Tag Archives: Marvel

#3706: Doctor Strange

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

DOCTOR STRANGE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Stephen Strange was a brilliant surgeon before an accident ruined his hands. Now he defends our reality from supernatural threats as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme.”

I took a break from Marvel reviews all last month, largely because we’re in a waiting period on new Marvel Legends, which make up a substantial portion of my Marvel reviews.  Of course, that doesn’t stop me from digging into my backlog, I suppose.  I’ve had a number of “new” figures sitting off to the side waiting for a Legends-light period to slot them in, and I’m officially dusting some of them off!  And I do mean that literally…they’ve been sitting for a while you guys.  Anyway, here’s our second ever classic Doctor Strange, released more than a decade after the first!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Strange is a Walmart-exclusive Marvel Legends release, hitting in 2022 as a loose tie-in with the release of Multiverse of Madness.  He was only actually available online, rather than in-store, but that wasn’t a widely promoted thing, so it was easy to miss.  As noted in the intro, this was the first classic comic Strange since Toy Biz’s initial release of the character, all the way back in the Galactus Series, since Hasbro’s been sticking more to the modern side of things.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, Strange makes use of the lower half of the ANAD 2099 body, as well as the upper arms from Kang.  Beyond that, he’s all-new, though a number of the parts were re-used for the Spider-Man: Animated and Wong two-pack Strange releases.  Ultimately, it’s a good mix of parts, which does a really good job of conveying the flow and depth of the design.  The cape (which is one piece that is thus far totally unique to this release) is glued in place at the front, so it’s not going anywhere.  On one hand, it’s a little annoying not to be able to display him sans-cloak, but on the other it means it’s not flopping about and falling off, which I do like.  There are two main heads with this release, one “standard” and the other meditating.  What’s interesting is that they aren’t just a simple change of expression, but also have different hair styles.  The meditating one is more ’70s-inspired (and was in fact sculpted by Paul Harding, based on his own “Marvel In the ’70s” Doctor Strange sculpture), while the other is shorter and more modern.  I generally prefer the meditating one, but it’s limited by those closed eyes.  This is definitely one of those “wish I could swap the hair pieces” moments.  Strange’s color work isn’t bad.  It’s certainly bright and colorful.  The yellow paint on his cape is particularly sloppy, and I find the greying temples on both heads to be a little unsubtle in their application, but generally, things look okay.  Doctor Strange is packed with a third, masked head, based on his era of extra super-hero-y-ness in the ’60s.  It’s just a repainted Silver Surfer head, and it doesn’t actually match the body it comes with, but how else am I gonna build my Kurt Busiek’s The Order line-up?  Strange is also packed with two pairs of hands (spell casting and a fist/grip combo), spell effects pieces, the Wand of Watoomb, and the Axe of Angarruumus, which is all pretty fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall this figure being shown off, and I recall him going up on Walmart.com, but I never did get around to ordering him or putting any real effort at all into tracking him down.  It’s not that I didn’t want one, but I did still have the Toy Biz release, which is really, really good, and I just wasn’t in a rush to deal with getting a Walmart exclusive.  One with a broken tape seal showed up a few months after the fact at All Time, and I took that as a good sign that I should get one.  He’s a solid classic Strange, and a good update to the Toy Biz release.  I can’t say there’s much to him beyond that, but does there really have to be?

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

#3704: Red Skull

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

RED SKULL

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)

“The Red Skull, a notorious American enemy during World War II, continues in his quest toward world domination. And being the military and political genius that he is, the world better beware! Traditionally an enemy of Captain America, this evil villain has recently turned his attentions towards the amazing Spider-Man and his heroic exploits. And not that weapons-master Red Skull has employed his special “Giant Skull Catcher” device, this villain of all villains makes any rival easy prey!”

Nazis.  I hate these guys.

So, remember when one of Captain America’s most prominent Toy Biz era releases was inexplicably in their Spider-Man line?  And that was kind of weird?  I mean, I guess there was a whole arc with Cap in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, so it wasn’t *that* weird.  Cap was supposed to get his own cartoon, but it was ultimately the victim of Marvel’s bankruptcy.  That left Cap and his supporting cast without a real landing spot, so Cap was in the Spider-Man line, and so was his nemesis Red Skull, the aforementioned Nazi, who I hate.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Skull was released in 1998 as part of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series tie-in line, as part of the “Flip ‘N Trap” assortment, which was an odd gimmicky assortment under the larger “Sneak Attack” sub-line.  It’s sort of strange that he was in an entirely separate assortment from Cap, and wasn’t even released in the same year, but there it is.  Maybe he sat around for a bit before release?  This was the first ever Red Skull figure, which has its own sort of notability.   The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Skull got a lot upgraded articulation, which was honestly pretty cool.  The sculpt was an all-new one, and I don’t believe any of it was re-used later.  Despite being in an animation-based line, the Skull’s sculpt doesn’t seem to be based directly on his animated appearance.  It’s more of an all-purpose Red Skull, I guess.  The sculpt’s slightly wonky.  The proportions are slightly odd, with notably large hands and feet.  The head also seems a little too actually skull-like for his usual looks.  The left hand appears to be sculpted to maybe hold, oh, I don’t know, a cube, or something?  But nothing of the sort is included.  The color work on Red Skull is generally basic, but there’s some decent accent work on the head to help with the sculpted details.  Red Skull is packed with his own “Flip ‘N Trap” thingy, which is a backpack with a large red skull thing at the front.  It launches these small yellow rubber spider things.  It’s honestly more of a space filler than anything, and doesn’t really do much for the core figure, but it’s not terrible.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, on a trip to Toys R Us with my dad, I recall having the choice between getting this guy or X-Man.  I chose X-Man, because I guess I’m more of a heroes guy.  I did wind up getting Red Skull later down the line, obviously, courtesy they guys over at Cosmic Comix.  I lost some of the weird launcher parts over the years, but I was able to re-complete my figure thanks to trade-in at All Time.  Honestly, he’s kind of a weird figure, but then, so have most of the Red Skull figures.  I guess this one just sort of set the precedent for the ones that followed.  Ultimately, he’s not terrible, but he’s wonky.  I suppose that means he just matches up with the corresponding Cap in quality.

#3701: Peter B. Parker

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

PETER B. PARKER

SV-ACTION (SENTINEL)

When Into the Spider-Verse first came out, it had very minimal toy coverage.  There were some basic figures from Hasbro and a few Funko Pops, but that was really it.  Then the movie was a big hit, and the proper licensing went out, and it was just a field day.  Everyone and their mother was making something.  The 1/12 scale in particular got flocked to, with a bunch of Miles and Peter offerings.  One of the companies in the mix is Sentinel, a company I’ve only recently looked into.  I’m taking a look at their version of Peter B Parker today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker was released in Sentinel’s SV-Action line in 2021 as a single release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As I touched on in my first Sentinel review, their articulation set-up is somewhat unique, being a little more straight forward than a Figuarts release, but still a little more complex than, say, a Legends release.  There’s more nuance to the posing on this one than even the Armored Cap figure I looked at previously.  Generally, the tolerancing on the joints is pretty good, with no real floppiness, and a lack of things being too tight as well.  Peter B has a unique sculpt based on his fully suited-up look from Into the Spider-Verse, which has been a surprising rarity for his figures.  It’s very accurate to the animation model for the character, capturing his more unique build from the movie (right down to the slight paunch he has around his stomach), and working in the articulation without breaking things up too much.  It also handles all of the smaller detailing via sculpted texture work, which covers the whole figure.  It works very well, and again gives him a unique feel.  Peter B’s color work is pretty straight forward, but well handled.  There’s a lot of molded colors, with just enough paint to fill in the change-overs, and the painted vs molded actually match up quite well.  He’s got smaller work for the weblines, which are pretty decent, as well as the eyes, which are bright, clean, and sharp.  Peter B is packed with a whole plethora of extra parts, including four different heads (two masked, two unmasked, with differing expressions), 15 different hands (pairs of relaxed, open gesture, wall crawling, fists, webline gripping, thwipping with attached webs, ungloved, and right hand holding a coffee mug), a pair of glasses, four different webline pieces, and a display stand.  The glasses I feel are destined to get lost, but that’s what it is, I guess.  It’s too bad that we didn’t get an optional jacket and sweatpants, but there are other options for those, so I suppose this one is just more focused on the full suited look.  What he *does* get in addition to the Peter B parts is an extra unmasked head, lower torso, and pelvis, so that he can double as the Peter of Miles’s universe, making him a two-in-one figure, which is very fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much as I love the Spider-Verse films, I’ve thus-far stuck exclusively to Legends style figures for the characters from it, in part because the Legends have honestly just been pretty solid themselves.  That said, I’ve certainly become more connected to Peter B as a character, especially his journey into fatherhood in Across, which paralleled with my own personal journey, so when this figure landed in front of me, I felt urged to pick him up, especially because I was able to get a good deal on a used one through All Time.  I had initially used the Miles-verse Peter as my true justification for getting, but with the Legends one officially announced, I guess it’s back to really being the Peter B himself that sold me on it.  And, honestly, he’s just a very, very cool figure.  Now I just need to find him a pink bath robe.

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

#3674: Stealth Venom

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

STEALTH VENOM

SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

“In the past, Venom has been both hero and villain, and Spider-Man knows how powerful he can be! With his chameleon-like abilities, Venom can even blend into his surroundings and virtually ‘disappear’ from sight. So, although Venom is unpredictable, one thing is certain; when he does appear, things heat up!”

Ah, yes, Venom’s chameleon like abilities. Of all the Spider-Man villains out there, surely it’s Venom whose abilities could be best classified as “chameleon-like.” …look, guys, I can’t just stand by and let this Chameleon erasure happen! He’s the original Spider-Man villain. Can’t we get him some respect? No? Well, I tried. I guess I’ll just review this “chameleon-like” Venom.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Venom was released in Series 7 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line.  The whole set was dialed into Toy Biz’s tendency to give their lines the occasional repaint-heavy line-up, so there were minimal new parts across the board, all dialed into more recognizable characters.  This was Venom’s third time in the line, and the first of the kind of made-up variants.  It was far from the last of either thing, of course.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Venom lacks elbow joints for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, but there it is.  Otherwise, it’s pretty standard stuff.  His sculpt from the neck down was the same as the unmasked Venom from earlier in the line.  It’s honestly not a bad sculpt, and in particular it captured the animated approach to Venom pretty well.  He got a new head, which removed the removable mask feature…un-removed?  I don’t know.  There’s no unmasked head is my point.  It’s really bulky at the neck, and I’m not entirely sure why.  Also, he’s got this sort of permanently looking up thing going on, which seems odd for someone of his stature.  Venom’s stealth-ness came from the color work, which was translucent.  There were actually two different versions; the one seen here was the one that more closely mimicked Venom’s usual set-up, while the second one inverted the colors.  This one’s not nearly as different at a glance, especially in the photos, but I guess it works out alright.  Venom was packed with two clip-on hand attachments, as well as a web-line that was wrapped around his waist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was surprisingly short on Venom figures growing up.  I had one of the 10-inchers, and I jumped on the original Spider-Man Classics one pretty quickly, but the 5-inch ones all eluded me until later in life.  This guy was mixed in with a handful of Toy Biz figures that got traded into All Time a month or two ago, and he was surprisingly complete, so hooray for me!  He’s kinda goofy, obviously, but it’s not like I’m collecting the Toy Biz stuff for its serious adherence to the comics lore, am I?  Now, I guess I just have to track down that variant.

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

#3672: Death’s Head

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

DEATH’S HEAD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In 2014, 27 years after the character’s creation, the toyline tie-in chat that’s not legally a toyline tie-in character Death’s Head finally got an action figure, courtesy of Hasbro’s late stages Marvel Universe scale. Just three years later, we got a Marvel Legends Death’s Head figure. Unfortunately, it was Death’s Head II, who’s emphatically not as cool. That figure sold pretty abysmally, and the name took a bit of a hit, hence the rather long wait to get the real Death’s Head as a proper Legends release. His final release is…well there’s some moving parts to how it all worked out, but here he is, and that’s the most important thing, yes?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Death’s Head is a solo release for Marvel Legends. He was initially promoted as an exclusive for SDCC 2024, with a limited stock for Pulse after the con, but it seems Hasbro made more than expected, so after the scramble to get him, we all found out he’s actually a Fan Channel exclusive later in the fall, so the SDCC one was just kind of a preview? SDCC figures have seen re-releases in the past, but usually with some form of change, even if it’s just to the packaging. Not so this time. Speaking of packaging, this guy’s got a ’90s trading card-inspired box, a lot like Havok & Polaris and the Love Triangle set, which is a vibe I very much dig. The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. This figure’s construction uses the same approach as his smaller counterpart, reworking parts from this line’s version of Colossus. It was a good approach at the smaller scale, and it’s still a good approach here. The upper torso has been modified to cut the original shoulder pads shorter, and the upper legs have the knee joints switched to pinless (though the arms remain visibly pinned). He still gets a lot of new parts, including a new head and lower legs, and new overlay pieces for his cape, torso armor, and belt/skirt. I remain impressed by Hasbro’s ability to translate this look into figure form; the head is once again the spitting image of Death’s Head from the comics, and the textured details on the overlays are nicely implemented. I don’t like how the cape is so free-floating, which is actually my main complaint regarding the smaller one, so hooray for consistency! The color work here is alright. He’s not quite as metallic as the smaller figure, which is a little bit of a bummer. Also, I get just paining over some of the Colossus details for some of it, but I’m not sure why the sides of his tunic aren’t painted right at the ab-crunch. It’s like that on the prototype too, so that’s intentional. Weird. Otherwise, he’s very bright, and the application is pretty clean. Death’s Head is packed with two sets of hands (fists and an open gesture/gripping combo), his shield, and an axe, mace, and missile. The shield can be held or go on his back, and you can mount the weapons to the shield, or swap them out for Death’s Head’s hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have this fixation on Death’s Head that I can’t fully explain, but it’s just there. As a kid, I remember a CustomCon entry for Bruce Timm-Style Marvel Animated figures, which had a Death’s Head custom featured, and I’ve wanted him as a toy since. I loved the smaller figure, but he’s not my preferred scale, so I’ve been waiting patiently for this one. I wasn’t thrilled that he was going to be exclusive, but Max was kind enough to get me set-up with one as a birthday present. It’s not a perfect figure, but it’s a very, very cool one.

#3670: Superior Spider-Man

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

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Let’s go back to the beginning!  Okay, like, maybe the middle?  Post-intermission?  In 2014, after reviving Marvel Legends from its hiatus brought on by effectively running the line into the ground during their first go at things, Hasbro’s Return of Marvel Legends was losing steam, and they needed another angle.  That angle turned out to be mixing the comic assortments with movie tie-ins, under the Marvel Legends Infinite Series banner.  They launched with two sets, one based on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the other on Amazing Spider-Man 2.  The Spidey assortment’s comic Spidey was the still relatively recent Superior Spider-Man redesign, which I reviewed here when it was new….ten years ago.  A decade later, Superior Spider-Man got a brief revival in the comics, and is showing back up in Legends form, too!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superior Spider-Man is a single deluxe release Marvel Legends figure, under the “Celebrating 85 Years” banner.  He’s based on the second Superior look, which was his more unique, and ultimately more relevant design.  It wound up outliving the original run, with Otto wearing during the time displacements of “Spider-Verse”, and Peter himself wearing it during the recent Superior revival run.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  SpOck re-uses the arms and legs from the Renew Your Vows body, which updates him to most of the modern articulation scheme.  He’s got a new head, torso, and pelvis, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan, which match well with the pre-existing stuff, though, for whatever reason, he’s back to the ab-crunch and cut waist, rather than a more modern articulation scheme.  He’s also got modified forearms, which add the gauntlets that were missing from the original release of this costume.  SpOck’s color work is honestly pretty solid.  The base work is pretty clean, and they’ve even got his rather uneven web-lining down alright.  One of the coolest parts, though, is the lenses on the default head, which simulate the reflective lenses from the comics by doing some printed detailing.  It’s quite dynamic, and makes for a very unique appearance next to the other Spideys.  The only issue I ran into on my figure is the presence of some errant red on one of his right hands.  SpOck’s main accessory is his back-pack, complete with…well, I don’t recall if they were actually called “waldoes” when Ock was using thing, but they’re the additional legs, and another major thing missing from the last figure.  Each of the legs gets 8 points of articulation, for a total of 32 points in addition to the 38 of the core body, bringing him up to a whopping 70 points.  They’re a little tricky to work with in some poses, but they’re strong enough to hold the figure aloft, which is really the most important thing.  SpOck is also packed with an extra head with white lenses (if you’re not into the artsier style), a compact back pack without the legs, and three pairs of hands (in fists, thwipping, and open clawed).  If I’m being extra demanding, I’d say I’d like an unmasked Otto as Peter head, like the Minimate version got, but there’s still plenty here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The prior Superior Spidey was decent for the time, especially with the line still really figuring out its first year in a new direction.  That said, it dried up pretty quickly in terms of distribution, and it also aged pretty quickly.  Add in the missing elements, and the fact that its been a decade since the original, and you’ve got an easy mark for a new offering.  This one’s not perfect, but he’s pretty solid, and definitely brings the look more in line with the more recent standard Spideys.

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

#3669: Halloween Jack

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

HALLOWEEN JACK

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Once a schoolmate of the X-Man Meanstreak, Jordon Boone went on to become a most trusted employee of the monolithic Alchemax corporation, Alchemax installed nano-tech implants into Boone’s central nervous system-implants that render his cellular structure transmutable allowing him to change his shape at will. Calling himself Halloween Jack, this mischief maker causes trouble for friends and enemies alike.”

The 2099 imprint was a notable component of Marvel’s line-up in the ’90s, but these days, people tend to really only remember Spider-Man.  They did try to make some strides towards more unique storytelling, and X-Men 2099 in particular built a cast that wasn’t just re-hashes of prior characters.  The team also had a sizable portion of supporting players and recurring antagonists, such as Halloween Jack, a character who would later be revealed to actually be the future’s incarnation of Loki.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Halloween Jack was released in series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line, released in 1996.  He was also re-released in 1997 on the Marvel Universe card back.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation, which includes a moving ponytail.  The amount of articulation is honestly astounding.  Like, I’m not sure exactly why Halloween Jack of all characters go this much movement, but here we are.  The only thing missing was some sort of hinge on the elbows.  Jack’s sculpt was all-new at the time, though it would be re-used for Jackal in the Maximum Cloneage boxed set.  As Jack was a shapeshifter, his exact appearance in the comics was rather fluid, but the sculpt actually does a pretty good job capturing the general vibe of the character’s illustrated appearances.  There’s quite a bit of texturing in play, which certainly keeps him visually interesting.  His paint work is decent enough.  The black and bright green is a very striking combo, and the application is all pretty clean, though his face is oddly fuzzy, which is something I’ve seen on multiple copies of the figure.  Jack is packed with monstrous mask and glove pieces to showcase his shapeshifting abilities.  It’s not a perfect set-up, but they’re fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have Halloween Jack himself as a kid, but I did have the Jackal repaint from the boxed set, so I remember the mold pretty well.  I had plenty of opportunities to get a Jack over the years, but never really jumped on it, and then by the time I wanted one, it was tricky to find him complete.  Thankfully, he was one of a small handful of packaged figures that got traded into All Time, so I got a chance to open a sealed one.  He’s a surprisingly good figure.  It’s kind of crazy the amount of effort they put into specifically this guy, but Toy Biz had a tendency to do that every so often.  It’s just one of their quirks, I suppose.

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

#3664: Strong Guy

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

STRONG GUY

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Last week, I jumped back into Toy Biz Marvel with a discussion of the repaints that kept the line fresh on the pegs of KB Toys, one of the greatest supporters of the brand in the ’90s.  There were a variety of different ways they kept up with things, but at the tail end of the decade, they really dialed in on X-Men specifically.  There was a range of differences in terms of what they did with those figures.  Today’s offering, Strong Guy, was on the minor end of things when it came to change-ups.  Let’s jump into those, I guess?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Strong Guy was released in the first assortment of the KB-exclusive X-Men repaint line, released in 1998.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt is re-use of the Series 6 Strong Guy, which was the only other Strong Guy Toy Biz ever did.  It was definitely a little on the small side for Guido, at least as he was usually depicted in the comics at the time, and the articulation was a bit stripped down by the line’s usual standards, but it was a sculpt that certainly looked the part for the character.  While the Magneto from this line had a rather drastically different color scheme from the original AoA release, Strong Guy doesn’t quite go that far, but it’s still a bit beyond the differences between the Morph releases, which you could chalk up to production changes.  The colors are rather desaturated compared to the original release, which is certainly an interesting choice.  Also, the one true application change here is the moving of his X-logo from his left side to centered on his vest.  I guess that works better for branding?  I don’t know.  I don’t think Guido ever had the logo there, but I honestly didn’t keep up with all of his costume changes.  Like the original release, this figure was without accessories, but he does still have his “power punch” feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Given how long it took me to even get around to opening my original Strong Guy, I guess it’s not a shock that I didn’t rush out to get this guy.  Honestly, I wasn’t even super sure I was going to do all of the variant hunting for all of these figures, at least initially, but I’ve gotten more invested in that over the years, so, when I found this guy at Factory Antiques, I opted to jump on it.  There’s not much new to this one, and it’s hard to say exactly *why* Toy Biz felt the need to do him, but, you know what?  I won’t knock them for doing another Strong Guy.

#3662: Spider-Man & Wolverine – Fantastic Four

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

SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE — FANTASTIC FOUR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Though the emotional through line of the Fantastic Four is undoubtedly the core family of four, the team itself has been no stranger to line-up changes over the years. Perhaps the most drastic of those changes was “The New Fantastic Four”, a team quickly assembled when the original four were presumed dead.  Rather than leaning into the usual quirky second tier character set-up that FF replacements tended to be, the New FF was all heavy hitters, with a line-up comprised of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and the Hulk.  The concept’s been brought back a few times since, more recently during Dan Slott’s run on FF, where Franklin and Valeria need assistance defending the Earth while the main four are off-planet, and call in Spider-Man and Wolverine, who get snazzy new team uniforms for the set-up.  Super toyetic, right?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Wolverine are a Fan Channel-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, which just started hitting at the tail end of last month.  They seem to be loosely tied into the larger Wolverine anniversary celebration, though they’re slightly removed.  Both figures are based on their team suits as seen in Fantastic Four #21.

SPIDER-MAN

While Spidey’s gotten a few FF-related costumes previously, this marked his first time that got specifically a Fantastic Four design.  This one takes the usual Spidey costume layout, and mixes it with the inverted color scheme suit design the FF had earlier in the Slott run.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Amazing Fantasy body, which remains my favorite Spider-Man body that Hasbro has put out.  It’s just a really good base body, with balanced proportions and a really good range of motion on all of the articulation.  It’s a solid match for a more svelte Spidey, which is how he was depicted in the books.  The key selling point here is the new color scheme, which is heavy on the blue and black.  It matches with previously released Franklin and Valeria, and the application on the paint is all pretty cleanly handled.  Spidey is packed with four sets of hands, in fists, gripping, thwipping, and open gesture.

WOLVERINE

Wolverine’s ties to the FF are a little on the looser side, but he’s Wolverine, so, you know, he goes where he wants, I guess.  His costume design follows Spidey’s lead, also working in a bit of the classic brown costume, at least in terms of layout of the costume pieces.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Wolverine is largely using the same bank of parts Wolverine has been using since the Juggernaut Series release. It’s not quite as slick as newer molds, but it gets the job done. Since this costume lacks Logan’s usual distinctive boot shape, he’s got the more basic shins from the Retro card black suit release, and he’s also using the slightly more modern claw shape from the X-Force costume. His color scheme matches Spidey, which means it also matches Franklin and Val, which is certainly a plus. The application is generally clean, with no real issues to speak of. Wolverine gets no extras, not even extra hands, which is a bit of a bummer.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set definitely falls into that category of “things you don’t know you want until they exist” for me. I read the issues where these looks appeared, and I enjoyed them, but I didn’t feel like I *needed* them. But, when they got shown off, and I already had Franklin and Val in-hand, I was a pretty easy mark. They’re not much to write home about, I suppose, since they’re just straight repaints of figures we’ve already got, but they’re still solid figures, and they’re sensible variants.

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

#3660: Iron Fist & Luke Cage

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

IRON FIST & LUKE CAGE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In the ’70s, Marvel attempted to jump on a number of different popularity trains, and amongst them were Kung-Fu and Blaxploitation, resulting in the creation of Iron Fist and Luke Cage, two wholly separate and unrelated characters, at least at their start.  However, as the decade moved on, both of the characters struggled on their own.  Marvel’s solution was to roll them both into the same book, creating the “Heroes for Hire” (pluralizing the title already previously granted to Cage on his own).  It was quite a successful move, and the characters have remained linked ever since.  The pairing’s been the source of quite a bit of toy coverage, including, most recently, Marvel Legends‘ celebration of Marvel’s 85th anniversary.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Fist and Luke Cage a two-pack Marvel Legends release, under the “Celebrating 85 Years” banner.  Interestingly, despite the pairing of the characters, this is the first time the two of them have been released together in two-pack form in the whole run of the line.  The closest we’ve gotten before this was the con-exclusive Netflix-based boxed set and the Amazon-exclusive comics boxed set that were both released to tie-in with Defenders, but those obviously through in the other characters as well.  Heck, prior to this, the singles of the characters had never even been in the same assortment!

IRON FIST

The second of Marvel’s Kung-Fu heroes, following Shang-Chi, Danny Rand aka Iron Fist is no stranger to Legends, getting his first and second figures both under Toy Biz’s run.  Under Hasbro, he’s had three figures, all of them in more recent costumes.  This one, however, returns to his original ’70s garb, which we haven’t seen since Toy Biz.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  Iron Fist uses the “Renew Your Vows” Spidey base body as a starting point, with two new heads, and a new upper and lower torso, and belt piece, all courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  The base body has a great range of motion, which makes for all sorts of great kung-fu posing.  The new parts vibe really well with the pre-existing pieces.  The new heads give us both calm and screaming options, which are both really strong, and they’ve even both got posable ties on the back of the mask.  The color work on this figure uses a lot of molded coloring, with a bit of paint work.  It’s clean, concise, and bold, and it very definitely works with the mold.  The figure is packed with four pairs of hands (fists, flat, and two different open palm gestures) and two different chi effect pieces.

LUKE CAGE

Luke actually just got the Legends treatment rather recently, with a ’70s based figure in the Mindless Ones assortment from the end of last year.  Of course, with a ’70s figure released that recently, that does sort of mean this one had to be a different look, so they’ve opted for a more modern Luke.  It’s not a terrible choice, but it does mean that the two figures don’t necessarily have the same vibe, since Danny’s very ’70s and Luke is…not.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Luke is sporting an all-new sculpt courtesy of Rene Aldrete.  The body sculpt feels like it’s begging for re-use down the line, since it’s just a pretty basic t-shirt and jeans get-up.  There’s a ton of great texture work present, which really sells the more civilian aspect of Luke’s modern look.  It’s topped off by two new heads, which, much like Iron Fist, have calm and screaming expressions.  It’s a good mix, and seems to have a touch more character than the head we got from the ’70s Luke last year.  Color work for this figure is especially reliant on molded colors, which works surprisingly well.  There’s a little paint, mostly on the face and belt, which is handled very cleanly.  Luke is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, the other in a gripping/open gesture combo.  The fists have brass knuckles, which read “LUKE” and “CAGE.”  They’re fun, but I’m also a bit surprised there’s not also standard fists without them.  It makes continuity between the poses a little confusing, since they’re not really set up for mix-and-matching the same way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been wanting an updated classic Iron Fist for quite a while, like even before we got the Luke Cage.  Then we got the Luke Cage, and I only wanted the Iron Fist update even more.  After getting Luke on his own, I wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of having to buy a two pack with yet another Luke to get the matching Iron Fist.  I still find it a little odd that they’d release them so close together, but not just do the full ’70s style two-pack.  But, whatever the case, this set’s a strong one.  The two figures may not quite match up as a pair, but they’re individually really strong figures.  Iron Fist winds up as the star piece for me, but I found myself liking the Luke a lot more than I’d expected to.

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