Tag Archives: Namor

#3965: Namor the Submariner

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

NAMOR THE SUBMARINER

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Born from the depths of the ocean, Namor, the avenging son, is Prince of the noble underwater city of Atlantis. The hybrid offspring of a human and an Atlantean, Namor’s quest for adventure brought him into contact with the surface world and its inhabitants. Although sometimes at odds with the actions and agendas of the land dwellers, the Sub-Mariner often lent his incredible strength and exalted heroism towards the fight for justice and humanity.”

You just gotta space out your Namor reviews, guys.  It’s the only way to do it.  That’s why I haven’t reviewed a Namor figure since 2023.  Also, because I don’t have a *ton* of Namor figures, and I actually haven’t bought any in the mean time.  That might contribute to it as well.  Today’s Namor isn’t even a new Namor.  It’s not even new to me, even.  It’s actually the oldest a Namor figure can be, because it’s the first one he got.  Have I said Namor enough?  Clearly not.  Onto the review proper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Namor the Submariner was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  The show had moved onto its second season by this point, which houses neither of Namor’s two appearances, but they didn’t let that hold them back from releasing him.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation…sort of.  The shoulder and elbow on his right arm are both tied into his action feature, so they don’t move particularly well on their own.  On the flip side, he does get an additional wrist swivel on that side, so there’s some extra movement there.  Namor got an all-new sculpt for this release (which would later be re-tooled into Ryu for the X-Men vs Street Fighter line), based on his design from the show, which was itself based on his ‘90s comics design.  It generally sticks to his classic green speedo look, with one notable change-up: a pretty rad ponytail!  Yeah, Imperius Rex needed to show off that he was hip, and cool, and down with it, so he got a pony tail.  The thing that’s always struck me about this mold is that he just sort of feels wide.  Or squat.  Or something.  The proportions seem off.  I do like the scale texturing on the shorts, though, and the little ankle wings work surprisingly well.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends his right arm forward, for something of a lunging attack if he’s hold his trident.  The figure’s color work is fine.  Generally basic, but it does what it needs to.  Mine’s taken a slight beating over the years, but it’s not awful.  Namor is packed with his trident and a shield, which can both be easily held in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Namor is one of my earliest figures from this line.  Series 3 had just hit when I was getting into action figures, so he and the Thing were probably my first two FF figures, I’d imagine?  I actually already knew Namor pretty well at the time, because I had a bunch of VHS tapes with his Ruby-Spears cartoon on them, which gave him a decent amount of focus from me.  He was my only Namor until the Legends figure came out, and he definitely got a lot of play time.  He’s easily one of the most dated figures in the line, but he works in his own sort of quirky way.

#3299: Namor – Wakanda Forever

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

NAMOR — WAKANDA FOREVER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The ruler of Talokan, an ancient civilization hidden in the depths of the ocean, Namor will stop at nothing to protect his people.”

The last time that I reviewed a Namor action figure here on the site, it early 2018, and I was reviewing the figures from the first Black Panther tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He was a comics-based Namor, and I remarked at the time that his presence in a Black Panther-themed set was kind of odd and hard to justify.  Well, don’t I feel foolish now.  Namor was introduced to the MCU last year in Wakanda Forever, where he serves as the antagonist, albeit perhaps not a totally villainous one.  Tenoch Huerta’s performance in the role was an impressive one, giving us a Namor that was a little harsher than his comics counterpart tends to be.  Nevertheless, it’s a good set-up for a potential future for the character within the MCU.  And, he’s got another action figure in a Black Panther tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, but this time it makes sense!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Namor is part of the Attuma Series of Marvel Legends, which is the dedicated tie-in assortment for Wakanda forever.  In an assortment that’s got a fair bit of re-hash going on, especially with its movie figures, Namor stands out as being the most noteworthy addition to the line.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Namor’s articulation scheme is generally pretty decent, following with the current line set-up.  He’s got the pinless structure on his elbows and knees, which is a little nicer looking.  I’m not super crazy about the range of motion on the mid-torso joint, but otherwise, everything works out all pretty decently.  Namor is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan.  The head has a solid likeness of Huerta, albeit looking perhaps a little dryer than he really does in the film proper (it’s worth noting that Chan sculpted it with a different, more flow-y styling to the hair originally, and it was changed).  Still, a good likeness is a good likeness.  The body sculpt is fairly balanced in terms of proportions.  The only part of it that I feel is a little bit off is the neck, which is just a tad too long to be quite right.  Not terribly off, mind you; just the slightest bit.  The jewelry around the neck is a separate piece, which can be slipped off if you pop the head off, allowing for a slightly more comics-looking Namor.  Of course, this does exaggerate the neck issue just a little more, but again, not the worst.  Namor’s color scheme, thanks to his construction, is largely handled via molded plastic.  There’s a touch of paint for the face, of course, as well as on the feet.  It’s clean, and the face in particular is fairly lifelike.  There’s a small spot of glue slop on the back of the hair, but he’s otherwise without blemishes.  Namor is packed with two sets of hands, with one pair of flat hands, and one in a fist/gripping combo, as well as his spear, and the left arm to the Attuma Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I largely opted to skip this round of figures, due to having previous versions of most of the characters included, I was definitely down for the first MCU version of Namor.  It’s been a long path to seeing him on the big screen, and he was one of my favorite parts of Wakanda Forever.  I’ve had this guy for a while, but he had the misfortune of just sort of slipping through the cracks, since there was just the one of him.  He’s not top of the line or anything, but he’s a solid mid-range figure.

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.

#1561: Sub-Mariner

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

SUB-MARINER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With incredible strength and swimming speed, Sub-Mariner is a powerful force on land and sea.”

Patience is a virtue.  There’s a phrase that holds a lot of weight in the toy collecting world.  Be it waiting for an announcement of a certain character, waiting to see a prototype, waiting for the figure to make it to retail, or even waiting to find that figure.  Sometimes, it’s the waiting for a specific version of a character that gets you, though.  Take for instance, the Sub-Mariner,  Marvel’s oldest super hero, who has spent the vast majority of his almost 80 year career in a green speedo.  And yet, in 15 years of Marvel Legends, we haven’t gotten a proper speedo-ed Namor.*  Kind of crazy, right?  Well, that’s finally changed.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sub-Mariner is part of the recent Okoye Series of Marvel Legends, as one of three comics-inspired figures in the assortment.  As with Black Bolt, the presence of Namor in what’s ostensibly a Black Panther assortment is a little baffling, but I’m hardly going to argue with any logic that finally gets me a classic Namor.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like his Walgreens-exclusive predecessor, this Namor is built on the Reaper body, and makes use of the shared Namor/Wonder Man wrist bracers.  He also uses the shins from the last Namor, allowing him to keep his signature ankle wings.  On top of all that, the figure gets a new head, torso, pelvis, and feet.  I had honestly expected the figure to just use the same head as WG Namor.  While that head has a few issues, I thought it was pretty serviceable, certainly enough for Hasbro to keep using it.  Hasbro thought otherwise, and instead gave us an all-new sculpt that rivals the old TB Namor in terms of perfectness for the character.  This is Namor, no doubt about it.  The hair’s got that perfect square shape, his eyebrows are arched just the right way, and he’s got just the right amount of pomposity.  I expected the torso to be at least slightly tweaked, so that Namor wouldn’t go totally nipple-less, but I was happy to see Hasbro went for a total re-sculpt, so as to keep him consistent with the slightly slimmer build of the WG Namor.  The pelvis is another case of a surprise new piece.  Given the scales on the last figure (and the recent Vintage Captain America) release, I was entirely expecting for those to be painted on.  It’s awesome that they weren’t, and adds a lot to this figure, keeping his sculpt from being as devoid of detail as it could have been.  Lastly, there are the feet.  They’re pretty straightforward, but well sculpted nonetheless.  The paint on Sub-Mariner isn’t super complex, but it’s all pretty great.  The details are all nice and clean, and the metallic accenting on the speedo certainly pops.  They’ve changed the skin tone since the last figure, which is a bit of a bummer if you wanted to swap heads, but it’s not terribly different.  This is also more consistent with Namor’s usual palette.  The figure is packed with an extra bearded head, which more closely resembles the prior Namor, to the point of almost looking like a different person.  He’s also go the same two pairs of hands, as well as his trident.  I was happy that he got a proper trident this time; Odin’s spear just didn’t cut it last time.  This one’s awesome.  Lastly, Namor is packed with both of Okoye’s arms. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the surprise of finding Black Bolt at Walgreens, I was pretty much immediately on the lookout for this guy.  I was not alone in this endeavor, evidently, and Namor was the notable exception pretty much every time I saw the assortment in stores.  I found Namor almost by accident, really.  He was at a Target I check on a fairly regular basis; I’d stopped in to look for him with no luck, so I bought some Black Series figures I’d been looking for instead.  I ended up needing to stop by for something else the next day, and just walked down the toy aisle, not really expecting to find anything, and there he was.  Yay.  I really like this figure.  A lot.  He’s the Namor I’ve been waiting for pretty much since Marvel Legends started.  Now I have him, and I’m content with my Namor sub-set of my collection.

*Yes, I know Hasbro put out a speedo-clad Namor in 2007’s Ronan the Accuser Series, but cutting straight to the point, that figure sucked.  The less said, the better.

#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!