Tag Archives: Marvel

#0640: Scarlet Witch (w/ Sub-Ultron 008)

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

SCARLET WITCH (W/ SUB-ULTRON 008)

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTON

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Well, Age of Ultron has come and gone. As of last week, it’s officially no longer the hot new Marvel movie. That said, some of the tie-in product is still making its way into stores, or, in most cases, sales on more desired stuff have slowed enough that the average consumer can actually find them. That’s where I come in! Yay! Scarlet Witch was definitely one of the film’s breakout characters, so her (admittedly under-packed ) figures have been difficult to find for some time. But I got one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ScarWitSubUlt2Scarlet Witch (along with Sub-Ultron 008) was released as part of the second round of Avengers: Age of Ultron Avengers Vs. Sub-Ultron sets. The figure stands 2 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. She’s based on the character’s appearance in the big, climactic battle from the film. Seeing as this is when she actually joins up with the Avengers, it’s a sensible choice, and it’s the look we’ve seen on all of the merchandise so far. Scarlet Witch features a unique sculpt, which is pretty good, especially given the scale. There are a few minor issues; the neck is a little too long, and the hips feel a little detached from the torso. However, the head bears more than a passing resemblance to Elizabeth Olsen and the clothes are quite well detailed. It’s also nice to see the hands in a position other than the overly large, generic gripping pose that all of the GOTG figures had. The paintwork is simple and straightforward, but it’s cleanly handled and looks good overall. Scarlet Witch is packed with a pair of hex attachments. They’re a different mold from the ones used for the recent Marvel Legends and 3 ¾ scale figures; I guess that mold was too big. The solid red isn’t as nice as the translucent color of prior figures, but it’s serviceable. What’s that? Does she come with something else? Oh, right, that Sub-Ultron thing. Yeah, she’s packed with that. It has to be an accessory, because I really can’t count it as its own figure. There’s one of these things with every figure in this set. This one’s motorcycle-based; it first showed up, molded in blue instead of red, packed with Hulk. It’s okay, I guess. The Ultron portion is on the boxy side. The arms look to be cannons, and they sort of move at the shoulders. The cycle bit is just a solid hunk of plastic; the wheels are totally stationary.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

No exciting story here. I ended up finding this while at my nearest Walmart. There it is. There’s a clear focus for this set, and it’s Scarlet Witch. She’s a cool figure, and is definitely worth a purchase. The Sub-Ultron…ehhh. It’s not like it’s bad, but it doesn’t really offer a whole lot of fun.

#0639: Invisible Woman

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

INVISIBLE WOMAN

MARVEL HALL OF FAME

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The Fantastic Four have sort of become personae non gratae over at Marvel Comics in the last few years (thanks Fox) but they’re kind of one of the most important sets of characters Marvel’s ever had. Without them, there really isn’t a modern day Marvel Comics. It’s a shame they aren’t getting the respect that they deserve. It’s been a little while since any of the team has graced the toy world, but there’s a pretty decent back catalogue of stuff out there, including today’s focus, Invisible Woman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

InvisibleWoman2Invisible Woman was released as part of the first series of ToyBiz’s Marvel Hall of Fame line. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. She, like most of the other figures in the line, is more or less a re-release of a previous Marvel figure. In this case, she’s a rehash of Marvel Superheroes’ series 3 version of the character. That figure was available in both color-changing and non-color-changing versions, but this one seems to just have been offered with the feature, hence her somewhat odd coloring. The sculpt for the figure is definitely a dated one; it’s from very early in ToyBiz’s run with the license, so they were still finding their footing. The head is rather small, the articulation isn’t worked in very smoothly, and the figure just feels rather clunky in general. It’s not the worst thing ever, and it’s not even the worst female figure of the time (I’m looking at you, Monkey Face Princess Leia) but it certainly shows its age. The paint on the figure is somewhat hard to judge, mostly due to the figure’s color-change “action feature.” I can’t speak for when it was new, but the feature doesn’t really work anymore, which leaves the InvisibleWoman3figure sort of in this middle state. I tried putting her in cold water, as the packaging says to do, and all it really did was slightly change the back of the figure. Now she looks like a pie…(Tim’s been calling her Miss Meringue). Invisible Woman’s only accessory is…uhh…well, it sort of looks like a Tron disk or a Fantastic Four Frisbee. I don’t know. It plugs into her back. So, there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure’s another piece of the slew of figures I bought from Cosmic Comix a few months back. I actually own the original, non-Hall of Fame release, but I didn’t have the color-change version, so I figured this one was probably worth the $3 I paid. She’s not a figure that’s going to win any awards or anything, but she’s a neat little product of the early 90s.

 

#0638: Wolverine & Blob

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

WOLVERINE –STRIKE FORCE & THE BLOB

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Man, I haven’t reviewed many Minimates recently. There’s no denying that the X-Men, particularly the 90s incarnation of the team, have gotten quite a bit of love from DST. The latest comics-based series of Marvel Minimates has done its best to fill some important holes in the team (and give them a few more foes to fight) while also trying out a new way of distributing some of the characters. Today, I’ll be looking at the guy who’s easily the most well-known X-Man, Wolverine, as he faces of against Brotherhood of Evil Mutants member the Blob!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 60.

WOLVERINE (& FORGE!)

Wolv&Blob2Wolverine is no stranger to Minimates, with this being his 57th foray into the line. Hey, a heavy hitter’s a heavy hitter. There has to be at least one in every series, right? The figure depicts him in the standard Strike Force uniform that several of the X-Men wore during the 90s. Wolverine didn’t really stick with it, but he did wear it a few times. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He has sculpted add-ons for his hair, gloves, and the two sets of straps on his legs, as well as a standard pair of clawed hands. The hair is a piece that’s been used several times before. It first showed up on the TRU Series 9 Brown Wolverine, and has been used fairly regularly since then. It’s definitely a good piece, and it’s accurate to that wacky hair of his from the comics. The leg straps are the same as those used on Series 34’s 90s Cyclops, which is fitting, seeing as they’re meant to be the same design in the comics. The gloves are the same as Banshee, released in this same series. They’re a good sculpt, and they sit nicely on the Wolv&Blob3figure. The paintwork on Wolverine is passable, but not the best. The detailing on the face is top notch; all the lines are nice and sharp and the facial expression feels perfect for the character. The torso detail is also pretty good, though it’s hampered a little bit by the sloppy edges on the change from blue to yellow. The real issues with the paint are on the shoulders, where the yellow hasn’t been consistently applied, resulting in the underlying blue bleeding through, and on the pelvis, where the red of the belt does not continue down through the whole buckle. The accessories are what sets this figure (and the rest of the series) apart. In addition to the standard clear display stand, the figure also includes an extra head, hair, hands, and right leg, as well as a shoulder harness and a large gun, allowing the figure to be re-configured as Forge, a previously un-released X-Man. The pieces are all nicely handled and match up well with the regular parts, resulting in a figure that is just as much Forge as it is Wolverine. Also, I really like that the skin tone on the head is different from Wolverine, thus properly denoting Forge’s Cheyenne ancestry, which is far too often overlooked.

BLOB

Wolv&Blob4Fred Dukes, aka the Blob, is actually one of the X-Men’s oldest foes, first appearing in X-Men #3. This isn’t the first time he’s appeared as a Minimate, however, his last figure was based upon his film appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which wasn’t the comics-inspired look most were hoping for.  Blob is no slouch when it comes to sculpted add-ons. He features pieces for his hair, torso, upper arms, lower arms/hands, thighs, and feet, as well as a torso extender hidden under that torso piece. The last Blob figure was somewhat on the small side, but this one moves to correct that, making use of a combination of pieces from the Marvel line’s various Hulks and the Street Fighter vs Tekken line’s Rufus. The pieces all mesh together quite well, resulting in a Blob that accurately represents him as the wall of mutant we know from the comics. One small issue with my figure: one of the shoulders on my figure has a chip missing out of it. It isn’t terribly noticeable, but it’s still annoying. Blob’s paintwork is generally pretty well handled, though it isn’t without issues. The colors are all of the proper shades for the character, which is always good, and the detail lines on his torso and face do a tremendous job of bringing the character to life. However, some of the more base level paint is a little off. The straps on the shoulders don’t quite line up with each other, and the gold bands on the wrists are rather uneven and sloppy, with gold paint ending up a few places it shouldn’t. For accessories, Blob isn’t quite as loaded as Wolverine, but he’s certainly no slouch. He includes a spare set of hands and feet, without wristbands or boots, allowing for the figure to be displayed as the Blob from some of his earlier appearances. This offers a nice bit of extra value, and gives the buyer two possible looks, should they end up with a second Blob while completing their Strike Force X-Men. He also includes the standard clear display stand, which is always appreciated.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this is actually my second set of these two. When my full series set arrived from Big Bad Toy Store, I opened these two up first, and they seemed fine. Then I took a closer look at Wolverine’s torso and noticed he had…boobs. Seems my figure got a Storm torso by mistake. Hey, secondary mutation, right? Or maybe they were just easing us into X-23 taking over the title. Anyway, I ended up buying a second set from Cosmic Comix, so, there’s that!

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#0637: Ultron

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

ULTRON

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Well, it’s a little late, but here’s my Ultron Build-A-Figure review!  I actually had most of this review ready to go a few days ago, but, as I mention in my Orion and Onigumo review, computer issues left me without access to the lovely photos I’d shot for this.  So, I had to shelf it for just a little bit and work with figures of which I did have pictures.  Fortunately, I was able to get my computer issues mostly sorted out, so we’re back in business!  Yay!  So, he’s my review of yet another Ultron.  I know, it’s a real change of pace.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UltronBAF2Ultron is the Build-A-Figure for the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series.  At face value, that might seem a little odd.  I mean, this is the movie version of Ultron, who’s in no way related to Ant-Man.  Wouldn’t he have made more sense as the BAF for the last series of Avengers Marvel Legends?  Well, yeah, he would, but I can kinda see why Hasbro went the way they did.  First of all, it gave them more time to get the details on Ultron accurate to what was seen on screen.  It also gave the Ant-Man series, which had to be something of a hard sell to retailers, more of a hook.  And, seeing as Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, created Ultron in the comics, there’s at least a little bit of a link.  So, as I noted above, this is the movie version of Ultron; specifically, it’s his Ultron Prime look, which was his main body for the majority of the film.  It’s kind of an important look.  The figure is 8 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  This is the first of the Ultron figures from the movie not to feel horribly undersized next to his fellow figures, and that’s actually a pretty big deal.  Ultron also gets a sculpt all his own, though, to be totally upfront, it’s not quite as good as it could be.  A lot of that has to do with how the articulation has been worked in, which is to say very clumsily.  It’s forgivable on the arms and legs, but the fact that the ab-joint doesn’t follow the sculpted detail lines feels inexcusable. Also, the  hands are kinda weirdly posed, which is annoying.  In fact, the hands in general feel less detailed than the rest of the figure, almost as if their unfinished.  He’s got webbed fingers for crying out loud!  However, complaints aside, there’s more than a few things to like about this sculpt.  The head is very well detailed and captures Ultron’s distinctive movie look very well.  They’ve chosen a more pondering expression, which some people don’t like, but I think it works for the character.  Ultron’s sculpt is also a fair bit closer to the on screen design than prior attempts, and manages to get pretty darn close.  Like the sculpt, paintwork is something of a mixed bag here.  Not in the usual sloppy Hasbro paint apps way, either.  No, everything’s clean here, it’s just…inconsistent?  I don’t know how to put it.  The figure is molded in a dark-ish grey, with silver painted over it.  The thing is, the silver is rather heavy in some areas and completely absent in others, with no real area between.  It’s jarring to say the least.  Also, many of the red sections feel like they were tacked on at the last minute, and don’t line up with the sculpt at all.  As an accessory himself, Ultron includes no pack-ins.  I can’t really think of anything to give him, so I guess that’s fair.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve been following the Ant-Man Legends reviews, you can probably figure out where this guy came from.  I picked up all but Giant-Man from my local TRU, and then ordered Giant-Man online, thereby getting myself an Ultron.  How about that?  This is the movie Ultron I was most looking forward to, and it’s not wrong to say he’s the best we’ve gotten.  That said, he still has more than a few flaws, which prevent him from being quite as cool as he could have been, which is certainly a letdown.

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#0635: Cyclops & M. Bison

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

CYCLOPS & M. BISON

X-MEN VS STREET FIGHTER (TOYBIZ)

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The 90s were an interesting time to say the least. The X-Men were at the height of their popularity, which, of course, meant plenty of tie-in stuff. Capcom, makers of hit games series such as Mega Man and Street Fighter, licensed the team for a fighting game, called Children of the Atom. This ended up being a success, leading to Capcom pitting the X-Men against the cast of Street Fighter. ToyBiz already held the license for Marvel, so they picked up the Capcom license as well, allowing them to do their own tie-in two packs. One of these sets was X-Men leader Cyclops versus Street Fighter’s big bad M. Bison, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cyclops and Bison were a two pack in ToyBiz’s X-Men vs Street Fighter line, released in the late 90s. I believe these two were part of the first assortment of packs.

CYCLOPS

CyclopsBison2Cyclops is presented here in his fan-favorite 90s costume, designed by Jim Lee. It’s one of those looks that doesn’t make a whole lot of practical sense and could be considered a bit silly. That said, nostalgia is a powerful thing, so I can’t help but love it. The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and sports 8 points of articulation. That’s a little lower than the typical Marvel figure of the time, due to his lack of both elbow and knee joints. I can’t say why ToyBiz decided to leave those out, but he does at least have some extra shoulder articulation, which certainly eases the pain. Structurally, Cyclops makes use of the body of the Monster Armor Cyclops from the main X-Men line, along with a new head. The body is from towards the end of the X-Men line, when ToyBiz was trying to emulate the higher-detailed, more pre-posed figures being offered by McFarlane at the time. However, Cyclops had one of the tamer sculpts, so he doesn’t end up being too bad. The one real drawback of the original figure, the head, has been replaced CyclopsBison3with a much nicer piece. This new head does a great job of capturing the animated style Cyclops from the cartoon; it’s simplistic, but all the necessary details are there. The paintwork isn’t the best ever, but it’s not terrible. There’s a bit of slop, especially around the yellow spots. Also, the hair and headband don’t quite meet up right, giving poor Cyke a bit of a bald spot. On the plus side, the blue is a darker shade than the Monster Armor figure, which is more true to the character design, and the plastic/paint is much more matte, which has an overall better look. Cyclops came packed with an optic blast piece (Which I don’t have) and a pleather jacket like the one he was known to wear from time to time in the 90s cartoon (mostly when Jean was crazy or presumed dead. It’s his brooding jacket.)
M. BISON

CyclopsBison4Ah, good ol’ M. What’s it stand for? Well, apparently it’s a shortening of Mister, which seems kinda dumb. In reality, Bison, Vega, and Balrog all swapped names when the game was imported to the US, mostly because Capcom wanted avoid the potential legal issues of having a boxer character whose name was Mike Bison. So the villain became M. Bison, with little explanation of what the M was exactly. Oh well. The figure is about 5 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation. He also has a punching action feature, which sort of gives him two more points of articulation. Bison is built on the Spider-Man line’s Tombstone body, with some additional armored pieces added on, as well as a new head. The body isn’t a perfect match for Bison, but it’s pretty good. The proportions are quite exaggerated, but it was the 90s, so that’s sort of to be expected. There are a few oddities, such as the hand clearly molded to hold something that he doesn’t include. The head is a little on the small side and a little light in the details. The hat is really nice, though. Paint is pretty rough here. Some areas make out okay; the red sections have a nice wash to bring out the details of the sculpt, and the armored parts are clean. The biggest issues are on the head. The hair apps are almost totally missing from one side, and the eyes are at best an approximation of what they should be. M. Bison originally included a cloth cape, but mine no longer has it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I first got this set many years ago, purchased from KB Toys while on a trip with my grandmother. I got it purely for the Cyclops, who was the most accurate version of the character available. I had no idea who this M. Bison guy was. I eventually found out, and became quite a fan of Street Fighter II, but Cyclops was still why I got these.  Somewhere in the last 15 years, Cyclops went missing (stupid house gremlins!) and Bison crumbled into pieces. I thought about replacing them, but this line picked up quite an aftermarket price, with this set being one of the highest. A few weeks ago, I came across this pair for a reasonable price and snagged them as fast as I could. Years later, Cyclops is still very much the star, but I’m happy to have them both again.

#0633: Giant-Man

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

GIANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINTE SERIES

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So, the Ant-man movie has finally found its way to its US release today. By the time you read this, I’ll have already seen it, and hopefully have enjoyed it. Now, Scott Lang, aka the second Ant-Man, takes the lead role in the film, but in both the comics and the movie, things are kicked off by Hank Pym. Pym actually moved out of the Ant-Man identity relatively quickly in the comics, becoming the slightly more useful (though also less fun) Giant-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GiantMan2Giant-Man is the sixth figure in Hasbro’s Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. The figure is just over 6 inches tall and features 32 points of articulation. Yes, you read that right: Giant-Man is normal sized. This has caused a little bit of contention within the collecting community. Ultimately, though, Giant-Man can change his size, and we’ve never gotten him at normal size, so I’m pretty happy about it. Giant-Man is based on his most recent design, which he first started wearing following his return to the identity after being the Wasp for a little while, right when he began teaching at Avengers Academy. It’s modern, but also not far from his original costume. I miss the blue, but it’s actually a pretty nice design. For the most part, the figure is just the Bucky Cap body, with a new head thrown in for good measure. The body is still a good one, and it’s well chosen for a normal sized Hank Pym. The head is fairly straightforward, but it’s still pretty good. The antennae were a little bit warped straight out of the package, but they go GiantMan3back to their proper shape pretty easily. The face has some of the trademarks of the post-ROML male faces, which aren’t my favorite sculpts, but the angles are softer here, so it’s not horrible. Giant-Man is a Hasbro figure, which almost always means questionable paintwork. This figure isn’t an exception. The general application is alright, and the base red plastic is nice and bright, but some of the edges are fuzzy and a few of the black sections don’t line up quite right. Also, the red on the tops of the boots doesn’t match the rest of the figure. However, as a whole, the figure doesn’t look atrocious. Giant-Man included no accessories of his own, but he did come with the right leg of Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Giant-Man was the only figure absent from the ones I found at my local TRU. As the figure I was most anticipating from this set, that bummed me out a bit, but I was able to get one courtesy of their online store. Ultimately, some of the issues with his paint, coupled with my unexpected enjoyment of Bulldozer, has resulted in him not being quite as exciting as I’d hoped. Still, he’s not a bad figure, and he does look pretty good when posed with the smaller scale Marvel Universe figures.

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#0632: Grim Reaper

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

GRIM REAPER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Avengers villains have long had a difficult time of getting any form of respect, especially when it comes to the action figure world. Of course, your main foes having a couple of successful movies under their belts does a lot to turn things around. One of my favorite Avenging villains is Grim Reaper, the brother of Avengers member Wonder Man. He went quite some time with not a single action figure, but he’s gotten two in just the last year. He just found his way into the Marvel Legends scale and style, so let’s look at that one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GrimReaper2Grim Reaper is the fifth figure in Hasbro’s Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. His connection to Ant-Man is definitely a stretch, but he’s the brother of Wonder Man Wonder Man served as the basis for Vision’s brain patterns, Vision was the “son” of Ultron, and Ultron was created by Hank Pym, aka the original Ant-Man. So their sorta related; demented and sad, but sorta related. The figure is just shy of 6 ½ inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Good ‘ol Reaper has the notoriety of being the first character to use Hasbro’s new base body. The body is meant to be a midway point between the Bucky Cap and Hyperion bodies in terms of build. I think it’s their best base body yet, with softer angles and more realistic proportions. It moves away from the more exaggerated comic book styling, a move I wasn’t 100% sold on at first. However, in person, it looks pretty good, and it’s not so far removed that it looks out of place with other figures in the line. In addition to premiering the new body, he also has unique pieces for his head and Techno-Scythe, and is also the first figure to use the new cape add-on piece. The head is easily my favorite thing about GrimReaper3the figure. The Avengers Infinite version had an okay sculpt, but not anything that really stood out. That’s not the case here. Reaper has in intense, crazy smile that’s perfect for the character, and really makes him stand out from other figures in the line. It’s also correctly sized for the body, which was not true with the last Reaper. The Techno-Scythe is fine, but it suffers from being cast in rather soft plastic, making it a bit…droopy. It’s also based on a more recent design for the scythe, which I don’t find to be as visually interesting. The cape is this biggest letdown here. First off, it lacks the proper, built up collar that Reaper’s always had. Also, the peg has been sculpted with an extra bit to keep the cape from sitting flush with the figure’s back, so it sticks out and falls off a lot. Grim Reaper ended up with a pretty decent paint job, overall. The colors are all well-chosen, and things tend to stay where they’re supposed to. There are some weird choices, such as the red lines around the eyes, but things generally look pretty good. Grim Reaper’s only pack-in is the Build-A-Figure piece, which is the left leg of Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Grim Reaper is the last figure from this series that I was able to find at my local Toys R Us. I was pretty excited for this guy, though maybe not quite as excited as I would have been had the Avengers Infinite version not just been released. The figure turned out really well, and he offers not just a great interpretation of Grim Reaper (though I wouldn’t mind getting his undead look from the 80s) but also a great first look at Hasbro’s newest base body, which turned out better than expected.

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#0631: Tiger Shark

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

TIGER SHARK

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Remember about a week ago when I was talking about the more obscure villains? Well, Tiger Shark is definitely one of those. When one of the most notable things about you is that you fought the Sub Mariner, you aren’t at the top of anyone’s list. But, those types of characters seem to be Hasbro’s specialty as of late, and I certainly won’t be complaining about it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tigershark2Tiger Shark is figure number four in the new Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Like Batroc and Radiactive Man before him, he’s another figure salvaged from the proposed “Jubilee Series” of the Return of Marvel Legends line. With Tiger Shark, we’re now just one figure away from getting all of the figures from that series, which is pretty darn amazing. Hasbro is very committed to not letting those go to waste! The figure is about 6 ¾ inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. If you’ve read either my Radioactive Man or Anti-Venom reviews, you’ve seen a lot of this figure’s sculpt before. He’s built on the Hyperion buck, which is a decent body. It isn’t one of their greatest, but it’s not their worst either. The only real issue with it is how far back the neck sits on the chest, but that’s only obvious in certain poses. Aside from that, it’s a good base for larger characters, such as Tiger Shark. In addition to that body, he’s got a unique set of clawed hands (which are bound to see re-use at some point) and an all-new head sculpt. These pieces are all well sculpted and match up pretty nicely with the base body. The head, which was sculpted a little while ago, has that boxy look of some of the early Return of Marvel Legends males. That being said, it works okay for Tiger Shark. The biggest down side is that the headfin, which, while well-sculpted, restricts the neck movement greatly, due to it being made from solid plastic. I’m not sure what could be done to avoid this issue, but it’s annoying nonetheless. Now we get to the paint. Oh boy, the paint. Hasbro frequently has issues in this area, but Tiger Shark seems worse than usual. The torso is really where the worst is; they’ve painted orange over the purple, and, since it’s a lighter color, the purple bleeds through all over the place. The pelvis also has a huge scratch of orange on the front, which is really obvious. And this was the better of the two Tiger Sharks I saw at the store, which doesn’t speak well for the QC on this particular figure. Tiger Shark’s only extra is the right arm of the Build-A-Figure, Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Take a guess as to where I got Tiger Shark. If you guessed Toys R Us, you’re right. If you didn’t, I’m not sure what your deal is. Like, do you not read every one of my reviews? I’m hurt. Deeply. Anyway, I got Tiger Shark from my local TRU. I can’t say I was super excited about the figure, nor can I say he really blew away my expectations. That said, it’s nice to have at least gotten the figure. I’ll never say no to more Masters of Evil!

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#0630: Bulldozer

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

BULLDOZER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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The Marvel Universe is full of super villains who aren’t really specifically tied to just one hero. Sure, most of them start out with someone in particular, but then they just get passed around for a while. Such is the case with the Wrecking Crew. They started off as Thor villains, but they’ve made their way around to most of the major heroes. This ties demand for figures of them into a few fanbases. Unfortunately, they really aren’t well-known enough to the general public to warrant them all being released at once, so they have to be released one at a time. Hasbro first released them as part of their 3 ¾ inch Marvel Universe line, where each of them was packed with one of the many Marvel heroes. Then Hasbro turned their sights onto Marvel Legends. However, thanks to their wacky handling of swap figures, we only ended up getting three of the four, leaving poor Bulldozer out in the cold. But he’s finally here!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bulldozer3Bulldozer is the third figure in the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He was originally supposed to be the swap figure for Wrecker in the last series of the Return of Marvel Legends line, but none of the revision cases were produced. Fortunately, Hasbro seems determined to never let a good Legends sculpt go to waste, so we got him here. Yay! The Wrecking Crew have had a pretty consistent look over the years, but they’ve gotten a few tweaks here and there to “modernize” them. The ML Crew represented the team in their more current incarnations, and Bulldozer follows suit, which is, at the very least, good for consistency. The figure is almost 8 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. He is a massive figure, to almost a surprising degree. And he’s got some serious heft. For the most part, he re-uses a lot of the pieces from previous Wrecking Crew members, which in turn used a tweaked version of the body used by Hulkling in ToyBiz’s Young Avengers set. The body us definitely privy to some exaggerated proportions, Bulldozer4but in the case of the Crew, that actually works pretty well. It’s also loaded with tons of texturing, which keeps the sculpt really interesting. Bulldozer features all-new, unique parts for his head, hands, shoulder armor, belt, and boot cuffs. These pieces are all done to match up with the body, and are themselves coated in tons of texture work. It gives Bulldozer a real worn-in look, which really fits his role as a thug for hire. Bulldozer actually has some pretty decent paintwork for a Hasbro figure. He’s still not perfect, but the slop is minimal, most of the paint stays within the lines, and the colors are pretty well chosen. Bulldozer has no accessories of his own (though, given the size of this guy, I can’t say he feels lacking) but he does include the left arm of Ultron, this series’ Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bulldozer was another of the figures I found at my local Toys R Us. I never got any of the other Wrecking Crew figures (due to being out of Legends at the time), so I wasn’t really expecting much out of this guy. I was really just buying him for the Ultron piece. However, he really surprised me. Quite frankly, he’s my favorite figure in the set. He’s just a lot of fun, even if you don’t have the rest of the Crew.

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#0629: Marvel’s Wasp

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

“MARVEL’S” WASP

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Wasp. It’s Wasp. That’s who I’m looking at today. That’s some intro, right? Yeah, I really couldn’t come up with anything. Awkward, right? Oh well. Anyway, here’s my review of this new Wasp figure! Enjoy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF
WaspML2Wasp is figure number two from Hasbro’s Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. This is Wasp’s second foray into the Marvel Legends line, though it’s her third figure (or fourth, depending on whether you believe in the mythical Blue Wasp), thanks to variants. Her last figure was way back in the last series of ToyBiz’s run on the line, 8 years ago. Plus, that wasn’t a very good figure, so it’s about time she got another shot. Wasp’s one of those characters who’s had tons of different looks over the years, so there’s quite a few good ones to choose from. Hasbro has chosen her black and gold outfit…which is the same one the ToyBiz figure was wearing. It’s not that it’s a bad design, but it’s a look we’ve gotten several times before, and it’s not exactly the most thrilling look. Oh well, nothing that can be done now. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation, counting the wings. Wasp’s sculpt is based on the mid-sized female body we’ve seen for Storm, Hellcat, and Scarlet Witch. It’s a reasonable sculpt, with nice proportions, and I’m glad to see she’s been given non-heeled feet, which is always a plus. I wish the neck wasn’t quite so skinny, but it’s serviceable. The figure got an all-new head sculpt to top the body off. It’s a pretty good sculpt; the eyes seem just a tad too far apart, but not horribly so. The hair is a separate part from the head, which is odd, given how short it is, but it looks good and gives some nice dimension. The upper torso’s also been tweaked a bit to add sockets for the wings. They’re pretty sturdy, but the sockets are a little obtrusive. The wings themselves are quite well done, and the level of maneuverability is really great. The paintwork on Wasp is okay; not fantastic, but not bad. There’s a fair amount of slop, especially on the edges of the gold detailing, but some areas, like the face are actually pretty clean. Wasp’s only accessory is the torso of this series’ Build-A-Figure, Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, like Ant-Man, I found Wasp at my local Toys R Us a few weeks back. I think the Marvel Universe figure might still be my favorite Wasp to date, but this one’s a pretty good one. She’s definitely a huge improvement to the ToyBiz version from all those years ago, and that’s a good thing.

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