By way of Marvel Digital Comics, Hasbro made available a truly unique figure.  The maskless Doctor Doom! For the price of an annual subscription, New York Comic-Con goers were granted the honor of being able to walk away with this really nice piece.  Scroll to the bottom of the page, or check out a summary of our new rating system HERE.

Victor Von Doom

Packaging

Doom comes in a plain white box with a maskless classic image of Victor on one side of the box.  This falls right in line with the Marvel Digital exclusive packaging, Fury, Archangel, and now Doom.  Opening the box you have some outstanding card art, the same Doom image that is on the outside of the white box, and a nice little Doomscription.  Judging from the advertised figure on the back Doom is not intended to be associated with any wave.  The could have otherwise advertised the Skaar / Falcon wave here.  Another nice touch, where we usually see the S.H.I.E.L.D. or H.A.M.M.E.R. logo, we get an Infinity Gauntlet!

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Paint

The bulk of this figure is identical to the wave Skaar / Falcon / Doom wave released this year.  Victor is finished in the darker green of this year’s release as opposed to the much brighter Secret Wars 2-pack Doom.  I prefer the look of the darker green, it seems more defined.  Legs and arms are the classic Doom / Ultron body parts matching the Ultron Secret Wars 2-pack figure.  Where this Doom really truly makes his money is the face and head sculpt.  It’s a flat head swap with the 2011 Steve Rogers figure.  Two nice touches, the dark brown hair and the scar on the face.  This really gives the figure new life and makes you feel like you are looking at something different.

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Articulation

The body here has the same movement as again, the Ultron / Dooms of old.  Leg movement is slightly limited due to the skirt of the shirt.  None of the new 2011 articulation is featured on this figure.

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Character Likeness

While the hair could have been a little bit more wild, we’ve got Doom through and through.  Doom, Victor Von Doom.  Depending on the version of Doom they were going for, they could have probably mangled up the face a little more.

Accessories

One of the awesome things about this figure, is that it comes with it’s own Infinity Gauntly.  It’s a nice looking accessory, but there is kind of a big problem here.  The glove doesn’t fit (you must acquit!).  The glove is not a handswap, it’s a hand covering.  Dooms hands are shaped in a way that it looks like it might fit, but most ways you apply the glove, fingers show from behind.  I found a good way to get it on.  Pull Doom’s hand off.  Trouble with that is it apparently requires sort of breaking the hand, as, after I pictured it, I had an impossible time getting his hand back in.  Another point of accessory to note.  Without the full sized / hooded / masked head, there is very little holding the cape on.  There are two indents in the back of the cape that line up to two back mount pieces but the fit is still loose.  Otherwise,  the stand displays the full “Victor Von Doom” name and 027, so that’s nice.  I could have sworn the original Doom in the line had a gun, and this one has a holster…just sayin.

Overall

The face makes the figure, the body is the same old.  For me though, this is absolutely the definitive Doom.  If you don’t have a Marvel subscription, get one and get this figure.  It’s a great value for the year.  Oh right…it’s not being offered yet….Give it a month or two, I’m sure you will be able to grab a subscription and a maskless Doom. If you do have a Marvel subscription, or you don’t want to wait till you can buy one, what you are going to pay for it on eBay is a tough sell.  Still, it’s a pretty sick figure.

Displayed but more to the side – 4 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.