Marvel Universe Wave 24
Friends, I stand before you greatly saddened by the review I am about to bring you.  The final full wave review of Marvel Universe action figures.  Wave 24, 2013 wave 5.  My wallet is marginally happy, but I couldn’t have thought that in 2009, picking up an Ultimate Cap and a Hawkeye / Piledriver 2-pack, that I would be standing before you now…period really.  MUReview wasn’t a thing, and it wouldn’t be for a little while, but the seed was planted, and I’ve since amassed what can be called at the very least, a complete collection.  I grew up collecting GI Joes.  I loved them through my youth, and eventually, grew out of them, sold them.  After that it was McFarlane NFL figures.  I was punished by them, never got enough Giants, and sold them too.  Marvel Universe though…This is a toy line that is going to stay with me.  I’ve modeled part of my house around / with it.  It has supplemented my passion for reading comics, and has delighted my kids (and pissed off my wife at least a little bit, though she’ll never admit it), so win win win!  Is it over?  Formally, officially yes, mostly.  We will get Northstar, somewhere, and hopefully the last two promised team packs, Thor and X-Men.  What lies ahead, if the Avengers Assemble line is to be believed, some promise…and if the Hasbro support page is to be believed, an incredible line up of Guardians of the Galaxy movie line toys…really can’t wait for that.  Know what else I can’t wait for?….

Black Knight

The Good

  • Perfect proportions here.  Not a comment I often use, but the cape is perfectly sized, as is the head.
  • Great design detail here, realistic boot folds, excellent helmet.
  • A sword that fits his hand, and fits well in the scabbard!

The Bad

  • A sword that isn’t black.
  • The figure is packaged with the sword drawn, that allowed for it to become fairly malformed.  If it were holstered, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

Aurora

The Good

  • Staggeringly good facial detail here.
  • The hair mold is perfectly representative of the comic counterpart.
  • Excellent uniform detail.
  • Mold captures Aurora’s frame perfectly, delicate.

The Bad

  • Hasbro things all girls have ginked up knees, I’m convinced of it.

Nightcrawler

The Good

  • We can finally add Nightcrawler to our X-Force sets!
  • The blue of the tail really pops against the uniform.
  • Excellent facial detail.

The Bad

  • Always like to have NC with a sword…
  • Only by definition of having Nightcrawler a few times over now, this is the weakest figure in the wave, not really a negative, but I think a lot of us would have been happier with an easy grab of Northstar.

Omega Red

The Good

  • I love Black Knight, but Omega Red is absolutely the star of this wave.  The facial detail here is epic.  This is one of the angriest, meanest looking faces I’ve seen in 3 and 3/4 plastic.
  • Excellent body mold and details.
  • Armor pieces are dynamic and well designed.
  • The tentacles taste like snozberries!

The Bad

  • I remember the ToyBiz Omega Red.  You could retract the tentacles.  I liked that, you can’t do that here…oh well.

 

The rest

Fans of the Marvel Universe toy line, this is a great swan song, a final bow giving a nod to all of the successes of the line and to all of the fans who have endured.  There is no reason you shouldn’t grab every one of these… There is still the matter of Northstar.  Once we get him, we will share!

Availability

Good luck!

The Final Wave Family Photos!