Tag Archives: Super Skrull

#3953: Super-Skrull

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

SUPER-SKRULL

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“By the order of his Emperor, a select Skrull warrior was bionically re-engineered to become the living weapon in a plot of revenge against the world’s greatest super-hero team. Through advanced technological means, the Super-Skrull was granted the ability to perfectly mimic each of the powers of the Fantastic Four! Sworn to bestow a crushing defeat upon Mister Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch, Super-Skrull seizes the combined force of their awesome powers, and throws it back at them with a bitter vengeance.”

The shape-shifting aliens the Skrulls are one of Lee and Kirby’s earliest additions to the Marvel Universe after launching the Fantastic Four, appearing in the second issue of the series.  Just over a year later, in issue #18, they would get an upgrade in the form of Kl’rt, the Super-Skrull, a Skrull warrior imbued with the powers of all four members of the titular team.  He’s been perhaps the most notable and prominent recurring Skrull since his introduction, facing down not only the FF, but a fair number of other Marvel heroes along the way, and even becoming less antagonistic from time to time.  He’s had a handful of figures over the years, the first of which came from Toy Biz in the ‘90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Skrull was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, designed to tie-in with the show of the same era.  Super-Skrull appeared in the show’s first season, sporting his classic design, and this figure serves as a pretty close adaptation of that set-up.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s largely got the standard set-up for movement, but the right arm just gets a swivel at the elbow, rather than a hinge, due to how his action feature works.  His sculpt was unique to him.  It’s very…wide.  Admittedly, that’s true to his Season 1 design, which was itself true to his ‘80s/early ‘90s depictions.  It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, and feels pretty in line with the character. The head’s suitably angry and sporting that signature wrinkly chin, and the arms do an okay job of selling the combined powers of Reed, Ben, and Johnny.  His right arm sports an action feature that extends the fist outward when the button on his shoulder is pressed.  It’s the same basic gimmick used by Doom, but it makes a bit more sense here.  Honestly, it’s a bit odd it never got used for Reed, since it’s his power it’s meant to replicate, but that’s a whole other thing.  His color work is basic.  It’s bright, and again matches the Season 1 look.  I’ve never been crazy about the blue used on the cowl and mid-section of the torso; I definitely prefer the usual black there, and I don’t feel it’s a great contrast here.  Otherwise, though, things work pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Super-Skrull is another purchase courtesy of the one single trip I got to take to the KB liquidation center with my Grandmother, back in the early ‘00s.  I recall this one being one I was particularly excited to find, because he wasn’t one you saw nearly as often as the rest of the figures.  He’s definitely based on a very specific incarnation of the character, but it works, and I think he results in a pretty clean, pretty fun little figure.

#2582: Clobberin’ Time Thing & Super Skrull

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

CLOBBERIN’ TIME THING & SUPER SKRULL

MARVEL MINIMATES

After being introduced into the line in early 2004 with a single team member, the Fantastic Four got another Marvel Minimates release in fairly short order.  It was great, another team member to–what’s that?  Oh, it wasn’t another team member at all?  It was just the same team member a second time?  Yeah, that sounds more appropriate.  Well, at least we got another FF foe out of the deal.  Also, full disclosure: this set’s not as bad as it seems on the outside.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Clobberin’ Time Thing and Super Skrull were a Tower Records-exclusive pack, added to the Marvel Minimates line in October of 2004.  They were Tower’s second exclusive for the line, following 2003’s single-release of Silver Surfer. Rather surprisingly for figures from this early in the line, these two remained wholly exclusive to this pack, though the pack itself was never incredibly hard to get a hold of or anything like that.

THING

Yes, for the second FF set, we got yet another version of The Thing.  This time around, he’s wearing one of his more extensive FF uniforms, with the tank top and boots that Byrne outfitted him with during his run on the book.  Honestly, I’ve always loved this look myself, so I can’t really complain that much.  The figure stands 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Ben’s built on the standard ‘mate body, but wait, what’s that I spy?  Would those be C3-style feet?  Indeed they would.  Though they wouldn’t make it into the main line until the beginning of the next year, 2004’s summer/fall exclusive packs were all given the C3 treatment, a first for the Marvel line.  He’s got add-ons for his head piece and fists, which, like the prior release, help to bulk him up just a touch, while still keeping him more true to the core body than later versions.  While the head piece remains the same as the prior release, the hands are actually new, and actually do the reverse posing of the prior release: right is gripping, left is closed.  It’s a small touch, but still a cool one.  The paint work is a fair bit changed up for this release, adding the necessary details for his uniform, as well as some actual musculature for his torso, which works very well.  Additionally, his facial expression is changed to a close mouthed one, which really appeals to me and my desire to have more close mouthed Thing figures.  The face is seated slightly better on the face this time as well, so it works even better with the head piece this time.  Thing included a small cigar accessory originally, but mine hasn’t had one as long as it’s been in my possession.

SUPER SKRULL

Facing off against this new version of the Thing was an old FF foe whose whole gimmick is mimicking all four team members’ powers.  Maybe not the best choice when you still haven’t put out the whole team, but hey, new is new.  Like Ben, Kl’rt uses the new and improved C3-footed body.  He also gets new add-ons for his cowl, shoulder pads, flame effect, and extended rocky fist.  All of these pieces were re-used as the line progressed, and they’re all pretty solid additions.  They go more for the basic detailing of the earlier offerings, of course, but there’s plenty of sculpted detailing on that rocky fist, matching closely to what we saw on Thing’s hands.  It’s definitely cool.  Super Skrull’s paint work does a solid job of merging the typical Skrull with the effects of the FF’s powers.  He’s got the appropriate flamed-on effect for the right hand and forearm, and transparent lower legs.  It’s a good look, and it’s a lot of fun.  Super Skrull didn’t get any accessories, but given the number of new parts included, that’s hardly the end of the world.  I suppose some standard Skrull parts might have been cool, but that extensive level of alt parts wasn’t really a thing yet at this point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though these two are a two pack, I got the respective ‘mates about 8 years apart from each other, and neither one of them was new.  I fished Thing out of a small loose figure bin at a teeny tiny comic con I was attending back in 2011, and only had him for the longest time.  When All Time got in their huge Minimates collection last fall, Super Skrull was in there with no accompanying Thing, and so it just kind of felt meant to be.  Though the set’s doubling down on Ben seems like a bad move on the outside, he’s actually a really fun ‘mate, and remains my personal favorite version of the character in the line.  Super Skrull is likewise a really fun ‘mate, and he was new and different at the time.  Honestly, this is one of the coolest sets from ’04, and is a real pick-me-up after suffering through Series 7.

#2310: Super Skrull

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

SUPER SKRULL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Super Skrull may have been ever so slightly undercut as a FF foe by yesterday’s review of the greatest comic book villain of all time Doctor Doom, but let’s not let him get too down here.  I mean, he’s a pretty solid antithesis of the team, being a guy who can match them all ability for ability. After DC’s Amazo proved the concept of combining all the heroes’ powers into one could work, the FF followed suit with Kl’rt, a Skrull warrior imbued with…the combined powers of the FF.  Look, it’s all pretty straight-forward.  Despite being specifically tailored to the FF, Super Skrull was sort of batted around the general Marvel universe following a few defeats from his initial foes, and has even had a few turns as a reluctant ally to our heroes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Skrull is the titular build-a-figure for the newest FF-themed series of Marvel Legends.  Kl’rt has actually never had a proper Legends release before, but he did get a 6-inch figure out of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four Classics, which they dropped right before losing the license.  Hasbro subsequently re-issued that figure in a two-pack, but intended as a more generic Skrull army builder, rather than a true figure of the original Super Skrull.  Whatever the case, this figure is certainly a welcome addition to the current line-up.  He stands 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Super Skrull, rather interestingly for a Build-A-Figure, is built on the Hyperion body, which is typically a single-carded piece.  He gets his own head (two of them, in fact), upper torso, and arms to help differentiate him.  The two heads give us two different moods for Kl’rt; one somber, and one mad and cackling.  I like the cackling myself, but both are solid pieces, and internally consistent to boot.  The new upper torso not only gives Kl’rt his proper Skrull shoulder pads, but also replaces the usual upper torso, thereby eliminating the weird torso shelf that is the standard Hyperion body’s one major flaw.  The new arms replicate Super Skrull’s typical “using all the powers at once” appearance, although with a slightly different than usual application. Rather than going for the symmetrical stretched out, flaming Thing arms and transparent legs, this figure gives us one flaming Thing arm (courtesy of a clip-on effects piece), and one stretched out invisible arm.  They’re pretty awesome pieces with just one downside.  Though a spare set of standard arms is included, the design of the left powered-up arm doesn’t allow it to be removed from the torso after initial assembly, which is why my Kl’rt keeps the Thing arm no matter what.  I don’t think I would ever display him without the powered-up parts, but it’s annoying not to have the option.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure by buying all of the figures needed to complete him.  Hands up, who’s surprised?  Honestly, though, I wasn’t sure about another set of the FF, but upon seeing this guy as the Build-A-Figure, I was pretty well sold on the assortment.  I never got the old Toy Biz figure, but always wanted one, so another chance at the character is much appreciated.  I’m annoyed by the inability to change the arms back and forth as you should be able to, but even without the standard arms, this figure’s pretty darn cool.

This assortment is a pretty balanced one.  While I can easily say that Doom is my favorite (and Reed’s my least favorite), the grouping on the assortment as a whole is pretty tight.  There are definite positives to the whole assortment, and they make for a really solid set of figures.