Tag Archives: Marvel Universe

#0680: Ant-Man Boxed Set

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

GIANT-MAN, GOLIATH, & HANK PYM

MARVEL’s ANT-MAN

AntManSet1

Marvel is definitely pushing Ant-Man pretty hard right now. The movie was a resounding success, in spite of all the negative press that seemed to be surrounding it, he’s joined the cast of the Avengers Assemble cartoon, and he’s headlining one of the best solo comics the company is currently publishing. Things are definitely looking up for the bug-sized hero. Marvel licensee Hasbro has been joining in on the fun, and two of their San Diego ComiCon exclusives this year were based around Ant-Man. Today, I’ll be looking at what I feel is the more impressive of the two exclusives.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Giant-Man, Goliath, and Hank Pym (along with two smaller Ant-Men) make up an Ant-Man-themed boxed set, released this year at SDCC. The set was also available after the convention on Hasbro’s online store, which is how I got mine.

GIANT-MAN

AntManSet2Hey! Haven’t I already looked at this guy? Well, sort of. Yes, this figure uses the same costume design as the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series Giant-Man. However, unlike that figure, this one lives up to the name-sake a bit better. The figure is 12 inches tall, making him twice the height of the Infinite Series version, and he has 32 points of articulation. The figure is built on Marvel Legends Icons Cyclops body, which was previously used for the Marvel Universe Gigantic Battles Goliath and Bill Foster figures. It’s a body that was good at the time it was created, and was still pretty serviceable when it was used for Gigantic Battles, but has started to look pretty dated in recent years. The proportions and sculpted details are still okay (though he does look a little underfed), but the range of motion on the joints is rather restricted. In addition, the body has a lot of sculpted details that are specific to Cyclops, and thereby look out of place on Giant-Man. In the case of seams and the like, it’s easy to overlook them, but the straps/buckles on the wrists and the clear outline of the boots on the calves are quite distracting. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable to want Hasbro to at least retool those particular pieces. Giant-Man does get a unique head and an add-on for his belt. The head is pretty decently sculpted, though, for some reason, the antennae look sillier here than they did on the smaller figure. The belt is decent enough, but it seems a little bulky, especially compared to the painted on belt of the MLIS figure. The paint on this figure is pretty decent, aside from the obvious issues with sculpted details not lining up with the costume. The black sections are slightly glossy, and incredibly sharp at the edges, which is nice to see. One minor issue: the two black lines emanating from the circle on his chest end at the shoulder joints, instead of continuing around the shoulders like they should.  Giant-Man includes no accessories of his own.

GOLIATH

AntManSet3Moving downward on the scale chart, we get to my personal favorite figure from the set, Goliath. He’s based on Hank Pym’s first costume for his third identity. Confused? That’s okay. Most people are. This figure ends up being the most unique of those offered in the set, mostly due to his color-scheme. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. He’s based on the ML Infinite Series Bucky Cap body, just like the single release Giant-Man. The body’s a pretty great base for a lot of characters, and it fits Hank rather nicely. Goliath gets a new head sculpt; it’s a little on the soft side as far as details go, but it’s pretty good overall. It’s a nice, classic hero-style head, and it isn’t too struck with the level of same-ness we’ve seen on a lot of Hasbro’s male heads in this scale. The figure also gets a new add-on piece for his belt, which is a little bit loose, but pretty well sculpted. While I like this figure a lot, oh boy did he get hit with some seriously messy paint. The colors are pretty nicely chosen, but the flesh tones are really thick and goopy, and the yellow has been applied too thinly in many areas, causing the blue of the plastic to bleed through. He’s also got some random scratches of blue on both forearms, where the glove paint has chipped. Viewed as a whole, the figure is alright, but he would have been a lot nicer if the paint had been even a little bit better. Like Giant-Man, Goliath has no accessories of his own.

HANK PYM

AntManSet5Moving down the scale chart again, we find our way to another version of Hank Pym, as well as our first actual Ant-Man figure in a set with Ant-Man plastered all over it. Hank’s presented here in his Ant-Man costume, but with a lab coat over top of it, which is a look that Hank’s been known to sport rather frequently, when he’s in an inventing mood. It’s an important look that’s largely been absent from toy form. The figure is about 4 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. Structurally, Hank is very similar to the Ant-Man figure from last year. He uses the torso, legs, and feet from the basic skinny male body. It’s kind of an outdated body, but I guess it’s at least consistent with the last Ant-Man. He also has the arms and hands from the AIM Agent/Ghost Rider body, which are good for the AntManSet7looser sleeves, but are a little too long for the body. For the lab coat, he re-uses the add-on piece from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra The Doctor figure, which isn’t a perfect fit for the body, but it isn’t too far off. The head appears to be a new piece, though it’s generic enough that it could potentially be a re-use. It’s an okay sculpt, but it seems a bit too angry for Hank. The paintwork on the figure is pretty decent. The actual Ant-Man costume is identical to the regular Ant-Man, which is good, I guess. It would be nice if the lab coat were more detailed than just straight white, but oh well. Hank gets the only actual accessory in the set: an alt helmeted head. It’s exactly the same as the normal Ant-Man’s head.

ANT-MEN

AntManSet8Last up, it’s the two mini Ant-Men, who are really more accessories than outright figures. The larger of the two is based on Scott Lang’s Ant-Man costume from the 00s. It’s definitely a more modern design, but I like the enclosed nature. The figure AntMan2stands about an inch and a half tall and features no articulation. He’s got a unique sculpt, and he’s actually pretty nicely detailed for such a small figure. The paintwork is also pretty decent, with three different colors and no visible slop. The smaller Ant-Man is once again based on the classic Ant-Man design. It’s actually just the same smaller Ant-Man as was included with the Avengers Infinite Ant-Man. It’s under an inch tall and is, predictably, pretty light on the details.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as noted above, I picked this set up after the con from Hasbro Toy Shop. I detailed the ordeal in my Book of the Vishanti review, so I won’t go into that again. Ultimately, I have to admit I’m a little underwhelmed by this particular set. Giant-Man and Hank Pym are both held back by outdated bodies, and Goliath has some rather annoying paint issues. The Scott Lang figure is kinda neat, I guess, but I’d have preferred to get a larger scale version. All-in-all, I certainly don’t feel like this is a bad set, and I don’t regret purchasing them, but they just seem a bit off.

AntManSet4

#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

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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.

#0520: The Beast

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

THE BEAST

AVENGERS INFINITE

GreyBeast1

So, here’s a fact a few people reading probably don’t know: though he debuted and has been a prominent member of the X-Men, the first real bit of notoriety gained by Hank McCoy, aka the Beast, was his admission into the Avengers in Avengers #137. Since then, he’s kind of pin-balled back and forth between the two teams. Due to licensing and such with Fox, he’s generally paired up with the X-Men for merchandising, so most people think of him with them. I myself actually prefer him with the Avengers, but that’s just me. Anyway, Beast just wound up with not one but two new figures in Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite line, and I picked one of them up. Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GreyBeast2Beast (or “Marvel’s Beast” as he’s listed on the package) was released in the 5th Series of Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite line. The packaging seems to be exclusively referring to this line as “Marvel Infinite” and the character selection is actually pretty sparse on true Avengers figures, but Hasbro seems pretty dead set that the actual name of the line is Avengers Infinite. They know best, so I’m just gonna trust them. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall, with 19 points of articulation. The figure lacks wrist and waist articulation, with is rather annoying, especially for a character like Beast. It seems Hasbro is trying to cut down articulation on the smaller line to save costs. Beast was available in two versions: Blue and Grey. At first it may seem like just a paint swap, but the figures are actually pretty different. If you couldn’t tell from the pictures, the one I’m looking at is the Grey Beast figure, which is the rarer of the two. The look is based upon Beast’s initial furry appearance, during his short solo series. By the time he appeared in Avengers, his fur color had been changed to blue, and he stuck with that. Over the years, Beast has become bulkier and more feral, but this sculpt takes him back to the basics. The sculpt is all-new to this figure (though many of the pieces are shared with his blue counterpart) and it’s quite well done. Beast is bigger than others in the line, but not gargantuan; he has the stocky strongman look that the character sported into the 80s or so. The proportions are all pretty much what they should be, something AI and its predecessor Marvel Universe have been known to struggle with in the past. The figure is coated almost from head to toe in a furry texture that is really well rendered and sells the characters beastly nature quite nicely. All of this is topped off by a head sculpt that is a near perfect translation of the “Classic Beast” style head. For all the expert work that was done on the sculpt, the paint is a bit sparse. The figure mostly relies on the molded grey, with some flat blue for the shorts, and a few black and dark grey details. Most of the paint is on the head; the eyes and mouth are pretty good, and the hair’s not bad. There’s a random spot of black on the chin, which I feel certain isn’t supposed to be there. The only other paint is on the forearms, where his hair is painted black. There isn’t really any transition work, so he just has the big black spots on his arms, with looks weird. Overall, the paint’s not atrocious, but it could definitely be better. Beast includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Beast from Target. I was actually looking for some of the new Marvel Legends at the time, but I came across this guy and the rest of his series. I’ve been working on a MU Avengers display for a while, and being able to replace the existing Cat Beast with this guy was definitely nice. The figure really has some issues with paint, however the underlying sculpt is strong enough that it ends up saving the figure. And now I’m gonna sit here and wait for Hasbro to release this guy painted blue so that I can have a proper Classic Beast.

#0264: Puck

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

PUCK

MARVEL UNIVERSE

Puck

One of the most overlooked superhero teams is Alpha Flight. If you’re going “Whaaaa?” at the name, allow me to fill you in. Alpha Flight is the premier Canadian superhero team, sort of like the Canadian Avengers. Marvel’s tried to push them on the general population a few times in the past, but they’ve never really caught on outside of the hardcore fans. Anyway, one of their more memorable members (in my opinion) is Puck, whose power is that he’s short. Or something. So, he’s got a figure from Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Puck was released as part of Series 20 of the Marvel Universe line. The figure features 17 points of articulation, and stands about 2 ½ inches tall, which puts him about right for a 3 ¾ inch line. Puck appears to be an all new sculpt. The sculpt is short and stocky, which is perfect for Puck. The head sits a little bit too high, and the neck is a tad too thin, which makes his head look a little bobbly, but otherwise, everything looks great. The paint work is pretty decent. The eyes are a bit googly, and the hair on his arms and legs might be a tad uniform, but overall it’s all clean and without slop and bleed over. Puck includes a white bird, which I assume is meant to be teammate Snowbird in her…uh, snowbird form, which is a repaint of Falcon’s pet bird Redwing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Puck isn’t one of my favorite characters, but I don’t mind the character. He’s certainly one of my favorite Alpha Flight characters. Anyway, I hadn’t intended to pick up the Marvel Universe version of the character, mostly due him being full price, but only half the size. However, I was at my local mall’s Disney store with my friend Tim, and, in addition to the previously reviewed Winter Soldier, I also came across a poor lone Puck figure, marked down to $3. For less than half of his original value, I was more than happy to pick up Puck for my modest MU collection. Sure, I don’t own any other Alpha Flight members in this scale, but Puck’s a decent enough figure on his own.

#0201: Scarlet Witch

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

SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL UNIVERSE

ScarletWitch

I’ve mentioned before that I really like the Avengers.  In particular, I like the members that were prominent in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, who never picked up their own series outside of the team.  A great example of this is the Scarlet Witch, who joined the team a little over a year after their debut and stuck with them fairly consistently until around the early 2000s.  If you’d like to read more about her, check out her entry in the Backstories section, here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Scarlet Witch was released in the series 19 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line.  The figure stands just shy of 3 ¾ inches tall and features 25 points of articulation.  She makes first use of the second female base body for the line, which I examined in my review of the more recent Wasp figure.  It’s a marked improvement over the previous body, and is pretty well proportioned overall.  In addition to the base body, she also has a brand new head, thighs (To show the edge of her boots) and cape.  The head is a really nice sculpt, easily one of the best in the line.  It captures the character very nicely.  The cape is well sculpted, but it is a bit too long, which can make standing her difficult.  The paint is the worst area of the figure.  It isn’t terrible, but there is a fair amount of noticeable slop, including a rather obvious red spot on her chin.  It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it’s still very annoying.  Scarlet Witch’s sole accessory is a hex piece that fits over her hand.  It’s a nice piece, and it fits well on her hand, but I would have liked to get the usual display stand, especially given the figure’s difficulty standing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Scarlet Witch was an Amazon purchase.  When I first saw the prototype pictures, I was very excited, as she was easily the most essential Avenger missing at the time.  In hand, she’s not quite as good as the prototype, but paint issues aside, she’s a very well done figure. She is also a huge improvement over her Marvel Legends figure, but that’s not a hard thing to do.  I’m pretty sure smashing your head through the wall would be an improvement over that figure.

#0194: Marvel’s Black Knight

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MARVEL’S BLACK KNIGHT

MARVEL UNIVERSE

For quite some time, I’ve felt that The Avengers was the greatest super hero team ever. Well before the team became a big hit with their recent movie, I was desperately seeking out the random trickles of Avengers characters amongst ToyBiz’s many 5 inch Marvel lines. I know lots of people don’t care for it, but Avengers: United They Stand excited me to no end because its toyline gave me access to figure versions of Falcon, Tigra, Wonderman, Vison, and Kang. Those slightly lower tier characters are what make the Avengers for me. Sure, Cap is still essential, and Iron Man and Thor are both important too (Hulk, on the other hand, really isn’t. Until recently, his status as an Avenger consisted of 3 issues. Out of 500.), but for me the Avengers were Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hawkeye, and the like. So, for quite some time, I’ve been doing my best to find the best collection of all those lesser known Avengers in one scale. Hasbro seems to be finally delivering on that, with their pretty decent roster of Avengers from their Marvel Universe line. The line has recently “ended” and was rebranded under an Avengers name, which I’m totally cool with. Before MU ended, they got out one last series of new figures, which featured today’s figure, Black Knight, one of those lesser known Avengers I discussed. For more info on him, go here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Knight was released as part of the final series of Marvel Universe. He’s based on the Dane Whitman version of Black Knight, and is depicted in Dane’s first costume. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 20 points of articulation. He’s built on the medium sized male buck, which I believe first appeared on Captain Marvel, a few years ago. It’s one of Hasbro’s better pieces, so I’m not gonna complain, though I do wish the arms went down a bit further. He features a new head and hands, plus add-ons for the belt/scabbard and cape. He also reuses the “pirate boot” feet previously seen on several versions of Hawkeye. The new pieces look pretty good, especially the head, which seems pretty spot on to the classic Black Knight look. The paint work is pretty much the usual faire for a Hasbro release. Not perfect, but there’s no really noticeable instances of slop or bleed over, which is nice. Dane’s one accessory is his Ebony sword. It’s made of very soft plastic, so it comes out of the package pretty bent. It’s also a grayish-silver, which is odd, what with it being an EBONY sword and all. Oh well, guess the figure doesn’t have to be perfect, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like so many figures these days, I purchased Black Knight from Amazon. I’m very happy to have the figure because it’s the Black Knight figure I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Previous Black Knight figures were always a bit off, so I’m really thrilled by how well it turned out!

#0180: Kitty Pryde

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KITTY PRYDE

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

When Hasbro took over the Marvel license, it was no surprise when they launched Marvel Universe, a 3 ¾ inch scale line of figures. 3 ¾ inch is Hasbro’s bread and butter, what with their long runs on both GI Joe and Star Wars. Marvel Universe has officially been replaced by Avengers Infinite, but it had a pretty decent run. Most of my Marvel Universe collection was Avengers-related, but for some odd reason, all of my Marvel Universe reviews have been X-Men figures. Guess the randomized list has a preference for those crazy mutants! Today’s review continues that with the team’s #1 girl who walks through walls, Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat, aka Ariel, aka Sprite, aka holy crap, why the heck can’t these people just stick with a name?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kitty was released as part of the 8th series of Marvel Universe. She’s based on John Cassidy’s redesign of the character from his and Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men. She stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 21 points of articulation. When Marvel Universe started out, there was one female body to go around, and that’s the one they put Kitty on. While it I still think that the female buck was the best of the initial base bodies, that ain’t saying much. The proportions aren’t terrible, but arms and legs do seem a bit stubby, the neck is most certainly too long, and she has an odd bow-legged stance. The base body is also too big for Kitty, who is generally depicted as being a fairly small person, even as an adult. The head isn’t the worst thing ever, but it’s nothing to write home about. She looks like a woman in her 40s, not her 20s as she should be, and the hair just looks strange overall. Perhaps Hasbro was attempting to recreate Kitty Pryde: The Later Years, after she and Colossus have settled down. One can only hope we’ll eventually see the complimentary Colossus with a receding hairline and beer gut (Oh, wait, he’s Russian. Is a vodka gut a thing?).  The paint work is even worse than the sculpting, with lots of fuzzy lines, and parts of the uniform that don’t match up right from piece to piece. Kitty includes a stand with her name on it and her pet dragon Lockheed, who may well be the best part of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If I recall correctly, Kitty was part of the large selection of Marvel Universe figures I picked up while Target was running a “buy-one-get-one-free” special. She’s not a particularly good figure, but she’s better than some of the earlier Marvel Universe offerings, so that’s good I suppose. Also, it’s not like there are a wide range of Kitty Pryde figures from which to choose, so if you want a figure of this fairly essential X-Woman, this is one of the few options available.

#0146: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL UNIVERSE

We’re taking another one day break from Minimates because I don’t want to get too monotonous here.  I’ll be taking another look at Hasbro’s 3 ¾ inch Marvel line, Marvel Universe.  It’s a bit surprising to me that the only Marvel Universe reviews I’ve done so far are X-Men related because the majority of my MU collection is Avengers –related figures.  Oh well.

Today’s figure is a version of the X-Men’s field leader Cyclops!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure was released as part of the 13th wave of the Marvel Universe line.  He’s based on Cyclops’s Jim Lee-designed look from the 90s.  It’s one of those costumes where I know, deep down, that it’s not a good design, but I’ve got a huge bunch of nostalgia for it.  Thanks a lot 90s X-Men cartoon!  Cyclops stands about 4 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  He’s built on the later base male body.  This is in his favor, as this body was sculpted after they realized their first few body’s totally sucked.  The figure features a uniquely sculpted head, belt/bandolier, leg straps (upper and lower), wrist straps, and hands.  The head is my favorite part, perfectly capturing Cyke’s 90s look, and the straps and pouches perfectly punctuate that this was definitely a 90s design.  The paint is pretty good overall, though the hair line is a bit sloppy, and I do wish they had molded the ankle joints in yellow.  Why blue, Hasbro?  That’s just silly!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in the review, I really like this design, as terrible as it is.  This was the version I had a toy of when I was 5.  This is the version on all those worn out VHS tapes I had.  There’s some serious nostalgia there.  So, I was really happy when it was announced that this look would be appearing in Marvel Universe.  Plus, when I finally found one, Target was running a Buy-One-Get-One-Free sale on Marvel Universe figures, so I got him and a whole bunch of others!