Tag Archives: She-Hulk

#3243: She-Hulk

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

SHE-HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Attorney Jennifer Walters’ life is forever changed when she suddenly gains Hulk-like powers after an accident exposes her to the blood of her cousin, Bruce Banner.”

Oh man, remember when She-Hulk totally ruined the MCU forever and ever with no chance of it ever being fixed ever at all?  Me either.  Actually, what I more recall was actually really liking the show, pretty much from start to finish.  Yeah, I liked a thing.  It’s the worst thing ever, right?  How could I?  She-Hulk was honestly a pretty pitch-perfect adaptation of the character through all of her various runs in the comics, and a fantastic showcase of Tatiana Maslany in the lead role of Jen Walters.  She-Hulk’s been present in Marvel Legends since the very early days of Hasbro having the license, with a handful of updates to her in the last few years.  The latest is, of course, based on her MCU incarnation, hot on the heels of her show’s first season wrapping up.  Let’s see how that one turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

She-Hulk is figure 3 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the final single-release figure in the set, and, like yesterday’s Ms. Marvel, she’s the only figure from her show.  Hopefully, there will be a little more follow-up to this one, since the show has so many other cool looks to offer.  Jen is seen here in her hulked-out form, sporting her “hero” suit, which was the one used for all the marketing, and is also the most action-oriented of her designs from the show.  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on She-Hulk is honestly the best in this whole assortment of figures, especially in terms of merging form and function.  The pinless double joints for the elbows and knees really work well, and I especially love the way the motion works on the ankle joints.  There’s a bit of restriction on the neck joint, which is really a design thing, but that’s really the only issue.  She-Hulk’s sculpt is an all-new offering, and it’s again probably the best in the series.  The face has got a fantastic likeness of the hulk-ified Tatiana Maslany, and honestly looks a little bit more realistic than the actual show model did.  The hair’s got a good weight and flow to it as well, and showcases the proper volume, which is an improvement on the other hair sculpts from this series.  The body sculpt has a very nice, very balanced set of proportions, with a realistic detailing to her various muscle groups.  Her outfit sports some really strong texture work, and matches up well with the design as seen in the show.  The color work on She-Hulk is definitely the boldest and most-eye-catching of this round of figures.  The greens are largely molded color, with paint work on the face and her outfit.  The face is printed, and looks spot-on.  The outfit’s a little bit sloppier in its application, but overall not terrible.  Shulky is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open flat) as well as the left leg of the Infinity Ultron Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I addressed in the intro, I did the forbidden thing of actually liking She-Hulk.  In fact, I liked She-Hulk a lot.  I was also actually quite a fan of her show design, and the fact that it means we get a new She-Hulk figure is just icing on the proverbial cake.  This figure’s definitely in the top two for this assortment for me, and given that the other one is a Moon Knight figure, that’s pretty high praise from me.  She’s a very well put-together figure, and is honestly the best She-Hulk out there, topping even the comics versions.  Now, about getting that proper John Byrne version….

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.

#2866: She-Hulk

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

SHE-HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jennifer Walters mutates into She-Hulk, a massive, muscled green hero with boundless strength and the will to do good.”

Introduced in 1980, She-Hulk is notable for having Stan Lee involved in her creation, quite a while after he was contributing to the Marvel day-to-day stuff.  She was originally created, as many distaff counterparts are, in order to secure a copyright so that no one else could.  In true Marvel fashion, though, she became much more than that, and came into a fanbase all her own, divorced from her cousin Bruce’s base almost entirely.  With a Disney+ series on the horizon, she’s ramping up with the merchandising, including getting yet another Legends release quite recently.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

She-Hulk is a stand-alone Fan Chanel-exclusive Marvel Legends release, much like the run of them we got at the end of 2019.  She’s in the standard style packaging, just without the Build-A-Figure part.  This figure’s definitely most inspired by the character’s earlier appearances, while she was still in her “Savage She-Hulk” days, hence the more mainline Hulk-esque tattered clothes.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She’s built from the same bank of parts as the Super Skrull Series Hulk, which is sensible enough.  It was an all-new sculpt, and I can definitely understand Hasbro wanting to get some more mileage out of it.  It’s not a pitch-perfect match for any of the specifically She-Hulk looks, but it’s close enough to work.  It’s also just a very nice sculpt, so I’m not gonna knock seeing it another time.  She’s got a new head sculpt, which is notably calmer and more composed, in keeping with the majority of She-Hulk’s appearances over the years.  It’s not bad, though it does feel maybe a little bit bland for my taste, at least when compared to the previous sculpt, which was very dynamic.  Fortunately, if you preferred that sculpt, it’s also included here, so you’re free to swap them out as you please.  In addition to the extra head, the other change-up for this figure is the color scheme.  She shifts from the greyer tones of her more recent Hulk appearance, to a more classic green-skinned look.  It gives her a little more pop, and I quite like the overall tone of it.  To fit the overall bolder coloring of the green, her tattered shirt switches to a proper white (in place of the off-white of the original), and the pants are now black (instead of bluish grey).  She ends up losing a few of the smaller details, like the weathering on the pants, and the gamma scarring, but overall it’s a nice classic design.  She-Hulk is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, same as the prior release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I quite liked the Hulk release of this mold, but it was, admittedly, not my preferred version of the character.  I was definitely hoping for the proper green, and that’s what we got here.  I think the mold works really nicely in these new colors, so I’m down for that.  The new head’s still not my go-to look for the character, and I’m eternally holding out for that more proper John Byrne She-Hulk, but until then, I do rather like this one.  It’s a step in the right direction.

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.

#2308: Hulk

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

HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jennifer Walters struggles to control her anger, and keep the powerful Hulk at bay.”

After pretty much only being Bruce Banner’s alter-ego for five decades, in the last couple of years, the name “Hulk” has been shared by a handful of other people.  The first being Thunderbolt Ross (who admittedly did put “Red” in front of it to distinguish himself a bit), then Amadeus Cho (who stuck with “Totally Awesome” as his lead-in), and then eventually Hulk’s original spin-off, Jennifer Walters, previously a Hulk of the “She” variety.  I mean, I think she’s still of the “she” variety, but it got dropped from her name.  Also, she’s angry now, so there’s that.  And now, there’s a figure of this new incarnation!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hulk is figure 6 in the Super Skrull Series of Marvel Legends.  Though not super linked to the FF in her most current incarnation, Jen is nevertheless a good fit for an FF-themed assortment, given her history with the team during John Byrne’s tenure, and how that helped shift her into the spot-light.  Of course, I’d still like a proper Byrne FF She-Hulk one of these days, but that’s an issue for another time.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Unlike the last ML She-Hulk, this figure is an all-new sculpt, and a rather impressive one at that.  Since her transition to just being Hulk also had her picking up some of her cousin’s temper issues, this new sculpt depicts an angrier, more savage Jen.  The face is an intense, teeth-baring snarl, which you don’t often see on female figures, and the hair is wildly blowing, with a stray stand even blowing across her face.  It’s quite a dynamic head, and I really love that about it.  The body goes to the proper Hulk roots of tattered clothing remains.  Like the last two comic He-Hulks we got, this one has a separate rubber tattered shirt piece, although this one isn’t designed to be removed.  She’s also sporting a pair of jeans with enough holes in them to make a clothing designer jealous, and with a ton of really nice texture work to make them feel like a real piece of clothing.  All of its on a body that has a great build to match most depictions of Jen in her Gamma-induced form.  I’m sure some of these parts have already been ear-marked to crop up again.  Jen’s transition to an adjective-less Hulk was accompanied by a change in color from her usual green to a grey more in like with her cousin’s earlier appearances.  This figure replicates that, but does keep enough green in there to make her still look more like a half-way point between Bruce’s two forms.  The paintwork on this figure does some solid work, especially on the hair, which has that nice green highlight to it.  I also really dig the bright green scars.  Hulk is packed with two sets of hands in fists and open gesture, as well as the right arms to Super Skrull.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The A-Force She-Hulk was a better figure than I expected, but was still a rather dated piece even when she was new, which definitely left me wanting a more properly updated version of Jen.  While I’ll admit this one might not have my first choice of design, and I’m certainly still holding out for a Byrne version, I can’t deny that this is a very nice figure, and would it not for the figure I’m about to review tomorrow, she’d probably be my favorite in the set.

Hulk came from my sponsors at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1711: A-Force

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

SHE-HULK, SIF, MARVEL’S SINGULARITY, LADY LOKI, ELSA BLOODSTONE, & MONICA RAMBAEU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Spawning out of 2015’s Secret Wars event was an all-female super team dubbed A-Force.  Gimmicky?  Perhaps, but of course, so was the whole event.  I appreciated it for what it was: a chance to focus on some of Marvel’s fun secondary characters, who maybe get overlooked a little too often.  The event-tie-in got its own spin-off, and ongoing that went 10 more issues.  And, in 2017, the group even got an exclusive boxed-set of Marvel Legends, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The A-Force boxed-set was a partnered offering between Entertainment Earth and Toys R Us, which first hit at SDCC 2017, before eventually making its way to Toys R Us retail establishments.  Well, for a little while, anyway.  The set includes six figures: She-Hulk, Sif, Singularity, Lady Loki, Elsa Bloodstone, And Monica Rambaeu.

SHE-HULK

A blood transfusion from Bruce Banner leaves Jennifer Walters with the gamma-powered abilities of the Hulk.

She-Hulk is the one character in this set who’s had a Legends release before.  Three of them, in fact.  But the most recent of those was still a decade ago, so we feel overdue for the update.  She’s also the biggest name in the set, and one of the easier to produce figures just based on parts.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  She-Hulk is built on the same body used for both Thundra and Valkyrie, which was debuted on a She-Hulk figure, just not a Jen Walters one.  It’s a decent enough body, though it’s a little out dated compared to the others in the set.  Ultimately, it’s not bad, of course, but the articulation scheme’s a bit archaic.  This body’s definitely the next one that needs replacing.  She-Hulk’s got a new head sculpt, which is very nice.  The expression is perhaps a touch bland for Jen, and nothing’s ever going to top the original Hasbro release for me, but this one’s still very well crafted.  Jen’s paintwork is nice, bold, and colorful.  The paint on the face is very clean, as are the costume’s color transitions.  The metallic purple looks very slick, as well, but then I’m a sucker for metalic purple.  She-Hulk included no accessories, but what would you give her, really?

SIF

As a gifted warrior goddess of Asgaard, Sif traverses time and space through teleportation.

Sif is an important character in the world of Thor, but rarely travels outside of that particular realm.  Seeing her interact with others in A-Force was admittedly pretty cool.  Though she may not be the heavy hitter here, Sif is very much this set’s star.  She stands 6 3/4 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Sif is one the newest body in this set, making use of parts from last year’s Angela figure (which I’d predicted back when I reviewed that figure).  She does, however get a new head, upper torso, upper arms, and cape and skirt piece add-ons, all of which add-up to a very different looking figure than Angela.  My main complaint about Angela was not liking the character, so Sif gets an extra leg up here.  This gives the body a new chance to shine, and I find myself really enjoying this figure.  Her paint is very clean, the colors are very bold, and that bright red helps her to be the most eye-catching member of this set.  The blue wash on the fur lining of the cape is perhaps a touch heavy, but I’ve seen worse, and it helps to distinguish it from the rest of the white.  Sif is packed with a sword, which seems pretty sensible to me.

MARVEL’S SINGULARITY

Singularity is a multi-dimensional being whose powers of energy manipulation grant her unique psionic abilities.

Singularity is probably the most obscure of the figures in this set, by virtue of being the only character in the set to have no existance outside of A-Force.  Singularity is sort of a personified walking pocket dimension, and is something of a gender-flipped Beyonder from the original Secret Wars.  While she’s perhaps not the most known character, she’s important to the specific event this set was commemorating, and has the added bonus of an appealing design.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation. Singularity is built on the Spider-Girl body, which is always a good one, though its mold might be starting to show its age a bit.  She gets a new head sculpt, which captures the art style of the book pretty well, while also melding well with the rest of the body.  The big thing that sets her apart is her color scheme.  She’s molded in clear blue plastic that has these little metallic flecks all through it, and then has a little metallic purple airbrushed over that in a few key places.  It makes for quite an interesting look, and it’s a great way of capturing how she looks in the comic.

LADY LOKI

A being of Frost Giant descent, Loki also possesses Asgardian powers of shape-shifting and sorcery

Lady Loki is sort of a confusing character in the context of this set, since she’s technically the same person as the usual Loki (who was still running around elsewhere during Secret Wars), and she’s also technically in Sif’s body, but Sif is also in this set.  Best not to think about it too much.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Black Cat body, which means she’s a fair bit smaller than Sif, who she supposedly shares a body with.  Of course, the armored details and such on the Sif body would have made this impossible to do here, and I’d much rather have an inaccurate Loki than a slightly diminished Sif, so I’m letting it slide.  She *does* share a cape with Sif, though, so there’s at least that.  Her head and her skirt add-on piece are both new to this figure, and they’re both quite nicely sculpted, though as with She-Hulk, I might have liked a little more expression in the face.  My figure had a slight molding issue, which left some noticeable flashing at the bottom of her chin, but an X-acto blade cleared that up fine.  Loki’s paint is probably the most complex in the set, with all the scaling detaining and such.  It’s all pretty clean, and once again the metallic colors are looking pretty cool.

ELSA BLOODSTONE

A gun-toting, foul-mouthed monster hunter, Elsa Bloodstone follows in the family tradition of fighting supernatural evils.

Originally a pretty thinly-veiled rip-off of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Elsa Bloodstone was re-purposed by Warren Ellis for his cult hit Nextwave series, which completely changed the character, making her far more absurd, and far more entertaining.  Her placement in this set continues the Nextwave appreciation that began with the Dirk Anger head included with Nick Fury.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the medium-sized female body, but since no member of Nextwave is truly complete without their trenchcoat, she also gets the arms and jacket pieces from Scarlet Witch.  In addition, she gets a new head, knees, and feet, as well as a belt add-on with a holster.  The whole thing adds up to another very unique looking figure that’s surprisingly true to her Nextwave appearances.  Elsa is the best accessorized figure in this set, getting both her twin shotguns, as well as an oversized revolver.

MONICA RAMBEAU

Gifted in her control of the electromagnetic spectrum, Monica Rambeau uses powerful blasts of energy to shut down her enemies.

Ah, it’s Monica Rambeau, aka Captain Marvel, aka Photon, aka Pulsar, aka Spectrum, aka the most unlucky superhero ever when it comes to keeping a code name.  She’s a favorite of mine and a lot of other fans, and probably one of the bigger draws for this set.  Also, like Elsa, she’s a member of Nextwave.  Two members in one set!  Alright!  Of course, Monica’s not quite in her Nexwave gear, instead wearing her Ultimates costume that she had at the time of the event.  Still, that’s a costume that’s very Nextwave-inspired, so I’m calling it a win.  Monica uses the same basic construction as Elsa, but with standard leg pieces and without the holster.  She also gets a new headsculpt, which is tied with Sif for nicest in the set.  Monica’s paintwork is mostly black and white, which looks very striking, and is in keeping with the design.  There’s a slight pearlescent finish to the white sections, which adds a nice energy-like quality to her design.  She came with no accessories, which is a little disappointing.  Not even an energy effect?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, you saw who was offering this set, so you probably know how I got it.  Yep, this was another Toys R Us liquidation purchase.  I’d seen the set when it was new, but only felt like I really needed three of the six figures included, so the price was a bit prohibitive.  I decided I would wait it out, and if the set ever came down in price, I’d get it.  I firmly set my entry price at 25% off and waited.  When the liquidation began, my store still had a whole stack of this set, and they didn’t really move any faster, but I stopped by one day and they only had a single set left.  What was the discount? 30% off.  So, home with me it came.  Sif is this set’s star, with Elsa and Monica picking up right behind her.  They were the three I wanted, and I’m very happy with them.  Loki and Singularity are both pretty nice as well, but as more event/time specific characters, I have less need for them.  She-Hulk’s the real weak link here, but even as the weakest, she’s still a very nice figure!

#0233: Wonder Man & She-Hulk

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

WONDER MAN & SHE-HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

WonderMan&SheHulk

Hey! More Minimates! Everybody’s favorite! Yes, it’s another review based on a piece of my extensive Minimates collection. Once again, this one comes from the flagship line, Marvel Minimates. This time around, the set contains two Avengers, Wonder Man and She-Hulk. For those of you unfamiliar with the characters (like a certain screen writer currently in Warner Brothers’ employ), click the links in their names to read about them in the Backstories section.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the series 16 of the Marvel Minimates line. The series was Avengers themed.

WONDER MAN

Wonder Man is built on the basic Minimate body, which means he has the usual 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He’s based on the character’s look during John Byrne’s run on West Coast Avengers (the hair and stern expression are the easiest giveaways) but he can also pass for several similar looks he’s sported. He features brand new hair and belt add-ons. I’m not crazy about the hair, but it does fit the mullet he sported for some of Byrne’s run. The belt is a pretty much perfect representation of the one the character sported, so that’s cool. Wonder Man’s paint is basic, but has a sort of an elegant simplicity to it. I might have liked a slightly more jovial facial expression, but this one’s still a valid choice. The paint is cleanly applied overall, though there is a slight bit of fuzz on the lines of his boots. Wonder Man included no accessories.

SHE-HULK

Like Wonder Man, She-Hulk is built on the standard Minimate body, so she has the usual stats. She is represented here in her purple and white costume that she wore during her tenure in the Avengers in the early 2000s, as well as her solo series from the same time. Seeing as this was the look she sported during her best known stint on the Avengers, it makes sense to place it in an Avengers themed series. She features a sculpted hair piece, which is a re-use from Ultimate Storm, way back in series 3. The hair isn’t bad, but it does have a sculpted lightning-bolt earring, which looks out of place on She-Hulk. It’s odd because the prototype pictures showed her reusing the oft-used Spider Woman hair, which lacks such distinctive features. The change is a bit baffling. Shulkie has a decent set of paint apps, and has some nice line work on her face and torso. The face has the appropriate light expression that she’s been known to sport, and it looks pretty good. She features the same fuzzy lines issue as Wonder Man, but it’s not too distracting. She-Hulk included a bent metal bar, though it was a bit too big for her to hold properly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These were originally meant to be released on my birthday of that year. They ended up being pushed back about a month, but my Dad bought them for me anyway, just a bit late. They’re certainly older figures, but they aren’t horribly dated, especially if you can find some better hair pieces for the two of them. Wonder Man has always been one of my favorite Avengers, so I was glad to get him, especially so early into the line. She-Hulk is pretty cool, too, and great for people who are big fans of the character!