Toy Review: Marvel Select Red & Green Hulks

02/4/10

Marvel Select Red & Green Hulks

The Incredible Hulk has been one of my favorite Marvel characters since I first saw him on television. Reruns of that old show with Lou Ferigno all decked out in his green body paint, flexing and grimacing like a nut… Now that was good TV.

When I started collecting comic books (I started in the library with real books and had to work my way up to comics), The Hulk was one of the titles that formed the core of my collection. I’ve since sold a bunch of the older ones, keeping mostly the ones from the Peter David, Dale Keown run. If you haven’t read Peter David’s Hulk, go out and find a trade now. It is worth the money, believe me. For that matter, go out and find his original X-factor run as well. Strong Guy. lol.

I’ve slowly been getting back into comic collecting, but having been gone from the hobby for so long, I don’t really know where to start. For one thing, there are only a few real comic book shops here, and selection of back issues is limited. I could probably order TPBs of past story arcs, but I’m a lazy bastard. Plus I’ve heard that since Loeb took over writing chores for the Hulk titles, things have gone downhill. Blatant marketing driven plots, insipid storylines, and weak characters have made the books something to avoid.

But I can’t resist this Red Hulk.

The first I heard about it was when the Red Hulk set of Marvel Legends were announced. I was like lolwhut? Red Hulk? why? Then Marvel started plugging this guy like he was their next Wolverine. We saw 2 more figures of him pop up, some other merchandise, and a ton of comic book covers on the shelf with his face growling at me. I forked over 30 pieces of silver and my right testicle to get myself an exclusive Red Hulk Legends set, then set about trying to procure his diminutive little brother from the Universe line.

The Marvel Select figure was the only one I was on the fence about. If you remember my Thor review, I’m not really a fan of Diamond’s Select line. They’re a lot like McFarlane Toys; sure they’ve got some nice sculpts, but I’m looking for toys, not statues. So when the Hulks first hit Comic Odessey, I wasn’t too excited, especially knowing how in demand they were from the hype on our local toy boards.

I changed my mind several months later when 2Rats brought in a shipment of them. I saw them at Toy Kingdom on a day when there wasn’t anything else on my radar. Figured since I don’t actually have a centerpiece for my Hulk collection (Raging Hulk where are you?), I could get them both as display pieces. They were a little more than what they had sold for at Comic Odessey (Php 1,500 for the green and Php 2,000 for the exclusive red), but at least I got SM Advantage card points. yay.

I won’t go over the packaging again since I covered it in the Thor review pretty well. Suffice to say it is one of the best boxes I’ve seen in my days as a collector, right up there with the Sigma 6 footlockers.

The two hulks are pretty much identically placed in the package. Nothing fancy, just standing there. They remembered to change the blurbs and graphics on the back, which is a plus.

The biggest difference between the two figures is the head sculpt. In fact it is the ONLY difference aside from the paint. The two bodies are made from the same mold, with the veins and bulges all in the same place.

The formost reason I didn’t want to get these two figures is the head sculpt. It’s awful. Really. Even saying that the sculptors were going for a more realistic look as opposed to the cartoony look of the Mcguinness inspired Legends figure, it’s still a fail in my book. Both of them look haggard, with sunken cheeks and eyes. Sort of like some kind of monster drug addicts, strung out and mad as hell about it. Green has the worst of it since the artisans decided to give him that old messy bowl cut.

The heads are connected to the rest of the body by a ball joint. It works pretty well; it allows both of them to look left and right,unlike their Marvel Universe counterparts.

Unfortunately, that’s about the only thing he’s got the smaller figures. The rest of his articulation is as lacking as the 3.75 scale toys. The arms are decent, with a generous range of motion at the shoulder, some at the elbow, with a swivel at the wrist. He has a waist cut that allows him to turn.

But when you go below that, things start going sideways. I don’t know why they sculpt Hulk with these bulbous legs. They aren’t really needed to sell the character are they? Hulk Smash. To do that, he needs his fist. Sure he can jump miles at a time, but does he really need thighs as big as his chest to do it?

Those sculpted muscles really block the movement of his legs, just as they do in the Universe toys. Don’t plan on getting your Select Hulks to do much of anything but stand around and grimace since those hips and knees are virtually useless.

I do, however like the sculpt of the back. The back of this figure is just awesome with big bursting muscle straining against skin. I bet he could knock someone out just by flexing his Teres Minor.

If that’s what floats your boat, you’ll want to get the green one. Paint apps on the green guy seem to be more complicated with more dry brushing. Diamond seemed to be satisfied with a subtle wash on the red one, so you don’t see a lot of the detail.

The only accessories they have is the small relatively flat plastic base. It’s sculpted as an impact crater, cast in red or green, then painted. Compared to some of the other Select stands, it just doesn’t compare, but then the mass of the figures makes the sacrifice understandable.

At the asking price these things go for and with the problems with the sculpt, I wouldn’t really recommend them for anyone other than Marvel Select completists and Hulk enthusiasts.

They’re both big figures, with some nice details, but when it comes down to it, you’re better off spending your money on a nice bust or a good sized statue of th Hulk than these not-so-much-action-as-half-hearted-activity figures.

Thanks to Cibo Marco for the shopped pic.