Tag Archives: Hank Pym

#0384: Hawkeye – Classic & Ant-Man – Lab Attack

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

HAWKEYE – CLASSIC & ANT-MAN – LAB ATTACK

MARVEL MINIMATES

Marvel Minimates is quite a long-running line. With 60 main series, along with 19 Toys R Us exclusive series and countless boxed sets, spanning over 10 years, getting into the line can be a little bit intimidating for the new collector. Fortunately, Diamond Select Toys has come up with a solution: the Best Of Marvel Minimates. This sub-line offers updates of heavy hitter characters, and they are offered up for re-order on a near regular basis, allowing new collectors the chance to get their collection off to a good start with relative ease. What’s more, they are consistently high-quality, and they offer lots of new parts to entice older collectors. They truly are the Best Of. DST just released the third assortment of the line, and today I’ll be looking at Hawkeye and Ant-Man, two long-time Avengers.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

As noted in the intro, Hawkeye and Ant-Man were released as a two pack in the third series of the Best Of off-shoot of Marvel Minimates.

HAWKEYE – CLASSIC

Hawkeye is one of the quintessential Avengers, having stuck with the team for most of its tenure. Unfortunately, just as the Avengers started showing up in Marvel Minimates, he ended up dead for a little while. Fortunately, he recent Marvel Cinematic Universe has brought the character some new life, and he’s gotten his fair share of Minimates in the last few years. And now it seems he’s popular enough to warrant a Best Of release. Hawkeye is depicted here in his classic costume. It’s shown up twice before in the line, but previous figures were a little off, so another stab at it is nice. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the standard body, with some additional pieces for his mask, collar/quiver, loincloth, arm and wrist bands, and boots. They were all previously used on the Disney Store exclusive Hawkeye, and before that the boots first showed up on the Invaders boxed set Captain America, the wrist bands are from DC’s Ocean Master, and the arm bands are from Series 25’s Iron Man. All of these pieces add up to a very nice classic Hawkeye. On the previous Hawkeye, the mask seemed too bulky, but it doesn’t seem so bad here, and all of the other pieces look great. The paint on Hawkeye is pretty solid work over all, aside from one small issue: the blue on the loincloth doesn’t quite match that on the rest of the figure. It’s not too bad, but it is a minor annoyance. Other than that, everything is excellent. In particular, I love the palate on this version. The purple and blue both feel like just the right shades. Hawkeye includes his trusty bow (from the Tomb Raider line), two pointed arrows (first seen way back in the BSG line), two rounded arrows (from the Disney Hawkeye), an alternate hairpiece (from Series 27’s Ultimate Cap), and a clear display stand. Hawkeye doesn’t really have an alternate look like some of the others in this series, but he comes very well armed, and all the sculpted parts that go into his look are really great.

ANT-MAN – LAB ATTACK

Ant-Man is one of the last two founding Avengers to “hit it big.” Hopefully, his upcoming 2015 movie will help to change that. I would imagine the buzz around that movie is what warrants his place in the Best Of line, so I’d say he’s moving up. This is the Hank Pym version of Ant-Man, and he’s had two previous Minimates. I liked the first one a lot, but it looks a bit dated by current standards, and the second one was just based on too specific a look. So, an update was much needed. Like Luke Cage, it’s not a strict update of a previous look, but rather a newer look that is close to the old ones. Hank’s look is taken from the Marvel Adventures line that Marvel was running a few years ago. It’s pretty much just a streamlined version of the classic costume, so that’s not too bad. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he features 14 points of articulation. He makes use of the standard Minimate body, with the addition of his trademark helmet. The helmet is a re-use from the very first Ant-Man, which is reasonable. It’s still a good piece, and it’s a great translation of the comic look to three dimensions. The rest of his look is done with paint, and the paint work is really great. Everything is even and clean, and all the detail work is nice and sharp. Under the helmet is Hank giving a friendly smile that is just perfect for the character. About the only thing that could stand to be different is the shade of the blue, which seems a touch too dark. Ant-Man includes a spare hairpiece (first used on the Captain America: Through the Ages Armored Cap), a lab coat (first seen on the Ghostbusters Janosz) and a spare set of arms for a more scientific look, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Luke and Iron Fist, I got these two from my local comicbook store Cosmic Comix. This is the set I was looking forward to the most form this series. Hawkeye and Ant-Man are two of my favorite Marvel characters, so I’m really happy to see them get updates. Hawkeye is easily the best version of the character to date, and is the version of the character I’ve been wanting since the line started. Ant-Man’s a really solid figure too, and while I still hope for an update to his classic design someday, this one is a great version of the character to have in the meantime.

#0176: Avengers Boxed set

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HULK, GIANT MAN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, & KANG

MARVEL MINIMATES

If there’s one toyline I like more than all others, it’s Minimates, particularly the Marvel Minimates subset. Frequent readers should be well aware of this fact, given the sheer volume of Marvel Minimates reviews present on this site. Anyway, I’ve got another Marvel Minimates review for today. This set is important in that it heralded the first release of long-demanded villain Kang!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This was one of two boxed sets released exclusively through the Disney Store in 2012. The sets were both Avengers related, in an attempt to tie into the movie release. The sets featured three all new figures packaged with five re-releases from Marvel Minimates series 44.

HULK

The Hulk is one of the three re-packs in this set. He’s based on his Professor Hulk incarnation, from Peter David’s run of Hulk. The basic idea was that Banner’s intelligence remained when he turned into the Hulk. It was a pretty big moment in the comics, and it definitely deserves a Minimate. This is actually the second Minimate of Professor Hulk, but the less said about the first one, the better. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with sculpted add-ons for bulk. He stands a little over 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Most of the bulked up pieces are the same ones seen on other large characters, but he does feature a new set of feet, new hair, and it’s the first official release of the basic bulked up hands. All of the pieces look pretty good, and it’s nice to finally get a hairpiece that accurately resembles Hulks occasional bowl cut look. The paint work is good overall. There’s a bit of slop a few places, but all detail work is sharp. Hulk includes two rock slabs.

GIANT MAN

GiAnt Man is yet another of the repacks from this set. He’s based on George Perez’s redesign of the character from his and Kurt Busiek’s run on The Avengers in the 90s. The idea behind this redesign was creating a look that could easily morph between Hank’s Giant Man and Ant Man personas, hence the GiAnt Man title. It’s not a bad look, so its inclusion here is fair. He’s also built on the standard Minimates body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. The number of add-ons depends on how you set him up, but amongst them are a Giant Man helmet, an Ant Man helmet, a belt, a torso extender, a pair of tall feet and a pair of short feet. The figure seems to be a case of better in concept than in execution, as the Giant Man set-up looks a bit strange, the Ant Man set-up is a bit too large, and neither helmet actually fits his face properly, leading to his mouth being too far down, making him look silly. The figure also includes a spare hairpiece to display him unmasked. It’s a re-use of Renfield’s hair from the Dracula set, and I’m not sure it quite fits Hank. Overall, this figure had some potential, but ends up being a bit of a mess.

 

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Cap is the final repack in this set. He based on Cap’s typical look, though it does take some of the more specific cues from George Perez’s work. The figure is on the standard body, so he’s got the usual stats. He features six sculpted add-ons: mask, glove cuffs, shield strap, and boots. All of these are reuse from previous Captains, but it’s kind of a case of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The paint work is all pretty good. Everything is nice and clean, and he’s even got little details, like the scales on his shirt or the blue shorts he’s sometimes depicted wearing over the pants. One area that is a bit off is the face, which seems a little bit angry looking for Cap. Other than that, he’s a pretty great standard Cap release. He includes his mighty shield (in metallic colors!), and a spare hairpiece, which is a re-use from one of the Back to the Future Marty McFly figures.

KANG

KAAAAANG!!! Yeah, he was a pretty big deal. Kang is the only exclusive figure in this set. For those of you who don’t know Kang, he’s one of the more pivotal Avengers foes. He was a conqueror from the future that came back in time to take over earlier. The Avengers of course would always stop him, as they do. For a quick explanation, I’d recommend checking out the character’s appearances in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which is currently available for streaming on Netflix. Kang is built in the standard Minimates body, so he has all the typical stats. He features 7 sculpted add-ons: helmet, gloves, shoulder armor, belt, and upper arms. The upper arms are the same ones seen on Betsy Braddock and the Hydra Elite. They aren’t my favorite piece, but they do work for depicting more billowy shirt material, which Kang does have. I think the rest of the pieces are new, though the gloves mightbe a re-use. The paint work on Kang is pretty good. Nothing spectacular, but it isn’t bad and everything is nice and sharp. Kang includes two guns and a pink teleportation stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty excited about this set. The update on Professor Hulk was much needed, and the release of Kang was super cool! I wish Giant Man had been a bit better, but overall, this is a pretty good set. I got this set from Disney’s online store, as none of the Disney Stores near me carry Minimates. I like the idea of Disney exclusives, if it gets us cool sets like this, but they should definitely work on distribution.

#0006: Avengers First Appearance Boxed Set

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

ANT-MAN, WASP, HULK, IRON MAN, THOR, & GIANT-MAN

TOY BIZ AVENGERS FIRST APPEARANCE BOXED SET

Now a days, pretty much every one knows who the avengers are, but back in the mid 90s, they were  kind of obscure outside of the comic collecting community.  So, sets like the one I’m reviewing today were kind of a big deal.  I’ll be taking a different approach to these, and reviewing the whole set all in one shot.

ANT-MAN

THE FIGURE ITSELF

First up is Ant-Man, the first of the two Hank Pym figures included in this set.  He’s a good deal smaller than all of the other figures in the set, but that’s to be expected.  He’s got 7 points of articulation, which is good for the scale.  The most impressive part, I feel is the removable helmet, which is astounding on a figure this size.  And it looks great to boot!

WASP

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Next is Hank’s girlfriend, then wife, then ex-wife, then it got really complicated, Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp!  The Wasp is depicted in her original uniform, as is appropriate for an Avengers #1 set.  It’s not my favorite look of hers, but it’s not bad.  The figure shows the look off pretty well.  Wasp is about the same height as Ant-Man and has pretty much the same articulation, though his works better.  It would have been nice to get a regular sized Jan as well, but this one worked fine.

HULK

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Next is the jade giant, the Incredible Hulk.  Hulk is in his shown here wearing his Avenging shorts (I mean, that has to be their purpose, right?  Because we only ever see him wearing them with the Avengers).  Hulk is well sculpted, but the paint leaves a little bit to be desired.  Or more specifically the choice of plastic color.  They went with this sickly looking pale green, which doesn’t befit Dr Banner at all.  He looks like he needs a little sun.  Overall, a fine figure.

IRON MAN

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Onto the armored Avenger, Iron Man.  He’s depicted in his second suit of armor, the same as his original, but gold plated.  To emulate the coloring properly, Toybiz offered two versions of the set.  One came with a Vac Metalized shiny, gold chromey paint job, and the other came with a dull, brozish style of coloring.  My original was the dull version, but when his helmet got stepped on and crushed, I upgraded to the shiny one, found loose at a toy show.  Oh, and that helmet I mentioned?  Yeah, it was removable, which was definitely this figure’s coolest feature! Just look at Tony’s handsome mug!

THOR

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Oh boy.  This Thor.  Man this Thor.  This was not a good Thor.  Though, amazingly, it was the only Thor figure I owned until late into the Marvel Legends line.  But it’s not a very good figure.  The Chrome helmet and chest-circle-thingies (technical term!) are cool, and the basic body’s okay.  But then you look at that face.  Oh, man that face.  It’s bad.  And to top it all off, he has this weird poofy cloth cape, which pretty much never looked right.  I’m fairly certain this figure is the reason why I didn’t like Thor until the movie came out in 2011.

GIANT MAN

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lastly, we have what I consider to be the best figure in the set:  Giant Man!  He’s the second version of Hank Pym we’re looking at in this set, and he’s actually not quite accurate, what with Hank not being Giant Man until Avengers # 2, but man this is a cool figure, so I’m willing to overlook it.  The coolest thing about this figure, I feel, is the size.  He had some serious scale on his side.  Plus he’s just about a picture perfect representation of Hank in this costume.  The paint is sharp, the sculpt is good.  This figure’s got some serious win on his side!  He once had a set of antenna, but they fell of after a few months of play.  But at least they both fell off, preserving the symmetry.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These figures are pretty important to me, because they represent a first for me:  waiting for a figure to be released.  In the early days of the internet, I remember seeing the control art for these guys on Raving Toy Maniac.  I was absolutely thrilled.  I printed it out, and made paper figures to hold me over.

I finally saw these figures on an end-of-the-school-year shopping trip with my Nanna.  They were on an end cap and I eagerly picked them up and informed her that I didn’t need to look at anything else.  I was done.  She didn’t really get it.  Who were these characters?  Didn’t I want a Spider-Man, or a Batman instead?  Nope.  I wanted my Avengers and that’s what I got.  And man was it a great day!