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.