Finally, a serious gaping hole in my Marvel Universe collection has been filled. Yes, Gladiator has arrived! That’s called sarcasm, folks, as I was not exactly jonesing for this figure’s release. I mean, really Hasbro? If you’re going to release one of the Shi’ar, you think Gladiator deserved to be first over Lady Deathbird? Ooook. The fact is, the only appearance of Gladiator that I can remember from my funny books is when he went apeshit and punched the USS Enterprise in that priceless Star Trek and X-Men crossover. Now, granted that was a pretty epic panel, but still. Nonetheless, the figure looked really nice hanging on the peg, so I tossed him in the cart as well as some other MU figures. Let’s check him out.
I still enjoy the Marvel Universe cards, although Gladiator’s character art is a tad bit understated. He should have been caught in mid scream as if about to punch his way off the card. Instead, he appears to be just staring off with a curious gaze of slight approval. He’s from one of the more recent waves, so the deco has gone back to SHIELD. He fills out the bubble nicely, especially with his cape. The package notes that he comes with his personalized figure stand, but keep in mind, this is a newer release and the Top Secret files are no longer included with the figures. Boo!
And yes, I do like this figure quite a bit. The body is a pretty standard MU buck relying on paint apps to make up Gladiator’s costume, but the metallic blue and red look very nice and he’s got a bit of wash to bring out the sculpt in his muscles. Unlike some of my past MU figures, the paint lines on Gladiator are very clean. The head sculpt is excellent, much better than a number of MU figures that come to mind, again with nice clean paint and a pronounced mohawk sculpted on. The cape and collar are all sculpted in one piece from softer rubbery plastic and just hangs on over his shoulders. If you pop off the figure’s head you can easily remove it so that Gladiator can lay it aside and issue forth some intergalactic ass kickings without being burdened by the extra garment.
Gladiator features standard MU male articulation. You get a ball jointed neck; Universal movement in the shoulders, hips, and ankles; Swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists; And that great universal joint in the torso. For some reason I was expecting the new swivel cuts in the thighs, but nope. I guess he isn’t new enough.
All in all, Gladiator is some really nice work on Hasbro’s part. The figure is a great mix of sculpt and paint to make a figure that really pops. The MU line has been touch and go in the past, no doubt, but it has certainly been heading in the right direction and drastically improving with every wave. Gladiator is a fine example of that. He may not be tops on a lot of collectors’ lists, but he’s still well worth picking up if you have an open mind and are hankering for another MU release.
FigureFan Zero 