Tag Archives: Hulk

#3910: Grey Hulk

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

GREY HULK

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Meet Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a nuclear physicist working for the United States Defense Department. Dr. Banner designed a Gamma Bomb, a weapon that emitted a high output of gamma radiation. During the testing of the bomb, Dr. Banner attempted to rescue a civilian who had wandered onto the test site. Banner was caught in the blast and thanks to an unknown genetic factor, was transformed into a grey-skinned behemoth known as the Hulk. The meek and timid Banner, when enraged, changes into the unstoppable Hulk. Possessing unearthly strength, the Hulk can easily lift 70 tons. While in Hulk form, he is nearly impervious to harm as well. Make no mistake, the Hulk more than lives up to his name and has yet to meet his equal in sheer brute force.”

Hey, look it’s a Grey Hulk.  Or perhaps a Gray Hulk.  You know, depending on your take on spellings.  This one’s emphatically a “Grey” Hulk, and I’m gonna go so far as to say that it’s ultimately this figure’s fault that I default to the “e” spelling over the “a” spelling.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I’ve thoroughly exhausted the one real bit of trivia I have for Grey Hulk, so I won’t bring it up again.  I’ll just assume you know why he shifted from grey to green in the comics.  Because of that shift, however (and Marvel’s recoloring of reprints of his original appearance), Hulk merchandise always stuck to his emerald pallor.  It was a pretty big deal to get any sort of Grey Hulk at all, and an especially big deal for it to not be a Joe Fixit variant.  So, hey, let’s check out the big deal.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grey Hulk is the fourth and final figure in Toy Biz’s Silver Age line, a PX-exclusive assortment from 1999.  He, like last week’s Spidey, is actually true to the line’s name, and perhaps one of the very best uses of such an idea.  As noted above, this was the first proper Grey Hulk figure released, which was very cool.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He wasn’t especially big, but I guess Grey Hulk was kind of on the smaller side.  The articulation is notably limited, with no elbows or knees, which happened a lot with the Hulks.  Most of his sculpt is a re-use of the “Crash-Out Action” Hulk from the main Hulk line’s “Smash & Crash” assortment.  It was that line’s take on the standard look for the character from the UPN series at the time.  Issues of size and articulation aside, it’s a decent basic Hulk sculpt, and it fits in well with the rest of the Toy Biz figures of the time.  Since that figure’s head sculpt was very much a later style Hulk, this guy gets a new head, a rare new piece for the line.  It gives Hulk his shorter hair and more pronounced brow, and while it’s a touch soft, it’s generally a pretty nice sculpt.  He also gets a soft-goods shirt and shoes, so as to give him more of the tattered remains of Bruce Banner’s clothing, in line with the look on the original cover.  They’re admittedly a little dopey looking, but they’re also completely removable if they’re not your vibe.  The color work here’s not bad.  The grey is all painted, and there’s pretty extensive accenting, which works quite well.  Hulk is packed with a couple of pieces of wall, which are re-purposed from the Cyclops Laser Arena, a seven year old set that had no re-use up to this point.  Pretty impressive resourcefulness, honestly.  The new paint work makes them look a bit more natural than the original use as well, which is certainly a plus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is the only Silver Age figure I had as a kid.  He was, if I’m recalling correctly, left for me by my dad the Tooth Fairy after I lost my first front tooth.  Sneaking an entire sealed figure under my pillow was a neat trick, I’ll tell you that.  I was always reading old Marvel comics, and the early Hulk look fascinated me, so he was right up my alley.  Despite not technically being a standard Hulk, he rivaled my Avengers boxed set Hulk for being my go-to Hulk at play time.  I lost the shirt, shoes, and wall shortly after getting him, I recall, but was able to get replacements more recently.  He holds up pretty well, and I think he’s probably the best figure in this particular set.

#3866: Maestro

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

MAESTRO

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (TOY BIZ)

“From the future comes the corrupted version of the Incredible Hulk, the Maestro! Turning away from good, the Maestro defeated all of the world’s heroes in his future time, and now wears their weapons and armor as trophies. Using his incredible strength to become the ruler of the war-torn society, the Maestro is evil personified and he’s not finished. The only hope for this terrible future comes as the Hulk of our time is pulled forward to face the Maestro in battle and defeat him. Warned of the arrival of the Hulk, the Maestro readies himself for the greatest clash of his life!”

Two weeks ago, prolific comics writer, novelist, and columnist Peter David passed away.  Peter was a family friend, who I had known pretty much since I was born, and a regular attendee at the sci-fi conventions my family helped run.  He’d been battling with some health issues for a few years, but his passing still seemed sudden, and it is odd to think that a man with such a distinctive voice will now be absent from so many conversations.  Peter had a hand in a lot of very popular comics over the years, and in particular did a lot of pretty noteworthy things during his time writing Hulk.  He really explored the internal struggle of Bruce Banner and his duality as the Hulk, bringing to the forefront many different versions of the title character.  Alongside the late and great George Perez, Peter created Maestro, a dark take on the Hulk from an alternate future.  He got a pretty quick turnaround on the toy front, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Maestro was released in 1997’s “Transformations” series of Toy Biz’s The Incredible Hulk line.  Rather appropriately, the assortment also had Smart Hulk, the version of Hulk from the present day that he faced off against in his initial story, so that worked out pretty well.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  He’s not particularly agile, but he’s a Hulk, so they don’t tend to be.  The neck is particularly stiff, though, due to the beard and long hair.  Generally, he’s really just good for the one pose.  It is, at least, a pretty cool pose.  The sculpt is rather on par with the rest of the main Hulk line.  It’s solid, and there’s a lot of pretty nice little detailing.  The warts and such on the skin are gross, but they’re kind of supposed to be, right?  In the story, Maestro is Hulk after the rest of the Marvel Universe is dead, so to reflect this, the figure gets a Toy Biz original twist on his design: the fallen hero armor.  He’s got a bandolier sporting the helmets/heads of Juggernaut, Ultron, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, and Nova, and Dr. Strange’s cloak attached to that.  He’s also got a damaged version of Cap’s shield, with a chain connecting Mjolnir to it on his left arm, and he *should* have a gauntlet on the right arm made of Wolverine’s bones, but mine is missing that part.  It’s a really cool, really distinctive visual, that’s not based on anything from the comics, nor has it ever been adapted into the comics, but it’s still very cool.  Maestro’s paint work is pretty nice, actually.  The core body gets quite a bit of accenting and smaller detail wrk, and the fallen hero armor gets a lot of color.  The only slight oddity is the all-red eyes; he usually just had normal eyes, but they made them red.  It’s not a bad visual, but doesn’t quite represent the character’s comic look.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing this figure in the store when he was new, and I was always fascinated by the armor (especially since it was our only glimpse at a classic Iron Man or Ultron during the Toy Biz run), but for whatever reason, I just never got around to buying one.  It’s been on my list since I got back into the collection in college, but was always just outside my immediate “gotta buy it” price range.  In light of Peter’s passing, I decided it was time to stop putting it off and finally get one, which I did.  He’s really cool, even if he’s not strictly comic accurate.  I’m glad I finally got one.

#3479: Gray Hulk & Dr. Bruce Banner

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

GRAY HULK & DR. BRUCE BANNER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Caught in the heart of a Gamma Bomb explosion, Dr. Bruce Banner now finds himself transformed when darkness falls, into the most powerful creature to walk the earth – the Incredible Hulk”

Did you know that the Hulk was gray when he first appeared?  Well, if you don’t, you really should; I mention it every time I review a figure of Gray Hulk.  It’s honestly because I’m not really sure what else to say about the look.  I mean, it’s all pretty cut and dry. He’s Hulk. He’s gray. Great choice for an anniversary year, so, he very often is. We got him for Marvel’s 80th in 2019, and now we’re getting him again for the Avengers’ 60th, this time with a comics styled Bruce Banner in tow!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Gray Hulk and Dr. Bruce Banner are part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Marvel Legends. They’re one of a handful of two-packs from the line-up, hitting the same price point as the similarly balanced deluxe/standard split Destroyer and Thor.

GRAY HULK

This is, I believe, our fourth Gray Hulk for Legends, not counting the Joe Fixit versions. It’s the third under Hasbro’s tenure, with the last one being the previously mentioned 80th anniversary one.  This guy is effectively just a slight tweak on that one.  The figure is 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  From the neck down, he’s identical to the two 80th Hulks.  It’s a good, solid base, with a strong articulation scheme and a nice, balanced set of proportions.  It’s been the go-to for Hulk since the 80th introduced it four years ago, and it’s a solid case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  This Hulk gets not one, but two brand-new head sculpts, both courtesy of Paul Harding.  One’s baring his teeth in a sort of a sneer, while the other is closed mouth, while still very pissed off.  These two are slightly cleaner, and a bit more Kirby-esque than the prior version.  The color work this time around is less nuanced than the prior version, relying more on flat molded colors, and less on much in the way of accent work.  It’s certainly a very clean set-up, which is more directly in-line with the coloring of the comics…you know, apart from the whole being a consistent shade of gray all the way through thing.  Gray Hulk is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture/gripping), the tattered shirt piece that the last one got (which still doesn’t stay on very securely), and the crushed pipe piece.

DR. BRUCE BANNER

Bruce Banner isn’t *crazy* rare when it comes to toys, but he’s not exactly super plentiful either.  This marks only his second time as a Legends release, and the first one was movie based.  In terms of comic coverage, the closest we got before this was the old Hulk Classics figure, which was vaguely Legends compatible, but not quite there.  This guy is clearly designed to match up with his box-mate’s Incredible Hulk #1-basis, what with the classic lab-coat and glasses appearance and all.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Banner’s largely just using the Coulson body, which works well enough, being a basic suited set-up and all.  He’s got Reed Richards’ labcoat in place of the usual suit jacket, as well as a brand-new head sculpt.  The new head is…well it feels just a touch too pretty for Bruce, I feel.  Like, it’s not bad, but it’s a bit young looking, and rather delicate.  He feels more like a model than a scientist.  Not to worry, though, because you can easily hide those good looks behind his super nerdy glasses, which are totally removable, and totally stay in place, and totally look really good.  I believe this also makes him the first Banner figure that’s not a Minimate to have the glasses, which is pretty darn nifty.  Bruce’s color scheme is slightly unconventional for him.  He tends to be all about those purple pants.  However, since he’s supposed to be matching with the Hulk from this set, he’s got blue pants and an orange shirt.  It’s different, but honestly doesn’t feel too odd for him.  The actual paint work is largely confined to the face, which is printed, and looks pretty clean.  Banner’s extras are limited to just those removable glasses (which, by the way, are very easy to miss in the box, so be careful with that).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I already had the 80th Grey Hulk, so I wasn’t necessarily looking for an upgrade.  That said, I didn’t have a suitable comics-style Bruce Banner, so that one at the very least piqued my interest.  Did I *want* to buy another Hulk to get him?  Maybe not.  But I did, and I honestly don’t mind it.  I like the new heads a lot, and I like Banner a lot, so I’m considering the whole thing an overall win.

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.

#3454: Totally Awesome Hulk

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

TOTALLY AWESOME HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In 2005, Marvel relaunched Amazing Fantasy, the anthology from the ’60s that had spawned Spider-Man, with a similar purpose: creating new characters.  Fittingly, the series’ most successful character would come out of its 15th issue (much like the original), when they introduced Amadeus Cho.  Amadeus would become a recurring supporting player, typically revolving around the Hulk side of things.  In 2015, following the Secret Wars event, Amadeus got to take over the title of Hulk himself, albeit in a different, decidedly more Totally Awesome way.  And it’s led to him getting a totally awesome figure.  Totally awesome!  Let’s check that out now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Totally Awesome Hulk is the Build-A-Figure for the self-titled series of Marvel Legends.  Amadeus’s ties to the overall Marvels-theming of the set are loose at best; he was on the Champions with Ms Marvel for a while in the comics, so I suppose that’s something?  Sure, let’s go with that.  Look, it got me an Amadeus Cho figure; I’m not gonna question it.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Amadeus is using the Endgame Hulk body as a starting point, which isn’t a terrible option; it keeps him a little more svelte than the typical comic Hulk, in keeping with Amadeus’s smaller stature, but keeps him noticeably larger than the standard-sized figure.  He gets a new head, pelvis, legs, and an add-on for his wrist band.  The head sculpt is a nice piece; it’s definitely leaning into Frank Cho’s version of Amadeus, which is a solid choice.  It also helps to keep him in line with the overall style of the line, and makes it clear that he’s a different character than Bruce.  The new legs mean he’s got pinless knees; still not pinless on the elbows, but it’s better than nothing.  Totally Awesome Hulk’s color work is largely handled through molded colors on the plastic.  The colors are nice and bright, and he’s very eye-catching.  He’s got a little bit of paint, mostly on his face, which gets some solid accent work.  Amadeus is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and the other in open gesture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been an Amadeus fan since his “World War Hulk” appearances, and I’ve followed him since.  I’ve always wanted a figure of him in some form, but most of the time he’s just an average looking guy, so he’s not super toyetic.  Once he got Hulkified, I hoped that might speed up the process, but it’s still been a heck of a wait.  At this point, I’m just glad that I got some version of Amadeus, but on top of it all, he’s actually a pretty darn cool one.

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.

#3251: Gladiator Hulk & Valkyrie

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

GLADIATOR HULK & VALKYRIE

MARVEL MINIMATES

“In Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok – the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization – at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger – the Incredible Hulk!”

In order to really maximize the depth of characters covered, Thor: Ragnarok‘s Minimates line-up split itself amongst a number of venues.  There was a core boxed set at specialty, and then the rest went to TRU and Walgreens.  In order to properly spread the heavy hitters around, Valkyrie and Hulk, who were both absent from the main boxed set, found themselves distributed in two-pack form.  I’m taking a look at that particular two-pack today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Gladiator Hulk and Valkyrie were one of the two carry-over packs for the Thor: Ragnarok tie-in line up of Marvel Minimates.  While the other carry-over pack, Thor and Hela, was also available as part of the boxed set, Hulk and Valkyrie were available only in the store-exclusive line-ups.

GLADIATOR HULK

Ragnarok‘s role for Hulk partially adapts his “Planet Hulk” storyline from the comics, which includes his time as a gladiator on Sakaar, a rather distinctive look for the character.  That was, of course, the look that served as the basis for all the tie-in merch, which certainly made a lot of sense.  The figure is using the standard ‘mate body, so he’s technically starting out at 2 1/4 inches tall with 14 points of articulation.  That being said, the extra parts on this guy wind up removing the ankle movement, while also granting him an extra half inch of height.  Hulk has 11 sculpted add-on pieces, for his helmet, chest cap, upper arms, hands, thighs, feet, and torso extender.  The upper arms, thighs, and torso extender are all re-used from previous bulked up releases, while the rest of the parts are all-new to this particular figure.  The sculpting is generally pretty good, and certainly consistent with other bulked up figures.  He’s definitely falling more into that realm of a little bit over sculpted and busy for my personal taste on Minimates, but he’s not awful.  The paint work on the figure is about what you’d expect.  With as much sculpting as there is, most of the paint is base coverage, with limited detail line work.  What detail line work is there, however, is pretty sharp, and I especially like the white markings on the skin.  Gladiator Hulk is packed with an alternate hairpiece (a re-use of the Zombie Hulk piece), his hammer an axe from the arena fight, and a clear display stand.

VALKYRIE

Making her debut in the MCU side of the line, and getting her first Minimate since 2007’s Defenders boxed set, Valkyrie was certainly a welcome addition in this set.  She’s based on her early in the film look, which is consistent with the design choices for most of the others from the line, barring only the alternate Loki from the boxed set.  Valkyrie makes use of three add-on pieces for her hair, cape, and belt/skirt.  All three pieces were new for this release, and they do a respectable job of capturing the design of the character from the movie, and translating that into ‘mate form.  The paint work on the figure does most of the heavy lifting here.  There’s a fair bit of small detail work, especially on the costume’s darker sections, which get a lot of highlights detailing.  The face does seem a tad generic for Tessa Thompson, especially the expression, but it’s not terrible, I suppose.  Valkyrie is packed with her sword Dragonfang (a new sculpt for this release) as well as two knives, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I slept on a lot of the 2017 minimates, so I didn’t actually wind up getting this one until TRU started clearing stuff out in 2018.  I picked up a lot of Minimates that way.  I may have been part of the problem, I suppose.  Gladiator Hulk is a strong take on a unique design.  Even removed from the movie, he’s still got some validity to him.  Valkyrie is a character that’s far too scarce in Minimates, so it’s nice that the movie at least got her one more.  She’s a little more basic, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

#2867: Hulk

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

HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Bruce Banner smashes anything in sight as the gamma-powered Hulk!”

Square Enix’s Avengers game really wasn’t the smash they were hoping for, now was it?  The game was off to a rocky start pretty much from the word go, but it certainly wasn’t helped by its intended release being interrupted by a pandemic.  There were a number of planned tie-ins, including some stuff in the Legends range, but somewhat weirdly, we got quite an eclectic selection of characters in that area.  The main line gave us two versions each of Cap and Iron Man, as well as Ms Marvel and Abomination.  The only other notable character released was the Hulk, who was not only not a main line release, but also wasn’t even a standard version of the character.  It’s weird my guys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hulk (who is officially just named “Hulk” on the package, but is referred to as “Outback Hulk” by pretty much every one whenever he’s referenced) was a GameStop-exclusive Marvel Legends release.  He was under the Gamerverse banner, and sold at the deluxe price point.  He was released in mid-2020, in an attempt to loosely tie-in with the game, and he’s based on one of Hulk’s alternate skins from the game, itself patterned loosely on his look during “House of M.”  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  This figure is largely built on the body introduced with the Endgame Hulk Build-A-Figure, which is a decent starting point for a slightly more realistically proportioned Hulk figure.  Also, with only one prior use, it’s understandable that Hasbro might want some more mileage out of it.  The only slight snag, at least on my figure, is that the arms are very prone to popping out of their sockets, due to the Build-A-Figure origins.  I actually found it to be a more frequent occurrence with this release than with BaF proper.  Ultimately, it’s a minor side issue, though.  Hulk gets a new head, depicting the game’s longer haired and bearded take on the character.  It’s a different look to be sure.  There are actually two different heads, each with its own expression.  One’s more calm, and the other is baring his teeth, ’cause he’s angry, I suppose.  The heads do seem maybe a touch too large for the body, but they’re otherwise decent enough sculpts.  Hulk also has a new set of add-on pieces for his wrists.  They’re meant to be the tattered remains of his shirt, thematically looking like wraps on his forearms, I suppose.  They’re a little light on the detailing to really sell them for what they are, but I do like how they change up the overall look of the core figure a bit more.  In terms of paint, this Hulk is a little different from the usual, being grey, and also having the somewhat tribal detailing painted on his face and torso.  Again, it helps to change up the usual look, and is at least a somewhat different take on the character.  The actual application’s not a bad set-up.  It’s nothing crazy, but it works.  Hulk is packed with two different sets of hands, one in fists, the other in open gesture.  This gives him two full sets of the combo pair we saw on the original release of the mold.  I do like when they update it to give us the full sets.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nothing about this particular release really spoke to me when he was shown off, and he certainly wasn’t worth the hassle of going through GameStop to get him, so I held off on him.  Honestly, I kinda forgot he even existed, really.  However, one of them got traded into All Time a couple of months ago, and he’s gotten quite cheap, so I figured it was a decent enough time to pick him up.  Ultimately, there’s not a lot going on here that you can’t get elsewhere, and he’s not exactly a standard Hulk anyway, so his exact purpose is sort of weird.  I don’t dislike the figure, but I’m hard pressed to figure out what I’m gonna do with him now that I own him.

#2599: Joe Fixit

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

JOE FIXIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In my review of the most recent Marvel Legends Grey Hulk (which was *a year* ago; boy how time flies), I discussed the printing process issues that led to Hulk’s coloring being changed from its intended grey into the traditional green that the character’s become so tied to.  In the ‘80s, thanks to improvements in the comics printing process, the Grey Hulk was brought back by writer Peter David, who established that he was a separate entity from Banner and Green Hulk, expanding on his less beastly characterization in Hulk #1 to create a unique personality, and attaching to him a name, “Joe Fixit.”  Fixit was not the brute that Green Hulk was , but was instead a morally ambiguous Las Vegas enforcer.  It was certainly different, and it’s become a fan favorite incarnation of the character.  Fixit serves as an alternate appearance for the Hulk in Square Enix’s Avengers game, which serves as a solid reason to give him the Legends treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Joe Fixit is the Build-A-Figure for the second Avengers-themed Marvel Legends assortment of 2020, and serves as a nice bridging of the comics and game aspects of the assortment, seeing as he’s a figure that technically counts for both.  Fixit’s never actually gotten a proper Legends release before, but did get a release in the Toy Biz days as part of their short-lived Hulk Classics line.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Fixit is an all-new sculpt, something that was a little surprising to me, as I’d expected him to at least borrow a few parts from Kingpin.  I guess Hasbro decided that just wouldn’t do.  It would have probably made the figure a little shorter, which I can see being the main issue.  There are a couple of different Fixit designs to go with, but this figure opts for the full suit and hat appearance, which is also what the game is using.  It results in a figure that’s a bit more restricted on the posability side of things, but ultimately not terrible for what he needs to do.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, and certainly gets the size of him down.  I do like some of the little touches, such as only one of his suit jack buttons being done.  I’m not super crazy about the tie and collar, which are free-floating pieces, and have a tendency to pop up during posing.  That can get a bit frustrating.  Also, my figure’s jacket has a few imperfections, two on the front and one on the back.  They’re all minor, but still a little annoying.  In terms of paint, he’s pretty straight forward, with most of the work  being molded plastic.  The skin tone is a little bit greener than I’d like; it would have been cool if had matched the last Grey Hulk.  It’s still plenty grey, though, so it’s not the end of the world.  I just prefer some consistency.  I do quite like the pattern on his tie; it could have just as easily been a straight red, but Hasbro went the extra mile here, and it helps.  Fixit’s an accessory himself, and subsequently gets no accessories of his own.  After getting extras with a few recent BaFs, it’s a shame we could’t get maybe an extra head without the hat, but given Hasbro’s track record, I have to wonder if there might be another Fixit in the works down the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I’ve personally never had a notable attachment to Fixit as a character, he’s nevertheless a cool concept, and the kind of thing I don’t mind having a figure of.  I was a fan of the old Toy Biz figure, so getting an update was certainly on the list.  Ultimately, this guy’s okay.  Nothing special or amazing, but certainly nothing bad.  If you don’t have the Toy Biz one, or just really want an update, this one’s solid.

In contrast to the rather middling nature of the first Gamerverse Avengers assortment, and also the unfortunately middling nature of the last small batch of figures from it, this assortment actually is a pretty strong one.  Sure, Cap and Iron Man are a bit unnecessary, but both offer something a little more exciting than the prior Gamerverse releases.  Fixit is a serviceable Build-A-Figure, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  The real gem of this assortment is the comics side, which is pretty much all win.  Kang, Jocasta, and an updated Falcon have all been on my list for a while, and they’re some of my favorite Legends from the last year.  Thunderstrike may not be my personal cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad figure at all, and he’s another character that definitely needed to be added to the line.  Definitely a strong line-up here.

#2578: Red Hulk

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

RED HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“General Thunderbolt Ross transforms into the Hulk, a creature he swore to destroy.”

From the second appearance of the character, the Hulk’s been no stranger to changes in color.  Originally shifting from grey to green, and then back to grey, and then green again, there’s certainly been some back and forth.  In 2008, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness through another color into the mix, shifting the Green Goliath into the Crimson Goliath.  Of course, this new Red Hulk wasn’t just a recolor of Bruce Banner, but was instead someone else, whose identity remained a mystery for over a year…and then it turned out to be Thunderbolt Ross, in one of the most convoluted, fake-out-filled reveals in comics history.  Nowadays, of course, the reveal’s common knowledge, and gets used for toy packaging bios like that one above.  But hey, toy bios mean there’s a toy to go with them, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Hulk is a Target-exclusive deluxe Marvel Legends offering.  This marks Red Hulk’s second time in Legends form.  The first time was as a Build-A-Figure way back in 2008, and he was actually a Target-exclusive that time as well.  They sure do like those red exclusives, don’t they?  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Red Hulk is our fourth use of the 80 Years of Marvel Hulk body, which is, again, not much of a surprise.  It’s a good sculpt, and it’s no surprise that Hasbro wants to get more uses out of it.  As with Grey Hulk, this guy changes the body up a bit by adding a new head sculpt into the mix.  This one’s got Red Hulk’s spikier hair style (which, by the way, never really made much sense, since it’s not like this is anything like Ross’s usual hair style…and where the hell does his mustache go?), and also changes up the expression.  He’s still angry and screaming, but it’s a slightly different looking angry and screaming.  It’s more like someone barking orders, which feels appropriate for the character.  He ditches the torn shirt piece that the last two Hulks had, which is sensible, since I don’t believe Red Hulk’s ever really done the torn shirt thing.  The paint work on this guy is pretty basic, and that’s honestly a little bit of a let down when compared to the other two Hulks I’ve reviewed on this body.  He lacks any real accent work, apart from a little bit on the face.  That much is at least pretty cool, but his body ends up feeling, I don’t know, unfinished, I guess.  In terms of accessories, he gets two sets of hands, one in fists, and one in open gesture.  They make for some nice variety for posing.  In a perfect world, I’d have liked to see maybe another head sculpt as well, maybe with the grin the character frequently sported, but I suppose that, given his size, just the extra hands are acceptable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Hulk hasn’t exactly been the most readily available figure, at least in my neck of the woods.  I’ve not seen him at retail myself, and Target’s site’s really not been much help.  I spent a good chunk of time looking for him, but with no luck.  Fortunately for me, my former co-worker Jon Nieto, who knows how much I like Legends, happened to catch them while they were in stock on the website, and was kind enough to snag a second one for me.  That sure made my life easier!  Thanks Jon!  There’s not a ton new going on with this figure, but the updated Hulk body is still always cool to see again, and he sure does contrast nicely with the 80th Hulk.

#2539: Grey Hulk & Rhino

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GREY HULK & RHINO

MARVEL MINIMATES

Last week, I took my first glance into the hopeless abyss Series 7 of Marvel Minimates, an assortment that’s not generally looked at as one of the line’s best, largely due to its overall lack of actual new stuff for the line.  This issue is really at its worst with today’s offering, which in notable for offering absolutely nothing new, a first for a specialty assortment offering for the line.  So, without further ado, let’s try not get too bored as we look at Grey Hulk and Rhino.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Grey Hulk and Rhino were released together for Series 7 of Marvel Minimates.  Previously, both figures had been the “hidden” figures in TRU’s Hulk/DD and Spider-Man 5-packs respectively in 2003.  Grey Hulk was also packed with Ultimate Spider-Man for an SDCC-exclusive pack, also in 2003.  Rhino, for his part, was also paired off with Captain America for the Target/Walmart packs.  What I’m getting at is that these guys were hard *not* to get.

GREY HULK

Grey Hulk (or “Franken Goblin” as Super Awesome Wife has decided he’s called in our house) is a fairly standard Hulk variant, and a pretty simple one at that.  He’s pretty much the same set up as the regular Hulk, being the standard long-footed body with a hair piece.  His hair piece is notably a different one than the standard.  This one attempts to go for Hulk’s earlier hair style, where it was all just on the top of his head and he had the more prominent brow.  It doesn’t quite work out as well as they’d hoped, and ultimately just ends up bulking up his head, making his body look even more puny by comparison, just further pushing the main issue that plagued the first release.  The paint work on this guy is again pretty similar to the original, with a but of a color swap, of course.  He also gets a slightly different facial expression, and one that I kind of like a little bit more than the standard’s.  It’s a shame it didn’t get ported over to green.

RHINO

Rhino is an interesting character to pair off with Hulk.  It’s not that the two have never fought, because they have, but it’s infrequent, since Rhino’s typically a Spidey villain and all.  It’s also perhaps not the most exciting color pairing either, since both of these guys are mostly grey.  That certainly can’t help with the overall meh feeling on the set.  Rhino was another pretty basic ‘mate.  He’s the standard body with an extra piece for his helmet.  The helmet’s actually pretty nice, and does a solid job of capturing Rhino’s look.  Like Hulk, Rhino looks a little scrawny without the add-ons to bulk him up, but it was the style early in the line.  Rhino’s paint work was pretty detailed, with musculature on his torso, and even some slight detailing of his “hide” on the legs.  That’s a cool touch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember how I said you had to try *not* to get these guys?  Yeah, well, I somehow managed to not actually get them for 16 years after they were release.  I know, I’m a bit shocked too.  Like I was mentioning in my Chameleon/Spidey review, I think I just got a little put off by most of this assortment at the time, and just never had the drive to track them down after the fact.  Ultimately, I snagged them from All Time last fall.  They aren’t that bad, but they also aren’t that exciting, and getting them as many times as we did didn’t help things.

#2439: Leader

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LEADER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Gamma radiation turned Samuel Sterns into the hyper-intelligent menace, the Marvel’s Leader.”

Brains vs Brawn is a fairly common trope when it comes to super hero comics, so it’s not a huge surprise that Hulk, kind of the ultimate “brawn” character frequent finds himself facing off against equivalent “brains” villains.  Probably the best example of this is Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, a character whose story is a pretty clean inversion of Banner, with a gamma radiation-induced mutation that takes him from a man of average intelligence and makes him a super genius.  Well, now he’s a super genius with a new Marvel Legend.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Leader is the last of the comics-based figures in the Abomination Series of Marvel Legends.  This is Sterns’ second time getting the Legends treatment, but the last time was under the Toy Biz banner, so it’s been a while.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Leader is built on the Reed Richards variant of the Pizza Spidey body, a fairly reasonable choice of body given how Sterns is usually depicted.  It does have the unintended play feature of removable arms, which makes for some entertaining posing options with other figures.  Leader gets a new head, harness, and belt piece to round out his classic design.  The head’s definitely the best piece, and makes for a solid rendition of that ’70s/’80s pre-further mutation head.  It’s non *quite* as classic as the Toy Biz variant was, but it’s a nice middle ground.  It feels really appropriate for the character.  The paintwork on Leader is pretty bright and eye-catching…though why a green guy decided that orange and yellow were his best options is really anyone’s guess.  The head is again the best work, as they even put some slight shading under his eyes, which really helps them pop, and pushes that whole villain thing a little bit more.  Leader gets no character-specific extras, but he does get the right leg of the Abomination BaF, which is at least a pretty sizable piece, so he doesn’t feel too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Leader is one of those characters that I’ve never found a need to own in figure form, so I actually haven’t before this point.  But, since I’m more or less going all in on this Legends stuff, I guess it’s as good a time as any to add him.  There’s not a ton of new going on with this figure, but he’s another solid formula figure from Hasbro, and a good way to add another character to the Hulk’s rogues roster.

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