Tag Archives: avengers

Feb 2 2011

Marvel Famous Covers: Black Widow by Toy Biz

I was tearing through some of my storage totes this weekend, looking for some of the parts for some figures I wanted to feature for future Vintage Vaults when I stumbled upon this Famous Covers Series Black Widow figure. It was a cool find, because while I remember picking it up at an estate sale quite a few years back I never actually opened her up. While I do have a few more of this series floating around here, I never really got into it all that much, and I’ve never opened any of them, so this will be a pretty new experience for me. Let’s check her out!

I’m pretty mixed on the packaging here. The figure comes in a book-style box with a velcro piece to hold the front flap down. The front shows the issue of Marvel Fanfare that introduced Black Widow, along with some questionable original artwork of her for the box. Check out the back if you’re brave because it’s got a shot of the exclusive mail-away Aunt May figure, which looks far too creepy to keep in my house. Seriously, Toy Biz? Does anyone really want to be “the first to own an 8″ ultra poseable Aunt May” figure? Even with a limitation of 10,000 figures, I think you overestimated the demand on this one, guys. Anyway, the front flap of the box has a circle cut out to see the figure’s face. Open the front flap, and you can see Black Widow in all her 8″ Mego-fied glory resting in a gold foil tray. I guess I like the design of the box, and the fact that it’s so collector friendly, but the character artwork on the front is just really bad. Toy Biz should have just the cover of the comic for the front of the box.

This line is often described as being in the Mego-style. The figure is actually just slightly bigger than your average Mego-style figure, which is just enough to be annoying if you wanted your Black Widow intermingling with some of those DC retro-style figures you may have picked up recently. But apart from the slight scale issue, the comparison is certainly justified as she has decent articulation, rooted hair, and a cloth costume. The head sculpt is pretty good, and I tend to think one of the best this line has to offer. She has high-heel boot feet and black glove hands. Her articulation includes a ball jointed neck, ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivels in the wrists. Her legs have universal movement in the hips and hinged elbows and ankles. She can swivel and bend at the waist.

Black Widow’s outfit is pretty spartan, but it does fit the comic art pretty well. She’s basically just wearing a black jumpsuit with a plastic yellow belt and arm bracers. The outfit fits her pretty well.

I have no idea how much I paid for this figure, but it had to be pretty cheap, because at the time I didn’t think I’d like it enough to even bother opening it. It’s really not a bad figure at all. The poseability is nice, the outfit is ok and the headsculpt and rooted hair look good. Whenever I get around to reviewing other figures in this line you’ll see I tend to think of it as a mixed bag. But all in all, I think Black Widow is one of the better figures that Famous Covers has to offer. Really, my only gripe here is that she should have come with some weapons.

Nov 4 2010

Marvel Universe: Thor (Modern Version) by Hasbro

I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge fan of Thor. It may have to do with the old cartoon they used to run when I was a kid, with that corny opening theme song. I’m pretty sure it scarred me deep down inside. At the same time, I’ve enjoyed many of his comic appearances, and I am finally starting to look forward to the upcoming movie as we continue to strike our path toward the Avengers film. I’m not sure yet whether I’ll be picking up many of Thor’s movie figures, but I do know that I’m very happy to have this Thor figure that Hasbro released in the MU series.

Yep, same packaging. Even as someone who doesn’t care a whole lot about Thor, I gotta say I love the artwork. Thor’s a pretty meaty figure and between him and his cape he takes up most of the bubble. I love the way his hammer, Mjolnir, is so prominantly mounted right beside his head.

Thor is definitely up there as being of the most detailed and complex sculpts in the MU series thus far. Every tiny bit of this figure is brimming with loving attention to detail. His hauberk shows wrinkles, his chainmail is comprised of a sculpted checkered pattern. His soft plastic cape is actually fastened by two of the huge rivets on his chest, while brown belts and straps crisscross his boots, waist and chest. The headsculpt is pretty good, although his nose seems a little too flat and broad for a perfect likeness, but his long blonde hair is reproduced in soft plastic as are the feathered wings on his helmet.

As good as the sculpt is, there’s also a lot of paintwork to back it up. Thor’s hauberk and boots appear to be a gunmetal blue with some black mixed in. The chainmail is matte silver as are the rivets in his hauberk and his helm. It might have been cool to see a high gloss, metallic silver on these parts, but the more rustic matte silver has its own charms. His belts are brown and his cape is a deep maroon. There’s also very little slop or bleeding on the paintwork.

Thor comes with a figure stand, profile card and Top Secret document. He also comes with his trusty hammer, Mjolnir, of course. The sculpt on the hammer is every bit as good as the figure. The head of the hammer is pitted and worn and the handle is sculpted with braided straps, ending in a lanyard.

Articulation? Oh yeah. You get a ball jointed neck. The arms have ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. The legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinged knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. Thor also has a ball joint in the torso and a swivel in the waist. That’s a total of 21 points of articulation. Unfortunately, the figure is a bit top heavy and he has a habit of toppling over even when he’s plugged into his stand.

Hey, even if you’re like me and a little lukewarm on Thor, it’s still hard to deny this is a really great figure all around. Besides, which, he’s essential to building your Avengers team, so you might as well get him anyway. He’s not terribly uncommon on the pegs, at least not in my area where MU figures tend to be rare finds. In fact, he’s one of the very few MU figures that I was able to track down in a store when I was looking for him, rather than have to go the online ordering route.