Tag Archives: The Thing

#3955: Fantastic Four

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

MISTER FANTASTIC, INVISIBLE WOMAN, THE THING, & HUMAN TORCH

WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES (MEGO)

Hey, remember last week when I was talking about Mego, specifically how they finally got a chance to bring back Marvel?  Cool, well, there’s more of that going on today.  Yaaaaaaaaay.  In light of the insanity that was the drop for the Spider-Man-themed set, Mego partnered again with Disney for a follow-up, this time based on Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four, in a lead up to their 2025 film release over the summer.  Sure, I didn’t have them before the movie’s theatrical run, but I have a nice tie-in with it dropping on Disney+, so how ‘bout that synergy?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, and Human Torch are the second set in the Marvel sub-set of the revived World’s Greatest Super Heroes.  As with the first set, they went up for pre-order through Disney’s online store, and then started showing up intermittently at the actual parks locations after that.  The set includes the four, each in their own replica box, as well as a coin, much like the Spidey one, based on the ones available in the Marvel in-house ads in the ‘70s, this time showing off the whole team.  Notably, unlike the last set, this set is all reproductions, with no new characters.

MISTER FANTASTIC

Leader of the team and best signifier of the “standard” uniform, it’s Reed Richards, Mister Fantastic.  Or, Mr. Fantastic if you’re more for brevity.  I’m not often for brevity, but this is apparently one of the places I am, so there’s that.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  As with all of the more recent figures, he’s using the revamped bandless body, which is a generally good piece, apart from some slightly reduced range on the elbows and knees.  It does mean you can’t “stretch” him like the old one, but you really shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place, right?  He gets a recreation of the original Mego Reed head, which is honestly one of their nicest standard person heads.  It’s very dignified and scientistly, as a Reed Richards head should be.  His outfit is a multi-piece assembly, with a jumpsuit that has an attached collar and belt, and plastic boots and gloves.  These guys were notable in their use of plastic gloves, rather than the vinyl mittens of the earlier figures.  They look better, but also mean the hands can’t be used practically.  The jumpsuit has a sort of rubberized logo on the front, which looks really nice and also holds up well, and just generally has a pretty nice presence. 

INVISIBLE WOMAN

Also doing the whole standard uniform thing is Sue Storm/Richards, the Invisible Girl/Woman.  At the time of the original figure’s release, she was already Sue Richards, but was still operating as Invisible Girl, which her original packaging reflected.  She changed it to Invisible Woman during Byrne’s run on the book a decade after the original figure’s release, and that’s a change that’s stuck, so for the purposes of some synergy, her box has been adjusted with the appropriate name.  She stands 8 inches tall and she has 16 points of articulation.  Unlike the men, who get the new and improved bandless body, Sue’s still on an older version of the female body.  This one’s slightly modified from the original, in that the neck is attached to the torso.  Also, like every replica of the original female body, the hips are really square and wide, which looks kinda odd.  She’s got her original head, complete with its rooted hair, which manages to not look too crazy or weird.  Her outfit is a close mirror of the one on Reed, albeit tailored to the different body.

THE THING

Hey, it’s the guy what knows when it’s time to clobber stuff!  Our first deviation from the standard get-up is Benjamin J Grimm in his little blue shorts.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  As with his original release, Ben is the shortest of the four, by virtue of the “bulked up” body he was using (which the original shared with the Hulk).  This one’s upgraded to the bandless construction, which means that, where the original lost a fair bit of the articulation on the standard male body, this one actually keeps the same general set-up as the regular.  The only change-up is the elbows, which, due to the flipped nature of the construction, don’t actually get the side to side movement.  He gets his original head sculpt.  It gets kind of a bad rap, I think, with all the “it’s napping time” comments and the like, but I’ve personally always loved it, in all its hokey glory.  He also gets unique hands and forearms, which feature the rocky detailing, much like the original, but now with wrist articulation.  Ben’s outfit is just a jumpsuit, which gets the attached belt to match the other two.  Most of it is depicting his rocky texture, which us silk screened onto the suit.  It’s a surprisingly effective pattern, very evocative Kirby’s illustrations of the character.

HUMAN TORCH

Also deviating from the standard gear, it’s Johnny Storm, depicted here in all his fully flamed-on glory.  He matches Reed in terms of height and articulation, since he too is built on the basic updated body.  He gets a replica of the original’s head.  The original sculpt does its best to replicate the flamed-on look, which is tricky to get into three dimensions.  Ultimately, the success is, I think, at best, spotty.  But, that’s been the case for almost 50 years, so it is what it is.  Johnny’s outfit is the simplest of the four, just a jumpsuit, not even a belt like the other three.  Like Ben, Johnny’s outfit has a silk screened pattern to try to get his flame effects down, but I don’t think it works as well.  It just sort of looks like shapes, not really fire.  At the very least, the tried something different, which is better than not.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had none of the FF for myself as a kid, but my dad had a full set that got a lot of playtime from me when I’d stay at my grandparents house, usually while watching my *totally legal* VHS copy of the ‘90s Fantastic Four movie.  I tried to get my own equivalent via Toy Biz’s Famous Covers, but they stopped with just Reed and Sue, as Toy Biz loved to do.  I tried to get these when they went live on the site, but they sold out in, like, five minutes, so that was a no.  But, during the Disney trip where my dad was able to order the Spidey set, he was also able to find these in person, so he snagged an extra for me.  My opinions on these pretty much just replicate my feelings on the originals.  Ben’s definitely my favorite, and I love the new base body.  Reed and Sue are both very nice.  Johnny is kind of the weak link, but that’s always been the case, really.

#3949: The Thing II

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

THE THING II

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Bombarded by cosmic rays during an exploration in deep space, Ben Grimm’s body underwent an extraordinary transformation. His strength, endurance and durability were boosted to super-human levels and his skin became an orange colored, rock-like armor. As a member of the Fantastic Four, The Thing is a sworn protector against villainy and threats of conquest, but his monsterish appearance has always remained his greatest enemy. Often feeling the need to disguise himself when entering public, Grimm’s crude camouflage poorly covers the heart and soul of a true, blue-eyed hero.”

While the team has always shared equal footing within the confines of the book, and have always been equally billed, there’s no denying that there’s an unprecedented break-out character from the quartet that is the Fantastic Four, and that’s Benjamin J. Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.  Curiously, when Toy Biz put together their line based on the team, Ben was, through odd circumstances, *not* the first to double up on figures, as both of the Storm siblings beat him to the punch.  But, he was the first to get a properly planned variant, and also one that made a good degree of sense.  Since Ben’s rocky-form can’t turn on and off like the others (most of the time, anyway), he frequently had to hide himself away under a baseball cap, a colored hoody, and a pair of Aviators a trench coat, glasses, and hat.  It’s a signature look that’s been adapted a number of times, including as part of the very first Toy Biz line, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing II was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  He was the only member of the team present in this particular line-up, which was otherwise a much wackier collection of characters.  The figure is just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His bulky stature means even with the standard articulation, he’s not exactly agile, but you can get some subtle variations of his standing around pose.  While it would seem like a great time to re-use parts from the first version, this figure sported an entirely new sculpt.  The line was generally a loose tie-in to the show running at the time, but Ben marks a departure from “loose,” being a pretty spot-on recreation of his animation model from the show.  Of course, it’s his Season 1 model, which was far more cartoony and goofy, and stands out more from the rest of the line, and which was phased out of the show in the same year this figure was released.  It does okay by the design, though, and certainly captures its more bold line-work and cleaner rock structures.  It’s certainly a more huggable Thing.  The figure comes out of the box wrapped in a cloth coat.  It’s a very thin material, and also not *technically* designed for removal, since it’s tied shut with a very tight knot.  You can remove it, though that certainly makes it more prone to damage.  The figure’s paint work is fairly light, with just the eyes and shorts, which appear to be the same two colors.  It’s perfectly fine it its application.  The shade of orange plastic used for the bulk of the body does seem a touch pale, but it’s at least a bit better than the Marvel Super Heroes version.  Ben is packed with his hat and sunglasses, which are specially molded to fit over his head.  They do okay, and round out his disguised look nicely.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I came into the line a little bit after launch, this was my first figure of the Thing.  Mine, of course, immediately had the coat torn off and thrown aside, since I really just wanted the basic figure.  When my Grandmother took me to the KB Toys Liquidation Center in Delaware about a decade later, they still had a pile of this guy, so I got myself a second one, who has kept his jacket on the whole time, so it’s a little nicer.  He’s a very specific take on the character, and it’s interesting to have such a cartoon-specific version of the character, given there aren’t matching figures of the rest of the team.  He’s not incredibly playable, all things told, but he does make a neat enough display piece.

#3904: The Thing

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

THE THING

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

When it comes to cinematic adaptations, Ben Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, has had a bit of a mixed presentation.  Michael Chiklis’s turn as Ben was undoubtedly the highlight of the two Story films, but Jaime Bell’s mumbling loner from Fant4stic was a particularly poor showing in an already poor film.  And, somewhere in the middle, you’ve got Micheal Bailey Smith and Carl Cialfalio’s two-handed Ben and Thing approach from the Corman movie, which is admittedly mostly just hampered by the film’s unfinished nature.  Where does Ebon Moss-Bachrach fall in the scale?  He’s at least as good as Chiklis, I’d say.  My only hang-up is that I don’t feel there’s as much time spent with him as the other three, so it’s a little harder to form a full opinion.  I do look forward to seeing more, though, and it’s certainly a much better approach than the one that immediately preceded it.  Anyway, here’s a figure of him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing is another entry in the First Steps tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, and the last of the four members of the titular team.  The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The film returns Ben to something closer to his ‘60s scaling, which means that this figure is the smallest of the Legends Thing figures to date.  That’s not a bad thing, mind you.  His articulation’s a little different from the other team members, given his bulkier stature.  We see a bit of a return to the “twisting meat” era with the biceps and the abdomen both having opposing joints that sort of cancel each other out.  It’s not quite as much of an aesthetic problem this time around, though.  Ben’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s…well, it’s not technically inaccurate,  but it’s not the look the character spends the bulk of the movie sporting.  In the film, in contrast to most depictions of the character, he has a full uniform to match the other three, but what we get here is something closer to how Ben’s classically depicted, sans shirt and boots.  We see him in action with this look briefly during the opening montage of the team’s first four years of exploits, and it also shows up a few times in the in-universe promotional images, keeping him more in line with the slightly adjusted hair styles of Reed and Johnny.  It’s ultimately a more quintessential look for the character, and I myself prefer it, but maybe we’ll see a more accurate final battle Ben, complete with bearded head sculpt later down the line?  This sculpt is a strong offering, though.  The likeness on the head matches his design in the film nice, and they do a good job of recreating the rocky texturing of his skin, as well as keeping his uniform’s stitching consistent with the other three team members.  I do especially like the more reserved expression on the head, which feels very in line with Moss-Bachrach’s portrayal of the character.  The paint work here is a bit mixed.  The rocky skin gets some really solid accenting, which really works well with the sculpted details.  On the flip side, the uniform is a bit sloppy, and one of the logos on his leg was all scratched-up right out of the box.  Ben is packed with two pairs of hands, one in fists and one in open gesture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ben’s my favorite FF member, and this was the figure from this set I was most looking forward to.  He’s a modern movie Legend, so if you’ve gotten a bunch of those, you know what you’re getting here.  It means he’s a pretty solid, pretty straight forward figure, though, and he certainly feels like he gets the character down pretty well.

Shoutout to 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.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0037: Iron Man & The Thing

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

IRON MAN & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Hey, it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, with even more Minimates, I suppose.  I’m going a little bit more themed this week, so at least half of this revisitation of a review is Fantastic Four-themed.  So, let’s look back and Iron Man and The Thing!

Look! It’s more Minimates! Yes, I’ll be looking at even more Minimates, once again from the Marvel line. This time I’ll be looking at a set from the “Best Of” sub series. The idea behind this sub set was keeping the definitive versions of the main Marvel Heroes and villains on the market, while trying to produce the best possible minimates of those looks. I’ll be taking a look at Iron Man and the Thing from that line.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released as part of the first “Best Of” series of Marvel Minimates.

IRON MAN

First up is Iron Man. He’s depicted in his classic red and yellow armor he wore for most of the 60s and 70s. Unlike previous minimates of this particular look, the yellow is actually yellow on this one, instead of Gold. Iron Man is built on the basic minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He features a sculpted helmet and belt, as well as sculpted boot and glove cuffs. Paint-wise, the details are all well done, though some of the red paint is a little thin in places, and seems a bit fuzzy on the edges of the boots and gloves. But since those are meant to be covered by the cuff pieces, it’s not really an issue. Iron Man also features an extra left hand in a repulsor pose, a flying stand, and a hairpiece to display him sans helmet. These are all reused pieces, but they work well here.

THE THING

Next is Benjamin J Grimm, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. Ben’s look is a bit more difficult to nail down than IM’s. I think it’s meant to be Ben in his look from the mid 2000s, after he switched back to shorts from pants, but I can’t be certain. The “4” on the belt buckle is throwing me off. Anyway, he’s built on the basic minimate body, but with sculpted hands and feet instead of the regular ones. As such, he stands a bit taller than IM and has 12 points of articulation. In addition to the sculpted hands and feet, Ben’s other sculpted pieces are: Headpiece, upper arms, torso, waist and upper legs. These are all slip over pieces, and have been used on previous Thing figures. With that many sculpted pieces, the paint work on Ben is minimal. He’s got detailing on his face, and on his belt and that’s about it. They’re both clean and well done. Ben also includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set when it was initially released, as I already had a few classic Iron Men, and my default version of the Thing is the look John Byrne gave him in the 80s. However, my comic book store was having a sale on minimates, and had these guys for about 40% off, so I decided to pick them up. While the Thing is still not my go to, I think the Iron Man may very well become my new default Iron Man.

Well, it’s certainly review-shaped, now isn’t it?  I feel like I didn’t much commit to much in the way of actual opinion on the figures, and the order of operations is a bit all over the place, but it’s generally okay.  I don’t know.  It’s odd, because this was an early Minimate review, and it was also an Item I’d *just* gotten, but I just wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about these guys.  I’m still not especially enthusiastic about them.  They certainly existed in an era of “buying Minimates because I buy Minimates.”

In regards to the actual review metrics, I should note that in both my original review and the revised version I wrote for Minimates Central, I neglected to mention the shoulder add-ons that Iron Man got, created at the same time as the helmet, belt, glove, and boot cuffs for the Series 25 Classic Iron Man.  They’re rather important to the whole look, and are certainly cool, even if they do sometimes make the arms fall off a little too easily.  Beyond that, things seemed to be pretty much where they were supposed to be.  Otherwise, enjoy the updated photos!

#3882: The Thing

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

THE THING

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“The Thing’s super-strength, rock-hard skin and never-say-die attitude make him an invaluable ally in a fight. And his loyalty, heart-of-gold and great sense of humor make him the best friend anyone could have. Before he became the Thing, Ben Grimm was a top test pilot. Now he flies the Fantastic Four wherever super-trouble erupts.”

Last week, I discussed the pending release of the first of the two Super Hero movies this month, Superman.  This week, I’m starting my build-up to the *other* movie, hitting at the end of the month, Fantastic Four!  The FF have have rather a storied history in terms of movies (including two movies directed by a guy named Story….), at best rising to “okay,” but never truly living up to the potential of the team as showcased in the comics.  It is my very distinct that this one is the one that breaks the curse.  The actual movie tie-ins haven’t quite hit yet, so I’m gonna just stick to my recent formula with some vintage Toy Biz reviews.  Here’s Benjamin Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, which was a whole assortment devoted to the FF and their associated characters.  It was Ben’s first figure under Toy Biz, and only his second figure, following up on the Mego.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s by far TB’s least articulated take on Ben, owing largely to them still not quite having a firm handle on where they were going with articulation.  He gets the basic 5, and even then, one of his shoulders is a but hindered by his action feature.  He’s notably small for Ben, especially a ‘90s Ben, where he was really getting scaled up.  Instead, his stature and build feels a lot more like an early career Ben.  The slight softness of the sculpt kind of adds to that.  To my eye, he looks a lot like the Hannah-Barbera Thing, which, honestly, I don’t hate.  Despite being a departure, he still very much feels like the Thing, and that’s what’s most important.  His color work is generally basic.  The orange is all molded plastic, and it’s admittedly rather on the yellow side of shading.  Certainly more than I’m used to.  There’s no accenting or anything, so the already soft sculpt feels even softer, which is a bit unfortunate.  He’s sporting his Byrne-era colors for the costume, which was still current at the time.  It’s actually a dark blue, rather than the very bright shade they kept going with later, so it feels more authentic than Toy Biz’s other versions.  Ben is packed with a rather neat street sign accessory.  It’s bent and breaks into two pieces, and it even says “Yancy Street” at the top, which s a really neat character touch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, my first Ben was the disguised version from Series 3 of the cartoon line, which was the current version when I got into collecting.  He remained my only figure of the character in this scale for my entire childhood.  This figure was actually my brother’s, which he bought from Cosmic Comix some time in the mid-00s.  When he scaled down his collection after high school, I happily absorbed this guy into mine.  He’s a different sort of figure, and not really your conventional take, but I like him a lot.

#3175: The Thing

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

THE THING

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“The powerhouse of the fabulous Fantastic Four, Benjamin J. Grimm may look like a ‘Thing’, but he’s a rock-solid Super Hero through and through! Fiercely loyal, unflinching in the face of danger, The Thing brings his ‘Clobberin’ Time’ strength to bear against the likes of the wicked Wizard and the sinister Psycho-Man.”

Okay, hear me out: what if The Thing got actual clothes?  Would that be a crazy, novel idea?  Maybe.  Just maybe.  But a man can dream.  Or, you know, just look into the years and years of Fantastic Four history, where there’s plenty of instances of just that thing happening.  I mean, there’s just, like, Ben Grimm, running around in an almost full FF uniform, instead of just an overly large speedo.  Usually, it has something to do with him getting depowered, and then starting to wear a different uniform, and then inevitably being repowered, and, book, the Thing’s in a tank top.  Oh yeah.  Dig it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing was released in Series 4 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, which wound up as the line’s final assortment.  He was the third version of Ben within the line, and was clearly designed to tie-in with Ben’s stretch of episodes in the cartoon’s second season where he had the tank top look.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  For whatever reason, he lost the elbow and knee joints for this release, despite the other two figures getting them.  He does get a waist joint, though.  Additionally, he’s the largest of the cartoon-inspired Thing figures, making him feel more true to the character as he appears in the show, and having him look a little more cohesive with the rest of his team.  The figure’s sculpt was all-new, and followed the character’s season 2 design pretty closely.  It’s especially evident in the face, which really feels spot-on, but even the general shaping of the body seems to line-up pretty well.  The only real deviation is the torso, especially around the waist, where he winds up with far more toning and definition than he ever had on the show.  The figure is also sculpted with just a touch of pre-posing; he appears to be in mid-stride.  It’s nothing too crazy, and it winds up making him very stable on his feet, which makes it really feel like a win.  The figure’s color work is pretty basic; the majority of it is molded.  What paint is there is generally pretty clean, though there is a touch of fuzziness on the edges of the white parts of the outfit.  To their credit, the portions of the exposed skin that are on the torso, and are therefore painted, actually match pretty closely with the molded tones on the arms and head, which is quite an accomplishment.  Series 4 of the line was all about platforms with action features.  For Ben, that translates to a vaguely rock-looking thing, which he can “break” apart.  It’s not a terrible gimmick, but it’s also not a great one.  Just sort of there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always really liked this particular design for Ben, largely due to its presence in the cartoon’s second season.  That said, I already had the trench coat version of Ben from the prior assortment when this one hit, so I didn’t really *need* this one, and I wasn’t really into doubling up at that point.  So, this one remained absent from my collection for a surprisingly long time, finally making its way into the set back in 2017, when I wound up snagging it out of a case at an antique mall.  He’s actually a pretty solid version of the character, and has the notoriety of being a version that doesn’t get covered much, so that’s pretty cool.

#3066: Human Torch & The Thing

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

HUMAN TORCH & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES


Fun Fact: In both the Specialty and TRU line-ups, Series 8 was devoted to the Fantastic Four.  No idea why, probably just crazy random happenstance, but there it is.  There were four sets in Series 8, and Reed and Sue were both packed with a villain, so you might have thought that was how the whole assortment went: FF/Villain.  Not the case. Since Namor and the Atlantean Soldier got their own pack, FF-members Human Torch and the Thing got packed together. Of course, as antagonistic as these two are known to get, there’s no reason this can’t still be a “versus” pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

As noted above, Human Torch and The Thing make up one of four two-packs in the eighth TRU-exclusive series of Marvel Minimates, which was released in the fall of 2010.

HUMAN TORCH

With only two ‘mates prior to this one, poor Johnny was sort of the runt of the family in terms of Minimate coverage.  Well, at least this line didn’t replace him with Herbie, right?  This particular Johnny opted for a fully “Flamed On” look, following the trend of his first ‘mate.  He’s based on the standard post-C3 body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this Johnny was actually completely identical to his original release (and the Jim Hammond Torch from the Invaders set, for that matter).  He’s got the same hair and fiery shoulder piece.  Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?  After the completely opaque first figure, this Human Torch followed the example set by the Invaders Torch, going for a fully translucent look.  Apart from being molded in an orangish hue and featuring sculpted flame bits, Johnny is otherwise without flame-related details, instead just depicting Johnny’s FF costume. It’s a more modern way of handling Johnny’s flamed on state, similar to the way artists like Mike Wieringo depicted him in the ‘00s, which generally follows with the general overall aesthetic of this particular set of FF. The detail work is all nice and sharp, and I quite like Johnny’s sly grinning expression; very true to the character.  Johnny was packed with a pair of flame effects for his hands, as well as a blast-off stand.

THE THING

Benjamin J Grimm is by far Minimates’ favorite member of the FF. At the time of this release, he already had twice the number of ‘mates that Johnny had, and he had another two right around the corner in Series 37.  The Thing has had the most looks of all the FF members, so there are options to choose from.  This one continues the Weiringo trend of the other team members, giving us a Thing with pants. Woo.  I feel for the sake of full disclosure, I should begin this section by noting that my figure has been slightly modified (see the unmodified version here). The at-retail version of the figure made use of Ultimate Hulk’s bulked up torso piece and toros extender. From a build perspective, it was fine, but it left Ben with an abnormally long torso that just didn’t seem right for the character. Removing the extender piece alleviates some of the issue, but then his torso cap hangs over his belt. On my figure, I took an x-acto blade to the chest piece and trimmed about 1/8 of an inch off the bottom, thus keeping his torso from being so bafflingly tall.  In addition to the torso extender and chest cap pieces, Ben also features add-ons for his brow, hands, boots, and pelvis. The brow and hands are just the standard pieces that have been in use since the first version of the character; they still work reasonably well here. The boots are re-used from the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and I’d be lying if I said they didn’t look super goofy. Points for effort, though.  In terms of paint, Ben was decent enough, but not without some issues. The big problem is that the orange of his brow and hands really doesn’t match the rest of him, which looks kind of odd.
Beyond that, he’s reasonable. The blue matches with the rest of the Four, so he’ll fit in well with this set.  Fortunately for those of us who didn’t like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man feet, Ben has the tops of his boots painted on his legs, as well as a pair of standard feet in black. Sure, his feet will be a little bit tiny, but he’ll look better overall. He also includes a pair of standard hands in orange, should you wish to remove the big Thing hands, but I don’t know who would.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set brand new when it first hit, alongside the rest of the assortment.  Having missed out on the original FF run, these were my first go at the team in ‘mate form.  Though perhaps not my preferred take on the character, this Human Torch was a definite improvement on his original release, and fit in very well with his wave-mates.  For a multitude of reasons, this version of the Thing very much feels like an afterthought. Though all of the figures in the wave are made with parts re-use, Thing is the one most negatively affected by it. With the Series 37 version released only a few months after this one, it really felt like this one was only included here as a place holder for that one. The modification helps the figure a little bit, but he hardly feels worth the trouble. Ultimately, this ended up being one of the weakest variants of the character in the line, and a slight slip-up in an otherwise very strong wave of figures.

#2991: The Thing

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

THE THING

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With his nearly indestructible body and incredible strength and stamina, the Thing possesses the ability to crush evil.”

Benjamin J Grimm tends to get simplified down to just dumb muscle, but he’s actually quite a nuanced character, perhaps the most nuanced of the core team.  He’s quite literally the rock that grounds the team, as well as the most practically-minded member of the team, making him the perfect counterpoint to Reed’s lofty theoretical concepts.  And, in case you couldn’t tell, he’s also my favorite member of the team.  So, I’m always happy to see him get more proper appreciation.  I’m also happy to see him get solid toy coverage, which is, admittedly, rather frequent.  That works out, I guess!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing is part of the FF-themed assortment of the Retro Collection sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  As with the rest of the team, he’s patterned on his old ’90s Toy Biz figure, in terms of both the packaging and the figure packed within it.  That means that, like the others, he’s wearing his Byrne-era costume, specifically the more classic speedo-wearing look.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  He’s largely the same as the last two Thing figures, which is understandable.  It’s a really good starting point, and I’m sure Hasbro would like to get as much traction out of it as possible.  Three years later, it still remains a very strong sculpt, and it’s still the best version of the Thing out there, so you’ll hear no notable complaints from me.  This time around, he gets two new head sculpts, as well as a new set of hips to actually give him the short-shorts look.  I didn’t hate the briefs look for the last two figures, but it would have definitely been out of place for this design in particular.  The two new heads cover two different expressions, one angry and teeth gritting, and one more calm.  Both sculpts take some rather clear inspiration from the character’s second season animation model from the ’90s cartoon, which I am totally on board with.  It’s a little sharper on the edges to fit with the pre-existing body sculpt, but it really works.  The angry expression is really great from every angle.  The calm one is a little dopey looking in some angles, but even so I kind of find myself a little more drawn to it, just do to my own want to always have a not as angry option for any given Ben Grimm figure.  Ben’s paint on this release more follows how the Super Skrull Series version did things, providing some highlights to a few areas of the sculpt.  I don’t know that it works out quite as well on this particular release.  In some spots, especially the feet, it feels a little bit slap dash.  It’s ultimately not terribly noticeable in person, but it stands out a bit more in the photos than I’d prefer.  It could certainly be worse, but I find myself almost wishing they’d foregone the accenting entirely, to really capture that ’90s figure feel a bit more.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, Ben gets two sets of hands, one in fists and the other in open gesture.  In contrast to the other figures, Ben and his accessories literally take up every available spot in the blister, so he definitely doesn’t feel like he’s lacking anything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Any good FF set needs a good Ben Grimm for me, and I’m especially attached to that ’90s animated look.  The fact that this guy is not only in the Byrne costume, but also leans more heavily into the actual animation style is pretty much exactly what I need.  The accent paint’s a bit wonky, but certainly not enough to ruin the figure at all, and the sculpt still really shines.  I’d love to see a variant in the tank top gear, but I can wait on that.  This one is more than enough to hold me over until then.

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.

#2603: Battle Damaged Thing & Gajin Wolverine II

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

BATTLE-SCARRED THING & GAJIN WOLVERINE II

MARVEL MINIMATES

The trouble with a four member team, at least when it came to Minimates and their early three two-pack per assortment structure, is that you end up with extra slots.  In the case of the Fantastic Four, there have been a number of different approaches to filling those extra slots.  In the case of their first entry into the line, the approach was hard-lining the heavy hitter mash-ups.  More Thing!  More Wolverine!  Yes!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Battle-Scarred Thing and Gajin Wolverine II are the last set from the Fantastic Four-themed eighth series of Marvel Minimates.  Battle-Scarred Thing remained exclusive to this assortment (for his own good, really), while Wolverine was re-packed with a standard Spider-Man for Target.

THING

Battle-Scarred Thing is actually interesting, in that he’s Minimates’ first real stab at a figure based on a specific comics appearance.  He was patterned on the Thing’s torn up appearance following a run-in with Wolverine in Fantastic Four #374, which I guess is meant to really give Wolverine an excuse to be in this set.  It doesn’t really work out quite so well.  This was the fourth version of Thing we’d gotten, and he follows the “Clobberin’ Time” model of putting Ben in one of his actual uniforms.  He’s built on the standard C3 body, so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as the more basic Thing from this assortment, with the same head piece, chest block, and bulked up hands.  The powerhouse piece is still fine, but I really don’t like that head piece.  Fortunately, this would mark its last use.  The paint work changes things up here, obviously to give Ben his costume change.  I do find it interesting how he has a standard looking musculature on the uniform, despite the standard one from this set not getting any musculature at all.  Also, thanks to this costume being a post-Byrne one, it’s got white boots, so it doesn’t really match the rest of the team from this same assortment.  And that’s not even getting started on the blue sections being actually blue, rather than the black they should properly be.  Thing’s face gets adjusted detailing to include the scarring he got from Wolverine.  It doesn’t help the already less than stellar Thing head from the regular version in this set.  What does help that face, however, is the full helmet that this guy includes as an accessory, replicating the one he wore in the comics after getting injured.  It’s actually a pretty cool piece, and it’s nice that they gave him an accessory, and even a unique one at that.

WOLVERINE

This Wolverine’s official name is “Gajin Wolverine II”, which is quite the monicker.  “What happened to Gajin Wolverine I?” you might ask?  He was a summer con exclusive in 2004, and he’s honestly only very minorly different from this guy.  “Why Gajin?” you may follow up?  I guess it’s in reference to his first solo series, where he was in Japan, and referred to as “Gajin” fairly regularly.  It’s a very specific reference for something that would far more simply be summed up with the name “Brown Costume Wolverine”, but here we are.  Also, it’s worth noting that, while the Thing in this set is very specifically patterned on an issue where he has a run-in with Wolverine, in said issue, Wolverine was sporting his tiger stripe costume, not the brown one presented here.  Oh well.  Structurally, this guy’s *mostly* the same as the GSXM Wolvie.  The only change up is that instead of having the long feet under his boot pieces, he’s got the C3 feet, which means there’s a gap between the two of them at the front.  He doesn’t have the peg hole in his head, because they weren’t quite standard yet, and the older mask piece meant it wasn’t required.   The paint work on this guy’s overall not bad.  There’s one small gaffe with the secondary color on his mask being brown instead of orange, but beyond that the colors work well, and the detailing on both the face and the torso is pretty much straight out of Miller’s illustrations from the miniseries.  He was certainly one of the most detailed ‘mates at the time, and rather starkly contrasts with his assortment mates.  Wolverine had no accessories, as neither extra hands nor hair pieces had become standard quite yet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This whole series got passed on by me, but even before that, this one wasn’t really high on my radar.  The appeal of such an extraneous re-pops of heavy hitters was kind of low for me.  When I finally got around to picking up this series from All Time last year, I still hesitated on these two, but they were there, and I figured “why not?”  Wolverine’s actually pretty solid, even by later standards.  The Thing, on the other hand, was iffy when he was new, and has not been helped by time.

#2596: Susan Richards, Invisible Woman, & Powerhouse Thing

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

SUSAN RICHARDS, INVISIBLE WOMAN & POWERHOUSE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES

You can’t just do *half* of the Fantastic Four…well, I mean, if you’re Toy Biz, I guess you can.  In fact, you can do it way more times than you ever fairly should be able to.  Just constantly stringing people along forever…Sorry, I was having flashbacks.  Look, we’re not talking about Toy Biz here, we’re talking about Diamond Select.  And they would never leave us high and dry like that, with an incomplete team, just two members shy of completion…apart from that one time that they did exactly that with their Aliens line…look, this isn’t about Aliens, it’s about the Fantastic Four, and finishing up that line-up, which we’re totally doing right here, right now, with no further distractions!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Susan Richards and Powerhouse Thing were released in Series 8 of the main Marvel Minimates line, and then again at Target in 2005 and 2006.  Standard Sue was the heavy packed version, with a full Invisible Woman swapping in for her in the variant set.

SUSAN RICHARDS/INVISIBLE WOMAN

Sue made her Minimates debut in style.  While her brother Johnny was stuck being flamed on all the time, she gets to be regular most of the time.  Lucky her.  Like her assortment-mates, Sue is built on the standard C3-style ‘mate body, peg hole on the head and all, so she’s 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  She uses the same glove pieces as Reed, as well as a new hair piece, clearly based on a ’60s Sue ‘do.  It’s a rather basic piece, but it gets the job done, and thanks to the peg it stays in place better than Reed’s.  I’m still iffy on the bulked up glove pieces, and exactly what their purpose is, but I’ll try to move on.  In terms of paint, the standard version fairs a bit better than Reed, thanks to having consistent coloring for the all of the costume details, as well as getting some actual torso detailing.  The variant is molded in all clear plastic, keeping the detail lines, and going for a slightly translucent blue for the black sections of the costume.  It’s a cool look, and you can easily mix and match the two for a powering up effect.  Both versions are packed with a shield piece, similar to Captain America’s.  And, thanks to those bulked up gloves, the shield has to sit over her elbow joint, which is a bit annoying.

THING

Thing gets his third go at a Minimate here, thanks to being the only team member available for a while, and yet still kind of needing to be included in the assortment proper.  So, here he is.  2005 marked a notable change-up for the line’s construction, adding in a few more bulked up parts for slightly larger characters, hence the “powerhouse” title for this version of Thing.  He uses the same bulked up hands as before, as well as making the first use of the original powerhouse chest piece, and an all-new head piece.  The powerhouse piece is pretty basic, and not nearly as involved as later bulk up parts.  This kind of helps to keep him more on the basic side, in keeping with the rest of the assortment.  The only part I don’t really care for his the head piece.  It’s really just different from the prior piece for the sake of being different, and that’s not really a good reason to change it.  It’s just not as good as the older piece, and even DST knew it, since this piece didn’t get used beyond this series.  In terms of paint, he’s not terribly far removed from the Series 5 version.  He’s got the proper team shorts this time, which is good, but I don’t like the the new face. It just doesn’t match that classic Thing feel.  Fortunately, the oranges match, so a re-work is possible.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the last set of these I looked at, despite being very excited for this set of ‘mates, I didn’t buy them new, and I didn’t really jump too quickly into tracking them down after the fact either.  I blame the Thing; he’s just so ugly.  I snagged these guys at the same time as Reed and Johnny, just to round out the team.  They’re not bad, but they’re definitely dated, and kind of from a weird middle spot for the line.