets him apart from the rest of the line, and the figure is really nicely detailed. It’s not all perfect, though. The feet are a little on the flat side, looking not unlike flippers, and the scale pattern on the upper torso is just a little too regular, which makes it look just a bit off. The Thing features pretty top-quality paintwork. He’s been molded in orange, with several different accents added to bring out the sculpt. It’s pretty great and really makes the figure’s sculpt pop. The theme of the “Legendary Riders” series was each figure included a vehicle of some sort. A lot of these vehicles were rather forced, but Ben’s wasn’t too bad. He comes with his hover cycle, which he was known to ride around on from time to time. The cycle come packaged in six pieces, and is pretty easily put together. In addition, Thing includes a reprint on Fantastic Four #1 and a Thing card from the VS System card game.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Thing is a figure I passed on at the time of initial release. I’m not sure why, if I’m honest.  I’ve always liked Ben, and this is a pretty great figure of him. Regardless, I ended up picking him up from my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix, a few weeks ago when they purchased someone’s Marvel Legends collection. He was only $10, which is a great price for a figure in this scale nowadays. I’m glad I finally got the figure, and he may well be my favorite version of the character in this scale.

Thing1st2

#0076: Alicia Masters & Moloid

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

ALICIA MASTERS & MOLOID

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey look!  More Minimates!  Yay!  Ahem.

So, yeah… more Marvel Minimates.  This time around, it’s The ever-lovin’ Blue-eyed Thing’s girlfriend Alicia Masters, and her longtime nemesis the Moloid.  Okay, not really, but isn’t that more interesting than “they just happened to be packed together”?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as the short-packed one-per-case set in Series 48 of the Marvel Minimates line.

ALICIA MASTERS

First up, my main interest in the set, Alicia Masters.  This is Alicia’s first venture into the world of action figures, though that’s not a huge surprise, given that she’s a fairly average looking person in a world full of super heroes.  Alicia is built on the typical Minimate body, with the standard height of about 2 ½ inches and 14 points of articulation.  She’s depicted here in a pink sweater and a slightly darker pink skirt.  I’m honestly not sure if this is based on a specific look for Alicia, but it seems to suit the character.  Alicia has a newly sculpted hair piece, and a reused skirt piece.  The hair looks fine, and sits well, and the skirt is a well worked piece of reuse.  The rest of the detailing is handled via paint.  The line work is all well-handled, with the edges and wrinkles of her clothes all handled with care.  I do wish the sleeve detail on her arm went all the way around, but it isn’t terrible.  I do like the unevenness of the bottom of the sweater, as it adds a nice touch of reality to her look.  The face looks appropriate for Alicia, and I like the way her eyes have been handled to denote her blindness.  Alicia includes a clear stand and a clay bust of her boyfriend.  The bust is really cool, and has a nice faint face detail.

MOLOID

Next is the Moloid.  The Moloid is the army builder of the series, and depicts one of the Mole Man’s faithful minions.  The moloid isn’t totally new to the action figure world, but he’s not the most frequently released character.  He’s also built on the usual body, only he’s got a specially sculpted head to show off the Moloid’s big, pointy ears, and a pair of “short” feet.  The short feet aren’t totally new, though this is the first time they’ve had the holes in the bottom to allow them to be plugged onto one of the stands.  The Moloid’s also got a sculpted loin-cloth, which is new to the figure, and accurately depicts the typical wear of the Moloids.  The Moloid has fairly basic detailing, done on a completely painted pale yellow body.  The Moloid’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I enjoy this set a lot, more than I should, given the relative low-keyness of the character’s featured.  But things like Alicia’s awesome Thing sculpture are a great example of how Diamond can take a figure that could be boring and make it one of the stars of the series.  Both figures in the set are really cool additions to anyone’s Fantastic Four collection.

#0047: Iron Man & The Thing Minimates

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IRON MAN & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES

Look!  It’s more Minimates!  Yes, I’ll be looking at even more Minimates, once again from the Marvel line.  This time I’ll be looking at a set from the “Best Of” sub series.  The idea behind this sub set was keeping the definitive versions of the main Marvel Heroes and villains on the market, while trying to produce the best possible minimates of those looks.  I’ll be taking a look at Iron Man and the Thing from that line.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released as part of the first “Best Of” series of Marvel Minimates.

IRON MAN

First up is Iron Man.  He’s depicted in his classic red and yellow armor he wore for most of the 60s and 70s.  Unlike previous minimates of this particular look, the yellow is actually yellow on this one, instead of Gold.  Iron Man is built on the basic minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He features a sculpted helmet and belt, as well as sculpted boot and glove cuffs.  Paint-wise, the details are all well done, though some of the red paint is a little thin in places, and seems a bit fuzzy on the edges of the boots and gloves.  But since those are meant to be covered by the cuff pieces, it’s not really an issue.  Iron Man also features an extra left hand in a repulsor pose, a flying stand, and a hairpiece to display him sans helmet.  These are all reused pieces, but they work well here.

THE THING

Next is Benjamin J Grimm, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing.  Ben’s look is a bit more difficult to nail down than IM’s.  I think it’s meant to be Ben in his look from the mid 2000s, after he switched back to shorts from pants, but I can’t be certain.  The “4” on the belt buckle is throwing me off.   Anyway, he’s built on the basic minimate body, but with sculpted hands and feet instead of the regular ones.  As such, he stands a bit taller than IM and has 12 points of articulation.  In addition to the sculpted hands and feet, Ben’s other sculpted pieces are: Headpiece, upper arms, torso, waist and upper legs.  These are all slip over pieces, and have been used on previous Thing figures.  With that many sculpted pieces, the paint work on Ben is minimal.  He’s got detailing on his face, and on his belt and that’s about it.  They’re both clean and well done.  Ben also includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set when it was initially released, as I already had a few classic Iron Men, and my default version of the Thing is the look John Byrne gave him in the 80s.  However, my comic book store was having a sale on minimates, and had these guys for about 40% off, so I decided to pick them up.  While the Thing is still not my go to, I think the Iron Man may very well become my new default Iron Man.

#0017: Terrax

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

TERRAX

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

Today’s review is another Fantastic Four figure, this is the last of the wave one reviews: Terrax.  There was one other figure in the first wave, Benjamin J Grimm, aka the Thing, but I didn’t have that version.  I had the later wave 3 version.  And can I just address the fact that I’m reviewing Terrax, but I’ve yet to get to the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman? You know the other HALF of the title team!  How exactly did TERRAX get himself a spot in the line before two of the title characters?  He’s really not that great a character, nor has he ever really been all that important…ever.  Anyway…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So like I said before, this is Terrax, the second herald of Galactus, part of the first wave of Toybiz’s FF line.  He’s depicted here in Terrax’s only look ever, which must have made the costume choice pretty easy for the guys at Toybiz.  At one point in time, Terrax had a rock stand and his trusty axe (which tears through stuff.  Cleaver name….).  Mine doesn’t have these items any more.  The figure’s actually a very good depiction of Terrax, which is nice because he’s not one of those characters who gets many chances at having an action figure made.  His hands are interesting, because they’re both molded to hold his axe, but due to their vertical placement and his limited articulation, he can only hold it in one hand at a time.  This leaves the other hand with this thumbs up position.  What is this guy, the Fonz? (AAAAAAAAY!)  Actually, that might make his character a bit more interesting.  You heard it here first Marvel! (Do they even realize that this character exists?)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Terrax was another of the gift figures.  It’s fine because he’s a great, big, bad guy for your heroes to fight.  That was always good enough for me!

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!  And another one here!

#0016: Silver Surfer

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

SILVER SURFER

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

Time for another Fantastic Four review it seems.  Today we’re looking at a sometimes foe, but usually friend of the team, Silver Surfer.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The figure in question is the first herald of Galactus, Norin Radd, aka the Silver Surfer.  Good old Nor here has 11 points of articulation and stands 5 inches tall.  At one point in time, he was a bit shinier, but my figure has long since dulled.  The figure’s sculpt is solid.  I think it would be difficult to mess up a bald, naked guy, but I’d probably be wrong.  He’s got a nice assortment of articulation, though I’m not really sure what’s going on with his right arm.  Is he supposed to be doing something specific ?  Because all I see is some kind of record scratching move.  Maybe this is actually a figure of often forgotten 90s sensation DJ Sizzle Surfer-izzle and I just wasn’t aware…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a moderate silver surfer fan as a kid, but I actually rarely used this figure as the Surfer.  He was a nice, generic figure, good for a million things.  His joints are practically worn out from all the play time this guy got!

#0014: Mole Man

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

MOLE MAN

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

I’m looking at a fourth (hey that’s neat!) figure from Toybiz’s 90s Fantastic Four line.  This time it’s a figure of their first foe (Other than those wacky cosmic rays):  Mole Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The figure is Mole Man, released in the first wave of Fantastic Four figures.  He’s got 7 points of articulation and he stands about 5 inches tall.  And that’s an issue.  Mole Man is a character typically depicted as being a short, fat guy in the comics, and while Toybiz got the girth right, the scale of this figure is WAY off.  He’s the same height as just about everyone in the line, but he’s obviously meant to be smaller.  Quite frankly, he looks like he belongs with a marvel Legends set up, were it not for the more simplistic styling of the figure.  He’s also got this weird spinning right hand action feature.  When you press the button at the top of his right arm, his hand quickly spins 360 degrees.  I’m not really sure what it’s purpose is, but there you have it.  Somebody thought that was a good hook for the figure.  This figure is fairly disappointing, because the sculpt isn’t bad, but the scale totally kills it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mole Man, while disappointing, actually represents a pretty neat story.  He was purchased in 2003 from a KB Toys liquidation center.  It was pretty much this giant KB, that was full of deeply discounted toys from about 5-10 years earlier.  Mole Man was purchased along with a large selection of other 90s Marvel figures for an insanely low price, which excited me greatly.