Tag Archives: comic packs

Dec 18 2010

Marvel Secret Wars Comic Pack #10: Dr. Doom, Absorbing Man and The Wasp by Hasbro

Welcome back, folks. Up today is part two of Hasbro Comic Pack Weekend, and yes, another Secret Wars pack. Last time I bitched and moaned about the relevance of the figures included with #6. This time around, the selection is a little less befuddling, mainly because Hasbro could have included Doom with pretty much any issue and he would have been appropriate. The Wasp would have been better packed in #6 and as for Absorbing Man, well, I think he appears in one frame of #10, which is more than I could say about Ultron in #6. But I’m done with all that, so let’s just look at the figures.

Doom is as iconic to me as just about any other character in the Marvel verse. I’m not saying that just because I have a bizarre and unnatural affection for the character, but… yeah, actually I probably am. And it goes along with the fact that I’ve been reading The Fantastic Four’s funny books almost consistantly since I was a wee lad. So, how I waited this long to add Doctor Doom to my MU collection is beyond me. Let’s face it, these comic packs were not tough to find, and yet somehow I passed these up on the pegs over and over again until now. Sure, Doom really, really deserves a single carded release, but then Hasbro could hardly have not included him as a figure in the Secret Wars series. Plus,they’ve done such a great job with this figure, I hardly see much need in hurrying to get another version out on the pegs.


Before I say anything about the Doom figure, let’s point out the obvious. Yes, he shares Ultron’s arms and legs, but it’s a natural fit and a really smart cost-saving move on Hasbro’s part. I have no problem with it. The head sculpt is about the only other place where Hasbro had some room for interpretation and I like where they went with it. It’s not necessarily the most traditional form of Doom’s mask, but I do love it and the finer details on the sculpt is exceptionally good, considering many of the comic pack figures tend to be “softer” than the single carded figures. The rest of Doom hits al the iconic points with his green, brown belted tunic, and hooded cape with gold clasp. Doom’s hood is part of his head sculpt, but the cape is removable. Doom comes with his trademark broom-handled Mauser, but his sculpted holster is just for show.


Moving on to Absorbing Man, another character that I’m really glad to have on hand for when my Modern Thor gets tired of kicking the shit out of Wrecker. [Yeah, I only have the Modern Thor figure, but I’m working on rectifying that as we speak. -FF]. Like Doom, Creel here seems to be a much better quality figure than I’m used to getting in these comic packs. The sculpt is really outstanding, particularly the head which captured his malicious smirk and his pointy dome. The detail in his muscles is excellent and even the sculpted treads on the bottom of his boots is worth remarking on.

Hasbro used paint apps to show off Creel’s absorbing abilities as the left side of him is gradually morphing into what looks like metal, mostly on the side of his face and his arm. The effect works well, but I do have an issue with his wrecking ball accessory. Shouldn’t he be able to hold the wrecking ball in his metal-morphing hand? It is supposed to be part of him, isn’t it? As it is, he can only hold it in his flesh-toned hand, which doesn’t make a lot of sense. It would have been really cool if Hasbro had made it socket into his hand like Mattel did with their DCUC Iron and Gold figures from the Metal Men. Either way, Creel is still a great figure.

And then there’s The Wasp. Be careful opening the package or you could easily lose her. She really is that small. I made it pretty clear when discussing SW#6 that I would really like a full-sized figure of Janet, but I appreciate what Hasbro did here as well. Considering how small she is, the sculpt and paint apps are pretty good and the wings are also nicely executed. Mine does have an unsightly stray black mark on her face, though. It’s not really a figure, but a nice little bonus accessory and something Hasbro might want to repaint and include with a single carded Ant Man later on in the MU lineup, because I would surely buy that.

Any way you cut it, the Secret Wars #10 pack is a homerun. The comic is one of the more interesting issues in the series and the figures are outstanding. Doom and Absorbing Man are easily two of the best executed figures in this whole series of packs, probably with The Hulk fromSW#4 running a close third since I actually vastly prefer the comic pack version to the one Hasbro issued as a single carded release. I’ve only got two more of these packs to hunt down before my set is finally complete, so you’ll be seeing more Secret Wars again in the near future.

Dec 17 2010

Marvel Secret Wars Comic Pack #6: Mr. Fantastic and Ultron by Hasbro

[I’m unofficially dubbing this Hasbro Comic Pack Weekend, since I happen to have a couple of Secret Wars packs and a GI JOE pack to look at over the course of the next three days. Today, we’ll kick it off with Secret Wars #6, tomorrow Secret Wars #10, and on Sunday, GI JOE’s Beachhead and Main Frame. -FF]

Two action figures and a comic book and life doesn’t get much better then that. I love the comic pack in all it’s many forms and franchises and Hasbro has come to do it so well. They’ve certainly come a long way since releasing those shitty repainted figures in the original Star Wars repacks. Remember those stormtroopers with the blue highlights? Yuck! Of course, now the Secret Wars packs are long done and Hasbro closed up shop on the GI JOE and Star Wars ones. Yeah, they seem to still be doing some of the Marvel Universe packs, but it just hasn’t been quite the same.

Before getting to the figures, let me just say a few things about the included funny book. It was a nice treat to re-read Secret Wars #6, as it has been to revisit all of these issues. I’ve been through these books enough times way back when, and when I open these packs, I always plan on just thumbing the comic, and every time I wind up reading it through from cover to cover. It’s great stuff, but why Hasbro decided to include these particular figures with #6 is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong, as you’ll soon see, I’m thrilled to have these figures, but there are so many more obvious choices that will probably never get single carded releases in the Marvel Universe line, whereas nobody would think twice about seeing Ultron or Richards carded in Universe. Case in point: The Wasp dominates the first handful pages all by herself. Yeah, we get her later in her miniature form in the Secret Wars #10 pack (as we’ll see tomorrow), but there’s no reason why we couldn’t have had a full sized Janet figure. Hell, Ultron isn’t even in this issue, but he’s in the pack. See, now I sound like I’m bitching about the figures I got, and I’m not meaning to do that, so I’ll just shut up and move on…
Mr. Fantastic, aka Reed Richards is a solid figure. The sculpt and plastic is a tad softer than what we get in a Marvel Universe single carded release, but I’ve come to expect that in these comic packs. Otherwise, the sculpt is excellent, with the exception of the way his neck comes up from his shoulders, which looks a tad awkward. It works on Reed, however, as I can just write it off to his rubbery manipulations. The paint apps are ok, although his uniform is notably darker than the blue used on the single carded Johnny Storm or Ben Grimm figures. The skin tones on his face are a little dark, like his face is dirty, but I think that’s just a failed attempt to give a bit of wash to the face sculpt.

Ultron is simply awesome. The sculpt gives him a nice powerful look, which I like better than the more lanky version of him we’ve seen more recently. And I was never happy with the FoxKids treatment of him. There aren’t a hell of a lot of paint apps here, but the silver is clean and nicely executed. The head sculpt, though, is where it’s all at. A great job, all around.

Both figures have the same articulation. They have ball jointed necks, their arms have ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows and swivel wrists. Their legs are ball jointed in the hips, have double hinged knees and the ankles have both hinges and swivels. They can also each swivel and bend in the torso. Ultron’s shoulder articulation is a little at odds with his guards, but you can still get a good range of motion out of them, or just take the guards off entirely.

Secret Wars #6 gives us two solid versions of two very important Marvel figures. If the MU line lasts long enough, these guys will undoubtedly get the single carded releases they deserve, but these versions are good enough that Hasbro can put off their re-release indefinitely for all I care. I would probably pick up a lighter blue uniformed Richards, but I don’t see a reason to pick up another Ultron. This one does just fine by me.

Dec 7 2010

GI JOE 25th Anniversary Comic Pack: Scrap-Iron and Wild Bill by Hasbro

The last time I was in Marshall’s hunting Joes, I was able to pick up one of the GI JOE Comic Packs that still eluded me. They had quite a few I still want, but I’ll be back for those. I was originally planning on leaving this pack sealed as I have a few Joe comic packs hanging on my wall, but the horrible stubborness of the Marshall’s price tag made me change my mind. That’s ok, though, since I really did want to get at the figures… well, one of the figures. I already have the single carded Wild Bill from the 25A Collection, and while this one is certainly different, I was most excited to get me a new Scrap Iron for my collection.

Hasbro’s comic pack packaging is some of the best action figure packaging mankind has yet invented. Whether it be GI JOE, Star Wars, or Marvel, it’s just brilliant. The presentation is awesome, you get two figures, and you get a nice comic book reprint to read too. I rarely ever think twice about tearing open packages to get at my toys, but ripping these things open always gives me pause. It’s amazing that these are the same guys that took the comic book out of the Marvel Legends figures when they took it over from Toy Biz. Anyway, I would have thought that Scrap-Iron and Wild Bill were an unlikely of pairings, but there they are trying to kick the shit out of each other right on the front of the comic.

Let’s get Wild Bill out of the way first. You know what was always so cool about Wild Bill? He came with the Dragonfly chopper. Take away his ride, and he’s pretty, meh. Throw in the fact that I have no Dragonfly chopper to put him in, and he becomes even more pointless. I guess I could dig out my Spy Troops Desert Attack Chopper, but it’s just not the same. Besides, his holsters are so damn big, I doubt he could fit into a cockpit if I had one to put him in. Toss in the fact that this is just a repaint of the same figure I bought carded many years back and he really is totally superfluous. He better keep wearing that yellow vest and cowboy hat, because with that blue outfit, one of the Joes is bound to shoot him by mistake.

To make matters worse, the quality on this figure is not good. Besides the cheesy and uneven white paint used for his pistols and belt buckle, the hinges on his left knee are totally shot, making him difficult to stand up even on his figure stand, and the seams in his legs are pulling away. Maybe I just got a bad one. On the plus side, his colors do match the comic pretty well, if that’s your bag, and I love the fact that he comes with both a flight helmet and his Cavalry hat. He also came with a figure stand, which is definitely cool since I forgot Hasbro put them in these packs.

And then there’s Scrap-Iron. I can’t really explain the fondness I had for this figure as a kid. He must have had a really kick ass moment on the cartoon that I can’t remember now. Or, maybe it was because he came with a big missile launcher. Either way, I really loved my Scrap-Iron figure and whenever I played with my Joes he got invited to partake in all of Cobra’s reindeer games. This update is really spot-on and they didn’t wreck his colors for the comic book like they did with Wild Bill. The head sculpt is excellent, and he’s got all sorts of little scars painted on his face too. His vest is removable and he has clips on his leg to attach a dagger, although he didn’t come with one.

He did, however, come with an automatic pistol and his trademark armor-busting mobile missile launcher. [The strands of cat hair seen in the picture didn’t come with it, I had to add those. -FF] The launcher is pretty close to how I remember the original toy. It has a stand, a corded control box, and the two red missiles just lay inside the launcher. Scrap-Iron also comes with his own figure stand.

The included comic isn’t a classic reprint, but rather a new original book by Larry Hama. It’s kind of cool to see that Hasbro went through the trouble to create something new and original like this, but honestly, it’s not all that great. There’s no story, it’s just a drawn out set-piece action sequence with Scrap-Iron trying to take down a Dragonfly with Wild Bill and Airborne on board while Dial Tone, Scarlet and Snake Eyes duke it out with some HISS tanks. What it lacks in story, though it makes up for in style as all the story is told through radio communications, which is kind of cool. There’s also a couple of classic moments like Wild Bill blasting a missile off target with his six-shooters at nearly point blank range. So, yeah, the comic is always a nice bonus, but I didn’t get the same nostalgia and enjoyment I got out of reading the reprints from the Classic Comic Packs.

I always thought it was a dirty move for Hasbro to include Scrap-Iron with a shitty recolor of Wild Bill. But finding this pack on clearance, I was able to overcome my principles and finally add one of my favorite Cobras to my 25th Anniversary Collection. It was $6.99, which was definitely worth the price, even if Wild Bill gets tossed into a bottomless storage tote or becomes a plaything for FigureFeline. It’s the kind of deal that I remember back when Hasbro was putting out those Valor vs Venom 2-packs for around the same price. They weren’t the best figures, but how can you complain about getting two figures with accessories for seven bucks, eh?