Tag Archives: hasbro

Sep 8 2012

Marvel Universe: Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel by Hasbro

[Ok, one last update for what has become a Marvel/DC Week. I’ve still got a lot of this stuff to get to, but I’m going to take tomorrow off and then come back on Monday with a promise to give the Marvel/DC stuff a rest for next week. –FF]

It’s what we like to call a “two-fer” today. Why? Well, just because. I’ve had this pair sitting in my new pile for a while, even though neither of them are new releases. A long while ago, I checked out the modern version of Ms. Marvel, but this classic version has become all the more relevant since the second season of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Let’s give them both a quick looksy…

Marvel Universe packaging and nothing new here. Both figures feature some pretty solid character art on the card and both look great in their bubbles. They obviously come from different waves as the SHIELD emblem is different. Ms Marvel includes the Top Secret SHIELD files envelope and collector card that I used to love getting with these figures. Captain Marvel doesn’t have the envelope or card, but he does come with the more practical figure stand.

Captain Marvel is as simple an MU figure as you can get. His body relies almost entirely on a painted buck for detail. Thankfully the paintwork on this figure is excellent. The blue and gold on red plastic looks great and there’s virtually no slop or bleeding to speak of. The gilded starburst emblem on his chest stands out very nicely. The head sculpt is definitely one of Hasbro’s better efforts, and all in all this guy looks like a shrunken down version of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Captain Marvel from their initial stab at that 6” line. And yes, that’s a very good thing.

Captain Marvel is based on one of the older bucks of the line, and that means the articulation isn’t what we’ve been seeing in some of the newer figures that have come since. You get ball joints in the head, shoulders, and hips. The arms feature hinged elbows and swivels in the thighs and wrists. The legs feature double-hinged knees, along with hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso has a ball joint that serves as a swivel and ab crunch.

And that brings us to Classic Ms. Marvel. She was a variant in her wave, sharing the slot with the Modern Ms. Marvel. Both figures use the exact same body, with the only sculpting differences being the head and the inclusion of a red scarf, around Modern’s waist and around Classic’s neck. The new head sculpt features her shorter hair and older style mask. I have no problems with the sculpting work here, it looks great, but the flesh tone plastic looks waxy.

The paintwork on Ms. Marvel is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s applied very well and escapes all of the horrible slop and bleeding that plagues my Modern Ms. Marvel figure. The red plastic looks good and the yellow starburst pattern feels more appropriate then going with the gold paint used on Captain Marvel. So what’s the problem? Hasbro went with blue paint highlights on the black parts of her costume. It doesn’t look so bad to the casual eye, but if you inspect the figure under any kind of really good light, it looks downright awful.

Speaking of downright awful, Ms. Marvel suffers from some really dated articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and thighs. The arms feature hinged elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have double-hinged knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso has the same ball joint as Captain Marvel. At the very least, this figure is screaming for swivels in the biceps, but the lack of the same in the thighs is really frustrating too.

In the end, I’d say these figures are fairly solid, but far from great. Captain Marvel strikes me as the better of the two. Yes, he’s lacking some points of articulation, but the head sculpt is spot on and the paintwork is good. Ms. Marvel really screams for better articulation, and the blue highlights in the black parts of her costume remind me of some of that terrible first run of Comic Packs that Hasbro did for Star Wars. Still, I do like her better than my Modern Ms. Marvel, but considering that figure’s issues, it isn’t exactly high praise.

Sep 7 2012

Marvel Universe: Guardians of the Galaxy by Hasbro

It is a great time to be a Marvel comic book fan, when even characters that were once considered second or third tier are not only getting their own figures, but also huge budget movies. While I’m not sure the movie-going audience is as ready for Rocket Raccoon and company as they are for The Avengers, it’ll be an interesting experiment to see just how much hardcore nerd culture the general populace will stomach for their entertainment. Either way, this set must be somewhat popular with collectors, since it took me forever to finally find one on the shelf. When I did a week or so back, I promptly snatched it up.

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Hasbro has done a number of these multi-packs for the Marvel Universe. I’ve looked at both versions of the Fantastic Four set, and the packaging here is the same general idea. The set includes Starlord, Drax the Destroyer, Groot as a sapling, and Rocket Raccoon. The figures come in a nice window box that features awesome character art and shows off the goods quite well. The package is also totally collector friendly, which is cool because my MU shelves are getting so cramped that I have been storing all my multi-pack figures in their boxes.

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Let’s go ahead and start with Starlord. He’s a really cool figure and quite impressive considering that he’s almost a complete reuse of the AIM Soldier body, which was also repurposed for Ghost Rider. The only new sculpting here is the belt, which is sculpted to include the bottom part of his tunic, a new collar, and naturally a new head. I’m pretty pleased with the head sculpt that packs an awful lot of detail and a rather complex design into such a small scale figure. The combination of military style helmet and mask fits the character perfectly and looks cool doing it. His hands are sculpted to hold each of his detailed… machine pistols? Well, that’s what they look like to me. I can’t place them… maybe they’re just reused, but they don’t look bad in the figure’s hands.

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But I think it’s the paintwork that really makes this figure stand out. The bulk of the uniform is blue, with a slight wash that I could have done without, but the red piping looks snazzy as all hell and the glossy black used for the belt and boots, coupled with the gold for his chest emblem and helmet ornamentation really wraps the whole thing up.

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The reuse of this particular body means that Starlord sports some solid articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders and hips. The arms feature hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs feature double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and features a ball joint for an ab crunch.

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Next up is Drax the Destroyer, whom we last saw in the larger Marvel Legends format. Again, Drax recycles a body, this time the one used for Absorbing Man and modern Luke Cage. It’s a shirtless buck with trousers and it fits the character perfectly. There’s a newly sculpted belt hung around the waist, which includes two slots in the back so he can sheathe his two combat knives. That was a brilliant and unexpected touch! The grim head sculpt is perfect. I love the scowl, particularly the nose. Drax’s paintwork is about what you would expect. He has dark blue trousers and green skin, with a modest wash to it. All of his red tats are present, although they don’t quite come off as vibrant as they do on the Legends figure. Still, not bad for a guy in this scale.

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Drax’s articulation is a tad more limited than Starlord’s. Here you get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs feature double hinges in the knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso has the ball jointed ab crunch. What’s missing? The waist swivel and the thigh swivels.

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The critters of the set include Rocket Raccoon and Groot. Groot comes in his tiny sprig form, crouching in a tiny terra cotta planter. He’s an absolutely marvelous sculpt for such a tiny guy, but try not to sneeze when you’re holding him or you’ll lose him. Honestly, I’m not too upset that this little guy is all we got. With a GotG movie on the way, I’m sure we’ll see a proper Groot figure, either as part of MU or part of a separate movie line. My opinion on Rocket Raccoon is a little divided. On the one hand, it really is a hell of a nice sculpt with some excellent paintwork. Well, apart from the stray red mark on his eyebrow. I noticed that in the store, but it was the only set they had, so I had to go with it. On the other hand, I was at least expecting some basic articulation like swivels in the shoulders and hips. As it is he’s a totally static piece designed to hold his removable gun out in a “come get some” kind of taunting stance. I do really like his gun, complete with what looks like a missile on the top and a tiny little raccoon-sized bayonet.

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The going retail for this set is about $20, which is the same as the Fantastic Four and other MU multi-packs. It does seem a little bit steeper here, since you are only getting two full figures, instead of three, and both of which feature some heavy parts re-use. That having been said, I’m not going to argue with parts reuse when it’s done this well. Besides, this is certainly a niche set even by Marvel Universe standards and frankly I’m amazed to see something like it land on Big Box toy shelves, when by all logic it should be relegated to comic book and specialty shops. Oh, but then there’s that big movie release pending, so who knows, in a year or so we could see all kinds of Guardians of the Galaxy toys flooding the shelves. Wouldn’t that be something?

Sep 4 2012

Marvel Legends: Yellowjacket by Hasbro

I’ll be frank: The wait for the next wave of Marvel Legends is killing me. To remedy that, I’ve been trawling some of my old haunts and picking up some of the older Marvel Legends figures that I wanted back into my collection. Yeah, selling these things off was not one of my better moves. As a result, I’ll be looking at a lot of these in the coming months leading up to the release of the next Wave. Today we’re checking out one of my favorite Marvel characters, the deliciously flawed and deeply complex Hank Pym as his Yellowjacket persona.

Hasbro’s earlier package design for the Marvel Legends wasn’t that bad, but it isn’t as delightfully obnoxious as the current style. Nonetheless, the principal is the same with the character art on the upper left corner and various comic panel shots running down the right of the bubble. Yellowjacket was part of the series of figures needed to build The Blob. By the time Hasbro took the line over from Toy Biz, I was cherry picking the figures so I never did get to build The Blob, and in fairness it wasn’t really a BAF that would have made me buy figures I didn’t want.

Out of the package and we have Yellowjacket in all his glory. The majority of the figure is a simple painted buck, although the torso has his trademark shoulder pieces sculpted in and they look pretty darn good. I’m very pleased with the head sculpt here, particularly the antenna and the yellowed out eyes as opposed to Pym’s eyes peeking through the mask. Don’t ask me why, I just like this look better.

The paint on my figure is pretty solid, and I really like the shade of yellow plastic used here, far better than the gold-yellow used on the Marvel Universe figure. The paint on his belt looks a bit like a sloppy afterthought, but the emblem on his chest is pretty crisp. From sculpt to paint deco, this version really captures the character for me.

As a Hasbro figure, Yellowjacket doesn’t have the insane amount of articulation as the Toy Biz line, but there’s still a very good effort here. He has a ball jointed neck. His arms feature shoulder hinges built into the torso, in addition to ball jointed shoulders. He has double hinges in the elbows, hinged wrists, and swivels in both the biceps and the forearms. His legs feature ball joints at the hips, double hinges at the knees, hinges at the ankles and the middle of the feet, and swivels in the hips and lower legs. He also has rocker joints in the ankles for those wide stances.  His torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. No, not too shabby.

Usually when I think back to Hasbro’s first attempt at Marvel Legends I don’t have fond memories of the experience. But I guess it’s easy to forget that for every shitty movie Jean Grey you got a solid figure like Yellowjacket. Ok, maybe the ratio wasn’t exactly one-to-one, but I’m interested to see how many of these earlier Hasbro efforts impress or disappoint me, as it’s been quite a few years since I’ve owned any. Either way, Yellowjacket really hits all the right points. What’s more, he looks perfect standing alongside the newer figures and contemplating why no one called him to be in the Avengers movie.

Sep 2 2012

Marvel Universe: Masterworks Sentinel Figure by Hasbro

I couldn’t tell you why it took me so long to pick up this mammoth Marvel figure. Maybe it was concern over the space needed to display another big figure, or having so much else on my want list. I just don’t know. It’s not like I still have my old Marvel Legends Sentinel anymore. Plus, I procrastinated like hell on buying the Masterwork Galactus figure and when I finally got him I was thrilled with him, so there was no reason to expect buyer’s remorse here. Nonetheless, I had the Sentinel in my hands more than a few times at TRU but it wasn’t until last week that I finally pulled the trigger and got him off of Amazon. Love that free Prime shipping!

Even knowing how big the Sentinel figure is, I was still a bit taken back when I saw the box leaning up against my front door. Amazon doesn’t exactly go nuts with the packing, so I knew that was all figure in there and not much else. I was a little concerned about the box getting banged up, since I do plan on saving this magnificent packaging and I was happy to see it arrived with minimal distress. The box is the same style used for Galactus. You get a beautifully illustrated front panel, oddly enough with Nightcrawler depicted a lot more prominently than Wolverine, who is actually in the box. There’s a flap that lifts up to reveal a window and the figure inside as well as the 3 ¾” Wolverine mounted beside the Sentinel’s head.

There’s a “Try Me” hole that lets you rattle off the Sentinel’s bewildering number of phrases and sounds. The back of the box shows a great photo of the toy (two of them actually) attacking the shit out of some X-Men figures. Note that my Sentinel is the dark repaint as opposed to the silver and blue depicted on the box art. Yes, I would have preferred to get the lighter one, but the price on this guy was right and it’s my own fault for not getting the lighter one when I had him in my hand in the toy aisle.

Opening the box, pulling out the Sentinel and two things immediately come to mind. The first is, “Wow, this is one heavy chunk of plastic” and second, “Holy hell, this thing smells.” It may be a result of sitting in a hot Florida USPS truck for a couple of days, but it took a full day for the burning rubber smell to wear off of this thing. Noxious odors aside, much like Galactus, the Sentinel is really heavy figure that practically justifies the purchase by sheer heft alone.

Hasbro boasts Sentinel at 16 inches, which makes him pretty nicely in scale with the Marvel Universe 3 ¾” figures. He’s built off some of the Galactus body, although there is so much re-sculpting and new parts that there’s really only a glimmer of similarities here and there. Galactus still measures up as a being a little taller, thanks to his bucket head, but for all intents and purposes, the two Masterworks figures are scaled the same. The sculpting is pretty solid and while some parts of the figure don’t feature an overload of detail, there are just enough nice touches here and there to carry the day. I particularly love the sections of exposed wires. The head sculpt is also pretty great, even if he does look like he’s wearing a ski cap. The only part of this figure’s aesthetics I’m not crazy about is the sticker used for his chest. It just looks a little cheap in context of the rest of the figure. A clear amber piece of plastic and another light would have been cool.

Of course, the Sentinel features electronic lights and sounds right out of the box. Or even in the box if you use the “Try Me” hole. Press the somewhat stubborn button on his chest and the eyes light up and you get one of the following 18 phrases…

“X-Men must be detained.”

“Mutant life form detected.”

“Halt!”

[Scanner sounds] “Fugitive mutant detected.”

“Destroy!” [Explosion]

“Stop!”

“Sentinel under attack.”

[Unrecognizable electronics sound]

“Halt, fugitive mutant!”

“System breach!”

“Alpha level mutant detected.”

“Halt, mutant!”

“Sentinel power core breached.”

“Purge power core.”

“Beta level mutant detected.” [wooshing sound]

“System meltdown.”

“Power core failure in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.”

“Ejecting power core.”

Holy crap, this thing says a lot of stuff!

Being based off the Galactus body, you would expect the Sentinel figure to feature the same basic articulation, and you’d be right. You get a ball jointed head; the arms have ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps, forearms and wrists. The legs feature ball joints and swivels in the hips, double hinged knees, hinged ankles, and swivels in the lower legs. The torso also swivels at the waist. The joints are all nice and strong and despite being ridiculously heavy, the Sentinel can stand just fine.

In addition to the Sentinel figure, you also get a 3 ¾” Wolverine. This is a repaint of the exact same sculpt we’ve all seen before. Where? Hell if I can remember, but it’s standing there on my shelf and most likely came from a Comic Pack or possibly Wolverine Origins. Either way, the figure has somehow escaped the scruitny of a feature here on FigureFan, so someone feel free to help out my alcohol addled mind. I’ll admit that I wasn’t dying with anticipation to own another one of these figures, but it is a solid figure and a nice bonus if you don’t already own it. I’ll also say that I like the brighter paintjob on this one better than my original.

What’s the best thing about this figure? It only set me back $35. Obviously it was worth every penny, even if it isn’t the color scheme I would have preferred. It’s just a solid hunk of satisfying action figure goodness, and it’s so cool to display him taking on a load of X-Men figures all at once. Hasbro’s Masterworks Sentinel goes on that list of toys that I would have died to own as a kid, and honestly, as an adult that collects toys, I don’t think I can pay this guy any greater compliment than that. To quote Dr. Channard from Hellraiser, “…and to think, I hesitated!” 

Aug 31 2012

Avengers: “Shield Launcher” Captain America by Hasbro

It took a while, but I think I’m at the end of my 3 ¾” Avengers run. I may still pick up a variant Thor, but otherwise I’ve got what I wanted to get out of this line and I can move on, although I’d still love to get a Maria Hill without having to buy that ho-hum Helicarrier. Obviously, Cap was a “must have” figure for me, since he’s the one that really changed his look the most between his own movie and the Avengers flick. Amazingly, I never did find this guy on the pegs and had to pay a little extra for him via the Interwebs. Let’s see if it was worth it…

Could this be the last time we see the Avengers packaging here on FigureFan? Could be, rabbit, could be. You’ll note the package heralds this figure as the “Shield Launcher” Cap, which means the figure is saddled with a ridiculous bazooka that fires Cap’s shield. I can only imagine this contraption is designed in case Cap can’t show up one day, but left his shield behind and some regular grunt needs to shoot it at a Chitauri. Once again, I beg the question to you, Hasbro, is it really cheaper to make these shitty weapons than it is to put a goddamn swivel cut in the figure’s waist? Moving on…

As mentioned earlier, this is the first time we’re seeing 3 ¾” Cap in his Avengers outfit and I think it translates pretty well. At first, I thought the figure a bit too bulky, particularly in the chest and belt area, but having viewed Avengers again since buying the figure, I think it’s pretty close to screen accurate. In fact, I really dig the way the sculpting makes the suit look more like armor than cheesy superhero spandex. There’s some especially nice detail worked into the gloves, boots and the belt, and I love the fact that the star on his chest is sculpted rather than just painted on. Cap also has a functional holster sculpted into his thigh. I’m certainly more a fan of his WWII-era costume from his original film, but this one has grown on me a lot. The paint apps are all nice and clean and the figure is bright and colorful, just like a comic book figure should be.

By now we all should have lowered our expectations over articulation in this line. If you’ve managed to do that, you won’t be disappointed. Cap’s got ball joints all around, in his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and that’s it. The stymied articulation didn’t bother me as much in the other Avengers, because they all had similar figures with better articulation released previously. Sadly, this is the best we’ve got for Avengers Cap. The compromise is that the figure feels a lot more solid than some of the more articulated versions and stands on his own very well.

Besides the aforementioned stupid gimmick weapon, Cap also comes with his trusty shield and an automatic pistol. The shield has an awesome vac metal look to it and is sculpted with straps to slide on to his arm just like the real thing did. I give Hasbro major props for doing this in the 3 ¾” scale, rather than using a clip as they have in the past. The downside is that it doesn’t attach to his back. There is, however, still a peg back there, in case you want to rob a shield from one of your other 3 ¾” Caps and stick it on. Another bummer about this shield is that it’s sculpted from really soft plastic and mine came out of the tray a little warped, making one side look flat. The automatic pistol is a pretty standard little item, sculpted in silver plastic and it fits nicely into his holster.

I’ve heard a lot of bad things about this figure before finally getting my hands on it, but I have to say I’m digging it a lot. Sure, like all the Avengers 3 ¾” figures, this one could have had better articulation, but laying that aside, I think he looks great on the shelf and I’m very glad to be able to hunt him down. Was it worth paying a little extra for him? Hells, yeah. I can’t have my Avengers team without Cap.

Aug 22 2012

Kre-O Transformers: Autobot Ratchet by Hasbro

Among some of the stuff piling up this last month are some of Hasbro’s “Not-Lego” Kre-O sets. I had this last weekend off, so I took the time to build a couple more and today we’re going to check out one of those… it’s everybody’s favorite Autobot Medic, Ratchet.

As always, the set comes in a nifty cardboard briefcase that you can use for convenient storage. I really like the concept, especially since the Kre-O sets usually have extra pieces left over, depending on whether or not you’re building the robot or the alt form. I can usually fit the built robot into the box by only taking a few pieces off, and I can store the sets in their original boxes on one of my book shelves. Inside the box you get an instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, two individually bagged Kreons, and three un-numbered bags of parts. The set includes a total of 187 pieces; making this one the smallest Kre-O set I’ve built. Let’s go ahead and look at the Kreons first.

Ok, so I’m not terribly impressed with these guys. You get an ambulance driver and you get Ratchet. The ambulance driver is ok for what he is, and gives you someone to sit in Ratchet while he’s in ambulance mode. He also comes with a stretcher that fits in the back of Ratchet. Ratchet, on the other hand, is pretty flawed, since his helmet and the printed face on his head don’t line up very well. If you put the helmet on so that you can see his face, it pops off really easy. If you put the helmet on all the way, it covers his eyes. Ratchet also comes with a tiny gun.

As always, I built the alt mode first. Ratchet is a pretty decent looking ambulance for a Lego style construct of this size. The build is comprised mostly of red and white bricks and there are some well thought out stickers to help it along. It’s not terribly large, with room in the cab for only one Kreon. There’s no steering wheel or dashboard inside, and there are no doors on the sides either, so you need to take the roof off to get him in there. There are, however, working doors on the back of the ambulance, and there’s room inside for the stretcher. Ratchet also has clips on the sides and back to hold the bevy of tools that come in the set. If you compare this build to a Lego vehicle that you might get in a $20 set, it stacks up pretty well, and overall it was a fun little build. There are a bunch of parts left over for the robot build. I can usually find someplace to stick these, but in Ratchet’s case, I just tossed them all into the back of the ambulance.

While I do enjoy getting two builds out of each of these Kre-O sets, I really hate tearing them apart. It’s also a pain to keep track of the bricks with stickers on them, as you need to use them at specific points of the robot build to make him look right. This time, I had the foresight to set them aside, rather than have to root through all the pieces to find the one I need.

In robot mode, Ratchet is a cool enough looking guy. He’s kind of on the lanky side, which sets him apart from the G1 Ratchet design that I identify with the most. His windshield and front bumper are positioned on his chest, but it looks like he needs a little more oompf in his torso to make the proportions work. He’s mostly arms and legs and his head is a tad too small. On the other hand, he’s a nice clean looking design, I like the way his wheels are positioned on his legs and shoulders and the front wheel wells are on his feet. Once again, you wind up with some left over pieces, most of which I was able to attach to the figure and still make it look good.

Ratchet features good articulation, with ball joints for his head, shoulders, hips, and ankles, and hinges for his elbows and knees. He also feels a lot more stable than my Sideswipe, and he can hold his poses better without flopping over or doing the splits.

I have no idea how much this set went for when it was originally released. I seem to remember getting this one on special for around $12, which is quite a steal considering you get close to 200 pieces. I know that Kre-O gets a bad rap by Lego purists as being inferior and all that, but I don’t have a lot of issues with these sets, and I certainly build my share of Lego. The quality has been overall good, the designs are solid and the builds are plenty of fun. Ratchet is probably my least favorite of the sets I own, but he’s still not a bad set by any means. I just wish his Kreon was a little better.

Aug 20 2012

Avengers: Hawkeye by Hasbro

Yeah, I’m still busy assembling my 3 ¾” Avengers collection and Hawkeye is the second to the last of the core team I needed. I’m passing on that terrible Hulk figure and will be content with using one of my Marvel Universe Hulks as a stand in, although I may yet buy one of the Thors sans helmet and cape. Unlike Black Widow, Hawkeye was a take him or leave him figure for me. I wasn’t going to pay a premium, and if I didn’t get him I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it, but the action figure gods were good to me and I found him hanging on a peg during my last trip to Target. Good thing too, because this guy turned out to be a pretty cool figure…

Avengers packaging… is there anything else to be said? Wait a minute… “Three Launching Arrows?” Holy shit, they turned Hawkeye’s signature weapon into a big, obnoxious missile launcher? Ah, but fear not, panic is not warranted. There’s an extra bow in there allowing me to immediately toss the launching bow and arrows into the dreaded Junk Tote of Doom never to be seen again. The back of the card has the usual little bio blurb that points out that Hawkeye’s skill with a bow is unrivaled in all the world and that he can hang with the Avengers. Hawkeye, I love ya to death, but I don’t care how good you are with a bow and how many gimmicky arrows you have… you’re still a bug compared to Thor and Hulk.

Hasbro really did a bang up job on Hawkeye’s sculpt. The head does look a little bit meaty to me, or maybe the neck a bit too thin, but it’s not something that cripples the figure’s looks. I will concede that if I look at him just right, he kind of looks like an adult Fred Savage. (“I love the Infinity Gauntlet… It’s so bad!”) Seriously, though, I think the likeness is pretty solid for a figure in this scale, and I’m glad they went with the shades that add to his bad-assery. And I hope y’all bought tickets to the gun show, because Hasbro really packed in the detail to the sculpted muscles in his arms. The outfit has some very nice little details, particularly the little buckles, zippers, and the SHIELD emblems are well done and everything is painted really sharp. His quiver is a sculpted piece that is permanently attached to his back.

Hawkeye sports the limited articulation that most of the movie Avengers figures feature. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, and ball jointed hips. The knees and elbows are hinged. There’s still some decent poseability to be had here, but it’s tough to get Hawkeye into a decent pose where he’s firing his bow.

Speaking of bows, Hawkeye comes with his ridiculous oversized missile firing bow and he also has the smaller bow that most collectors will keep for display. It’s a simple enough piece, but he can hold it pretty well.

Like I said at the beginning, I’m glad I was able to pick this guy up at a good price, because I wouldn’t have paid a premium for him, and then would have missed out on having a very solid figure in my collection. He looks great on display with his fellow 3 ¾” Avengers and like Black Widow he’s not a bad stand in for a GI JOE display. He seems to be hitting the stores with a little more regularity now, although I had to dig through quite a few Captain America and Iron Man 2 figures to get him. Yes, Iron Man 2 figures. Sheesh!

Aug 2 2012

Avengers: Skrull Soldier (Comic Series) by Hasbro

[Yep, it’s another bonus feature this week to try to keep me from falling too far behind. It’s nice to be finding stuff to buy once again! Next week is going to be a full week, with Monday through Friday devoted to Playmates’ Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and then moving on to business as usual for Vintage Vault on Friday and Star Trek Saturday. –FF]

Today’s figure brings me back to that agonizing buildup to the Avengers film when everyone was trying to figure out who the hell the bad guys were going to be. I really wanted them to be the Skrull or Kang, but when the first on screen images came out it was pretty clear the film was going Ultimates all over our asses and using the Chitauri as Loki’s army. In the end, Avengers turned out to be one of my all-time favorite movies, so I’m not going to quibble with the results and thanks to the wonderful little sub-line of “comic series” Avengers figures, we get a nice modern Skrull soldier figure, and a peek at what they might have looked like if they appeared in the movie.

We’ve seen plenty of the Avengers packaging here in the last couple of weeks, so I’ll be brief on the subject. Once again, it’s attractive, it’s serviceable, it shows off the figure and his oversized weapon very well. There’s no “Try Me” window in this one as there have been in the last couple of Avengers figures I’ve featured. The back panel shows off a picture of the figure and a little bio blurb. Let’s rip this baby open…

Holy crap, I adore this figure! I usually start with the sculpt, but I’m going to jump ahead this time to the coloring, because the colors on this figure are gorgeous. The combination of pale blue, metallic purple and silver are really inspired. It has all the vibrant beauty of a page right out of a brand new comic. The paintwork on the head is equally impressive. He’s a nice shade of green with a very well executed wash to bring out all of the tiny little details in the sculpt. Round it out with those piercing yellow eyes, and this figure is just a triumph of color.

And hey, that sculpt is not too shabby either. Granted, the sculpt truly impresses in the head where there is way more detail packed into this fellow’s face then you’re average 3 ¾” figure should allow. The armor has a simple, but streamlined design that almost looks retro sci-fi to me. His ab muscles are sculpted into the chestplate and there’s some nice work on the sculpted belt and the boots.

Of course, if you’re an articulation junky, you’ll be sorry to hear that the Skrull figure has the same level of articulation as many of the other Avengers figures. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and that’s it. The lack of wrist, ankle and torso articulation certainly hurts the figure, but the plethora of ball joints somewhat dulls the pain.

What’s this? Is this a goofy, gimmicky, oversized weapon that I actually like? Well, sort of. The Skrull Soldier comes with a giant two-headed energy axe. It’s not too bad by itself, but I really like the fact that you can pull the blades off and use them each as individual weapons. Don’t get me wrong, this thing isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea and I’m not saying I love it, but considering the nonsensical missile launchers Hasbro usually saddles us with, this weapon is actually kind of inspired and it’s probably the first one in ages that I didn’t either toss into the dreaded Tote of Doom or just outright pitch into the garbage can.

I never did get around to picking up that Marvel Universe Skrull figure and now I doubt that I’ll bother. This Skrull figure really tickles me in all the right spots and I’ll probably pick up a few more if I come across them on the pegs. One of the most frustrating things about loving this figure so much is that I can’t even put my finger on why I love it so much. Surely, a big part is just the coloring and the head sculpt. Whatever the case, this is easily one of my favorite figures to come out of the Avengers line, probably ranking just behind Black Widow. And given the Skrull is not a sexy redhead with boobs, that right there is quite a ringing endorsement.

Jul 25 2012

Marvel Legends Wave 2: Madam Hydra by Hasbro

The second wave of Marvel Legends is the wave that keeps on giving, thanks to the ridiculous number of variants. Not long ago we checked out Piledriver, the swap-out figure for Thunderball, and today we’re looking at Viper, or Madam Hydra if you prefer, the swap-out figure for Madam Masque. I’ve flipped my opinions on this figure more than a few times. When I first heard she was going to be part of this wave I couldn’t wait to get her. When I saw some initial pictures, the head sculpt was a deal breaker. Next, I saw some photos of the actual figure and I was willing to give her a try. In hand, I think I may like her even more than Madam Masque. Let’s take a look…

There she is in the package. I have little left to say about this delightful package deco. As with the Wrecking Crew figures, Viper’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the package. Instead Hasbro was content on using the “Marvel’s Madams” moniker and illustrations of both characters to allow for the shared packaging. I’ll also go ahead and mention here that this figure comes with a variant of the Arnim Zola BAF figure’s torso with Red Skull’s face projected on the screen. Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going to pull apart my Zola figure to make this one, so you’ll have to be content with seeing him in the package.

Madam Viper uses a straight repaint of the Madam Masque body. There’s no new sculpting, but I have to say I really dig the paintwork on this figure a lot more than Masque. She has a glossy green outfit and gloves, with lighter green boots painted on, and painted skin tones for her arms. Besides the colors just being more vibrant, I never really cared for the way the blue paint wash looked on Madam Masque’s white outfit. Sure, these are two different characters and each one has their own look going on, but from a purely aesthetic point of view, I just think this figure’s body looks a lot better in both design and execution. The separate belt is still present, and includes a functional holster.

And then there’s the head sculpt, about which I’ve waffled back and forth on so many times. My main concern was that it looked too man-ish, and it still does mostly when viewed dead on. On the other hand, if you catch it at the right angles, she’s a bit more passable. Either way, the face is definitely harsh and angular, but not at all ill-suited to a villain. At the right angles (and with the right number of beers) she can even be somewhat attractive… or not. At least the paint work on the face is sharp and clean, particularly the emerald lip gloss and the eyes. The sculpted hair looks good, although as one might expect it does impede the head articulation to a point.

Madam Hydra’s articulation is solid, although granted she is not one of the most poseable figures in the line. You get a ball jointed neck, ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows and swivels in the gloves. The legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. There’s no waist articulation, but she does have a ball joint in the upper torso that allows her to swivel.

Viper comes with repaints of the same two weapons as Madam Masque. You get the scoped, AR-15 style assault rifle and the pistol. The pistol is repainted emerald green, the rifle has some green accents where the cream colored paint apps were on Masque’s weapon. The pistol fits into the holster on the belt and she can hold both weapons pretty well.

And there you go. I ended up liking this figure a lot more than I thought I would, and ultimately, even more than I liked Madam Masque. The paint is excellent, I dig the colors, and in person, the head sculpt isn’t the stumbling block I thought it was going to be. I don’t think I would have paid a premium to get her, but finding her just hanging there on the pegs was a welcome treat.

Jul 24 2012

Avengers: “Fusion Armor” Iron Man Mark VII by Hasbro

A little bonus feature for this week. I’ve actually got a lot of stuff in this week, so I wanted to get through some extra stuff this week so I don’t get too far behind. We all know Tony Stark has more Iron Man armors than most people have pairs of socks, and damn if he doesn’t have the plethora of action figures to prove it. As much as I love the character in the comics and on the big screen, even I suffer from Iron Man figure fatigue. Nonetheless, I picked up this one because it’s the new armor in the movie and it’s the suit he’s wearing toward the end of the film when shit really starts getting real. Did I really need to own this one? Let’s find out…

It’s the Avengers 3 ¾” figure packaging… Yuppers. Is there any more to say? There’s a “Try Me” slot so you can spin the ridiculous saw blade weapon, which probably somehow hypnotizes you into forgetting you already own a dozen Iron Man figures and that you desperately need this figure in your collection. Once again, the packaging is attractive and serviceable. Let’s shred it so I can get to my figure.

So, the most obvious difference on this suit, from the previous Avengers Iron Man figure is the Arc Reactor in his chest has gone from being a triangle, back to being a circle.  I actually prefer the circle, and that’s why I bought this figure. It’s a lot bigger than the circle reactor on previous figures in this scale, and it looks like just a big white dot, which is disappointing. A little blue hue around the edges would have been cool, because it really looks like they forgot to paint it. The rest of the armor is quite nicely sculpted and is completely different from the previous figures in both subtle and not-so subtle ways. I like the additional sculpted bits on the shoulders.

I’m a little happier with the paintwork on this figure over the last one. The red is more glossy and vibrant and more like that awesome “new car finish” style lacquer that Hasbro used on the Iron Man 2 figures. The gold isn’t quite as vibrant and there’s a little slop on the back of his legs, but overall, the colors and paint on this figure pop nicely.

The articulation here is identical to the last Iron Man figure, which means it’s not that great. You get nine points and all of them are ball joints. That’s the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. Yep, there’s zero articulation in the torso and that definitely hurts the figure. There’s also a lot of limitation to the hip joints. I didn’t mind the diminished articulation so much in Thor, but you can’t really get Iron Man into any great poses.

Iron Man comes with one accessory and… wait for it… waaaait for it… Yep, it’s a piece of garbage. It looks like it’s supposed to be some kind of shield with blue energy that spins around it. I was going to throw it out, but my cat took a fancy to it and now all I have to do is put it on the coffee table and spin it, and the cat goes absolutely nuts playing with it. Maybe this should have been called Iron Man “With Bonus Cat Toy!”

As much as I should, I cannot hate on this figure. It looks great standing on my shelf besides my movie Avengers. I’m not a big stickler on articulation, so the figure’s biggest stumbling point isn’t a deal breaker for me. Did I really need this one? Nah… but at seven bucks, it didn’t really break the bank either. I suppose the real issue is that I should have passed on the first Avengers Iron Man figure and waited to get this one, because I didn’t need both of them. But that’s it, Hasbro, I’m done buying 3 ¾” Iron Man figures for quite a while now. And based on what I’ve seen of the armor design in Iron Man 3, I may be passing on that figure too. You can, however, sell me a Ben Kingsley Mandarin figure… because seeing that on the pegs… well, that’s just going to blow my mind.