So the other day the postman dropped him off outside my door and when I went to retrieve him I was pretty taken back by the sheer weight of the package. Yeah, like I said, I had him in my hands at the store a couple of times and still every time I pick him up I’m impressed by the heft on this figure. He was shipped to me in the original Hasbro casepack, which holds two, which means it must have required super strength just to get it from the stockroom to the shelves. Yeah, I’m exaggerating a bit, but it is a weighty figure. In a perfect world, dealers selling this toy would have to mail you the Silver Surfer figure a few days ahead of time so that he could herald the coming of Galactus to your home. But, alas, no.

The packaging is a thing of beauty. It’s a massive slab of a box littered with gorgeous Marvel artwork. Lift up the flap and you can see Galactus and the tiny, by comparison, Silver Surfer in all their splendor. Naturally, there’s a “Try Me” hole so you can hear the mighty Galactus threaten and taunt you without even having to take him out of the package. Honestly, the speakers are mostly located on the back of the toy, so he does sound rather muffled when he’s still boxed up, so let’s get this sum’bitch out and witness him in all his glory. The box is very collector friendly and you can slide the whole tray right out of the package. A bunch of twisty-tie untying later and I had a figure that is not big enough to devour worlds, but big enough to send FigureFeline running for his goddamn life. Seriously, he was terrified of this thing for a while and then was just content to nest in the tray that I discarded on the floor.

Let’s get the Silver Surfer out of the way first. He’s a great figure, but let’s face it, by definition there isn’t much to him. He features a pretty standard and early version of the MU buck painted with a nice, shiny silver. There are some black paint apps around his eyes, but that’s about it. I actually picked up this figure carded a while back but opted to leave him in package because I knew one day I would have a loose one when I bought his oversized cosmic master. The surfboard isn’t the same shade of silver, but rather more like a matte grey. It has two pegs for Norrin to stand on, which brings us to Surfer’s articulation…

Norrin sports the older degree of articulation from the MU line. He has ball joints in the neck, shoulders and hips, double hinges in the knees, hinges in the elbows and ankles, and swivels in the biceps and forearms. He also sports that ball joint in the torso. The problem is that his lack of swivels in the legs and rocker hinges in the ankles makes it a little tough to get him to peg onto the board with both feet. Peg one foot in and the other one wants to pop out. You can still get him on some nice poses with the board, but he always seems just a bit too precariously balanced.

As for Galactus… holy shit. To place him in proper scale, your average MU figure comes up just to the top of his boot. But besides being a whopping 19-inches tall and weighing a ton, he features a really amazing sculpt, particularly in his bucket of a head. The helmet is magnificent with translucent bits that show off the light up features nicely. The small portion of his exposed face is also beautifully sculpted with an appropriately smug impression. I particularly love the detail work on all the bits coming off his helmet around his chin and the sides of his face. Stunning! The rest of the body is packed with little striping or interlacing bands that give the figure a lot of depth, and the chestpiece and skirt are both sculpted separately in softer plastic. All the details on the figure are sculpted in, rather than rely solely on the paintwork as Hasbro often does with the regular MU figures.

Of course, Galactus is an electronic figure. Press the central disc on his chest and his eys light up, as do all the clear bits on his helmet, and he speaks one of his 10 phrases, which include….

Sometimes electronic features can hinder a figure, but I don’t think that’s the case here. Galactus speaks a nice smattering of phrases and the voicework is particularly well done. Bravo, Hasbro!

Ah, but Galactus may be a brick in size and weight, but not in articulation. In fact, he actually has better articulation than Silver Surfer and many of the older MU figures. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, wrists, and hips, double hinges in the elbows and knees, hinged ankles, and swivels in the biceps and forearms. What’s more the joints are all nice and strong to support his bulk and allow him to retain the poses you put him in.

It takes balls to put out a toy at mass retail and refer to it as a “Masterwork Figure.” You’re setting expectations pretty high, and yet I really think Hasbro stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park with this one. I’m sure few Marvel collectors ever expected a better Galactus figure than the Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Hasbro delivered it here. The sculpt, the coloring, and the sheer size do this magnificently terrifying character justice. Now granted, he set me back $70 when you factor in shipping, and I still think he was well worth it, but if you happened to not hesitate like me and got him at retail at more like $50-60 than I think you really got a deal. Galactus is an awesome figure and a great centerpiece to any Marvel Universe collection.