Tag Archives: Marvel

#1046: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

IcemanHas1a

“Iceman keeps his cool in battle with his ability to turn water to ice and freeze his own body to temperatures below zero.”

Iceman is probably the founding X-Man with the most untapped potential. He’s been with the team longer than anyone barring Cyclops and he’s one of 10 confirmed Omega level mutants (making him one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel universe).  Nevertheless, he’s frequently little more than a prankster, just there to goof off. Which is really a shame, because he’s really a (pardon the pun) cool character. Anyway, he’s at least gotten his fair share of action figures over the years, with his latest being an all-new Marvel Legend, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IcemanHas2Iceman is figure 3 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends, which was just released a few weeks ago. This marks Iceman’s third time as a Marvel Legend, following the boxed-set version from two years ago and the single release from Toy Biz back in 2005 (reviewed here). He’s specifically based on Iceman’s Wolverine and the X-Men appearance (the comic, not the show), though he effectively works for any version of Iceman post-early 90s. The figure stands just shy of 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Iceman is built on the Pizza Spidey base, which is reasonable, since Iceman’s shared a body with Spider-Man more than once. I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the body being used for non-Spider-Man characters (the exaggerated proportions work for Spidey, but are off on others), but this body works better for him than any of the other bases currently in Hasbro’s inventory. He gets a new head, forearms, hands, shins, and feet, as well as a clip-on piece for his shoulders. The overall appearance is pretty cool. He certainly captures the look from the comics IcemanHas4well. If I were to get really nitpicky, I might say I’d like for the head and hands to be a touch smaller in scale, but it’s a pretty minor issue. Probably the most pressing issue facing this figure is the soft plastic used for his arms and legs. It makes him a little difficult to keep standing, and can also cause his arms to fall off from time to time. It’s a definite bummer (though, I’ll take rubbery limbs over flat out broken limbs like the Toy Biz version). Paint on this guy is the definition of minimal. There’s some white for his eyes. That’s it. The rest of him is just molded in a semi-transparent plastic with a slight blue tint. I feel like it might actually be a bit too transparent, causing the inner workings of the joints to be a little bit distracting. Iceman has no character specific accessories, just the left arm of the B-A-F Juggernaut. I wouldn’t have minded some sort of ice blast attachment or something, but the actual figure has enough new pieces that he doesn’t feel too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Iceman was the first figure in this set that I personally found in the store (at a Walmart, to be specific), which was quite exciting, I guess. Of all the figures in the set, my anticipation for this guy was somewhere in the middle. Ultimately, I think he’s the weakest of the set that I’ve picked up so far. To be fair, I do think he’s the best Marvel Legends Iceman available, just due to the last two attempts being even weaker. He’s certainly not a bad figure, and I’m happy to have gotten an update, as the Toy Biz version was looking quite raggedy as of late.

IcemanHas3

#1045: Marvel’s Havok

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

MARVEL’S HAVOK

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

HavokNow1

“With control and precision, Havok processes cosmic energy to send plasma waves blasting from his super-charged body.”

After 10 years, my boy Havok’s finally gotten another Marvel Legend! Alright! It’s actually sort of odd timing, really, since he’s been absent from the comics since Axis left him as an “inverted” villain. I guess his presence in this year’s X-Men: Apocalypse made him a good choice. Regardless of the reasoning, I’m just happy to have another Havok figure. Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HavokNow2Havok (who, like Phoenix, gets the “Marvel’s” preface) is figure 4 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This time around, Havok is sporting his Marvel Now! attire. It’s not my favorite Havok look, but it’s a reasonable choice, since it’s still technically his current costume, and it fits in with all of the other Marvel Now! figures Hasbro’s done since the Infinite Series re-branding. It’s also pretty close to his classic appearance, so he fits in alright with some of the more classically inspired figures. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. Havok is built on the Bucky Cap body, which is a fair choice. His brother has also been built on this body and the two of them are typically depicted as being about the same build. Also, fun fact: this marks the second time that Havok and Daredevil have been built on the same body (they shared a body in Toy Biz’s 5-inch scale). Havok gets a new head sculpt, which is a pretty nice piece. It’s a much calmer Havok than we usually see on HavokNow4figures, but still in line with his comics depictions. It’s nice to get some variety in his expressions. Havok’s paintwork is overall pretty solid. The colors are nice and bold, and I particularly like the way they handled his chest emblem/power measurement thingy. The faint blue hue makes it look like it’s actually the energy he’s emitting, as opposed to just a tacked on logo. There’s a bit of slop on the edges of the headgear, but nothing too terrible. Havok includes a pair of energy effect pieces that clip onto his wrists and demonstrate his powers. They’re a really cool extra, and help make him a much more dynamic looking figure. Havok also includes the right leg of Juggernaut. It would have been nice to get an unmasked head, since he spent a lot of his Marvel Now! appearances unmasked, but he doesn’t feel particularly light, so I can’t really complain.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My parents brought Havok back from a trip they took to Philadelphia a few weekends ago. I was quite excited to get him, since he was one of my most anticipated figures from this set (being my favorite X-Man and all). He’s sort of the reverse of Phoenix, if I’m honest. Where I wasn’t really excited for her and she ended up pleasantly surprising me, Havok here isn’t quite as exciting as I’d hoped. He’s not bad in the slightest bit, mind you, and I’m still thrilled to have him. He’s just not top of the line; more middle of the pack.

*Want a Havok figure of your own?  He’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

HavokNow3

#1044: Havok

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

HAVOK

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

HavokML1

The X-Men are known for their tendency to change up the line-up a lot. Now-a-days, the team is rather large and nebulous (necessitating at least two X-Men titles to be running consistently since the mid-80s, just so everyone can get a fair shake), but when they first started, there were just five members. The team’s first additional member, Mimic, only lasted for three issues, before being de-powered and written out. Eventually, they would acquire their first full-time addition Lorna Dane (later Polaris) in X-Men #49. Just six issues later, the team would also gain Havok, aka Alex Summers the younger brother of Cyclops. Havok’s sort of been a peripheral member of the team for a lot of his career, but has served as team leader for both the X-Men and X-Factor on a few occasions. He also happens to be my personal favorite member of the X-Men, which is why I own just about every figure of him in existence, including the one I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HavokML2Havok was part of the Giant-Man Series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends. It was the first Walmart-exclusive series of Legends, though it would hardly be the last. This is also Havok’s first Marvel Legends figure, though it’s the fourth Havok figure Toy Biz released. The figure stands 6 ¼ inches tall (not counting the headgear), and has 40 points of articulation. Havok is based on his classic Neal Adams-designed costume from the 60s (my personal favorite). The initial prototype for Havok had him in a more modernized design, but that figure was ultimately shelved for this more classic look. The figure is built on Series 9’s Bullseye body, in one of the earlier attempts at moving ML to a system of base bodies. As I noted in my review of Iron Fist (the final figure to be built on this body, released a full ten years after it debuted with Bullseye), this body was one of my favorites from Toy Biz’s run. It’s become a little clunky when compared to the more recent stuff, but it still holds up pretty well, certainly a lot better than some of TB’s other Marvel Legends. The only real issue I have with this particular iteration of the body is the shape of the lower legs and feet. The legs are clunky and tube-like, and the feet are large and sit HavokML3too far forward at the ankle. Havok’s only truly unique piece is his head, which does quite a nice job of capturing the early depictions of Havok’s face. I like that the expression is angry without going too overboard, and I’m especially glad that they were able to make the headgear look okay in three dimensions. Havok’s paintwork is pretty straight forward. The costume is just straight black and white (excepting, of course, the silver collar). There’s no accent work, but I actually much prefer it that way. The face has a nice, clean paint job, with some great little subtleties to the coloring, making it stand out nicely from the costume. Havok included the left leg (but NOT the left foot) of Giant-Man, as well as a copy of X-Men #97, which is one of Havok’s few focus issues during the “All-New, All Different” era (also one of his best appearances). It should be noted that the issue actually rather deceptively uses the cover to X-Men #58, which is the first appearance of the classic costume and the name Havok.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Pretty much as soon as Marvel Legends started doing X-Men figures, Havok was at the top of my list. I even made my own Havok custom (albeit in his ‘90s costume) from a spare Gambit, just to hold me over. I was beyond thrilled when this guy was announced. Of course, then the Giant-Man Series ended up being rather hard to come by, which acquiring Havok none too easy. Fortunately, my Dad just happened to find this guy the day before my birthday in 2006. Words cannot begin to describe how excited I was to open him. Ten years later, this guy shows his age, but still holds up remarkably well. I think I’d still rank him in my top 10 Legends.

HavokML4

#1043: Marvel’s Phoenix

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

MARVEL’S PHOENIX

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

PhoenixHas1

“An expert of psionic force, Jean Grey uses her powers of telepathy and telekinesis as the mind-controlling hero, Phoenix”

I can’t help but feel that bio severely downplays the whole Phoenix bit of the character. It actually feels like they wrote a generic Jean Grey bio, remembered this was a Phoenix figure, quickly stuck the Phoenix name at the end and hoped no one would notice. Well, I did, so…yeah…that probably says more about me, doesn’t it? So, yesterday I looked at the first Marvel Legends Jean Grey, and now I’ll be looking at her most recent!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PhoenixHas2Phoenix (or Marvel’s Phoenix, as she’s billed on the packaging) is figure 6 from the recently released Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This marks Jean’s seventh time as a Marvel Legend, and the second time we’ve gotten her as Phoenix (following the Toy Biz figure reviewed yesterday). There’s no variant in Dark Phoenix colors this time around (though I wouldn’t be shocked to see one show up down the line), but she’s also not short-packed this time around, so that’s a definite point in her favor. The figure is just under 6 ½ inches tall and has 27 points of articulation. While she may not have quite as much articulation as her predecessor, she’s got most of the same practical movement of that figure. I wouldn’t mind getting a bit more range on the elbows, but that’s really about it. Jean is built on Hasbro’s latest base female body. The upper arms and legs were used for the Red Onslaught series’ PhoenixHas5Mockingbird figure, but the actual body proper is making its debut with the Juggernaut series. It’s a very strong sculpt, probably Hasbro’s best basic female body so far. The legs are just a touch on the long side, but not horribly so. Also, my figure has a bit of trouble standing, but I don’t know if that’s true across the board. In addition to the new body, Jean re-uses the open gesture hands from Storm and Wasp, and the sash from Iron Fist, as well as an all-new head sculpt. I wasn’t sold on the head sculpt in the initial shots, but I have to say, I really like how it turned out now that I’ve seen it in person. It’s still a touch too gaunt for my ideal Jean, but it’s certainly not bad. The paintwork on Jean is quite nice. While she hasn’t got the fun metallic scheme of the last Phoenix, I think that the flatter color scheme still works pretty well. Everything is pretty cleanly handled, especially the face, which is possibly the sharpest work I’ve seen on a Hasbro Legends figure. Phoenix has no accessories of her own, but she does include the torso of the Build-A-Figure Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jean is the first of the new X-Men Legends I acquired; she was gotten for me by my Dad, who found her at a Walgreens on his way to work. She wasn’t at the top of my list for this series, but I think getting her first allowed me to truly appreciate her. She’s a very nice replacement for the quite outdated Toy Biz figure, and is just a solid figure in general.

PhoenixHas3

#1042: Phoenix

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

PHOENIX

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

PhoenixTB1

It’s been quite a while since the X-Men got any coverage in Marvel Legends. Back during the Toy Biz run, only 3 of the 16 series released were completely X-Man free, and they even got a boxed set and two different off-shoot lines. Even under Hasbro, the team was pretty well represented. Well, until recently, anyway, since the last time we saw X-Men Legends was two summers ago, and even then they were a pretty hard to find TRU exclusive series (I bought the only one of them I ever saw). Fortunately, Hasbro’s doing their best to make that up, with a new series of X-Men-themed Legends hitting just in the last month, and another on the way early next year. Of course, if you think that means I’m reviewing the new X-Men figures, you’ve got another thing coming! Well, another review coming, anyway. Since this latest set of Legends has a lot of re-released characters from Toy Biz’s run, I thought it might be fun to review the older figures in tandem with their newer counterparts. Today, I’ll be kicking things off with Jean Grey, aka Phoenix!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PhoenixTB2Phoenix was released in the sixth series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends. She was Jean’s very first Legend, and she was only the second single-packed figure in the line, after Elektra (though both Rogue and Sue Storm had beaten her to release as part of larger boxed sets). She was also one of the two short-packed figures in the series. That was awesome. There was a variant of this figure painted up like Dark Phoenix, which was even harder to find. But, that’s another matter entirely. This figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and she has 44 points of articulation. While that might seem like of articulation, it’s not as useful as you’d hope. Yep, Phoenix is one of Toy Biz’s “twisting meat” figures, where the joints cancel each other out, resulting in pieces that spin for no reason. Oh joy. Sculpturally, Phoenix shared most of her parts with Elektra (and, by extension, Rogue and Sue). Jean obviously got a new head, but also a new pelvis, hips, and upper thighs, to give her more adequate hip articulation. The head is definitely the best part of the sculpt. The hair is a pretty spot-on recreation of Jean’s Phoenix hair (well, from when Byrne took over drawing her, anyway). The face is decent. She looks a bit like Laura Parker from Dark Shadows, who I can’t say is my ideal choice for Jean, but it’s certainly a more attractive sculpt than most of Toy Biz’s female Legends. The body is…umm, well they tried. I think. Her neck is incredibly square, her arms oddly flat, her bosom disproportionally large (and also covered by something that somehow manages to be both loose and tight fitting at the same time), and feet not unlike that of a duck. On top of all that, none of her joints are particularly well worked into the sculpt. Overall, she looks sort of a bit Frankenstiened, which isn’t really what you want in a Jean Grey figure. The paintwork on Phoenix is decent enough. The metallic green is particularly nice, but all of the colors are well chosen, and the application is by and large pretty cleanly done. The eyebrows weird me out, but I can’t really put my finger on exactly why. Phoenix was packed with a display base designed to look like the fiery bird typically seen surrounding Phoenix, as well as a reprinted copy of X-Men #101 (Phoenix’s first appearance).

 THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Phoenix was first announced, I was very excited. Marvel Legends was my favorite thing at the time, and I was dead set on putting together a sweet X-Men set-up. Remember how I said she was short-packed? It gets worse. See, there was only one Phoenix for every case of 12, making her instant scalper bait. Now, remember how Phoenix also had a variant figure? Well, the variant was randomly put into certain cases of figures *in place* of the normal Phoenix, thereby making the normal version even harder to get. Because of this, it was actually more than a year before I got a Phoenix, courtesy of my friend Cindy Woods (who, along with her husband Lance, has done a whole lot to help me track down hard to find items over the years) as a Christmas present. Looking back on her compared to what came later, she’s got some pretty serious issues. That said, she was at one point my absolute most wanted Legends figure, and I was beyond thrilled when I finally got her. I can’t help but be a little sentimental.

PhoenixTB3

#1030: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

Cap12inchML1

In 2006, Toy Biz was in their last year of making Marvel toys. In that year, they were committed to offering Marvel figures in just about every style imaginable. Marvel Legends was their flagship line, so they used its name on a few different things, including the double-sized Marvel Legends Icons. When Hasbro picked up the Marvel license, they continued Icons for a few more series, but the line ultimately fizzled. With Marvel Legends back on the upswing, Hasbro has decided to give the scale/style another try. Of course, like the recently renamed 3 ¾ inch line, this new line has *also* just been named Marvel Legends Series, which makes differentiating between all the lines a bit difficult. It’s Star Wars: The Black Series all over again! Oh well, might as well just look at this here Captain America.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cap12inchML2Captain America is one of the first three figures in the 12-inch Marvel Legends Series. He uses a variation of Cap’s “Marvel Now” look, which is a pretty solid meshing of the comic and movie styles. The figure actually comes in at 11 ¾ inches, so he’s just under 1/6 scale. He has 32 points of articulation, which includes moving shoulder pads, but doesn’t include any actual waist movement. He does still have some movement further up on the torso, but it doesn’t offer quite the same movement. When Toy Biz did the Icons figures, most of them had sculpts that were more or less up-scaled versions of some of their 6-inch Legends. At first glance, I thought Hasbro may have just up-scaled the 6-inch Marvel Now! Cap, but this figure appears to have an entirely new sculpt. The overall quality of the sculpt is quite good. The uniform exhibits a number of fun textures, which make it look like it’s been assembled from a number of different materials. I particularly like the knit appearance of the white areas of the costume. I also quite like that you can actually see the zippers and stuff that show how the costume would be put on in real life. It’s nice that Hasbro is taking advantage of the larger scale to add in details that you might not expect to see. One of my main issues with the smaller-scale Now! Cap (and most of Hasbro’s comic Caps) was the head, which I felt didn’t have the classically heroic look I’d expect from a Captain America. This figure does a bit better, mostly due to the larger scale, but I can’t help but feel that his eyes are just the slightest bit too wideset. It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but it’s enough to bug me a bit. The helmet is a separate (non-removable) piece from the actual head, which is a nice touch, which helps sell that it’s a helmet. Cap’s paintwork is pretty decent. Perhaps not as impressive as it could be, given the scale, but it’s still pretty nice considering Hasbro’s track record with such things. There are even a few bits, such as the kneepads, where they even go above and beyond what we’ve come to expect, and give us some actual detail texture work. Cap includes an extra, unmasked head, as well as a spare empty helmet for him to hold, two sets of hands in fist and gripping positions, and, of course, his mighty shield. The shield is tied into the figure’s “action feature.” When you press the star on Cap’s chest, the star on his back pushes out, and can be flipped over and plugged into the center of the shield. The shield’s straps can then be removed and it can be mounted on Cap’s back. It seems like a rather complicated way of handling something that’s usually done with a simple peg system, but I guess that might not have worked as well at this scale.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this guy was announced at Toy Fair, I was actually pretty excited. I mean, yeah, it’s another Captain America, but it’s a pretty cool one. My parents bought me this figure on my birthday this year, at my request. I can’t say that I would spend $50 on every figure this line decides to offer, but I feel like Cap was worth it, and I’m happy to have him. Here’s hoping Hasbro can make this line a success!

Cap12inchML3

#1020: Namor

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

NAMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

NamorML1

Alright, let’s keep barreling through Giant-Man Week, with part 7– what’s that? You say I’ve already finished Giant-Man Week? Huh, I guess I did. But…I’ve still got this one figure sitting here…watching…waiting.

All joking aside, today’s figure is kind of an honorary part of the Giant-Man Series, so think of this as something of an epilogue to Giant-Man Week, if you will. The character in question is Namor, aka the Sub Mariner, one of Marvel’s oldest characters (he’s rivaled only by the original Human Torch, who shares a first appearance with him, and even then, NAMOR was created first).  Namor’s gotten a handful of figures over the years, including two Marvel Legends. He just got a third, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NamorML2Namor is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legend. He started hitting not long after the Giant-Man series, and they’re the ones shown on the back of his box, so I guess he sort of goes with them. The Giant-Man series was ostensibly a Captain America series, and given Namor and Cap’s history, Namor fits the theme pretty well. Despite the fact that the character has spent most of his 77 years of existence wearing a simple green speedo, this is yet another Namor figure based on one of his more clothed designs. Unlike his first Marvel Legend (which was based on his John Romita look from the ‘70s), this guy uses one of Namor’s more recent designs, from around the time of Matt Fraction’s Defenders run. It’s not a bad choice, really, since we’ve gotten several other characters looks from that particular line-up. I’m still holding out hope for a proper speedo Namor at some point, though. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Namor uses the Grim Reaper body as a starting point, but gets a unique head, torso, forearms, and shins. The new torso serves to change pretty much the whole shape of the figure, and giving him an overall more svelte look, befitting a guy who swims a lot. The original ML Namor had one of the best head sculpts Toy Biz ever produced, so this figure had a lot to live up to in that respect. While I think the older Namor is still my favorite, this one’s certainly not a bad piece. Namor’s pomposity has still been wonderfully captured here. I do wish the hair was a bit less Quicksilver-y, but that’s minor. Namor gets another solid paintjob from Hasbro. Seriously, I don’t know what it is, but the Giant-Man Series has been a marked improvement in paint apps quality from Hasbro. Namor has minimal slop and bleed over, and the metallic blue and yellow looks really sharp. Namor includes two sets of hands in flat and gripping poses, as well as a trident. The trident is a bit disappointing, since it’s just a repaint of Odin’s staff, but with all the new pieces the actual figure got, I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Namor by accident. Well, I mean, it’s not like I accidentally brought him up to the counter and paid money for him, but I wasn’t actually looking for him when I found him. It was two days after my birthday and I was specifically not looking to buy anything else until I’d at least gotten around to opening everything I’d gotten. However, I’d had a few figures break, so I stopped at a Walgreens to pick up some super glue. While there, I figured I might as well check the toy section and boom, there this guy was. He’s a pretty great figure, and I’m glad we finally got another Namor figure. Now, about that speedo version…

*Want a Namor figure of your own?  He’s currently in stock with out friends over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

#1019: Giant-Man

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

GIANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

GiantManCW1

Huzzah!  We’ve made it to the final part of Giant-Man Week!  It’s time for the literal big guy himself, Giant-Man.  Giant-Man was probably one of Civil War’s worst kept secrets, thanks to both this figure and the Airport Battle Lego set.  It’s not like it was a huge shock or anything, and the actual moment from the film was hardly diminished by knowing ahead of time.  Anyway, Giant-Man is (pardon the pun) one of the bigger things to come out of Civil War, and as such, he’s found his way into quite a good bit of merchandise.  However, this is the first proper movie Giant-Man action figure, so let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GiantManCW2Giant-Man is the build-a-figure for the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends.  I know, who would have seen that coming?  He’s obviously based on his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, specifically the airport scene.  The figure stands 10 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Giant-Man is another all-new sculpt.  It’s pretty decent work, with a slight caveat.  The figure offers a decent approximation of his design from the movie, but, like with the Ant-Man figures from the solo movie, this guy kind of misses the smaller details. Well, not misses, so much. All the details are there, but they’re sort of out of place. It’s not a bad look at all, just slightly inaccurate. But hey, this is what happens when you keep a main character’s look under wraps for so long.  It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, though.  There’s a lot of really great texturing on his suit, and he’s got nice, balanced proportions.  I particularly like the use of a separate piece for the faceplate, which allows for Scott’s eyes to be seen beneath the lenses.  It’s a really cool look.  Giant-Man’s paintwork is pretty solidly done.  The colors are all good matches for the movie, and everything is nice and cleanly applied.  The silver could, maybe, be a little brighter, but it looks fine as is.  As an accessory himself, Giant-Man doesn’t include any extras of his own, though I can’t really think of much you could give him.  Maybe a chunk of plane?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a build-a-figure, Giant-Man is the result of a few weeks of searching for all the figures in this series.  I think he may be one of my favorite B-a-Fs in a a long time.  In general, this whole series was really strong.  The line-up seemed a little odd at first, but almost all of the figures are top-notch work, especially in terms of paint! Which has been one of Hasbro’s problem areas.

GiantManCW4

#1018: Nuke

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

MARVEL’S NUKE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

Nuke1

Alright, it’s the penultimate day of Giant-Man week. Today’s kind of the “meh” day if I’m being totally honest, especially since yesterday was Black Panther. The focus figure is Nuke, who’s actually a Daredevil villain, created by Frank Miller. He’s sort of been in the spotlight recently (though not as Nuke) thanks to Netflix’s Jessica Jones, where he served as a recurring character. And now he’s got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nuke2Nuke (or “Marvel’s Nuke,” as the package bills him) is figure 4 in the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends. He’s the final comic based figure, and perhaps the one with the most tenuous ties to Captain America. I think he’s fought Cap once or twice. He’s a failed attempt at recreating Cap’s super soldier serum, but who in the Marvel universe isn’t? (Seriously, if they’re not a mutant, good money says they’re a failed attempt to recreate Cap). The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Nuke uses the Hyperion body as a starting point, but that’s really just the upper body.  He has an all-new lower half, which is wearing some loose fitting pants and a pair of combat boots. He also has a new head sculpt, and an add-on piece for his vest. I don’t hate the Hyperion body, but it isn’t without fault, and those faults are becoming more apparent as new bodies are introduced. The new parts work pretty well, though I can’t say the head is one of my favorites. He seems to have been a victim of “Hasbro face” (where the male figures all look the same), which is a little bit of a bummer. At the very least, I’d say the eyes are a bit wide set. Definitely not one of my favorite sculpts as of late. The paintwork on Nuke is pretty basic color work, with no real accenting or anything. It’s fairly decent work, but it makes him look a little gummy. I don’t know what it is in particular that does that, but there it is. At the very least, the application’s clean.  Nuke includes an extra head based on some of his more recent appearances. It’s bald and battle-damage, and reveals his underlying robotic skull. He also has a weird sci-fi rifle that’s been done up in a patriotic paint scheme, and a rather large knife. The extra head’s kind of fun, but I wish he could hold the gun a bit more naturally. The figure also includes Giant-Man’s torso, which is a bit amusing, since Nuke, the largest figure in the series, ends up with the largest figure in the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nuke has never been a particular favorite of mine, so I wasn’t particularly enamored with this figure in the first place. I ended up finding him at TRU (at the same time as Panther and Fury), and bought him solely for the Giant-Man piece. Having bought him, I can’t say my opinion of the figure or the character has really changed. He’s an alright figure, but if you aren’t a fan of the character, I can’t see this changing your mind.

#1017: Black Panther

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

BLACK PANTHER

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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We’re now four days into Giant-Man week. Today, we’ll be looking at my favorite figure from the set. Oops. Spoilers? Ah, you’ll get over it.

Anyway, Black Panther was by far the coolest thing to come out of Civil War (which is saying a lot, because Civil War had *a lot* of cool things in it). As of yet, merchandise of him has been a little difficult to find. I’ve looked at Hasbro’s smaller figure and the Minimate, both of which were pretty cool, but still left me wanting just a little bit more. My most anticipated Panther figure was the Marvel Legends version. It’s been a bit of a wait, but he’s finally here! Does he live up to the expectations? Well, duh.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PantherCW2Black Panther is figure 3 in the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends. He’s the third of the three Captain America: Civil War-based figures from the series (not counting the build-a-figure, of course). Of course, Panther ended up with one of the most faithful costume translations in all of the Marvel movies, so there’s no reason this guy couldn’t pass for a comic Panther too. The figure stands 6 ¼ inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation. Like the Mark 46, Black Panther sports a completely new sculpt, and an impressive one at that. Not only is his musculature nicely proportioned and balanced, but he’s also a pretty much perfect match for Panther’s build from the movie. On top of that, ever bit of this guy is covered in sculpted texture. Panther’s suit looks like it’s made from an actual woven material, which at this scale is immensely impressive. Even the hands are well done, offering a cool claw bearing pose that works really nicely with the figure’s articulation. The sculpt also manages to work in all of the articulation in a way that disrupts the sculpt as little as possible, which is greatly appreciated.  Panther’s paintwork is rather on the minimalistic side, but what’s there is quite sharp, which is good, because imperfections in the paint would be rather obvious due to the highly contrasting natures of the colors. This is one of those times where less is more with the paint, because the lack of superfluous painted details allows the finer parts of the sculpt to really shine. Panther includes an unmasked T’Challa head, which has pretty nice likeness of Chadwick Boseman. Oddly, the head lacks his slight bit of facial hair. The Minimate has this same issue, so it’s possible that he was clean shaven in early shots. Panther also includes the left leg of Giant-Man. I wouldn’t have minded some extra hands as well, but the extra head is certainly a cool extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Panther is the figure I’ve been most looking forward to in this set. I’m not alone in this, however, causing him to be the most difficult figure to find by far. Fortunately for me, my local TRU got in a case of this series right before my birthday, when I just so happened to stop by. Panther ended up being bought for me by my boy Tim. This figure not only lives up to my expectations, it actually manages to exceed them. The sculpt is great, the movement is great, and even the paint is pretty great. Hasbro really upped their ante on this guy. Let’s hope they can keep it up!

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