Greatest Battles 2-Pack: Mr. Sinister and Gambit

Special thanks to Kokomo Toys, an outstanding eBay seller for a great price on this two-pack and super fast shipping!  You can visit their eBay store HERE, and their online store HERE.   Two brand new characters (to the MU line at least) are featured in this 2-pack.  One menacing and imposing, the other thin and maybe even a little bit frail.  A great comic rivalry that makes a pretty good two pack.  Read on and / or scroll to the bottom or check out a summary of our rating system HERE.

Packaging img_6863

We have ourselves the usual Greatest Battles packaging.  Like the Warlock / Thanos pack, thicker front packaging is featured to accommodate the space needed for Sinister’s cape.  The back gives us a quick story and ads for Thanos / Warlock and Bullseye Daredevil.  Between these two new two packs, Wave 4 is completely represented.

Mr. Sinister

Paintimg_6872

Maybe this is good, or maybe it’s bad, but I’m really impressed by a good solid paint job.  I loved what they did with the Steel Skin Absorbing Man and I love what they did here with Sinister.  The face is a nice flat white paint and the body is just a nice deep rich midnight blue with a finish like a sports car.  The red chest diamond and belt really stand out and the cape looks great (color wise….color wise).

Articulation img_6873

This is Colossus.  Sinister moves just like Colossus.  It’s stiff articulation but it’s all there.  Ankles spin and tilt, knees bend, we have twist at the hips and back / forward movement hip joints.  There is no waist motion but the chest goes round and round.  The arms have general movement and the head has a nice range of motion.  The figure though is thick and clunky, and while it can move, it doesn’t really feel like it’s supposed to.

Character Likeness

I feel like they pretty much hit the nail on the head with Sinister.  The sharp lines of the hair, the shoulder pads, the cut of the cape.  Its’ all great.

Accessories

Sinister comes with a cape.  I love the color of the cape, the design of the cape, but what I don’t like is the way it sits on the neck (his, not mine).  It seems like it floats too high and they could have reduced the curve of the cape to fix that I think.

Overall

I’ve been waiting a while for Sinister.  He’s a villain that I enjoy reading and he has a great menacing look about him.  Hasbro captured it….but the cape sitting irks me so I’m giving this a 4.

Grade

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

Gambit

Gambit is a figure that we have already seen as part of the Wolverine toy line.  The figure in that line was just a little off…read on to see what they fixed and what they didn’t.

img_6879Paint

Hasbro took some steps to correct some less than realistic looking coloring on the Wolverine release of Gambit….eh…alright, they fixed the jacket and screwed up the boots.  The coat appears to be a darker more realistic looking brown.  The boots went from a more comic accurate blue to a greyish color.  I’m pretty sure we’ve seen it both ways in the comics, but I prefer the blue…so that’s that.  The shine of the vest and matching paint on the legs still looks great.  This time we also see a bright red scarf.  Been a long time since I’ve seen Gambit wearing a scarf, so I don’t know why on top of it being there it had to be fire engine red….

Articulation img_6875

Gambit, for being a laid back Cajun is one stiff mother. Much of his motion is hindered by the trench coat.  However, even forward leg motion is a challenge.  He will move, but you have to fight the figure.  Arm motion is limited from being raised, again by the coat.  Gambits head spins and tilts, but again, coat limits.  As with the previous Wolverine release, Gambits ankles do not spin or tilt.

Character Likeness

I feel like they did a good job on everything but the boot color and the scarf.  Where the likeness really stands out is with the face / head / hair.  The first Gambit had this awful foofy hair and a face that looked much older than he should.  This Gambit corrects that problem with a younger more accurate face, and hair that falls over the band of the face mask rather than sticking out.  I was hoping for that fix and I got it…but the scarf…Also, Gambit is missing one thing to be really on the money….

Accessories

No playing card?!?!?!  If they put a Gambit in a Happy Meal as the toy inside, I’m pretty sure he’d get a playing card there!  He does have the staff….and the scarf, but come on Hasbro, you had to have a few playing cards left lying around from the Wolverine release….

Overall

I was really happy to have the first Gambit…but it wasn’t that great a figure.  This second attempt is a better attempt but it could use some work.  Hasbro had an opportunity to reinvent a character that so many people love and do something special. Instead they fixed the head, threw on a scarf, touched up the paint and called it a day.

Grade

Displayed somewhere I might see it (3 out of 5)

Overall 2 Pack

Sinister is awesome, Gambit is an upgrade, if only a small one.  Win (small) win.

 

 

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.