Marvel Universe Heroic Age Heroes Three Pack

Marvel Universe Heroic Age Heroes Three Pack

Another Team Pack from the creative minds at Hasbro, we get the Heroic Age Avengers Team Pack featuring Heroic Age Thor, Iron Man (Bleeding Edge) and the Red Hulk (new mold).  Let’s begin.  Wait..let me preface this. I’m cheating.  Iron Man and Thor have been released for at least their third time each now if not more with only slight variations on coloring.  So I’m pretty much copy / pasting from previous reviews all except on paint for the two of them….and the packaging..and maybe I’ll add more snark.

Iron Man

Packaging

The Marvel Universe Team Pack packaging is eye catching with solid art on the front and good exposure of three of our favorite Avengers contained within.  The inside of the box is a nice backdrop for the figures that I’m sure handier folk than me would be able to use in diorama creation.

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Paint

We have a pretty solid repaint of the Heroic Age Iron Man released in Wave 12.  It’s also a repaint of the Avengers Comic Series (with base) Bleeding Edge Iron Man release from a few months ago.  If images tell the truth, I think this Iron Man is even slightly darker / deeper in it’s red and golds than even that Iron Man which was also darker than the first in Wave 12.  Still, it looks great, the blues are nice and bright where repulsors are represented, no complaints.

Articulation

This is a repaint of the Wave 12 Heroic Age Iron Man that features the 2011 mold with the nicer hip joints, more mobile ankles, but no twisty waist or extra movable head.

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Character Likeness

This is a really awesome job at capturing one of my favorite iterations of Iron Man (Heroic Age).  The deeper paint coloring reminds me a little bit of movie Iron Man which is not at all a bad thing.

Accessories

Iron Man comes with an energy blast, the same that we’ve seen since Wave 1.

Overall

The original Bleeding Edge Iron Man was an excellent figure, as is this one, but unless you are a completest, if you’ve got the Wave 12 IM, there is no reason for this one.

Grade

Stored* – It’s really not worth displaying. (1 out of 5) …I have a lot of these now so I’m putting this one in a box.

Thor

 

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Paint

Ok, so yes this is another repaint.  Though at least we have a little bit more obvious change here.  Thor’s jerkin goes from the standard black / gray to a dull grey blue which is a really nice change…but isn’t necessarily comic or Heroic Age accurate.  I appreciate the effort though.  The red of the cape stands out very nicely against the blue vs. the black which is a good touch.

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Articulation

We have spinning wrists, elbow bends, spinning biceps, ball joint shoulders.  The torso spins, old mold legs with fairly limited motion.  The head has pretty good movement considering the height of the cape and the length of the hair.

Character Likeness

For an interesting take on Thor I give it a thumbs up with the color change, but for accuracy a thumbs down.  We have a really great Heroic Age Thor in the Legends line so that proves they know how to make one, they could have tried a little harder instead of giving us the same guy yet again.

Accessories

Thor comes with the only accessory a Norse God should have and that is of course Mjolnir.  It’s a good hammer.

Overall

I’ve got this figure a million times now and the blue color is nice, but wrong and doesn’t change any worlds.  Meh.

Grade

Stored* – It’s really not worth displaying.  (1 out of 5) – Note, if this is the only Thor you are getting it’s probably a 3 at least.

Red Hulk

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Paint

I saved the best for last here.  I love this figure, I love this color, I love the facial paint detail that makes him look half zombie, half just plain beaten up.  The Red Hulk paint-wise though is an otherwise red finish.  The attention to detail on the black toe and finger nails is highly appreciated.  We also have a good amount of fine point detail of what look like miniature muscle rips throughout Hulk’s exposed skin.

Articulation

This Red Hulk is a trimmer Rulk than the previous releases.  He’s less broad at the shoulders and has a more reasonable stance.  The points of articulation don’t stop really.  Head down we have the nice newer hinged neck, full 360 and tilting / raising at shoulders, 360 spin at the biceps, hinged elbows and 36o spinning wrists.  Rulk has the swivel spin torso and a lock n’ spin waist.  We have ball / socket hips with rotating thighs.  We also have something awesome for a Hulk, double jointed knees!  Ankles spin and tilt front to back, but not side to side.

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Character Likeness

We have a much more definitive RULK!  I wasn’t opposed to the previous one but right down to the ripped jeans I’m a huge fan of this mold, Hasbro did an excellent job.

Accessories

No accessories for our Red Avenger.

Overall

It should be noted that if you look at images of the Wave 18 standard Hulk, it’s the same mold.  Enough can’t be said about how awesome that is because Hasbro really knocked it out of the park here. This guy is outstanding.

Grade

Displayed front and center (I’m putting away my old Rulk) (5 out of 5)


Heroic Age Heroes Summary

Two figures are kind of a waste of time. If you are into Marvel, you’ve got the Iron Man you want and the Thor you want by now and I’m sure you aren’t looking for other options.  Even if you are, you’ve got other places to get these two anyway. However, the new mold Red Hulk makes this absolutely worth the price of admission, he’s awesome!

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Rating System:  Each figure will be reviewed under the following categories:
Packaging
Paint
Articulation
Accessories
Character Likeness
Overall:  Each figure will then be given an overall grade out of 5 levels:
Displayed front and center – Perfect score
Displayed but more to the side – Second best, nothing wrong with that
Displayed somewhere I might see it – Displayed, it’s good, I like it, not as much as others.
Displayed but buried in the back – Not all that great, but no other options for this figure
Stored* – It’s really not worth displaying.  
*This will be caveat-ed, if the figure is excellent but is being moved out in favor of a better version of the same character, this will be explained.

Marvel Universe Wave 21

Marvel Universe Wave 21

The moment we’ve all been waiting for.  An actual in 2012 release of Marvel Universe!  Well, sort of.  These popped up on eBay last week, and as I’m given to understand it, maybe they shouldn’t have.  But they did, and I’ve got them.  Now let me tell you.  Between purchase and shipping arrival things have been pretty crazy.  Yet somehow I’ve still found time to be impatient about receiving Professor X, Jubilee, and Blastaar!  Before we dive in, let’s discuss the fact that these are ‘out of order’.  Wave 17 of Marvel Universe (the last wave released including Psylocke and Patriot) were named “Series 4” numbered “1-5”.  In this Wave (21) we have figures 22, 23, and 24.  That’s a big jump, 16 figures by my elementary level math degree…  There has also been much said online about the fact that there are only 3 figures in this wave.  Why? How do we know that?   Well, our main clue is that on the card backs, only the three figures covered here appear.  On other more voluminous waves we have a mixture of figures on card backs.  There have also been substantiated rumors that we will see a Blastaar variant (with clear hands) and a Jubilee variant (non-vampire).  That said…let’s dive in!

Professor X

Packaging

How do you get a hover chair on a single card?  Break it into two and lay each piece flat.  Professor X’s packaging was thinner than even Blastaars, and he came with a hover chair!  Featured is the 2012 card art instead of the S.H.I.E.L.D. or H.A.M.M.E.R. logos.  The card back features the other two figures from the wave and we get a tease of the true blue disco Dazzler talking about dancing.

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Paint

The iconic Professor X suit and head shine are captured gloriously here.  The level of detail is down to the laces of the shoes and the white cuffs sticking out of the jacket sleeves.  I feel as though the chair could have popped in gold a little bit better, and there is some odd red shadowing on the chair arms that I don’t really get.

Articulation

What?!!?! Is that a picture of Professor X dancing down below? Is that even appropriate?  This guy has the moves.  His knees bend and spin right above the hinge.  Feet do everything but tilt left and right.  I can’t tell if that’s because of the pant cuffs or the articulation isn’t there.  It’s likely the latter though.  We have spinning but not tilting wrists.  Like the legs, the arms have a spin cut above the elbow and then the hinged elbow.    Shoulders are hinged and have a full 360 degree range of motion.  Prof’s head is the standard ball and socket without the recent extra hing.

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Character Likeness

So what if he can dance, he’s still our favorite mutant mentor in just about every way.  Kudos on the brow line Hasbro!

Accessories

We’ve got the iconic hover chair.  It comes in two halves.  With a good amount of pressure you can make the seam nearly disappear.  It is however, a little snug in the seat when trying to fit Professor X in due to the bottom of his jacket.  This is likely why early images appeared to show him standing in the chair… you really have to force him in there.

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Overall

We finally get a Professor X after countless versions of Wolverine Iron Man and Spider-Man.  He isn’t even a mid-tier Marvel character, he has been the man behind the X-Men for too many years to count and it’s about time we got a Marvel Universe incarnation.  Hasbro did it right.  Thank goodness!

Grade

Displayed front and center (5 out of 5)

Jubilee

Packaging

We again have the 2012 style packaging with an art card instead of a team logo.  Dazzler gives us words of wisdom on the back and we get to see the other two figures in the wave.

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Paint

This version of Jubilee couldn’t have been particularly challenging.  She’s wearing black with a yellow jacket.  The lipstick is comic accurate?

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Articulation

I hope it’s just my figure…maybe it’s because I have an ‘early release’?  This is kind of a big fail here though.  Have a look at the image for an absolute disaster of a knee joint.  The right leg is all kindsa bent sideways and if you line up her hip spin joint the knee may as well be on backwards.  I hope it’s just mine, I hope I hope, because otherwise this is an excellent female buck.  We have all the nice bells and whistles of the 2011 Cyclops buck but in slender female form right down to the super-mobile ankles.

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Character Likeness

I know this talk about Jubilee has been in short form so far, because to this point she’s not terribly impressive.  That said, the face here KILLS it!  Hasbro has an outstanding female head mold adorning Jubilee.  The glasses are molded and sit great, the hair is really well done and the face really captures “vampire Jubilee”.  The coat is spot on (though I think it may be missing pockets on the outside depending on the comic you read).  There is an excellent gap of skin between the cuffs of the jacket and the cuffs of the glove.

Accessories

Jubilee comes with a purple energy burst. On the back of the card she’s holding that energy burst.  I’ll grant you, I’m tired.  My wife had a baby two days ago.  But I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to replicate the cardback and have Jubilee hold that purple ball of plastic…no clue.  If you figure it out, please e-mail me.  Otherwise, totally pointless accessory.

Overall

I feel like this wave is one killer character that everyone has been waiting ages for, and two characters that are a little bit more niche.  Jubilee falls into that category.  That said, Hasbro did a good job of duplicating the character in 3.75 inch scale.  The knee joint / right leg situation and the accessory are pretty big disappointments though.

Grade

Displayed but buried in the back ( 2 out of 5)

Blastaar

Packaging

Blabbity blabbity same packaging 2012 blabbity 2 figure card back blabbity.

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Paint

Blastaar has a nice sparkly blue unfiorm that really pops against his basic grey skin tone.  The white eyes against the scowling face are pretty creepy.

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Articulation

Blastaar is, or at least appears to be a figure based on the not often enough used Juggernaut mold.  Juggs was probably off of a another figures mold but I don’t feel like thinking that hard, so I’m stopping at him.  Regardless, Blastaar has all of the articulation of that big boy.  Hip swivels, ankle swivles, ankle tilt, slightly limited arm movement mainly due to size.  The head movement is limited by the more than accurate head hair.  Unlock the shoulder drapings on the Thanos figure, for Blastaar things are pretty well molded or glued down and you can’t separate it from his body.  Something to note, the left hand.  Those fingers are awesome.  Really long, really well defined.

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Character Likeness

The Blastaar body looks great, but let’s face it, it couldn’t have been that hard to pull off.  The face though.  Really just outstanding work Hasbro.  He looks mean, he looks evil, and he looks menacing.  His mane is spot on all around the face, especially around the ears.

Accessories

None here.

Overall

As stated with Jubilee, Blastaar is not a top tier Marvel character in any sense of the word, but there are people out there that love him as a character.  I could myself among those people.  He’s cosmic, and that’s my bag.  I’m really happy to have the character and I feel like they did a great job using the right buck, and they paid more than enough attention to the details of the head.

Grade

Displayed front and center (5 out of 5)

Wave 21 Summary

3 figures and we’re done.  That’s the biggest problem I see with this wave.  Then again, maybe we should be thankful.  If this wave was 5 figures, the other two could very well have ended up being Spider-Man, Iron Man or Wolverine.  I’ll take 3 never before seen in this scale figures over a five fig wave with throw ins and rehashes.  I’m a fan of all three figures and I’m a little sad about my disappointments with Jubilee. I can say it one more time. I hope the problem with the Jubilee right leg is only on the one I got.  It’d be a shame if it was an issue with that mold.  Get all three of these figures though, because if you don’t you’ll be missing great characters from your MU line.

 

Rating System:  Each figure will be reviewed under the following categories:
Packaging
Paint
Articulation
Accessories
Character Likeness
Overall:  Each figure will then be given an overall grade out of 5 levels:
Displayed front and center – Perfect score
Displayed but more to the side – Second best, nothing wrong with that
Displayed somewhere I might see it – Displayed, it’s good, I like it, not as much as others.
Displayed but buried in the back – Not all that great, but no other options for this figure
Stored* – It’s really not worth displaying.  
*This will be caveat-ed, if the figure is excellent but is being moved out in favor of a better version of the same character, this will be explained.

Marvel Universe Avengers Comic Series Wave 2

Marvel Universe Avengers Comic Series Wave 2

Marvel Universe Avengers Comic Series Wave 2

Before we get into the mix I wanted to give a special thanks to eBay seller rollinzelectronics for getting me Iron Man and Black Panther in the mail incredibly fast and at an awesomely reasonable price!

We had a look at Wave 1 earlier this year / late last year.  The first set of figures I got at a steal…unfortunately, this second wave came to me at less than a bargain.  However, I’m beginning to see the value in these figures.  Let’s have a look at Marvel Universe Avengers Comic Series Wave 2 Toys R Us Exclusive figures.

Captain America (Classic 616 Version)

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The Avengers Comic Series packaging features a character image on the side, a nice window for display on the front, a description on the side.  On the front you have a poke hole where you can reach in and turn on the light on the base.  While in the package, the base is in demo mode.  For the sake of speed, I will not mention the basics of packaging in the figures that follow below.  Cap art looks like Cap, no complaints here.

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You are going to read this as the recurring theme of this post.  I was looking over these figures last night, and it’s not just Cap.  These figures are more expensive, but honestly, in this set you get the niceset paint apps in the whole of the Marvel Universe Toy Line.  Clean sharp lines, excellent detailed, and all the finer points of detail are given attention.  This Cap is nice, dark, rich in color and has a great shimmer to him.

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Captain America has a full tilt range of motion at the ankles, spins at the shins, bends at the knees.  We have the T-hips, spin at the waist, spin / tilt at the torso, and the arm range of motion is good but there is no spin at the wrists.  The head has a reasonable range of motion but is the standard head on a peg.

Character Likeness

This is the most richly colored Captain America I have yet seen. Dark blues, bright reds, super clean whites.  We have good face likeness here as well.

Accessories

Cap has his shield.  It has the darker color set compared to some of the previous main line caps and fits snuggly on his arm.  The base (and I will mention the base here only as it is the same for all four figures) is pretty neat.  It lights up.  When you open it, it’s in demo mode so it only stays lit for about 15 seconds.  You can switch it off entirely, or you can turn it “on”.  When it’s on, if you press the button it stays on until you turn it off.  The blue light is aesthetically pleasing and the foot pegs hold Thor on nicely.

Overall

This cap takes the place of old favorites and becomes the de-facto Captain America for this toy line.

Grade

Displayed but more to the side. (5 out of 5)

Black Widow

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We get some nice art of Natasha Romanova in action on the front.  The package is otherwise consistent with the rest of the series.

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The black cat suit is exactly what it needs to be.  The gold coloring on the belt and wrist bands isn’t necessarily what I’m used to seeing in the comic, but it makes the pieces stand out a little bit more.  The hair is about the right color red, and the lips are maybe just a little too bright.

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Yep…every bit as bendy / stretchy as the real life Widow?  The figure is built off of the same mold that the Phoenix and earlier female buck characters used.  You will notice more limited movement on the lower extremities and the long hair limits head movement.

Character Likeness

In this figure we are as close as the MU line has ever been to the genuine article.

Accessories

Natasha is outfitted with her wristbands and utility belt, this time in the less familiar gold instead of the standard silver.

Overall

Black Widow wasn’t the easiest character to come by so seeing her out on shelves again isn’t a bad thing.  Otherwise, the only difference here is the wrist and belt color.

Grade

Displayed but buried in the back (3 out of 5)

Iron Man (Extremis – Translucent)

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Again, solid artwork here.  I appreciate that the description makes an effort to identify this specific version of Iron Man.

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Paint here is limited, it’s more …plastic dye?  This version of the Extremis Iron Man is translucent.  I don’t recall this happening in the comics but it has been a while since I’ve gotten my hands dirty in back catalog Iron Man.  We have some actual paint, blue on the chest, palms and eye sockets of Iron Man.  The package is an interesting take on Iron Man, the blue appears to attempt to emulate a glow.

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This is the same Iron Man we had in the main line and two-pack Extremis Iron Man releases.  Movement is exact to those, though the legs feel more stiff at the t-hips / waist.

Character Likeness

The mold is dead on Extremis, but the translucence isn’t something I’ve seen from the character before.

Accessories

Iron Man comes with an energy blast, the same that we’ve seen since Wave 1.

Overall

This doesn’t look like any Iron Man I’ve seen paint wise, but I really like the way he looks.  The painted areas look great, and Extermis is still one of my favorite armors.

Grade

Displayed but more to the side (4 out of 5)

Black Panther

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We’ve got some nice box art and a good description of the Black Panther.  Otherwise it’s the same as the rest in the line.

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This is now our third release of the Black Panther to this toy line.  While the paint app here looks spectacular with highlights and a nice glow to it, the Black Panther uniform is pretty…black.  The first release Panther nailed it like no other, the second was dull, this one is a little bit over the top with midnight highlighting.  It looks great mind you, but this ain’t the guy.

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Black Panther has the moves of the older MU line bucks.  No twisting waist, T-Waist.  The only thing unique here is the clawed left hand.

Character Likeness

Hasbro has done better when aiming for the Black Panther.  Looking at the early waves release, we have the nice forearm guards and a much bulkier panther overall.  This Panther looks frail by comparison and the paint is too much for the character.

Accessories

No accessories except for the light up stand to speak of.

Overall

This Panther is an excellent figure on it’s own, but it’s not “The” Black Panther I would use to represent the character in my display.  He’s just not dark colored enough and he’s too frail.

Grade

Displayed front and center (3 out of 5)

 

Rating System: Each figure will be reviewed under the following categories:
Packaging
Paint
Articulation
Accessories
Character Likeness
OverallEach figure will then be given an overall grade out of 5 levels:
Displayed front and center – Perfect score
Displayed but more to the side – Second best, nothing wrong with that
Displayed somewhere I might see it – Displayed, it’s good, I like it, not as much as others.
Displayed but buried in the back – Not all that great, but no other options for this figure
Stored* – It’s really not worth displaying. 
*This will be caveat-ed, if the figure is excellent but is being moved out in favor of a better version of the same character, this will be explained.

 

Review: The Avengers

(Spoiler Free)

I am not a movie critic.  I am not a ‘professional’ writer.  I am just a guy who really likes Marvel, comic books, and a bunch of other stuff that is related.  I don’t pretend to understand set design, camera angles, or how a scene is properly directed vs. not.  Hot dang I loves me a great movie though!

The Avengers managed to take 4 monster characters and stuff them into 2.5 hours together without making me feel like any one of the Marvel favorites on screen got cheated out of screen time.  I went into the movie fully expecting Robert Downey Jr. to steal the show.  To my surprise, I found myself engaged and even laughing as much when Chris Hemsworth fired off zingers as I did when Tony Stark was being Tony Stark.

 

The movie did an outstanding job of balancing action and interaction from start to finish….yes, right up till the very credit roll end where you get your second post film clip.  I can’t recommend enough, sticking around till the very last name is shown to see the short clip that follows.  I did so and by that time it was about 2:50 after a full days work that started at 7AM the previous day and I still don’t regret it even now.

The big 4 and the smaller 2 worked well together throughout the movie (Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow) dialogue wise.  I didn’t have any problem believing their feelings towards each other or towards what was going on around them.

Top notch performances were turned in by all of the key actors.  Tom Hiddleston did an outstanding job of making me want to stab him by the end of the movie, and I feel like, in Mark Ruffalo we have the first believable ‘live-action’ Hulk since the small screen in the 70’s.  I guess CGI is really finally getting that good.  I was utterly convinced that the CGI Hulk and real world Banner were the same guy, and I wouldn’t want to make either of them angry.

Through the movie just about every plot point raised was explained.  With two exceptions (in my mind), everything paid off and was tied up.  One of the exceptions was the obvious ‘cliff hanger’ mid-credits, so stick around for that.  The other I felt was much more gray and I found myself wondering why they didn’t go back to say for sure yes or no.  Maybe you will pick up on it, maybe you won’t…(highlight for not really a spoiler) but it has to do with a deck of Cap trading cards (saying that spoils nothing).

The Avengers was epic on all scales.  It was well paced, well acted, enjoyable, and I laughed about 3x as much as I thought I might going in.  If you ever wondered what watching a comic book play out in front of you might look like, go see The Avengers.  I watched Iron Man this past weekend in prep with my son.  I really didn’t know if Marvel could top the first Iron Man, but Whedon and crew laid down the Gauntlet for 2012 block busters, the Gauntlet for team movies, and the Gauntlet for super hero movies for years to come.  It’ll go down to date as my favorite super hero movie and run away, my favorite Marvel movie until something tops it, which will be a challenge.  Remember kids, stay till the very end!

Grade: A+ (That totally doesn’t even mean anything, just go see it, it was a fantastic movie and a great time!).