Tag Archives: avengers

Mar 27 2012

Marvel Universe: Yellowjacket and Ant Man by Hasbro

Ah, Hank Pym… He’s one of my favorite Marvel characters because he’s probably one of Marvel’s most flawed and ultimately human constructs. Genius, tragic figure, hero, anti-hero, and quite possibly schizophrenic. How deeply disappointed I was to find he wouldn’t be playing a part in the Avengers film, but I suppose that goes without saying. He’s worn his share of alter-identities in his time, but Yellowjacket is one of my favorites, because I love the costume and its the way he appeared in the epic Marvel Civil War, one of my favorite comic book events of all time. So, let’s check out his Marvel Universe figure…

A cursory glance at the package will tell you that this guy isn’t exactly new. He’s from the Dark Reign inspired waves of Marvel Universe when Norman Osborne swept aside SHIELD and usurped the packages with his HAMMER emblem. The character artwork is decent enough and this release came from a time when you actually got a personalized stand and the envelope with a little collectible stat card and letter.
Yellowjacket’s costume is a combination of paintwork on a standard body, with some unique sculpting to form the shoulder pieces, and naturally a new head sculpt. I really dig the design of this outfit. Its fairly simple and yet very distinctive. The paintwork is overall pretty good, although the tampo for the Yellowjacket emblem on his chest is rather smudged. I’m also wondering how the figure would have looked with more of a traditional yellow, rather than the yellow-gold that is used. Not saying it would look better, but I’d be interested to see it.
The articulation is in line with the older MU figures, meaning its ok, but not great. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The elbows are hinged and there are swivels in the wrists and biceps. The knees are double hinged and the ankles have hinges and swivels. You also get a ball joint in the torso. I really miss the swivels in the waist and upper thighs, but what’s here is still pretty serviceable.
Included as an accessory is the tiny little version of one of Pym’s other alter egos: Antman. If you picked up the Secret Wars comic pack with Doctor Doom, then you’ll no doubt remember the tiny Wasp included in that packet, and this is something along the same lines. Antman is just a tiny little static figurine, but the detailing and paintwork for such a little piece is really well done. I would be thrilled if Hasbro gave this guy the full sized figure treatment one day, as I think the sculpt would look fantastic.
I’ve been tempted many times to overspend and buy this guy online. Luckily I held out, because recently my Walmart started stocking MU figures again and he was one of the ones to hit the pegs first. I seriously think they must have had old cases of these figures sitting in the backroom the whole time. Either way, I’m not complaining because I was finally able to add him to my collection without paying a premium.
Jan 31 2012

Captain America: 6-inch Movie Captain America by Hasbro

Ok, so last time we looked at the 6-inch Movie Thor. He was a nice enough figure, but ultimately a little disappointing because of his limited articulation. Let’s see if we make out better with Captain America…

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Just like 6-inch Thor, this Cap figure’s packaging looks just like the carded 3 3/4-inch The First Avenger figures. There’s Hank Pym at work with his Pym Particles, again! I loved the movie packaging for the smaller Cap movie figures and it looks great here as well. Cap is packaged with his shield and pistol in hand and his machine gun off to the side. He really fills out the bubble nicely. Speaking of bubbles, there’s no “Walmart Exclusive” sticker on this bubble, but I’m pretty sure this was one too.
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Overall, I was pretty happy with Thor’s sculpt, but Captain America blows him away with the sheer amount of detail on his outfit. Every little crinkle, rumple and quilted texture is sculpted in wonderful detail here. I think the figure would have been better served with a less glossy look, but Cap’s outfit still looks amazing here. The sculpt also includes a working hoslter, which is always a nice touch in my book. I can’t say the head sculpt is terribly spot on, it seems rather soft, but its definitely serviceable.
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Unlike Movie Thor who could basically just stand there and look majestic, this 6-inch Cap has a buttload of articulation. You get a ball jointed neck, ball joints in the shoulders and hips, double hinges in the elbows and knees, hinges in the ankles, swivels in the biceps, wrists, and thighs, and that funky ball joint in the upper torso. I’m still not terribly pleased with the type of hip joints used here, but I’ll admit they work much better than Thor’s. Thankfully, Cap has no cape to interfere with his articulation, so this is one really poseable figure. He’s loads of fun to pick up and pose and that’s a big part of what I’m looking for in my action figures. I could barely come up with a few different snaps of Thor, but with Cap here, I couldn’t stop myself. I just kept shooting!
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Captain America comes with three accessories. His weapons include a Thompson Sub Machinegun and a .45 Automatic. The Thompson is a really nice sculpt and he looks great holding it. Plus, thanks to his excellent articulation, Cap can actually hold it in both hands for some great looking poses. The pistol is the weakest of the accessories. I don’t care for the sculpt too much as the trigger guard is overly circular and it’s bright silver. Still, it’s never a bad thing to have a spare gun and it can fit into his holster.
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And last but not least, you get Cap’s trusty shield. It’s cast in a rather soft plastic, but that doesn’t really hurt it much. Unlike the smaller Cap figures, this shield actually has the straps for his arm rather than just a peg and clip. Its a more authentic setup and the detailing on the reverse side looks mighty nice,  but sadly there’s no way to attach it to his back.
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So one gripe I have isn’t so much one with Cap himself, but when you put the two figures together (Cap and Thor) you find there’s quite a big difference in sizes. I realize that Thor is a big guy, and he should be bigger than Cap, but I don’t think he should be this much bigger. At the same time, when you take Cap and put him next to a DC Universe Classics figure he comes up pretty short too. That’s why I’m pointing to Cap’s size over Thors.
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I picked up Cap online for about $16 shipped, which is just about right for this class of figure. I don’t know how Cap is going to stack up to the upcoming Marvel Legends figures, but on his own, I think he’s an amazing figure. Great sculpt, great articulation, nice assortment of accessories, what more can you ask for, folks? If the 3 3/4-inch figures aren’t your thing, or you’re just looking for something bigger, this is a great figure for your collection.
Jan 30 2012

Thor: 6-inch Movie Thor by Hasbro

I have mixed feelings about the Marvel Legends line coming back this year, but one of the good things about it will be once again having Marvel figures in scale (more or less) with my DC Universe Classics figures. And therein lies the appeal of some of the movie-style 6-inch figures that Hasbro has been putting out as Walmart Exclusives, as well as the Toys R Us Exclusive 6-inch Iron Man figures. I actually had no idea the Thor and Captain America 6-inchers even existed until recently, but that’s to be expected since the Walmart here doesn’t sell their own exclusives! Seriously, Hasbro, is it asking too much that you award your Exclusives to retailers that will actually have your product on their planograms?

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The packaging looks like Hank Pym took the regular 3 3/4-inch Thor movie line package and blew it up using his Pym Particles. The card art is pretty cool with Thor gazing out in the upper right hand corner and the “Avengers Assemble!” emblem across from it. The bubble takes up a big part of the cardback, and rightly so since Thor is a pretty big figure and between his cape and hammer, he fills it out pretty nicely. The bubble features the “Only at Walmart” sticker, which probably should say “Only at Some Other Walmart, but not here!” to be more accurate.
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Out of the package, Thor is one good sized hunk of figure. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the sculpt, particularly where his costume is concerned. I like the look of his movie armor and this figure captures it really well, right down to the little details in his chainmail arm armor and even some little slashes in his legs. The cape even has that cool hovering effect as it comes off his shoulders. The 3 3/4-inch movie Thor that I own has a serious issue with the cape falling off when you so much as look at the figure. Hasbro went to the extreme other direction here by making the cape a permanent fixture on the figure, which causes other problems down the road. The head sculpt isn’t bad, but it’s not quite the leap from 3 3/4 to 6-inch that it should have been. I do, however, like the fact that he’s wearing his helmet, as it gives him more of an iconic look.
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The articulation is pretty close to what we got on the smaller figures. You have a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders and hips, double hinges in the knees and elbows, hinged ankles, and swivels in the biceps, wrists, and thighs. Thor also has a ball joint in his torso. It all sounds good, but there’s a couple of problems here. First off, his hip joints are terrible because you really can’t position them in a way that gives you a lot of upper leg movement. Seriously, Hasbro, you need to stop it with this hip design, it sucks. Secondly, that permanent cape really hinders any leg articulation you do have. What you’re left with is a figure that has plenty of articulation on paper, but practically speaking, this guy is more like a statue with great arm articulation. I could barely get him into enough poses to warrant taking more than a couple pictures.

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Thor comes with his trusty hammer, Mjolnir, which is a nice piece, but is actually missing some of the sculpted runes on the smaller figure’s version. He also has a bit of difficulty holding it just right. You’ll notice that Thor’s left hand is in a circle grip, but that’s actually because this arm is shared between this Thor and Lord of Asgard Thor, which comes with a battle axe for his off-hand. His right hand grip is sculpted a lot looser and while he can cetainly hold Mjolnir, it usually wants to slide down or out of his hand.
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I think 6-inch Thor is a decent looking figure, but he certainly comes up disappointing in other areas. He does, however, fit in pretty well with the DCUC figures, which is pretty cool if I ever want to have him team up with Wonder Woman against Ares. I picked him up online for $16 shipped. He’s certainly worth that, but I’m hoping to have better luck with Hasbro’s 6-inch movie Captain America, which, coinicidentally, we’ll be checking out tomorrow!
Jan 24 2012

The First Avenger: Captain America Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Alrighty then, let’s check out the Hot Toys treatment of Captain America: The First Avengers. We’ve already covered the packaging, and now the figure’s out let’s go ahead and start with the head.

I really dig the final head sculpt. Yes, I’ve seen plenty of complaints about how it doesn’t quite look like Chris Evans. Honestly, I think it looks pretty close. Hot Toys tends to either nail it perfectly or get that, “hmmm… close, but there’s something not quite right about it” vibe. Granted, he’s wearing a mask and that may go a long way to conceal the resemblance, but there’s something about the mouth that just ties the likeness together for me. I seem to be in the minority here, but so long as it looks good to me, that’s all that matters, right? Apart from that, the helmet and mask is excellent and while its all part of the headsculpt, it definitely has a 3D look to it as if you could unbuckle the chin strap and take it off. The paint apps for the “A” and his wings are all crisp and clean. I’ll go with a baseball metaphor here, since we’re on an American theme, and say that the head may not be a Homerun, but its definitely a Triple.
The costume itself, on the other hand, now that’s a homerun. Granted, it helps if you love the movie costume as much as I do, and the way its executed here is just plain awesome. Cap’s duds have an uncanny vintage WWII look to them, particularly in the quilting on the shoulders and the use of grey cloth instead of pure white for the arms and mid section. The stitching is all beautifully done and the outfit fits the figure extremely well. The metal rank pip on his collar is a really nice touch too. His gloves and boots are all sculpted plastic, and simulate the look of leather very nicely.
Besides his belt, Cap has straps on his biceps, holding the quilted shoulder flaps down and a low slung pistol holster for his automatic, that includes a thigh strap. He also has the aforementioned shoulder strap that is packaged off the figure, and a “Y” harness on his back that is actually part of the costume itself and culminates in a metal catch, which is where the clip is used to hang his shield. The faux leather strapping on the figure is all extremely delicate, particularly the super thin shoulder strap. You have to be really careful slipping it onto him and I really felt like I was going to pull it apart. The pistol holster is the same way, which is why you won’t see the pistol pictured anywhere else in this feature. It took me forever to get it in there and fasten the flap, and I probably won’t be removing it ever again.
Captain comes with no less than seven extra hands, most of which I will never ever use. Popping the hands off is easy, but getting the new ones on is a little frustrating. I’m not going to criticize Hot Toys’ decision to include a lot of variety here. Variety is always good. But I’m happy with just using the hands designed to hold his goodies. I may swap out his gun with something else from time to time, but he’s always going to be standing on my shelf holding his shield.
And speaking of guns and the shield, let’s talk accessories. Here’s where Cap comes up a little light. Don’t get me wrong, comes with everything you would expect, but it still feels rather light compared to the inventories of some of the other Hot Toys figures. The shield is absolutely fantastic, and fairly complex. Its made of plastic, but thanks to the shiny lacquer finish you wouldn’t know that unless you touched it. The paintwork is absolutely gorgeous. The reverse has two straps, one that fits around his forearm and the other that threads through one of his gripping hands. It’s rather tricky getting it in place, especially because the straps are so thin and delicate, and the catch is so tiny, but once he’s got it on his arm, it stays on great and looks amazing. There’s also a simple hook that allows you to hang it on his back. It’s a lot of work to swap out the shield from back to arm, though, so I probably won’t be doing it a lot, although you can actually hang it on his back without going through all the trouble of removng the hand from the strap.
Besides the shield, Cap comes with two weapons. I already touched on the automatic pistol, which is a very nice sculpt, but feels a little undersized to me, which is another reason I’m happy to keep it in the holster. I have a fair share of WWII era weapons in the 1:6 scale, so I will likely use a different .45 automatic pistol if I ever want to display him with one. It’s not a big issue, but when you’re paying this much for a figure, you shouldn’t have to swap in a better weapon. The Thompson machine gun, on the other hand is excellent and even includes a removable clip and just looks outstanding, whether in his hand or slung over his shoulder. That said, I may wind up displaying him with an M1 Garand or a Grease Gun.
You also get the personalized display stand. It’s pretty simple and serviceable, so don’t expect any kind of environment or diorama base. The post has a little wire cradle that the figure rests on between its legs and it does a fine job of holding him up.
Cap’s articulation is perfectly fine from the chest down, but the arms are somewhat restricted at the shoulders. The arms are only designed to rise up to 90-degrees and the instructions specifically point out that trying to get more motion out of them may damage the figure. My Cap’s arms actually don’t quite make it to 90-degrees, and I’m not about to force it to try to get that extra one or two degrees out of them. I suspect the joint was limited so as not to tear the snug stitching on his shoulders. I can still get Cap into most of the poses I want to, so I’m not overly concerned about this issue, but let’s face it, when people buy a 1:6 scale figure at this price point (or even less), they are usually expecting optimal articulation and you just aren’t getting it with Cap here.
In the end, Cap’s certainly got a few issues, but I knew about all of them coming in to the purchase. I loved this figure from the moment I got him out of the box and after spending a week fiddling about with him and putting him into different displays I still love it to death. He looks amazing on display and really the only thing I would have liked to see would have been a better sidearm. I picked up this figure through the fine folks at Big Bad Toy Store for about $170 shipped. That puts it at the lower end of Hot Toys product price range. You get a great figure for that price, and while I can’t think of much I would have added, accessory whores used to a gaggle of goodies with their figures may feel a little disappointed.
Jan 23 2012

The First Avenger: Captain America Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

You need only look back at the barren wasteland of content in November to see how busy I was at work toward the end of last year. Well, by the end of the year all that hard work started paying off, and I mean quite literally. In that higher tax bracket sense of the words. Besides some heavily padded paychecks, I was promoted and bumped up a significant paygrade. As a result, I wanted to take some of that fun money and splurge this year on something a little pricier than I usually buy and at the same time start getting in on a new line of figures that I’ve previously avoided for budgetary purposes. Hot Toys is going to be one of those outlets. And while I’m not prepared to start digging into the older figures because they have a habit of getting so prohibitively expensive, there are a number on the market right now that I plan on picking up.

For my first figure, I thought it appropriate to go with Captain America, despite some issues I knew ahead of time that existed with the figure. I did a lot of research on this guy before buying and ultimately decided that he looked so good, I was willing to live with the issues. I’ve just always loved Cap to pieces and while there were certainly some things about the movie I would have done differently, one thing that I wouldn’t have changed at all was Cap’s final appearance. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to pick up Thor and Iron Man from Hot Toys when The Avengers movie comes out, but Cap’s outfit is going to change quite a bit, and I really wanted him in his WWII-era costume. So let’s take a look and see what Hot Toys did with it. I’m going to start out today by just checking out the packaging and then I’ll try to be back tomorrow with a look at the figure itself.
Cap comes in a nice sized box emblazoned with his shield deco on the front and a whole lot of production information on the back. It looks like you’re about to start reading the credits from the movie, but its actually all the damn people who worked on this figure and its pretty impressive. You get a shot of the figure’s prototype on the back of the box and some assorted stills on the sides. The box is about as tall as you would expect from a 1:6 scale figure, but it’s a hell of a lot deeper. The design is like a shoebox, where you just lift the top off to get at the goods inside. Overall the outer packaging is attractive and sturdy, but possibly not as flashy as one might expect from a figure in this price range.
While in concept, the packaging is pretty simple, there’s a whole bunch of layers and stuff at work here. There is a tray tucked under the top cover that contains Cap’s gear. You get his iconic shield, an automatic pistol, a Thompson machine gun, a clip to hold his shield on his back, and his shoulder strap with pouches.
Next you have to lift out a cardstock poster of the figure to reveal the tray holding the figure, the stand, and his array of no less than seven replacement hands. You also get a baggie of replacement pegs for the hands and feet and a folded instruction sheet. There’s a cover over that, and another cover over that, and plastic over the hands and head. It takes some time to get through all this, but its nice to know he comes well protected and its cool how my anticipation was building the whole time.
I’m usually not a big packaging whore, as a fair number of my toys just get taken out and the package gets thrown away, but as a rule I keep my 1:6 scale figures in their packages. This is usually the case because they have a lot of extra accessories to keep track of and to help keep their soft goods clean when they aren’t out on display. Granted, Cap here will likely spend more time on my shelf than in his box, but there’s plenty of extras to keep track of, so this box is obviously a keeper for me.

 

Tomorrow, I’ll be back for Part 2 and we’ll actually dig in and start looking at the figure itself!
Sep 15 2011

Thor: Sword Spike Thor by Hasbro

Thor came out this week on Blu-Ray, and I had a great time watching it again. It also put the Marvel movie figure buying bug in me and so while I was picking up groceries at Walmart this weekend, I went a little crazy with the Thor and Captain America figures. As much as I loved Thor, I really had no intention of buying the figures, but after watching it again this week, I decided that I should at least have a movie Thor figure in my collection.

If you’ve read any of my features on the Iron Man 2 figures, than you know that I really dig Hasbro’s package designs for their Marvel movie figures. You get a picture of Thor in the upper left corner, an Avengers Assemble emblem in the right hand corner and a big bubble to show off the figure and his accessories. It’s attractive, functional and pretty much everything you could possibly want in a carded 3 3/4″ figure. The back panel shows off the figure’s gimmicks, has a little blurb about the character, and some images of other figures in the line. Not too shabby.
There are plenty of Thor’s on the pegs right now, so which one to choose when you only want to buy one? I chose the one with the least intrusive gimmick. The other Thor figures feature electronics in the hammer and less articulation, whereas Sword Spike Thor may sound like the dumbest idea for a Thor, but it takes all the gimmickry and confines it into one convenient throw-away accessory. Cool!
Back when Thor was in production, I was more than a little worried about what his modern outfit would look like, but in the end I liked his design and this figure really delivers on it well. The headsculpt bears a great likeness to actor Chris Hemsworth with some pretty complex yet precise paintwork. Not something I always expect to see in a Hasbro 3 3/4″ figure these days. I really thought I would have a problem with a Thor not wearing his iconic helmet, but I really don’t miss it that much. The body sculpt is extremely detailed from the scales on his armor sleeves to the scrollwork on his modernized chestplate. His cape is removable as it simply pegs into his back, and by removable I mean it sometimes likes to remove itself and fall off. It’s a little off putting to see Thor not as buffed out as usual, but in terms of the source material, I really have no complaints, the figure turned out great.
Thor’s articulation is great in theory, but stumbles a bit in practice. You get almost all the points we’ve come to expect from Hasbro’s modern 3 3/4″ figure bodies. As always, the neck is ball jointed. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders and elbows and swivels in the wrists. The usual bicep swivel is missing, which irks me a bit. The legs feature ball joints in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and ball jointed ankles. Thor doesn’t swivel at the waist, but he does have that funky universal ab joint that Hasbro features in all their modern 3 3/4″ figures nowadays. I really have grown to dislike the style of ball joints Hasbro is using for the hips. They’re too difficult to work and don’t give a really effective range of motion.
How about them accessories? Well, it wouldn’t be Thor without Mjolnir, and while the sculpt lacks the scrollwork on the sides of the hammer, it still looks mighty nice. On the other hand, you have the ridiculous transforming sword with the stupid looking extra thick blade that springs open at the press of a button to reveal some kind of blue rod. I dont’ want to beat up on this too bad, because a) It’s for kids, and they might think its cool, and b) considering the scale, I’m sure Hasbro did the best they could with such a smallish accessory. Like I said earlier, I’m happy to toss the sword into the dreaded “Tote of Accessories That I Shall Never Look Upon Again!!!” Mwahahahaha!  At least it doesn’t impact on the figure at all. Oh yeah, no figure stand. Grrrr!
So yeah, toss aside his “Sword Spike” and this Thor is a great figure on just about all levels. I take some issues with his articulation, particularly those awful hip joints, but that’s something that Hasbro needs to work out across most of their modern 3 3/4″ figures. It’s not by any means a dealbreaker, just something that I think could be done better. I was hoping by now these figures would be clearancing themselves out, but I guess Hasbro and retailers were hanging on for dopes like me that suddenly want them after watching the Blu-Ray. He ran me just under eight bucks at Walmart, and hey, considering the sculpt, paint and articulation, that’s a heck of a lot better than the ten bucks I’m paying for Mattel’s Young Justice figures.
May 23 2011

Captain America: Red Skull (Movie Series) by Hasbro

I’m pretty psyched up for the Captain America movie, but I don’t plan on buying many of the figures. I will, however, be picking up some of the Comic Series as well as figures that fill holes in my Marvel Universe collection and Red Skull is obviously one of those holes. It’s certainly possible that Hasbro will be giving Skull the Comic Series treatment in the near future, but this movie version is plenty cool and I since I forsee that very soon the pegs being clogged with the ten million different variations of Captain America, I figured I better grab Red Skull while I can.

 

I can’t say there are any big surprises to be had in the package design, but then again, I have to admit it looks quite nice. You get artwork of Cap himself making up a good portion of the card, along with the Avengers Assemble emblem showing off Iron Man and Thor. Ant Man? Hulk? Who’s that? Yeah. Anyway. The bubble shows off the figure very nicely along with his accessories. The back panel of the card shows a photo of the figure, a short bio blurb and some of the other figures in the line.

The sculpt used here looks really top notch. Granted, the movie isn’t out yet and I still haven’t seen any stills of the character in the movie, but as far as the figure is concerned I like what I see. Besides, which, I got this guy to go with my MU figures, not for his role in the Marvel movieverse. Either way the head looks great and the paint apps are very well done. Red Skull’s uniform is wonderfully detailed, although the plastic tunic unfortunately interferes with his upper leg articulation, reducing the joints to being almost useless. It’s a bit of a shame since the rest of him sports the same excellent articulation seen in the Marvel Universe line, right down to his double hinged knees. Hey, Hasbro… what’s up with the number on his boot?

Red Skull comes with a few accessories. You get the Cosmic Cube, a pistol, and a huge firing missile launcher. The Cube is pretty nicely done for such a small accessory and is cast entirely in translucent blue plastic. He can even hold it fairly well in his hand. The missile launcher is the throwaway piece that we’ve come to expect from Hasbro’s 3 3/4″ figures. It’s goofy and awkward and it can go into my tote filled with all the other ones I have from Rise of Cobra to Iron Man 2.

I’m still waiting to see if a Comic Series version of Red Skull comes out in this line, but for now I’m perfectly happy with this figure. Whether it be Iron Man or Thor or now Captain America, Hasbro has been giving the Marvel Movie figures their all. I’ll admit, it’s too bad that these lines are littered with so many ridiculous variants of the heroes. It made sense in the Iron Man lines, but it’s uncalled for in the Thor and Captain America lines. Still, I’m happy to take what I want and leave the rest.

May 12 2011

Marvel Universe: Black Widow by Hasbro

[Well, I can’t say I didn’t warn you. I got the first of three drinking binges trips I need to take in May out of the way and while I had every hopes to get back and do at least one update, it just didn’t happen. I also had planned to do a bit of toy hunting on my excursion and that didn’t happen either. Although, while dropping into a Walmart on the way back home I found that while the pickings weren’t great, they were at least much better than the dismal findings at the Walmarts in my hometown. Thus, I was able to pick up three Marvel Universe figures. Today, I’m going to get back into the swing of things slowly with a quick look at a figure that has been out for a while, but very tough for me to find… Black Widow. -FF]

Ah, the Marvel Universe packaging. I can’t tell you how good it is to see it hanging on the peg and not be an Iron Man or Hobgoblin. When I saw the gorgeous artwork of Black Widow gazing luridly out of the card I was a pretty happy camper. I only saw this figure once before on the pegs and at the time I passed her up for some new Transformers. When I went back, she was gone and I was pissed. Despite the fact that I’ve looked at this character in figure form before [Marvel Famous Covers series by Toy Biz. -FF] I have never been a huge fan of the character, at least not until she turned up in Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes. She was no slouch in Iron Man 2 either, but my point is, I haven’t made a point to follower her in the funny books. Getting back to the packaging, she comes on a standard MU card, issued as part of the Dark Reign series with the HAMMER logo instead of the SHIELD. She comes packaged with a personalized figure stand, her Top Secret file, and an assault rifle.

In a line of brightly colored and outlandishly costumed heroes, Black Widow stands out precisely because she’s rather plain. It suits the character and Hasbro did an admirable job of reproducing her in 3 3/4″ form, but she isn’t all that exciting to look at. Her blackish-blue body suit is simple and true to form and adorned only with her two wrist bracers and her belt. If I recall, these accoutrement are usually portrayed as yellow in the artwork, but here Hasbro chose to go with a silver. It definitely makes for more modern and realistic look, but that’s not necessarily what I’m looking for in my MU figures. So, yeah, I would have preferred them yellow.

The head sculpt is simple enough. Hasbro often has problems producing attractive female faces in this scale, but they did an ok job with Widow. At first, I thought it might be too generic, but when I went back and compared her to some of the original artwork, I was suitably impressed.

Black Widow’s articulation is standard for the MU female body. She has balljoints in her neck and shoulders, hinges in her elbows and ankles, double hinges in her knees, swivels at the waist, and universal movement in her hips. I really do miss having swivel cuts in the thighs and biceps, but all in all, she has a nice wide range of poseability.

I’m glad I finally found Black Widow on the pegs. I wanted her in my collection, but she isn’t a striking enough figure for me to want to pay a premium for her online. For a while there she was going for quite a bit over her MSRP through online retailers, but I suspect this is one of those shortpacked figures that Hasbro decided to reissue, because a couple of my friends have recently reported finding her and offered to pick her up for me. She’s a solid representation of the character and another excellent addition my MU lineup.

Feb 18 2011

Marvel Universe: Moon Knight and Black Panther by Hasbro

I’m slowly going through the case of Marvel Universe figures that I got in a couple of weeks ago. This time I’m going to look at two characters that I admittedly don’t care a whole lot about, but I wanted to pick them up for one reason or another. Moon Knight has always intrigued me, but I’ve never read anything that he’s ever been in, apart from a cameo in issue of Deadpool. I’ve got some of Moon Knight’s stuff on my To Read list, but at my age I think my reading list is a lot longer than the time I’ve got left on this old world of ours. I’m a lot more familiar with Black Panther, but he is by far my least favorite of all the Avengers. Apart from the issues of his comics that coincided with theDark Reign saga, I’ve never read any of his books, so most of my exposure to him is from the second animated Avengers movie and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. 

Standard Marvel Universe packaging, only these figures were released before the HAMMER theme took over from SHIELD. The character art on these cards is a little weak, but that might be more because both characters have fairly simple designs rather than any lack of effort on Hasbro’s part. The bubbles show off the figures nicely.

Moon Knight is a really cool looking figure. In fact to find as nice a looking figure with virtually no paint apps, you’d have to look to Mattel’s Gentlemen Ghost from the DCUC line. He relies on a fair amount of new sculpt, a bulkier muscular build and and a really nice hood, cowl and cape piece that still allows for some articulation in the neck. His face is basically just a Jawa, but it really serves the original character design very well. He comes with his staff weapon and a moon dart, which looks exactly like a clipped toenail. Mine flew out of the package when I opened it and was never seen again. It’s a fair bet my cat ate it.

And speaking of figures with virtually no paint apps, next up is Black Panther. [See, there’s a reason I chose to look at these two figures together! -FF]  Of course, Panther hits the other end of the spectrum and is all black. I’ve tried many times to embrace this character, but I simply can’t do it. That’s not to say I didn’t want this figure, albeit solely because of his membership in the Avengers. I’m tempted to say there’s a lot of original sculpt on Panther’s body, because his torso looks to have fewer muscular lines than most other figures, but I’m not prepared to say one way or the other. I do think Hasbro did a fine job on the head sculpt. Panther comes with his Poleaxe.

While Moon Knight features all the standard articulation we’re used to seeing in the MU male figures, Black Panther has two exceptions: His knees. He doesn’t have the double hinged knees that Moon Knight and most other MU figures have. However, Both figures include their packet of secret SHIELD documents with file cards. On the other hand, these guys were released before Hasbro decided to start including the personalized stands. Boo!

And there you have it, another couple of solid offerings from the Marvel Universe line. I imagine that Black Panther will be a pretty well sought after figure just because of his Avengers affiliation, although it seems pretty questionable as to whether he’ll be brought into the picture when the Avengers assemble on the big screen in a year or so. I’m not so sure about Moon Knight. Granted, no matter how obscure a character, there will always be fans happy to get the figure, but I read a fair amount of Marvel comics and my exposure to him has been nil, so I have to wonder just how he’ll be received among the masses.

Feb 5 2011

Iron Man 2: “Fury of Combat” Boxed Set by Hasbro

The Iron Man 2 action figure line must have an Arc Reactor of its own keeping it alive. It’s not the first time I’ve pointed out that while other movie figure lines shoot their load and get whisked away to the clearance bins before the DVD release, Iron Man 2 keeps on chugging along and I keep buying the figures. Granted most of the single carded ones I pick up these days are impulse buys, but today’s boxed set of four figures is one that I actually hunted down. The set includes the Mark VI Iron Man armor, two Ground Assault Drones and Nick Fury himself.

The set comes in a long window box, somewhat similar to some of Hasbro’s Star Wars boxed sets. It’s set up so that Iron Man and the two Drones are in the main window and Nick Fury gets his own little window on the side as if he’s a bonus figure. The box has a similar deco to the single carded figures and has a really nice illustrated backdrop that you can use as a diorama to display the figures if you’re so inclined. You’ll also note by the sticker that this set is a Toys R Us exclusive. The box is pretty collector friendly, as the tray just slides right out, but the figures are positioned pretty awkwardly in the box with Iron Man looking like something akin to a ragdoll.

The Iron Man figure has plenty of good and bad going for it. I was actually surprised to realize that I didn’t own the Mark VI armor yet, so this was a decent pick up for me, although it will probably be replaced on my shelf with the carded version that has the power up glow whenever I get around to buying it. The sculpting is as excellent as ever, and while the quality of the paint is fantastic with a thick, rich glossy lacquer, I’m not a big fan of the added gold on the thighs. On the downside, he does have some issues with articulation, particularly in the oddball joints used for his hips, and his head wants to perpetually hunch down, which makes for some awkward poses unless you have him looking off to the side. I doubt I would have been entirely happy with him as a single carded release, but he’s ok for box set fodder.


The Ground Assault Drones are practically worth the price of admission alone, so long as you don’t mind getting two of them. Seeing as how tough it’s been to find the other Hammeroids carded, it’s cool to get a pair of this variety. The sculpts are really off the charts for the 3 3/4″ scale and these guys are armed up the wazoo. They have built in grenade launchers with drum magazines on their right arms, belt fed machine guns on their left arms and the giant cannon that mounts onto their back and makes them look like walking Abrams tanks. They also have the drop down stabalizer plates on their feet to keep them from getting blown back on their asses when they fire those things. The paint is a realistic looking grundgy flat military tan and these guys have some excellent little painted details, including the tiny American flags on their chests.

And then there’s Nick Fury, which for a lot of people, myself included, is the real draw of this set, and I have to say Hasbro did a marvelous job with him. The body sculpt is very GI Joe-ish, but it still fits the character and the added softgoods trenchcoat really ties the whole figure together. The headsculpt is really one of the best I’ve seen in a while in this scale. He comes with a little grey automatic pistol, which sadly does not fit into a holster anywhere.

My only gripe with this set is that it doesn’t come with stands and armor cards. I don’t care so much about Iron Man missing them, since I will undoubtedly get one when I buy the power up glow carded version to display in my collection. And obviously Nick Fury didn’t need one, but I’m bummed that I can’t display these Drones with a stand and armor cards along side my other two Hammeroids. I’m not saying I really expected them to be included, especially considering the cost of the set, but not having them still messes up the feng shui of my Iron Man 2 display. Dig it?

This set was $24.99 on TRU’s website, which isn’t much more than the cost of three carded Iron Man 2 figures, so it really is like you’re getting Nick Fury as a bonus. Either way it’s a good price, even though chances are many collectors won’t be terribly excited and/or happy about the Iron Man figure that’s included. Whether it’s better than Target’s similar exclusive boxed sets, I can’t really say, since I’ve only glanced at those on the shelf a few times.