Jun 17 2013

Marvel Legends: Ultimates Captain America by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again! I’ve got some new MU figures on their way to me, but until then, I’ll just have to substitute a Marvel Legends figure for today: The Ultimates version of Cap! Captain America has already had his share of love from the new Legends line, with Steve Rogers and Bucky Cap, but I’m not complaining, because I do love Captain America, and as it turns out this figure is pretty fantastic.

There are no real changes to the packaging since the last wave. It’s still as delightfully obnoxious and in-your-face as a comic book figure package should be. The character art is a little wanting, but that’s ok because the huge bubble displays the figure well, and draws in the eye. Cap comes with his shield beside him, and despite the package exclaiming that Cap is part of the “Hit Monkey Series” there is no BAF part included with this one. My guess is that Hasbro knew this guy would sell by himself, and in my case they were absolutely right.

Out of the package and oh, shit, this guy is all sorts of awesome. I’m not a big fan of the Ultimates books. I tend to turn to them when I have nothing else to read. That having been said, I do tend to like the character designs a lot, and Cap here is a perfect example of why I do. It’s the magnificently rugged, battlefield look that I love so much. It made perfect sense that the movie costume drew so heavy from the Ultimates design, because this looks like proper WWII Cap, thanks to all the added gear.

He’s got a softer plastic vest with pouches and a painted buckle, and his belt has sculpted ammo pouches, grenades, a combat knife, and canteen. It all looks outstanding! It’s a shame his gun is not removable, but it’s sculpted and painted well enough that I thought it might be. All of the gear is cast in soft brown plastic with some bright silver paint apps.

All that gear is placed onto an excellent body. The gloves and boots are slightly oversized to keep the chunky Ultimates aesthetic going, and the head sculpt conveys a delightfully self-righteous and pissed-off Rogers. The paint on the figure is also executed quite well. Yes, there’s a little chipping and bleeding on the white, which is clearly not intentional, but I think it adds to the weathered look of the character design.

Naturally, Cap comes with his trusty shield, which is the same sculpt as the one that came with last year’s Steve Rogers. It does, however, have a fresh coat of paint, which includes a slightly more metallic finish to the front and the back is painted grey now, instead of red. The shield can clip onto his arm, or peg into the hole on his back.

POA Roll Call! There’s nothing new here in articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, and ankles. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and gloves, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs have swivels in the thighs and boots, and double hinges in the knees. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. Apart from the usual annoying qualities of those Hasbro hip joints, the articulation is fab.

Hasbro has delivered a number of 5-star figures in the new Legends line. Well, for my money, this version of Cap certainly takes his place alongside the likes of Thor, Punisher, and the first Steve Rogers figure, as one of them. He looks fantastic and he’s so much fun to play with, he’s probably going to land on my desk for a week or so before getting put up on the Legends shelves. Yes, a removable gun would have really sealed the deal, but even still, this figure has nothing to apologize for. He’s a fine example of everything I want out of this line… aside from good retail distribution. That still sucks.

Ok, with Marvel Monday out of the way, it’s going to be a DC theme up through to the end of the week. I may deviate Saturday for something different… we’ll see!

Apr 22 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Classic Iron Man by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday! I did ship my Pile of Loot from BBTS last week and there are a handful of Marvel Universe figures in it, so hopefully next Monday we’ll come round and start looking at MU stuff again. In the meantime, let’s finish off the first half of Hasbro’s Iron Man-themed Marvel Legends wave. As I’ve no doubt said in the past, I wasn’t terribly excited to get any of the figures in the first half of this wave, but once in hand the first two have been pleasant surprises. Let’s see if Hasbro can keep that ball rolling with… Classic Iron Man!

Yep, that’s the packaging we’ve seen the last two times. Not much new to say here. The figure comes mounted on the tray beside one of Iron Monger’s legs, as well as a swappable variant helmet mounted on the other side. It’s worth noting here that Classic Iron Man is another repack, as he was originally released as a TRU Exclusive some time ago. That puts Heroic Iron Man as the only genuinely new figure out of the three. In this case, I don’t mind so much since I’ve never seen the TRU version of the figure, and I don’t have a 6-inch Iron Man on my shelf.

Before we get to the rest of the figure, Iron Man is packaged with his “horned” helmet, which is a look that I’m not crazy about. It’s nice to have options, but I’m popping that baby off right now and forgetting it exists.

Ah, that’s better. Over the decades, I’ve gone back and forth over my feelings for the classic armor aesthetic. I loved it as a kid, probably because that’s all there was. I turned on it at some point in the 90’s, and lately I guess nostalgia has kicked in because I’m back to digging it a lot. It’s those ribbed boots and gloves and the organic looking gold limbs that really drive home that memory of peddling my bike down to the Woolworths and leafing through comic books until I was thrown out for not buying anything. Part of what I dig most about it is that it looks appropriately primitive besides the various other armors and it’s cool to line them up “Hall of Armors” style to see the progression. But yeah, the rest is pure nostalgia. It’s that same clean and classic look that makes me love a lot of vintage sci-fi designs.

There’s not a lot to say about the sculpt, other than it is fabulous. The muscles look great, particularly his abs and his back. That great ribbing, I mentioned earlier, is sculpted into the boots, gloves, and pelvic area. Unfortunately, the discs on his hips aren’t hinged so they will interfere with some wider stances, and I’m afraid to go too far lest I pop them off. As usual, Iron Man has one hand sculpted in mid repulsor blast and the other balled into a fist for punching fools. The soles of his boots are sculpted with repulsors and some panel lining too.

Threre’s actually very little paint on this figure to speak of. Hasbro molded the bulk of him in red and gold plastics. The faceplate is painted gold, as are the little bit of forearms before the gloves. The paint matches the gold plastic fairly well. The red plastic looks more metallic than the gold, but all in all it’s a fairly attractive deco.

Classic Iron Man features some very nice articulation. The neck is ball jointed, plus you get the extra hinge. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double hinged elbows, and swivels and hinges in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels and hinges in the ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and features an ab crunch hinge. My only complaint here is the awkward ball joints in the hips. Sure they’re poseable, but you really need to work to get them to do what you want. Hasbro… stop using these!!!

I didn’t include a shot of the BAF progress when I looked at Heroic Age Iron Man, but now that I’ve got two legs and a torso, I thought I’d put together what I can. Holy hell, Hasbro, why is it so difficult to snap the legs on this goddamn thing? I seriously had to put the torso against a wall and lean on the leg to finally get it to pop on. Apart from that, Iron Monger is looking mighty damn cool.

And so, I tried to resist this trio of figures, but they turned out to be a nice little set, and Classic Iron Man here is certainly a worthy addition to my Hall of Armors. It’s worth noting that these were a lot easier to find on the pegs than other Marvel Legends waves. All three figures were plentiful at both the Target and Walmart in my area, so I didn’t have to hunt for any of them. They were all pretty much just impulse buys. Hopefully that will be the case with the second half of the wave, because those are three figures that I’m really excited about getting. Alas, if these three don’t start selling down, the second half of the wave will likely rot in the backrooms, and I’ll wind up paying a premium for those online in order to complete my Iron Monger.

Apr 15 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Heroic Age Iron Man by Hasbro

It’s Monday. It’s Marvel. It’s Marvel Monday. I’m all out of Marvel Universe figures from my new receivings, but I do have some in my Pile of Loot at BBTS, so I’ll probably be shipping that soon. In the meantime, there’s still Marvel love to be had. I went out to Target to get coffee this morning and came home with another Iron Man Legends figure. Despite the fact that the grocery is in the front of the store and the toys are in the back, for some reason I always have to walk through the action figure aisle to get to the market area. I guess I was never all that good at geography.

Hey, we’ve seen this before! It’s the same style packaging used for Iron Patriot. I dig it. It’s a little Marvel Legends, and a little Iron Man 3. It displays the figure well and you get to see that you’re also getting one of Iron Monger’s gams. Not a whole lot else to say here, so let’s shred it!

I am quite a big fan of the Heroic Age aesthetic, so this figure is right up my alley. It appears to be a brand new sculpt, but considering I haven’t collected Hasbro’s other 6-inch Iron Man lines in the past, there could have been an earlier release that got past me. Either way, it’s the proportions of this figure that really impress me. He’s sleek, but with just enough bulk to convince me that it’s a guy wearing armor. The sculpt hits all the right points as well. This armor isn’t replete with all the little panel lines as the current stuff, but there’s enough detail here to drive home the art styling featured in the comics.

The deco here is the familiar red and gold we see with most of Stark’s armors. The figure is cast in a pearlescent red plastic with the gold bits painted on and the overall effect is pretty nice. The red plastic looks good, but it is a little swirly in some areas and I don’t like it nearly as much as that glorious thick red glossy lacquer finish that appeared on the Iron Man 2 figures. The metallic gold finish is neatly applied and quite brilliant. The figure is rounded out with some little blue paint apps and white in the eyes. All in all, this guy’s coloring is decent enough and he really pops on the shelf.

Iron Man’s articulation is fantastic. He has ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips, and his neck features an extra hinge. His elbows and his knees are both double-hinged. He has swivels in his biceps, waist, and thighs. His wrists have swivels and hinges, and his ankles feature hinges and rocker joints. You also get an ab crunch hinge in the torso. I should point out that the hip joints are traditional ball joints and not those funky ones that Hasbro has been using a lot lately. Bottom line is that the articulation here feels solid and useful, and he is loads of fun to fiddle about with and pose.

Iron Man doesn’t come with any accessories or even a stand. Truth be told, he doesn’t need a stand. He’s such a solid and sure-footed figure he does just fine on his own. He does come with Iron Monger’s left leg.

I’ll admit that I’m as big a victim of Iron Man fatigue as anyone else. I expected to open this figure and say, “Yup, that’s another Iron Man!” and just relegate him to the shelf and forget about him. But that’s certainly not what happened here. Nope, this figure turned out to be a real homerun and a very pleasant surprise. He looks fantastic and I simply cannot put him down. In fact, he’s going to receive the ultimate in action figure honors… instead of going on the display shelves, he’s going on my desk so that I can play with him on my downtime. Sorry, Dogpound… you had a good run, but Heroic Age Iron Man is taking your place!

Mar 23 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Iron Patriot by Hasbro

In honor of the forthcoming Iron Man 3 movie, Hasbro has hijacked a wave of Marvel Legends to produce six Iron Man themed figures. Actually, they’re coming out in two small waves of three figures each, but collecting all of them will give you the parts needed to construct a comic version Iron Monger BAF. I was quick to roll my eyes at the thought of more Iron Man figures in the Marvel Legends line, but then I saw the actual Iron Man 3 figures that Hasbro released. Yeah. Considering how unbelievably shitty they look, getting some Iron Man loving in Marvel Legends seems like a nice bone to throw to the collectors. I haven’t committed myself to buying all of these yet, but I couldn’t resist grabbing Iron Patriot when I saw him in the toy aisle the other day.

The packaging is a hybrid of Marvel Legends and Iron Man 3. Although it still retains the “Legends” moniker on the bubble insert, the top of the cards read “Iron Man” and it features an illustration of that terrible new Mark 42 Armor. It also includes the “Avengers Initiative” emblem, which suggests a tie in to the movie-verse despite the comic book nature of this figure. The back of the card shows the figure in photo and in illustration and has shots of the other two figures from the first half of the wave with the final three blacked out. All in all, I think the presentation here is good, even if the BAF part overshadows the actual figure. Let’s bust him open and check him out…

But wait? Haven’t we seen this figure before? Yes, he’s a repaint of Extremis Iron Man from the initial wave of the Marvel Legends relaunch with a slight resculpt to the chest. That was a figure that underwhelmed me enough to make my Biggest Disappointments of 2012 list. Why buy him again? Well, partly because I do love me some Norman Osborne and Dark Reign, and partly because… well, it’s amazing the difference that a nice paint job can make. The quality of the paintwork was one of my issues with the original figure, while the size and articulation were the others. At least this figure corrects one of those problems.

I’m still underwhelmed by the lack of panel lines and detail in the sculpt. I like the overall contours of the figure, but it still seems rather bland for a 6-inch scale piece. Besides the resculpted star on the chest, Iron Patriot also features swapped hands from the Extremis figure, where the right hand is now opened to show the repulsor in the palm and the left hand is now partially closed into a fist.

Obviously, the big difference here is the paint. I’m always a sucker for the Iron Patriot deco, and Hasbro has done a fairly good job with it here. The metallic blue used on this figure is gorgeous, and I’m also pretty fond of the pearlescent white. The red is a little inconsistent. It has a nice metallic finish on the lower legs and upper chest, while the effect on the forearms and shoulder armor isn’t quite as brilliant. Still, I’m nitpicking here, overall the paintwork is a solid effort and I’d say an overall improvement in quality over the original.

Despite fresh paint and a little tweaking to the mold, Iron Patriot has the same articulation as Extremis Iron Man. It’s important because one of my major issues with this mold is the hip joints. I’m generally not a huge fan of Hasbro’s ball jointed hips, but they’d be welcome compared to what this guy’s packing. While you can still achieve a fairly wide stance, the forward and backward movement of the legs is inhibited by the sculpt. And the wide stance doesn’t help a lot with no ankle rockers. Granted everything else is pretty good. There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, wrists, and chest. The elbows and knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the biceps, thighs, and ankles, and the neck has an extra hinge to look up. I would have added a waist swivel too, but nobody asked me.

Iron Patriot doesn’t come with any accessories, but you do get the big torso for Iron Monger. I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to build this guy, but I have to say I’m impressed with the paintwork and sculpt on the torso. Maybe just enough to change my mind.

I picked up this guy for around $15 and it certainly beats the inflated priced I’ve had to pay when hunting down some of the other Marvel Legends figures. I still have issues with his articulation, and I still think he’s undersized. That having been said, I’m still happy to have him on my shelf. As mentioned earlier, I haven’t decided on whether or not I’m going for this whole wave in order to build Iron Monger. I guess that’s going to depend on how many I can find on the pegs or whether I would need to hunt them down. Either way, this is a solid, albeit not spectacular figure.

Jan 3 2013

FigureFan’s Disappointments of 2012, Part 1

Ok, we’ve seen my favorites, and now it’s time to check out the turds floating in last year’s punchbowl. Again, this was tough, because I try to avoid buying things that look like they will be crap. So maybe the word turd is a little harsh in some cases. Almost nothing on this list is total crap, but everything here definitely disappointed me in some way.

TMNT Classics: Donatello by Playmates… The Classic Turtles are great figures, but they got upstaged on my “Favorites List” by the smaller modern guys in a major way. Nonetheless, Donatello represents here for one reason and one reason only, because of his mad eyes. Ok, I suppose that’s two reasons. The point is that by giving him wonky eyes, Playmates not only ruined the figure, but seriously marred the entire set. How can anyone appreciate their team of turtles on the shelf when Donny is standing there in the back looking like he got kicked in the head one too many times. It’s a crazy example of how one brush stroke can mar an otherwise excellent toy.

DC Universe All Stars: Superboy Prime… Besides turning out as a terrible looking figure, Superboy Prime earns Mattel a Disappointment Award for doing the bait-and-switch. The final product saw major changes from the pre-release images, and while that is bound to happen from time to time, the changes here made a great looking promo figure turn into a terrible release. Even worse, with hardly any brick-and-mortar stores actually carrying the DCU All Stars, I had to buy the figure online, so my disappointment wasn’t realized until I got the thing in hand and it was too late. It’s not often that I can say I regret buying a DCUC figure, but I certainly regret picking up Superboy Prime.

Marvel Legends: Extremis Iron Man… Because I only allowed each toyline to appear once in each list, this slot was a tight race between Extremis Iron Man and Future Foundation Spider-Man. In fairness, on its own this Iron Man is a fairly competent figure, but as soon as you put him up against some of the other figures in Hasbro’s new Marvel Legends line he comes up wanting. He’s too small, not terribly well articulated, and overall underwhelming. I kind of get the feeling that he was just here to fill a slot in a quick and dirty manner (that’s what she said?). And to keep the comparisons rolling, his paint and sculpting don’t even live up to many of the older, smaller and cheaper 3 ¾” Iron Man 2 figures. At least Hasbro released him in two versions, so that the crappy Stealth variant would make the regular one look better.

Duke Nukem by NECA… You’ve got to hand it to NECA, in an effort to be as accurate to the game as possible; they obviously wanted to capture the disappointment of Duke Nukem Forever in action figure form. And they did! NECA’s Duke features a solid enough sculpt, but the articulation is downright weird and the paintwork, particularly on the flesh tones, leaves a lot to be desired. And then there are the accessories. Sure, kudos for the cigar, which I promptly lost, but how can Duke come with just a handgun? Where’s his arsenal? And, no, the fact that he has feet doesn’t count as a “Mighty Boot” accessory. Duke should have come with a cool assortment of weapons, instead all he came with was disappointment.

Avengers: “Sword Spike” Thor… While most of Hasbro’s 3 ¾” Avengers figures were disappointments, this version of Thor earns a place on this list because he represented the ultimate in toy company hubris and laziness. Hasbro took what was essentially the exact same figure from the previous year, cut out most of its articulation, gave him a new shitty weapon and put him on an Avengers card. They even kept the same name, which in the new context made no sense because he now came with a halberd and not a sword. To add insult to injury, a lot of stores had this figure hanging just a few pegs away from the better articulated Thor-branded figure… on clearance! It’s the retail equivalent of Hasbro unzipping their pants, pulling out their Mjolnir and slapping us in the face with it.
Ok, that’s enough disappointment for one day. I’m going to take some Topamax and gin to level out my mood and I’ll be back tomorrow with the final five.

Jan 2 2013

FigureFan’s Favorites 2012, Part 2

Second verse, same as the first. And again in no particular order…

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Mumm-Ra by Mezco… I had such high hopes for the Thundercats in 2011. Some of it paid off. I got some decent figures and the 8-inch Classic Lion-O proved to be my favorite figure from that year. But 2012 saw the prospects of a continued line die a slow death. In the end, I had to live vicariously through Mezco and the hopes they might keep the Classic Thunderkitty goodness going with their Mega-Scale statues. In 2012 we got Mumm-Ra and Panthro. I still haven’t opened my Panthro yet, but Mumm-Ra proved to be another outstanding effort in this line. I love this big guy, and I think he was one of the best values of the year.

Marvel Universe: Cable by Hasbro… I’m sorry to say it, but overall Marvel Universe has been disappointing me lately. Maybe the Marvel Legends figures are just pushing their smaller cousins out of my field of interest. It’s also possible that I’m just evolving beyond the 3 3/4” scale. GI Joe and Star Wars were the only lines that really tied me to it, and I don’t collect a lot of those anymore. Maybe the new 3 ¾” Doctor Who figures will bring me back. Either way, the MU figures this year have been competent enough, but not spectacular. The exception to that, however, was Cable, a figure executed so well that he barely feels like an MU figure at all.

Green Lantern Classics: Collect & Connect Stel by Mattel… I came into 2012 with a lot of Green Lantern fatigue from that shitty movie and the carpet bombing of marketing that followed it. But that didn’t stop the franchise from producing one of my favorite figures this year. Sure, Stel is a C&C figure, but he’s amazing in every way. The sculpt, the coloring, the articulation… he’s got it all. I never had much affinity for the character, but he certainly made for some excellent action figure fodder and Mattel went above and beyond.

Marvel Legends: Punisher by Hasbro… It may be because Frank Castle has been absent from my collection for so long, but this figure really hit the spot for me. It captures all there is about the character, he comes with all sorts of great weapons, and I just can’t stop playing around with him. One of the greatest compliments I can pay an action figure is to keep it standing on my desk, rather than regulate it to the shelves in the other room, and Punisher has been on my desk ever since I opened him up. It seems like I can’t go more than an hour without reaching over and picking him up.

Hot Toys’ Captain America: The First Avenger… 2012 was the year I finally broke down and bought some Hot Toys figures and Cap was my first. I was really apprehensive about blowing the money as I am generally not a 1:6 scale collector and I was a little afraid that the figure would be lost on me. Nonetheless, from the moment I had the package in hand, I knew there were no regrets. Cap’s outfit in this movie is my favorite design and I just had to have it in this epic format. While I doubt I will ever go all out into collecting Hot Toys in a hardcore manner, I can certainly see myself grabbing two or three a year.

And that’s all the good stuff… tomorrow we’ll start the one-two punch to the gonads that make up my biggest disappointments of 2012… Hang tight, ya’ll are already halfway through this wonderful week of shitty filler articles!

Jan 1 2013

FigureFan’s Favorites 2012, Part 1

Happy New Year, folks! Let’s jump right in with the first five delectable items on my Favorites list. I’ll point out that these are not in any order because that would have taken more effort and the whole point of this song and dance was to get me a week off… let’s go!

Masters of the Universe Classics: The Wind Raider by Mattel… As much as I give Matty Collector a hard time, I can’t deny they produce some amazing toys and figures. But as I mentioned in a recent feature, I didn’t give a lot of attention to the MOTUC line in 2012. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist grabbing the Wind Raider, and I’m certainly glad I did. Besides being the only vehicle released in the line so far, it is one big, beautiful, and very high-quality toy. At about $60 shipped, it certainly wasn’t cheap, and yet I was still totally impressed and satisfied with it when it came out of the box. The fact that Matty has managed to make it readily available for purchase throughout the year is even better. This piece really belongs in every MOTUC collection.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nickelodeon’s Ninja Turtles by Playmates… Yep, I’m cheating on this one, because I’m using one slot for four figures. I make no apologies, because how could I choose just one of the Heroes in a Half Shell? Some may be surprised to find the smaller, modern versions of the Turtles on this list, rather than the larger Classic-inspired figures, but when you get down to it, these little guys are just more amazing. The new designs are fantastic, the sculpts and articulation are great, and they’re also some of the best values hanging on the action figure pegs today. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t like the show they’re based on! It’s no surprise that the TMNT sections were cleaned out at most retailers in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I often lament the kids growing up today without the kind of kick-ass toys I had as a kid, but these figures actually make me jealous of those damn kids.

Marvel Legends: Steve Rogers & Thor by Hasbro… I really tried to break this tie, but in the end, I just couldn’t do it. In 2012 Hasbro brought Marvel Legends back with a vengeance, and there were lots of solid efforts. This entry originally started as a three-way tie with Arnim Zola finally getting edged out. Steve Rogers and Thor are both prime examples of what I look for in a great action figure. I’d say that of the two, Rogers is more fun to pick up and play with, but Thor’s heft and sculpt capture everything there is to say about the character. If anything, these two figures showed me that Hasbro was trying to do things right with Legends this time around.

Doctor Who: “The Chase” Collector Set by Character Options… You can call this my token Doctor Who slot if you wish, but I’m putting it here anyway. Based on an episode that aired in 1965, the bulk of this set is comprised of a Mechanoid, a robot that looks like a giant Christmas tree ornament that we saw once and never again. The bottom line is that it’s almost impossible that this set exists and yet it does, and for that I love it to pieces. Doctor Who may have grown into a huge international success, but classic and obscure items like this one are geared toward a very niche market, and I congratulate Character Options for making them. The fact that it had a couple of extra classic Daleks was just icing on the cake!

Transformers Commemorative Series: Powermaster Optimus Prime by Hasbro… Sneaking onto the list as a technicality is this amazing Toys R Us exclusive. Hasbro released Powermaster Prime way back in 2003, but I featured him this year and he isn’t old enough to be a “Vintage Vault” entry, so here he is! Easily one of my favorite Transformers releases of all time, this set is so hefty and so beautifully packaged, that it puts most of the Transformers SDCC Exclusives to shame. This toy features a plethora of modes and all kinds of little custom tweaks to give it even more playability. There’s so much cool interchangeable stuff here that it reminds me of the glorious old Micronaut sets that I grew up with. This “Commemorative Edition” was also the first time that the superior Takara version of the toy was released stateside. I paid $50 for this beauty back in the day, which was a good enough deal that I eventually picked up a second set to leave packaged. Even during times when I have the bulk of my Transformers collection put away, Powermaster Prime is always out on display. I just love him that much.

Swing by tomorrow, and I’ll wrap up my Favorites List with the last five entries…

Dec 29 2012

Marvel Legends: X-Force Deadpool by Hasbro

I love Deadpool so much that sometimes it just hurts. I’ve lost track as to where the pendulum of Deadpool love swings these days. I distinctly remember him becoming so cool that nerd culture railed against him, before it eventually became cool and different to love him again. Where is the Deadpool barometer these days? I don’t know, but his funnybook is pretty damn good right now, and I’ve never let my love of Deadpool fluctuate. Well, except for that time I was vomiting into a bin in the back alley of the Regal 20 after seeing Wolverine Origins. Considering my adoration for all things ‘Pool, I was certainly beside myself with joy when I found that the Merc with a Mouth would be getting a slot in Marvel Legends Wave 3. Then I found out that the regular version would be the X-Force version and the feeling of battered spouse syndrome washed over me.

And there he is, X-Force Deadpool. Regular Deadpool will be taking over the slot at some point and while it’s supposed to be an even breakout, I still fear not being able to find him. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against X-Force Deadpool, apart from the fact that Hasbro released the other X-Force Marvel Legends in a pricey Con Exclusive and so he’s going to be alone on the shelf. It also just feels wrong to have the X-Force version on my shelf and not regular flavor Deadpool. Nonetheless, I’ll try not to let it sour my outlook.

Where was I? Oh, right, the packaging. I adore the character art that features Deadpool playing with a pair of action figures. One is himself, and the other is Doctor Doom and he’s popping the head off Doom. Priceless. Deadpool comes on a tray surrounded by his healthy arsenal of office tools and a figure stand. The only thing left to say is I can’t wait to see the red version in package.

Deadpool gets by with very little unique sculpting. His costume lets the black and grey paint do the talking. The head sculpt is a great representation of ‘Pool’s hood with sculpted seams running up the top and his nose and jawline detectable under the hood. Hasbro went with a furled brow and narrowed eyes. This isn’t flippant, “talking to the fourth wall about my love for Bea Arthur” Deadpool. This is “I’m going to slice open your torso and stick a grenade in your guts” Deadpool. Oddly enough, the other original sculpting that is distinctly Deadpool are his treaded shoes.

Of course, you also get Wade’s trademark weapons rig, which is a separate piece and easily removable. The belt, with sculpted pouches and iconic belt buckle, is black and the rest of the harness is grey with the red and black “X” in the center. The back of the rig holds his two katana sword scabbards, and both of the scabbards are removable from the rig. Deadpool also has a functional pistol holster strapped to the front of his right thigh. The rig fits well, although mine had some mold flashing on it, which had to be trimmed off.

Deadpool’s articulation is both excellent and frustrating at the same time. He sports a ton of points, all of which are quite serviceable. The neck is ball jointed, but also contains the extra hinge, which gives Wade a huge range of motion in his noggin. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, double hinged at the elbows, hinged again at the wrists, and feature swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, hinged again at the ankles, and swivel at the hips and ankles. Lastly, his torso features the extra shoulder crunches, a swivel at the waist and an ab crunch at torso. That’s a lot of good articulation, so what’s frustrating? Those damn hip joints. Hasbro’s hip joints illicit a lot of scorn, but on the whole, they don’t bother me too much. But on a figure like Deadpool, where I want to put him into tons of crazy poses, I can feel the irritation. Every time you want to pose his legs, you need to swing the ball joint around to get it where it needs to be, and then position the rest of the leg. It’s serviceable, but very annoying. And don’t get me started on trying to line up the stripes on his outfit.

What would Deadpool be without his trademark arsenal? He comes with two firearms: A silver pistol and a black assault rifle. I’m not crazy about the little stubby pistol, but the rifle is excellent. He also comes with his two katana swords, and they are definitely the showpieces of the pack. They’re wonderfully sculpted and painted and fit into their scabbards. Alas, since Deadpool’s right hand is sculpted to hold his guns, it’s hard to get him to hold both of his swords at the same time. 6-inch scale chimichangas and Hot Pockets are not included.

A few little quibbles keep Deadpool from being perfect, but that shouldn’t stop fans from enjoying the hell out of him. He’s still an excellent figure, lots of fun to play around with, and he certainly captures the kick-ass side of Wade Wilson’s personality quite well. I’m certainly anxious to pick him up in his traditional red and black colors, and with this version in hand, I’m willing to concede that I’ll likely pay a premium for the regular ‘Pool if I have to.

And that wraps up Marvel Universe week, and actually it wraps up my work on FigureFan Zero for the rest of the year. I am taking tomorrow off to finish up all the automated content that will populate on the site throughout next week. There will be no new features next week, just a retrospective type deal that will allow me some much needed rest, although I will likely be working on content for the following week from time to time. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Dec 28 2012

Marvel Legends: Doctor Doom by Hasbro

And moving on in Hasbro’s wave of “Epic Heroes” is… ah… Doctor Doom? Obviously, the Latverian Ministry of Propaganda has wormed their way into the Hasbro organization. The iron fisted dictator of Latveria is not someone I tend to think of as an “epic hero” but I’m so happy to get him in the Legends scale, I’m going to look the other way on this one. I’ll also note here how tempted I was to go with the Marvel Select version over this one just so I could get that kick ass throne. In the end superior articulation won the day.

Packaged shot! Not a lot new to say here, other than the character art, both front and back, is stellar. The Legends artwork has had its ups and downs, but what’s here is definitely some of the best so far. Dr. Doom doesn’t share his slot with another character, so his name is printed on the insert. He does, however, have a variant in this wave, which I understand is the white Future Foundation version. As much as I dig Doom and the Future Foundation, it’s a repaint that will be easy for me to skip.

Doom was originally released in 2007 as part of Hasbro’s initial (re)launch of the Marvel Legends line and what we’re getting here is basically a repaint of that figure. Isn’t that kind of cheap on Hasbro’s part? Yes it is. On the other hand, they had access to a good sculpt and an opportunity to improve on it, so maybe it wasn’t such a terrible idea. I’ll admit I was in love with this figure before I even got him open and when I finally had the figure in hand, things just kept getting better. Having not owned the previous figure, I had no idea that the cape or the mask would be removable and I practically squee’d with delight when the two pieces came off of the figure. The squee quickly turned into a desperate struggle to recover Doom’s mask from FigureFeline before he could carry it off to his subsofa lair.

The figure hits all the right points, with the arms and legs encased in full armor and the torso clad in a sculpted green tunic. You get a snug brown belt with the “D” buckle and a functional scabbard with a very cool closing flap that secures through a loop. The armor has a matte silver finish, which gives it an aged look, and the sculpt features all the little catches that keep it fastened. The removable mask covers about three-quarters of the head and features all the tiny rivets and eyeholes. Remove the mask and you get Doom’s disfigured, sneering face. The removable cape fits perfectly and lifts off without having to pop off the figure’s head. It does make the figure a little back heavy, but I’m guessing that would have been hard to prevent.

Doom as well articulated, but because Hasbro grabbed him from a previous line, he’s a little different than other figures in this wave. The neck, shoulders, and elbows are ball jointed, and the arms feature a swivel in the forearms at the ends of the gauntlets. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, knees, and ankles. The torso includes both a swivel in the waist and a ball joint under the chest. Basically, we’re sacrificing some extra hinges and swivels for ball joints all around. I can’t really complain about his poseability, although his tunic does inhibit his upper leg movement quite a bit.

If you don’t count the mask or the cape, Dr. Doom only comes with two accessories. You get his trademark luger, which fits in his holster and can be held in his right hand. You also get the same figure stand that comes with all the figures in this wave.

Doctor Doom is a spot-on representation of the character. The sculpt is great and the colors are perfect. No doubt, plenty of collectors are going to see this figure as a shameless repack and quick money grab. Me? I bailed on the previous incarnation of Marvel Legends very soon after Hasbro acquired it, so this was a brand new figure for me, but I can sympathize with the folks who are forced to shell out more money to get a better version of a figure that they already own. On the flipside, at least there is no BAF part to trifle with, so if you want to stand on principle and skip the release, you aren’t missing out on anything except a better paint job.

Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up Legends Week with Deadpool!

Dec 27 2012

Marvel Legends: The Punisher (Marvel Knights) by Hasbro

Yes, the next stop on this week of Marvel Legends “Epic Heroes” is everyone’s favorite (well, mine at least) anti-hero and NRA poster child, The Punisher. Gratuitous violence is always fun, so I’ve always got a place for Frank Castle in my collection. In fact, I’ve been jonesing for a new and decent figure of him for a while now, and Hasbro’s earlier effort at the character the 3 ¾” scale was pretty bad, but then I haven’t seen the new one yet. Either way, let’s see how the new Legends version turned out!

The Punisher is one of those sneaky Legends figures which use one slot to provide collectors with two characters. As a result, The Punisher’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the package, instead it just says “Marvel Knights,” with the other “knight” being Blade. Both characters appear in the artwork on the front and back of the card. Checking out the rest of the package… Holy crap, this is almost like a pack of guns with a figure tossed in! Hasbro must have found a huge cache of 6-inch scale weapons because Mystique came with quite the arsenal, now Punisher, and as we’ll see Deadpool comes with a healthy assortment of party favors too. Ah, but we’ll get to the accessories soon enough… let’s start with the figure.

The new Marvel Legends has produced some pretty epic head sculpts, and Frank Castle’s noggin continues that tradition. He’s thoroughly comic book inspired, and thank god for that because I haven’t cared for any of the character’s movie excursions. He doesn’t look quite as pinch faced as the old Toy Biz version, but he still looks like he’s detecting the rotten stench of someone who needs punishing. Seriously, this dude is pissed off! I honestly think the sculpt and paintwork are near perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Most of Punisher seems to rely on new sculpting. I was expecting him to borrow a little more heavily from Fantomex, but only the trench coat is used here, and it works great. Frank’s arms are sculpted to look like the sleeves of the coat, which looks good, but unfortunately means that he looks funny if you decide to display him with the coat off. But seeing as how I was never really happy with the removable coat on the Toy Biz figure, I’m happy to get this one. His belt features a ton of pouches and he has a functional holster for his gun on his leg.

Let’s count down Frank’s articulation. The head is ball jointed and includes the extra hinge to help him look up and down. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, double hinged at the elbows, have swivel cuts in the biceps, and the wrists have hinges and swivels. The legs are ball jointed with swivels at the hips, hinged at the knees, and the ankles have hinges and swivel. Frank also features a ball joint in his torso.

No Punisher figure would be complete without a shit ton of weapons and as we’ve already seen, Frank comes with enough firearms to start his own personal war. For starters he has a sub machine pistol, a sniper rifle, and an assault rifle. They’re all great looking pieces, but why do they all look so familiar. Of course, it’s because Hasbro borrowed them all from Mystique. That’s pretty cheeky, Hasbro, repacking accessories in the same wave. The pistol also stands out in my memory as being a recycled gun, but I can’t place it. I think it stands out because it’s a horrible little sculpt, maybe from 6-inch Movie Cap? The one weapon here that I haven’t seen before is his very cool riot shotgun. I should also note here that I’ve had a huge problem with ML figures holding their guns, but I’m happy to report Punisher can hold almost everything he comes with very well. The sniper rifle is a bit of a problem, though.

My anticipation ran so high for this figure, I was pretty sure there was no way he was going to meet my expectations, and yet he does. While I could argue that there was a missed opportunity here to make him work with and without the coat, I’ll applaud Hasbro for having the good sense to pick one version and make it work extremely well. I’m not even going to complain about the heavy reuse of Mystique’s guns, mainly because they’re all good. And while I was happy to pick him up on sale for $13, Punisher is a figure that I still would have picked up, even if I found him hanging on the peg at TRU for $20. He’s every bit that good.

FigureFan Zero

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