Tag Archives: marvel universe

Apr 29 2013

Marvel Universe: The Punisher by Hasbro

I started Marvel Mondays many weeks ago to force me to get through the huge stack of Marvel Universe figures that I had building up in my receivings pile. I eventually got through them all and started padding it out with some Marvel Legends. But last week my BBTS Pile of Loot arrived bearing enough Marvel Universe figures to keep this going for another month or so. Today we’re looking at The Punisher. Much like Steve Rogers from a few weeks back, Punisher is an MU figure that has been released in the new Legends format as well. Also like that Steve Rogers, I found the ML version of Punisher to be an absolutely fantastic figure. Does this little guy have the chops to stand up to his bigger version? Let’s find out!

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There’s the packaging. If you’re buying Marvel Universe Punisher from a reseller, make sure the package looks like that. You don’t want to get Hasbro’s first attempt at this guy because it was total ass. Seriously, he had a big slab of pinched ham for a head and looked like Masters of the Universe reject, Punish-Or. On the downside, this new release has no figure stand or Fury File, just a crappy little piece of cardboard with a comic cover printed on it. Hasbro, you’re not fooling anyone by trying to pass off little “comic shots” as anything that adds value to the figure. It really crosses the line, Hasbro, and Frank Castle shows no mercy to anyone who crosses the line. It says so right on your own package.

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I’ll confess that I enjoy the running gag through each wave that has a Marvel character imploring you to collect all the figures. In this case it’s MODOK demanding that you turn them all into AIM soldiers. There’s something so strangely appropriate about MODOK schilling Hasbro products.

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Kicking it off with a look at the portrait, The MU version of Frank Castle is very close to the Legends version. It’s the same great “I’m determined to make you dead” expression and it works quite well. This is a man that is inviting you to a bullet buffet and it’s all you can eat. This 3 ¾” version is clean shaven, and I think it’s a good thing Hasbro didn’t attempt the five-o-clock shadow on the smaller figure. I’m really quite happy with the head sculpt the way it is. I don’t think I’d change a thing.

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Punisher makes use of a standard, painted buck with some extra parts for his gear. Alas, I’ve never big a big fan of Hasbro’s heavy use of blue wash on the white parts of the costume. I get what Hasbro is trying to do here, but it never really looks right and it gives me fevered flashbacks to the Stormtroopers in those initial Star Wars comic packs. I can live with it on the boots and gloves and belt, but it really works against the skull emblem on his chest. On the up side, I love the belt and holster rig. It fits the figure well and the FUNCTIONAL holsters have thigh straps. Hey, MODOK, you know what I always say about functional holsters?

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Damn straight, dude! You also get a working sheath on his boot for his combat knife. All of this is so cool that I’m willing to overlook the unfortunate paint wash.

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Speaking of holsters and sheaths, Frank comes with a decent assortment of artillery. You get his two automatic pistols, a combat knife, and a machine gun. The pistols seem kind of small for Frank’s overstated tastes, but I do enjoy the fact that Hasbro bothered to paint the receivers silver. I believe the machine gun is an MP-5, which is a nice addition. The combat knife has a serrated blade, for when Frank wants to get up close and personal, or possibly just sign his work. One thing worth noting is that Frank’s hands do not have the trigger fingers sculpted separately. That makes it very difficult for him to hold his weapons properly. It’s an easy fix. Just take a razor blade and cut between the trigger finger and the rest of the hand. It makes a huge difference!

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Punisher is based on one of the better bucks, so he features excellent articulation. The neck is ball jointed and also has the extra hinge for a wider range of up and down movement. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs feature ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs and again at the top of the boots, double hinges in the knees, and hinges in the elbows. There’s a ball joint in the torso and he can swivel at the waist. I’ll also happily note that my figure is free of any warping or QC issues in the joints.

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The MU Punisher doesn’t quite capture all the amazing qualities of his Legends cousin, at least not as well as the Steve Rogers figures do. Nonetheless, I’m still very happy with the way this guy turned out. The paint wash is certainly disappointing and mars what could have been a perfect figure, but there’s always hope for a repaint or tweak later on down the road. In the interim, I’m certainly happy to have this guy in the 3 ¾” scale. He’s lots of fun to play around with and a worthy addition to any Marvel Universe collection.

Apr 1 2013

Marvel Universe: Steve Rogers by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday and as usual I’m recovering from a weekend of bacchian debauchery mixed with working a lot. I’ve accordingly selected an MU figure that will not require a lot of my time so that I can crawl back under the covers and try to wish reality away to the cornfield. Today we’re looking at Steve Rogers. He’s one of those figures that have been given both the Universe and Legends treatment, and while I’m not usually one to double-dip between scales, it tickled me to have a Steve Rogers that can hang out with my GI Joes and show them how to take care of business. Besides, the Legends version of Steve Rogers was one of my favorite action figures of 2012, so I was curious to see how the 3 ¾” version turned out.

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It’s the MU packaging! Steve here is actually from one of the older waves, before Hasbro replaced a useful, value-added figure stand with a stupid little piece of cardboard printed to look like a comic cover. Great idea! The package has the SHIELD emblem on the front and the back shows three other figures in the wave. I purchased none of these! I didn’t feel the need to own Sub-Mariner in a speedo, I already have the Ultron from the Secret Wars pack, and Darkhawk… seriously, Hasbro? Darkhawk??? Actually, the joke’s on me because if I had actually seen him on the pegs, I would probably have picked him up. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of the character art used here, but the figure sure looks great under the bubble with his stand behind him and a pair of guns. Even from just seeing him in the package, I knew this was a figure I had to buy. Still, it seems like there’s something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on it… oh well… it’ll come to me.

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Straight away, this figure reminds me of a shrunken down version of the Legends figure, and that is very high praise. In fact, I have only two negative things to say about Rogers, so let me get them out of the way first. The quality of plastic doesn’t feel as good as the better single-carded figures. This feels like the gritty, softer stuff Hasbro liked to use in some of the older comic packs. It’s not bad enough to ruin the figure, by any means, but it does keep this figure from achieving a status of near perfection in my eyes. Fortunately, none of the joints on my figure are warped, which is usually the case with this softer plastic. The other negative point is that Rogers is missing a socket in his back. I can’t quite remember why that omission is important… oh well… I’m sure it’ll come to me.

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So, first off Steve’s portrait is excellent. It doesn’t have all the personality that the Legends figure had, but I’m giving Hasbro a break for the smaller scale and because the head sculpt is just really clean and looks great. Even the hair is impressively done. The bulk of the figure uses a very nicely articulated, muscular buck with a mix of paintwork and added parts to customize the outfit. The shoulder harness and belt are new, separate pieces and fit the figure really well, as do the belted wraps on his lower legs. Even the hands on this guy are impressive, with uniquely sculpted fingerless gloves and wonderful paint.

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In fact, all the paintwork on this figure is solid. Sure, there are a few stray marks here and there, but the white printed emblems on his shirt and shoulders looks bright and crisp, as do the stripes running down his trousers. Even the tiny silver buckles on his gear and gloves are lovingly dressed with a little metallic silver paint. I’m not always a fan of the paint wash Hasbro uses for the MU figures, but here I think it does more good then harm.

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In addition to his personalized stand, Steve comes with a handgun and an assault rifle and… oh yeah, that’s what I was forgetting… WHERE IS HIS SHIELD??? Ok, so I agree that it isn’t a necessity for this appearance of the character, but since Hasbro included it with the Legends version, it seems conspicuous by its absence here. In fairness this guy has already won the Marvel Universe accessory jackpot since two weapons and a stand is better than the usual NOTHING AT ALL! Not a huge deal, as I have plenty of 3 ¾” scale shields lying around, but then the absence of a hole in his back to peg it is kind of annoying too. As for the guns, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this rifle a half dozen times already and the pistol… my cat batted it off a desk and into his litter box. I’m not going in after it. My cat is an asshole.

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All quibbles aside, Steve Rogers is a fantastic figure. He’s got a solid sculpt, great paintwork, and lots of cool little attention to detail. Best of all, this is the version of Cap that I’ve always envisioned as being perfect for my most coveted of all fanboy-fueled Marvel-GI Joe crossovers. Watch out, Cobra!

Mar 25 2013

Marvel Universe: She-Hulk by Hasbro

I know, I know. I ended last week with Marvel. That was bad planning on my part knowing that I was starting this week with Marvel Monday. But in my defense, Saturday was Marvel Legends and today is Marvel Universe. And I do still have several of these MU figures to get through, so the show must go on. Besides, I have a bit of a hangover so I’m looking for something easy. Speaking of easy, today we’re checking out She-Hulk… oh, snap! Many of you know, I’m not a big fan of Hulk’s solo books, but I have read my share of She-Hulk, because I dig the snappy wit and since I’m 40 going on 16 a little T&A is still all it takes to get me to read a funnybook. Let’s check out this figure…

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Marvel Universe packaging! It hasn’t changed much since the last two MU figures I featured. I am definitely digging Shulkie’s card art and the figure itself looks mighty nice in the package. Am I the only one wishing that Hasbro would have done a variant She-Hulk in her lawyer attire with a briefcase? Seriously, I’m sure they could have reworked the sculpt into a Pepper Pots or something. Ah, but that’s ok, I’m still happy with this version. Plus, I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting a Fantastic Four variant somewhere down the line. The back of the card has a little bio blurb and a photo of other figure’s in this wave and MODOK commanding me to “Collect Them All!” I’d love to collect them all, MODOK, but I can’t find Scarlet Witch anywhere, except online for ridiculous scalper mark-ups plus shipping. Ah, but I’m sure that evil sonvabitch already knows that.

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The last MU figure we looked at, Kraven, blew me away with some truly amazing sculpting and paintwork. But MU being what it is, you never know what you’re going to get, and She-Hulk is a return to a painted basic buck. I know, it’s not really fair to compare a dude who wears an elaborate lion-head costume with a green chick in a one-piece. And besides, She-Hulk turned out really nice.

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So yeah, there’s not much in the way of original sculpting here apart from the head, but I am quite happy with the way the head turned out. The portrait is pretty simple, but attractive and Hasbro’s sculptors did a particularly nice job with her rich mane of hair. The paintwork is very solid too. They even painted on a teeny coat of glossy green lipstick.

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She-Hulk’s painted one-piece uses a nice, metallic purple for the side panels. There’s a little bit of slop around the edges, but nothing too bad. The same purple is used to paint on her fingerless gloves.

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I’m also really pleased with the articulation and quality on this figure. Shulkie utilizes one of the more articulated female bucks. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, ankles, and chest. She has double hinges in both her elbows and her knees. She has swivels in her biceps, wrists, thighs, and at the tops of her boots. And lastly, she has that marvelous extra hinge in her neck, a nice thought even if her sculpted hair renders it almost useless. But the best thing is that the quality on her joints is all excellent. There are no big gaps in the thigh swivels and no misshapen hinges. Everything is really tight and solid.

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She-Hulk isn’t one of the most exceptional figures to come out of Marvel Universe, but she is a very solid effort and a character that I was very much looking forward to adding to my collection. You get a very good head sculpt, excellent articulation, and I’m happy to say there were no QC issues on my figure to speak of. I could gripe about a lack of accessories, but I can’t really think of anything essential that Hasbro could have included. You’ve been on a roll with these figures, Hasbro… keep it up.

[And by the way, congratulations, Shulkie, you were the 900th Feature on FigureFan Zero! It wasn’t planned this way. I actually didn’t even realize it until I had uploaded it. But, hey, it could have worked out a lot worse. Now we start the home stretch to 1,000. -FF]

Mar 18 2013

Marvel Universe: Kraven The Hunter by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday. It’s been a rough working weekend. Today’s going to be kind of quick and to the point. Keeping all that in mind, I decided to go with a look at Kraven today, because despite really enjoying me some Spider-Man, I’ve never been a big fan of Kraven. He’s a very cool character design, he has an ok backstory, but I’ve never really bought his paring with Spidey as making a whole lot of sense. Nonetheless, I’m all about building up my Spider-Man Rogue Gallery in 3 ¾”, so adding Kraven to my collection was only natural.

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Kraven comes on the typical MU card, although he does require an extra deep bubble because his costume is a tad bulky. He’s carded with his accessories around him and he really fills out the bubble nicely. The character art isn’t up to some of the line’s better work, although the more I look at the illustration, the more I feel that Kraven is staring out from the card and directly into my soul and trying to mesmerize me long enough to stick his spear in my throat. Flip the card around and you have Kraven’s bio along with the adorable and deadly Rocket Raccoon telling you that you better buy every damn MU figure you can find or else he’s going to tip your garbage cans, and then bite you and give you the intergalactic rabies.

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Actually he just says, “Never doubt a raccoon.” I can’t believe we’re going to see him in a feature film soon. These are truly amazing times we live in. Let’s rip this guy open…

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So, I may not be the biggest Kraven fan around, but holy hell, this is one amazing figure. I mean, damn Hasbro, you guys went all out for this guy. What we have here is definitely one of the best sculpts in my MU collection and probably one of the better sculpts of any 3 3/4″ figure I own. That’s not hyperbole, folks, that’s just me being really impressed. The head sculpt is top notch for a figure in this scale and the buck used is replete with sculpted muscles. The arms are achieved with painted armbands and wrist and hand wraps, but the paintwork is spectacular. The lower legs are new sculpts with skull knee guards, fur fringe and wrapped boots.

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The rest of the figure showcases the unbelievably awesome lion head vest. It’s gorgeously sculpted and painted. The mane, which makes up the shoulders and the back makes for a wonderful effect and the paintwork on the lion’s face is immaculate. Kraven also has a belt of pouches with front and back sashes. The outfit is tied together with a little necklace, which you need to pop off his head to put back on.

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Kraven isn’t based on the most articulated of the MU bodies, but he does have some great poseability. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, ankles, and torso. His arms have hinged elbows, and swivel wrists. His knees are double-hinged. He’s missing the thigh swivels, but after how crappy those joints were in my Kang figure, I’m perfectly fine if Hasbro starts leaving them out. Which leads me to point out that the quality of plastic Hasbro used for this figure is very good.

Besides his necklace, you get two accessories with Kraven: His spear and his knife. The knife can be held in either hand and can also be trust into his belt for storage. The spear is a nice looking piece, but it’s a little bendy. He can also hold it in either hand or both.

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In case you haven’t guessed, I am completely blown away by Kraven. I have little love for the character, but I have to give kudos to Hasbro for putting some unprecedented work into this figure. One of the many reasons I hate to collect Marvel Universe, is that few of the figures seem to justify their price tag, but Kraven’s superior sculpt and paintwork and his accessories make him feel like a great deal. In fact, he’s almost on par with something I might get in an exclusive set. I’m thinking this guy might split his time with my GI JOE collection, because I think he would fit in pretty well as some kind of insane Cobra. Either way, Kraven is one outstanding figure.

Mar 11 2013

Marvel Universe: Kang by Hasbro

I would understand if readers out there assumed that I stopped collecting Marvel Universe figures. The last time I looked at one was way back in November 2012 and I haven’t bought any until now. The truth is, I can’t find any on the pegs around here, and I refuse to pay a premium for them online. Here’s a novel idea, Hasbro, why don’t you sell the current figures on your website instead of listing them as sold out. Don’t you make these goddamn things? Haven’t you now missed profit goals and laid people off for the second fiscal period in a row? Don’t you want to sell them and make money for your shareholders and keep jobs for your employees? I can sort of understand the problem with retailers not having them, what with distribution issues or peg cloggers, but these are YOUR figures and YOUR website. Put enough of the current releases on your web store so people can buy them and you make money. Simple enough? Anyway, at least I’ve found that if I’m patient, Hasbro’s online shop finally gets enough of the older figures I missed out on so that I can rack up enough to get free shipping. I guess I have to be happy with crumbs. Ok, enough rant… today we’ll start with Kang.

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When you drink as much as I do, you get distracted and confused rather easily, hence the empty package picture. At some point when I was heavy into the Jameson, I likely muttered something like, “c’mere Kang, you’re the only one who understands me” and ripped him open, oblivious to the fact that I hadn’t yet taken a packaged shot. Remember kids… booze makes you stupid. But it also silences your demons, lets you fall asleep, and helps you to cope with life. Forget Kang, booze, you’re the only one who understands me.

I’ve got to admit, as much as I sometimes hate to collect this line, it feels great to be holding a new figure, especially one that’s pretty far up on my Want List. The packaging is the same as we saw last time, with the jagged bubble and the “Collectible Comic Shot” which is just a tiny piece of cardboard with a comic cover printed on it. You’ll also note he’s called “Marvel’s Kang” which is Hasbro’s way around copyright issues. I question, why not just go with “Kang the Conqueror?” Surely they could copyright that and it sounds much better than the alternative. Oh well. I don’t think Kang’s character art is among the best the line has offered, but it’s still pretty cool. The back of the card has a little bio and MODOK taunting you to collect them all by reworking the acronym for his name. Fun!

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Let’s break Kang down into two categories: one good, one bad. If we’re dealing with the sculpt and the paint, he does very well. Check out that head sculpt, it’s fantastic, and I really dig the way they made the cowl and helmet two pieces. Instead of just a standard, painted buck, Kang’s got a loose fitting tunic. It looks like the torso could be from Dr. Strange, but if I’m not positive at a glance, than that’s good enough for me. The bottom of the tunic is part of the new belt and he’s got some bitching thigh-high future despot boots. The coloring on the figure is just as good. His amazing future suit is green with subtle and effective wash. The boots, gauntlets, helmet, and cowl are all metallic purple, and his face is a great shade of blue. No doubt, Kang is a gorgeous little figure. Oh yeah, he comes with a gun too!

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Ok, now the bad stuff… quality control! For starters, the swivel cuts in the thighs have huge caps in them. I could already see them before I took the figure out of the package. It’s bad enough that I probably would have left him on the peg if I were buying him in the store, but since he was a web order, I didn’t know until he was already in hand. Trying to screw them tighter helps a bit, but eventually they return to their natural state, leaving those annoying gaps. Next up, his legs are pretty messed up out of the package. This issue I’ve managed to fix a bit with a blow dryer, but it pisses me off that I have to. He’s not even in any kind of dynamic pose in the package. It’s just god awful cheap plastic. Hasbro, if you’re going to send out figures like this, at least start putting stands in the packages again.

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In terms of articulation, Kang doesn’t disappoint. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, and wrists. He has hinged elbows and double hinged knees. There are swivels in his biceps, thighs, and just under his knees. His ankles feature regular hinges as well as lateral rockers, and he has a ball joint in his torso. Not bad!

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Remember how I said that sometimes I hate collecting this line? Kang is a great example of why. Hasbro delivered an amazing looking treatment of the character, but when you get down to the QC issues, he sure doesn’t feel like a ten dollar figure. Overall, the great paint and sculpt wins the day and makes me happy to have him in my collection, but in the unlikely scenario that I actually see him on the pegs, I’ll likely try to look for an upgrade without the big gaps in the thigh cuts. I shouldn’t have to do that, but it is what it is.

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!

Nov 13 2012

Marvel Universe: Future Foundation Spider-Man by Hasbro

It seems like forever since I last featured a Marvel Universe figure. Why? Well, as usual, the new waves haven’t been showing up on the pegs here and I just haven’t been motivated enough to buy an entire case like I’ve done in the past. Nonetheless, there were a couple of figures where I was willing to splurge and get singles online and FF Spidey was one of them. Ironic, since I’ve managed to avoid all the Spidey toy merchandising madness involving the release of the Amazing Spider-Man film (including the film itself!) but maybe that will change this week when I finally sit down and check out the flick on Blu-Ray.

Marvel Universe packaging hasn’t changed much, but gone are the days of enclosed figure stands, and even those cool little envelopes with file cards have been replaced with shitty little mock comic book covers. But wait! Flip the card over and it’s got MODOK on it schilling the rest of the figures and that right there made my day. A little MODOK threatening me so that I will buy toys is worth all the figure stands in Christendom. I’ll point out now that I really think this FF Spidey should have been included in the Future Foundation multi-pack, but seeing as how that was a repaint of the regular Fantastic Four multi-pack, and I know how these things work, I can’t say as I’m surprised. And hey, it meant that Hasbro sucked an extra ten bucks out of me. Well done, Hasbro. Well done.

I can’t place the body being used here. It’s likely just the standard new buck, but it’s certainly not that same old 3 ¾” Spidey body that I’ve purchased a bunch of times over. For starters, the head sculpt looks new and it’s much better proportioned to the body than some of the other, smaller Spidey heads. And then there’s the body. The body itself is much bulkier than past Spider-Man figures. Yes, this is one seriously ‘roided out Spider-Man with some major guns. Either Spidey’s been doing a whole lot of curls at the Baxter Building or Hasbro is just trying to scrape buy with an inappropriate body here. It certainly looks like someone other than Parker is wearing the suit.

Having bought the figure online, I was a little concerned about how well the deco would match my other FF members. After all, the only reason I’m buying it is to display with the rest of the FF team. As it turns out, the deco matches just fine. The paintwork is very nice and he’s got the same level of wash as the others and he looks just fine when posed with the rest of the FF crew. I’d go so far as to say that the paint is more impressive on this figure than the Marvel Legends version.

Articulation? I need my Spidey figures to be super articulated, and the articulation on this guy is impressive. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips, plus the neck has the additional hinge to help him look up. You get single hinged elbows and double hinges in the knees. There are swivels in the biceps, wrists, upper thighs, and lower legs! The ankles feature regular hinges and additional rockers. His torso swivels at the waist and has a ball joint up near the chest. About the only thing I could improve on here would be double hinged elbows, but even still his poseability is great. On a side note, Spidey uses those pegging ball joints for his hips, which are certainly better than the rotating hinge joints that Hasbro has been using in many of their 3 ¾” movie figures. On the other hand, these have an annoying habit of pulling out. I guess you can’t have everything.

Spidey comes with one accessory, and it’s that terrible web effect piece that has come with countless other MU Spidey figures in the past. I hate this thing almost as much as that terrible funnel of energy that comes with all the Iron Man figures.

I’m often fond of bitching about the lack of value in many of these MU figures. No figure stand, no decent accessories, and lots of re-use of parts. Nonetheless, I’m a whore to the Fantastic Four comics, so this figure was always going to be a “must buy” for me. The inappropriate build of the figure takes a little getting used to, but the deco is nice and the articulation is quite excellent.

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 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!”