Tag Archives: Hasbro

#0563: Ultron, Captain America, & Hulk

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

ULTRON, CAPTAIN AMERICA, & HULK

MARVEL SUPER HERO MASHERS

UltronCap&IM1So, it’s been almost a whole week since I took a look at anything Avengers-related. I don’t know about you guys, but that feels a little bit too long to me. Fortunately, I’ve got another set ready to go, and it’s even got an Ultron in it! Yay!

This review marks my second look at one of Hasbro’s newest ventures, Hero Mashers, a somewhat more kid-aimed line of figures whose whole gimmick is that you, well, mash them together. It’s not exactly the highest brow concept, but as long as it’s fun, who cares?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ultron, Captain America, and Hulk make up a three-pack that is part of the Marvel Super Hero Mashers line. The set is exclusive to Target and it was released to sort of coincide with the release of Age of Ultron. Hulk and Cap are re-decos of previous figures, but this is currently the only way to get Ultron. I’d like to address upfront that these figures are mostly made up of previous Mashers parts, but since I am not really familiar with the line, I don’t quite know the origins of each part.

ULTRON

UltronCap&IM2Clearly, this guy’s the selling point of the set, it being his introduction to the line and all. The figure is about 6 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Design-wise, he seems to be an amalgam of various Ultron looks, though he does seem to skew more towards the modern side of things. I’m fairly certain that the only piece on this figure that is actually a new sculpt is the head. It’s a rather nice piece, with some pretty decent detail work. Ultron’s head is less affected by the stylization of the Mashers line than others, which definitely works in his favor. The body is a mix of pieces from various other figures in the line. He seems to draw mostly from Iron Man and Dr. Doom, which isn’t a bad choice of parts. For the most part, everything meshes together pretty well, though it is worth noting that his right hand is noticeably larger than his left. It’s not really an issue on a robotic character such as Ultron, but it does leave me wondering if it was intentional. I’m not super keen on the red energy blade thingy, which isn’t removable. Regular release Mashers tend to have more standard parts to replace the wonkier ones like this one, but Ultron seems to have gotten the short end of the stick on that one, with no additional pieces. That’s a little annoying. Ultron is mostly just molded in silver, though he does feature some minimal red paintwork for his eyes and mouth, as well as some slight detailing on the torso (which, it has been noted, when coupled with the sculpt of the chest ends up looking not unlike a frowning face. Can’t unsee it…) and the aforementioned red energy blade thingy. What’s there is cleanly handled, if a bit sparse. As previously noted, Ultron includes no accessory.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

UltronCap&IM3Cap is the first of the two repaints in the set. He stands 6 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation, just like Ultron. Cap is generally built from the same pieces as the series 1 version of Cap, with the exception of the hands and feet, which come from elsewhere, though I couldn’t begin to say specifically where. Cap is definitely more stylized than Ultron, though not to an unreasonable degree. Generally, he’s more squared off at the edges than the average Captain America figure. The hands present a similar problem to Ultron’s left hand, in that they have the what appear to be sections of railroad track permanently affixed to them. It’s less annoying here, given that this isn’t the only Cap available, but it’s still a little annoying that there isn’t an alternative. From the standpoint of paint, this figure ends up having a little extra value to it. See, instead of the usual blue, he’s got black, which actually makes him a pretty decent stand-in for lesser known Marvel hero US Agent. It’s also worth noting that the paint is all cleanly handled, with no issues with bleed over or slop. Cap is the only figure in this set to get an accessory; he comes armed with his mighty shield, which can be plugged into either of his hands.

HULK

UltronCap&IM4Last, and sadly least, it’s the Hulk. He’s the second repaint in the set, and easily the weakest figure (spoilers). Hulk is about 6 ½ inches tall and he features the same 26 points of articulation (check out those spinning fists!). Like Cap, he’s mostly built from the last Hulk, with different hands and feet. Hulk doesn’t translate as well to this style, being a character who should be a bit more organic. He’s got a neck that is the same size as Cap’s, which looks really strange. And then there’re the hands and feet, which are mechanical in nature for some odd reason. In addition, his right hand has a cannon of some sort affixed to it, and, just like the other two, there isn’t an alternate piece. Hulk ends up with a rather straightforward Hulk style paint scheme, though it’s not without issue. The hands and feet are a metallic green, in contrast to the flatter green of the upper arms, head, and torso, suggesting that maybe it’s armor or something. Also, the greens of head and arms don’t match the torso, which really bugs me. Like Ultron, Hulk is without any accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I was at Target with my Dad a few weeks ago, and they had this set. I knew of its existence, but I hadn’t actually seen it. It being Ulton’s debut in the line, I kinda had to go for it. Ultron’s definitely the best piece of this set. He’s just shy of greatness; it would be really nice to have an alternate left hand. Cap isn’t bad, but he’s not the most exciting, and Hulk is really just filling space. I feel like this set would be best for a kid who doesn’t have Hulk and Cap yet, since they are at least fun to mess with. For a collector, you’re essentially paying the price of three figures for an Ultron. For me it was worth it, but your mileage may vary.

UltronCap&IM5

#0558: Hobgoblin

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

HOBGOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

HobML1

Oooookay, after a two-week hiatus, I am finally going to finish up those Marvel Legends Infinite Series reviews I started a month ago. So, if you’ve been patiently awaiting my Hobgoblin review that I totally put off for way too long, then you’re in luck dear reader! When we last left our legendary friends of the infinite variety, I had just looked at Spider-Girl, the last single release figure in the latest set of Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures. I noted that she was a “legacy” character of sorts. Well, so is today’s figure, in a roundabout sort of a way. In fact, he’s an exponential legacy. See, this Hobgoblin is Phil Urich, nephew of longtime Spider-Man and Daredevil supporting cast member Ben Urich. Phil began his career as the fourth person to take on the mantle of the Green Goblin (and was actually a heroic character).  In the last few years, he took over the mantle of Hobgoblin, which is itself a sort of a legacy of the Green Goblin title. This dude’s got a serious legacy thing going on, is what I’m getting at here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HobML2Hobgoblin is the Build-A-figure for the second series of the Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Like the last BaF I looked at, Thanos, this is Phil’s first entrance into the world of Marvel Legends. In fact, this is actually the first time Phil’s gotten an action figure at all, so that’s actually pretty neat. Hobgoblin is roughly 6 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. The figure is based on Phil’s second Hobgoblin design, after he tweaked the one he stole to his own needs.  The design is rather unique, so the figure, somewhat unsurprisingly, features a sculpt that is original to said figure. The figure starts out with a base body, which features some add-on work for the wings/harness, hood, and belt/skirt. Overall, it’s a very good sculpt, though it isn’t without a few faults. Let’s start with doesn’t work. The biggest issue at hand here is the figure’s torso. Simply put, it’s just weirdly shaped. Exactly what is supposed to be folds of cloth and what is underlying musculature is really hard to tell in some spots. Also, the figure’s shoulders seem to be just a touch too broad. Fortunately, both of these issues are more or less masked by the harness for the wings, so they can be pretty easily overlooked. On the plus side, the rest of the sculpt does a pretty fantastic job of translating Humberto Ramos’s drawings of the character. The head is definitely the best part. It’s rather stylized, but that really works for this particular character, and it’s full of tons of great detail, from the pointy ears to the crooked teeth. However, what’s really cool about this sculpt are the seemingly overlookable details, such as the boots, which are just as well handled as the head, and really help to make the figure work. The figure’s paintwork is generally pretty decently handled. The colors are all pretty good matches for the ones seen in the comics, and everything is pretty cleanly applied, with no slop or bleed over. The metallic blue of the boots does an effective job of making them stand out, and there is a decent amount of work done to bring out the details of the sculpt. It’s a rare thing for Build-A-Figures to get accessories, being accessories themselves, but Hobgoblin actually has two! He has a pumpkin bomb and a flaming sword. The figure has a little difficulty holding them, but they are both nicely sculpted and accurate to the source material.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, do you by any chance remember where I said I got the rest of this series of figures? You may have missed it, since I only said it like 13 times, but I picked up this whole series (and the Thanos series too) from Big Bad Toy Store. Phil Urich took over the Hobgoblin identity right as I started reading Spider-Man on a regular basis, so I definitely have an attachment to the character and I was very much looking forward to building the figure. He isn’t without his flaws, but they are rather minor, and he’s really a fun figure that translates the source material very well. I’m very happy to have gotten him. (and it’s also nice that I liked most of the figures I had to buy to get him!)

HobML3

#0557: Iron Man vs. Ultron

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

ULTRON PRIME, IRON MAN, & ULTRON – MARK 1

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

IMvsUltron1

Happy Free Comic Book Day everyone! Yes it’s that joyous time of year where we all go to pick from a small selection of pre-determined free comics and we get to hear the inevitable stories about less informed people attempting to wander out of the store with hundreds of dollars-worth of comics. Yay?

So, the official countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron ended yesterday, but fear not, the Ultron fun isn’t done just yet! I’ve looked at (almost) all of the comic-based Ultron figures. Now we start getting into the movie-based stuff. I’ve already looked at some of the Marvel Legends that were released to tie-in with the movie, and I’ll be taking a look at the first series of Minimates in a week or so. Today, I’ll be taking my first look at Hasbro’s line of 3 ¾ inch figures from the film, with two versions of the titular villain and an Iron Man thrown in for good measure.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This trio of figures was released as a Target-exclusive “Iron Man vs. Ultron”’ three-pack, which is part of Hasbro’s wider Avengers: Age of Ultron line. The figures were released just prior to the film. Iron Man and Ultron Prime are repaints of their single releases (though Ultron Prime hasn’t actually hit retail yet) and Ultron Mark 1 is, for now anyway, exclusive to this set.

ULTRON PRIME

IMvsUltron2Ultron Prime here is Ultron’s main appearance from the film. The figure is just shy of 4 inches in height and features 5 points of articulation. That presents some issues. The limited articulation is an issue to be sure, but the real issue here is that he’s just too short. In the movie, Ultron was somewhere around 8 feet tall. To be properly in scale with the rest of the figures, he should actually be over 5 inches tall. In its current state, the figure ends up being woefully small. Moving past the scale issue, let’s just look at the figure on its own merits. The figure’s sculpt is new (though it will see another use fairly shortly on the regular Ultron Prime), and, obviously, it’s based on Ultron’s final film appearance. The sculpt is okay, though I certainly wouldn’t call it perfect. The details are mostly well placed and seem fairly accurate to the source, but the sculpt seems a little bit soft. In addition, it feels as if the figure has been stretched to add some height, resulting in a rather thin figure. Couple that with the figure’s short stature and you have a rather dinky, unimposing Ultron. Paintwork doesn’t do much to help this figure, either. He’s mostly just molded in a dark, brownish grey. It’s not metallic or anything, and it’s certainly too dark. His arms are molded in a translucent red, with some paint thrown in to make the switch from grey to red gradual. Some metallic sheen shows up there, and there is some pretty decent work. The red for the eyes and the detail on the torso is also pretty decently applied, and it breaks up some of the monotony of the grey. Ultron includes a blast effect piece, molded in red, which can be placed on either of the figure’s hands.

IRON MAN

IMvsUltron3Here we have the set’s requisite heavy-hitter, Iron Man. He’s represented here in his Mark 43 armor from the movie, which is the same armor we saw in the Marvel Legends assortment as well. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation as Ultron Prime. Structurally, this figure is identical to the Iron Man figure from the first series of single release figures. It’s actually a fairly decent sculpt. The proportions are pretty spot on, it’s accurate to the armor from the film, and it has a more than passable amount of detail work. All-in-all, a good sculpt. Paint; here’s what sets this figure apart from the single release. The single release was rather disappointing, with only the most basic color placement and a lot of “broad strokes” work. Here, the paint is actually very nicely handled. Everything is pretty clean, with no slop or bleed over. All of the parts that should be red are red and all of the parts that should be gold are gold. There are even a few spots of silver thrown in for good measure. The end result is a paint job that accents the sculpt rather nicely. Iron Man includes a blast piece molded in blue.

ULTRON – MARK 1

IMvsUltron4Look! Another Ultron! It’s like a sandwich or something. This Ultron is, as noted by the name, the first version of the character we see on screen. Rather than being specifically designed to be Ultron, he’s constructed from the remains of several of the Iron Legion drones. It’s a look that figured pretty prominently into the early trailers for the film, delivering the distinctive “strings” speech, so it got a fair bit of notice. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation, just like the other two in this set. Though he may be built from Iron Legion drones in the film, this Ultron figure features a sculpt that is wholly unique to him. And what a sculpt it is! This figure features a ton of texture and detailing, all throughout. The inner workings of his body are all nicely defined, and all of the armor plating is scratched and dented, giving it a nice touch of realism. The head is probably a little too large, especially when compared to the Iron Man included, but it’s minor, and the sculpt of the head is fantastic on its own. The figure is also sculpted with his legs in a bit of a step, giving him the appearance of a limp, like the one he has in the film. It’s a nice change from the standard standing pose of the rest of the figures, but it isn’t so extreme that it takes away from the figure. Ultron Mark 1 probably has the best paintwork in the set. It could probably stand to be a little more detailed, especially on the grey parts (some metallic grey plastic would have gone a long way in this set), But there are some nice touches, and he has enough different colors to make him a bit more visually interesting than the others. On top of all that, the paint is nice and clean and there isn’t any real slop or bleed over to speak of, which is always a plus. Ultron Mark 1 includes no accessories of his own, though I suppose you could give him one of the other two’s blast pieces if you really wanted to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually stumbled upon this set pretty much completely by accident. I just happened to find a rack of them at my local Target, while I was looking to see if the second series of singles had shown up yet. I hadn’t seen any news about this set, so its existence was new to me. That’s a rarity for me nowadays, so it was a fun little find. I’m still not totally sold on Hasbro’s move to the more simplistic figures for this scale. After years of fully articulated figures, the move back to the basic 5 hurts more than a little bit. Ultron Prime is easily this set’s weak point; there are just too many things against him, and the fact that he’s not even a “default” version of the design doesn’t help. However, Ultron Mark 1 is a fun figure, and more than makes up for the failures of his more advanced counterpart. The lower articulation is much more forgivable here, and the sculpt is just far superior. Add in an Iron Man that is easily the best version available in the line right now, and you’ve actually got a pretty decent set. If we can get more figures like those two and less like Ultron Prime, my opinion of the line would definitely improve.

IMvsUltron5

#0556: Ultron

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

ULTRON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

UltronMLH1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: IT’S HEEEEEEEERRRREEE!!!!!!!

Hey guys! Hey guys! Hey guys! Do you know what got released today? AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON!!!!!!!! *ahem* Okay. I think I got it out of my system. Sorry. I’m just a teeny bit excited.

So, yes, Age of Ultron is out today. By the time you read this, I’ll have already been to see it once at a Thursday showing, and I’ll be prepping to see it again later today. Because I’m insane. Anyway, I’ll be wrapping up my countdown to the movie with one last look at my Ultron collection. This time, it’s a return to the Marvel Legends style. That didn’t go so great last time, but I think Hasbro can turn it around. Let’s look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronMLH2Ultron was released as part of Series 2 of the Iron Man 3 Marvel Legends line. He was the only of the three figures in this series to be comic-based (because, no, Ultron wasn’t in Iron Man 3. I would have noticed), and the only figure in the entire line not to be specifically Iron Man-based. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. Sculpturally, this Ultron marks the first time the character hasn’t gotten his own unique body sculpt (not counting the Minimate, of course). He’s constructed using the body of Titanium Man from the Iron Man: Armored Avenger line, along with a new head and shoulder-pads. Titanium Man’s body is a decent enough starting point. It’s well enough articulated, and it certainly has plenty of clean, sculpted detail work. It isn’t really a match for any of Ultron’s designs, but given the fluidity of his body design, that isn’t an inherently bad thing. The shoulder armor is fairly straight-forward. They’re decently sculpted, and the fit the aesthetics of the rest of the body well-enough. In a startling change from the first few Ultrons I looked at, the head is definitely this figure’s strongest point. It’s not quite the expert piece we saw on the Marvel Select figure, but it’s still a pretty great translation of the classic Ultron design to three dimensions. The details are all pretty clean, and symmetrical (important for a robot) and there’s definitely a machined quality to it. And I can’t stress enough how nice it is to see that they’ve gotten the antennae correct. That’s a key detail. It’s also worth noting that the head fits with the rest of the body very nicely, stylistically, which is always a good thing. Ultron is actually pretty simple on the paint front. Mostly, he’s just molded in silver, with a little bit of red paint for the eyes, mouth, and… uhh… shoulder-pad circles as well as a little bit of blue shading on the silver,. The silver is fine, though maybe a little too light (in contrast to the MU figure being too dark) and it has the common “swirly plastic” look that metallic colors can sometimes get. The blue accents look really nice, but they are just a bit inconsistent. It isn’t super noticeable, but it can be the slightest bit jarring. The red paint is cleanly applied, and it’s nice and solid. Some sort of variance or energy pattern would have been cool, but it certainly doesn’t look bad. Ultron included no accessories of his own, although he did include a piece of Iron Monger.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After taking a bit of a break from Marvel Legends, I was finally pulled back in by last week’s Neo-Classic Iron Man. This figure was announced not long after I got that one, and I was definitely excited to get it. I’ve been waiting for a more proper Ultron ever since the disappointment that was the ToyBiz version. Ultimately, this figure had its thunder stolen a little bit by the MS Ultron, who provided a more faithful classic Ultron, but that actually doesn’t ruin this guy for me. He’s a fun update on the character that still manages to stay true to the spirit. Plus, he’s just a heck of a lot of fun!

#0554: Ultron

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

ULTRON

MARVEL UNIVERSE

UltronMU1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 2 days remaining.

Alright, now we’re really getting into the good stuff. After going a fair bit of time without a proper classic Ultron figure, he suddenly started showing up all over the place. Hasbro decided to take their first crack at him in their Marvel Universe line. They released him as part of their sub-line of Secret Wars-based two-packs, which puts them ahead of Mattel, for those of you keeping score. I don’t actually have the two-pack version of said figure, but I do have the next best thing. So, let’s look at that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronMU2Ultron was released as part of the 15th Series of Marvel Universe. This is the second appearance of Ultron in the line, but the first to be released on his own. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation. As noted in the intro, this figure is based upon the classic Ultron design. The sculpt of this figure is a head-to-toe re-use of the Secret Wars version. It’s a pretty strong sculpt for the most part, although it does have a few small issues. The lower torso in particular is a little oddly shaped, and the sculpt of the upper torso makes the arms a little bit more limited in movement. It’s worth noting that this figure actually does get the proper head antennae, which is awesome to see. Due to the scale, they’re a little thicker than they should be, but that’s forgivable. Perhaps the figure’s biggest problem is that he just feels a little on the unsteady side. His joints are all rather loose and, while he doesn’t feel fragile, he does feel like he may keel over at any second. He can sustain a basic standing pose, but anything more dynamic and he’ll topple over. The figure’s paintwork represents another questionable area, though it isn’t bad, per say. Ultron’s traditional color scheme is predominantly silver, with a little bit of red thrown in for the eyes and mouth. Occasionally, the red might be swapped for blue, but that’s rare. On this figure, they got the silver pretty much right (although it could be argued that it’s a touch too dark), but the accents are… green? Yeah, I’m not sure what happened there. I mean, Ultron’s never been green. I guess Hasbro wanted to be different. To be fair, it doesn’t look bad. It’s applied fairly cleanly, and the move from white to green in the larger areas gives a nice bit of dimension. The use of the green to outline the etched in portions of the body is also quite cool, and makes it look like he’s overflowing with power. Ultron’s only accessory is a display stand with his name and the Marvel logo on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For whatever reason, I missed out on the Secret Wars two-pack that included Ultron. I saw it once or twice, but I just didn’t get it. I think it had to do with the crappy Mr Fantastic he was packed with. Anyway, after those had sufficiently disappeared from stores, I figured I’d missed my shot on a classic Ultron. But then Hasbro announced this guy, and I figured he was a pretty decent stand-in. It’s not a totally straight forward classic Ultron, but it’s really not far off and the green is actually quite cool looking. Plus, I’ve just convinced myself that this figure is actually Ultron-12, the heroic Ultron, in some sort of alternate universe where he didn’t die and he changed his colors to green to differentiate himself. Which actually makes me appreciate the figure all the more.

#0550: Vision

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

VISION

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

VisionMU1

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 6 days remaining.

I’ve made it no secret that Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch are essential members of the Avengers as far as I’m concerned, on the same level as Captain America himself. Well, there’s one more Avenger who I think really makes the team, and that’s the Vision, the focus of today’s review. He didn’t show up until 57 issues into the series, but once he’s there he sticks with the team for a rather hefty portion of the book’s original run. For a time, he was the team’s signature character. But, he’s not Spider-Man or Wolverine, so he disappeared in the 2000s. Yay. But now he’s working his way back to the top! Go synthezoid, go!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

VisionMU2Vision was released in the sixth series of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line. The figure was offered in two different versions: regular and phasing. Today, I’ll be looking at the phasing version. Originally, it was supposed to be the rarer of the two, but poor distribution of this series’ initial cases meant that the regular version ended up being a lot harder to find. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 20 points of articulation. He’s built using the first mid-size male buck from the line (initially used for Daredevil), which is something of a rocky starting point for any figure. The initial base bodies were…well, they weren’t very good. The mid-size body wasn’t the worst, but it’s got some issues with proportions, mostly in the torso area. It’s too short, and most of that comes from the fact that he looks like he’s missing an entire section of abdominal muscles. It’s weird. It’s also just a bit too short for Vision. Of the base bodies available at the time they produced this figure, this one was the best, but that doesn’t mean it’s very good. It’s not helped by the fact that a far superior mid-sized body was introduced in the very next series, making this figure look almost immediately out of date.  To the figure’s credit, he did feature an all-new head and cape, both of which were very nicely handled. It’s a little harder to tell on the clear figure, but the head has some nice, clean detail work that works quite nicely for the figure. The cape has a really nice flow to it, and it sits nicely on his shoulders. It’s a shame these pieces didn’t have the chance to be used on a better body. The paint on Vision is relatively minor. For the most part, he’s just molded in the appropriately colored plastic. The colors seem a little on the light side, but not too badly. There is a little bit of green on the tops of the lower legs and arms, and some red for his face. They’re applied well enough, and the end result is pretty nice. Vision’s lone accessory is a black display stand with his name and the number 006 on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy while in the midst of putting together a set of MU Avengers. I held off of getting this particular figure for a little while, since I was hoping to track down the regular version. However, once it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, I tracked this version down on Amazon. I can’t say he’s one of the best MU figures or even one of the best Vision figures. The outdated body really holds him back, which is a shame. That said, he’s not terrible, and given that MU has one of the most expansive Avengers rosters available, he’s kind of important.

#0545: Black Widow

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

BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

BlackWidowMU1

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

#0544: Thor

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

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

ThorLoA1

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

#0543: Iron Man

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

IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

#0541: Spider-Girl – Warriors of the Web

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

SPIDER-GIRL – WARRIORS OF THE WEB

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Comics, as a medium, operate on a strange sort of compressed/decompressed timeline. Since we only see the characters once a month, their lives move much slower than our own. Sometimes, this works to the story’s advantage. It allows the characters to remain in their prime for much longer. Sometimes, however, creators like to show their characters aging, especially when you start building more than 20 or so years of stories. When your characters begin to age, sometimes the best course of action is to let someone else step into the mantle, creating legacy heroes. Typically, legacy heroes have been DC’s thing, what with their four Flashes and six Green Lanterns, but Marvel has gotten in on it a few times. In the 90s, they actually created an entire universe of legacies, dubbed MC2. It was set a little further in the timeline than the regular MU, and it focused on the children and successors of the Marvel Universe’s greatest heroes. The breakout character was May “Mayday” Parker, aka Spider-Girl, the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane. She’s seen her fair share of action figure love over the years, and she just found her way into Marvel Legends, courtesy of the latest series of Hasbro’s Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Incidentally, she’s a completely different character from the last Spider-Girl I reviewed from this line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MayDay2Spider-Girl is part of the second series of the Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. She’s officially titled “Warriors of the Web,” a title that she shares with Ultimate Spider-Woman. However, as I noted when I reviewed Spider-Woman, the figures include completely different pieces to the Hobgoblin Build-A-Figure, and they are equally essential to completing said figure, unlike previous shared-name figures. I would guess that the shared name is purely to cut down on packaging printing costs. Spider-Girl stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she features 29 points of articulation. The figure uses the smaller female base body we first saw on the Arana Spider-Girl. I can’t say enough how much I love this base. It’s a well-sculpted, well-proportioned body, and it offers a lot of mobility. It’s a great choice for Spider-Girl. In addition to the base, Spider-Girl features a brand-new head and hands and a set of add-ons for her web cartridges. The head is fairly similar to the one we saw on the Spider-Man from this series. It’s simple, but very nicely handled. One minor nit: the socket for the neck joint isn’t set quite far enough up in the head, so she can look a little off in some poses. The hands are done in a web-shooting pose, and they’re pretty well sculpted as well. It would, however, be nice if she included another set of hands, as the double web-shooting hands do limit what can be done with the figure a bit. If Spidey can get three sets of hands, she should have at least two. The cartridges are nicely done, and I wonder if we might see them turn up again on a classic Black Widow in the near future. As far as paint goes, Spider-Girl is pretty good. The webbing isn’t quite as good as the normal Spider-Man, but it’s a definite step up from Superior. The reds on the legs/feet could also stand to be a little cleaner, but that’s minor. Spider-Girl includes no accessories of her own, which is a shame.  However, she does include the head and wings of the Hobgoblin Build-A-Figure, so there’s that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, do you know where I got Spider-Girl? Well, you should, because I’ve said it 13 times now. Yes, she’s from the full set of these that I ordered from Big Bad Toy Store. I didn’t really put a whole lot of thought into Spider-Girl before getting the set in hand. I’ve only got a marginal knowledge of the character. Still, I knew she had a decent fanbase, so seeing her eventually crop up in Legends was certainly not a surprise. Ultimately, this is a surprisingly well-done figure. Aside from the issue with the hands, there’s not really anything I can knock it down for. And that’s pretty darn good.

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