Toy Review: Marvel Select Abomination

07/31/10

Marvel Select Abomination

I recently joined a toy news and forum called Action Figure Blues. So far it’s been a pretty great site to browse through, with some great reviews of things I’ll never own like the DC Cover Girls Catwoman. One of the awesome things about it is their monthly comment contest where they pick one lucky commenter at random to win their one figure from a choice of 2 from their sponsor, Mike’s Comics N’ Stuff.

This is just an awesome idea.

Especially since I won the one last month.

Now, you’ll have to understand that I NEVER win raffles. When I was a kid, I’d enter every contest I could and never got anything from them, not even a consolation prize. The word random draw scares the shit out of me. I work in sales and there’s these monthly and quarterly raffles in the company where they give away different things like laptops, iPods, entertainment paraphernalia, etc. to top earners. Now I’m in that esteemed group more often than most, but I’ve never won anything of note, despite 5 years with the company.

Except oven toasters. I’ve won 4 of those. I must have pleased the oven toaster gods as a child or something.

Imagine my joy when they guys at AFB said, “Congratulations to AFB Forum member “slangards” for being our randomly selected winner!” The news was even better as the choice that month included a Marvel Select (MS) Abomination which I’d been waiting for since it was announced by Diamond several months back.

Now to explain something. I’m not a guy who’s big on the postponement of gratification. You won’t see any unopened toys in my place because I open them almost immediately. Sometimes I can’t even work up the patience to wait until I’ve taken pictures of the figure in the package, which is what happened in my Iron Man 2 Mark I and Doctor Doom/Absorbing Man reviews, among others. Sometimes I can’t even wait until I get home and open them up in the cab.

Understanding that, knowing that the Abomination figure hadn’t been released in the States yet, and realizing that it would take several weeks to arrive once it had, you can now get an idea about my apprehension waiting for the figure. Then I got word that they’d begun distribution in country. I lasted about 48 hours before I caved and BOUGHT one at SM Megamall.

I know, I know. You’re reading this and saying to yourselves, “What kind of idiot would spend p1,500.00 on an item that he’s already getting in the mail at no charge in a few months?” The answer to that question would be the fat bastard writing this review.

As you can see from the photo above, the packaging for the Select line hasn’t changed from the time I bought Thor and the Red and Green Hulks. It’s a big, oddly shaped, carded bubble, that encloses a tray that is molded around the figure. With the clear views of the figure from three sides, it’s a great way to display the figure on the shelf, but awful if you’re big on keeping them boxes in pristine condition. The corners of these things ALWAYS get dented when they’re on the shelf in retail stores since the plastic bubble is smaller than the card. For the bigger figures, you’re likely to find that the package even popped open due to the weight of the figure inside. Honestly, I don’t know why they even bother with J-hooks on the top of these things. They’d last for about 2 seconds before ripping.

In the case of Abomination, I doubt it would even last that long. This beast is MASSIVE! Diamond has even had to acually place those plastic bands police use as cheap handcuffs all around the perimeter of the bubble to keep it from falling off.

The back is the same as the previous MS releases. Some comic art, big name on the left side, blurb about the character, and some product photography. The photo is pretty boring, but I can’t fault them for it like I do Hasbro because of the fact that this figure can barely move.

Here’s a shot of the stand. I know, right?

COmpared to some of the earlier MS figures, like say, Black Cat, this sucks major, hoary balls. Cat came with a 2-piece reversible backdrop, an unarticulated Spider-Man figure, and a working safe and necklace. This came with a piece of cardboard with a pretty rudimentary sketch and a little bar of plastic to hold it up.

What the f…?

After I got over it, however, I found that it’s a pretty useful little include, if not for the figure it came with. You can use it as a nice display piece behind Marvel Universe (MU) figures or GI Joes. The scene is generic enough that you can use it for pretty much any small scale figure. Just not for this one.

It would have been nice if the backdrop was as big as the entire package, like they used to do with the GI Joe Sigma 6 line, particularly the Adventure Team line. Or they could have included the re-used base from the MS Hulks.

So why buy this?

1) he’s huge.

The figure is BIG and HEAVY. It’s taller and wider than the Marvel Legends (ML) figures so it’s perfect for guys like me who like their villians larger than life. It also fits his bio on the back of the card that says Emil Blonski absorbed far more gamma radiation than Bruce Banner and became bigger, stronger and uglier.

2) he’s insanely detailed.

Honestly, the downfall of the MS Hulks in my book was that their faces were so mushy, they didn’t look human at all. Abomination doesn’t have that problem. He can look as alien as he wants because he’s covered in scales and armor and spikes. Everything is rough and lined. Both the head and body show off this detail to a crazy level.

That detail is what’s made him win out over the old ML Abomination in my book. I bought 4 of those figures because it kept breaking (I’ve got 2 Abominations with no arms). I liked the toy that much, yet this one is still the clear champion.

While the ML has the articulation, this one just looks far more sinister and imposing.

Speaking of articulation, don’t bother asking. There is none.

Or at least very little that is USEFUL. He’s a swivel (or maybe a very limited ball joint) neck, swivel-hinge shoulders, hinge elbows, swivel wrists, a swivel waist, ball-socket hips, hinge knees, and hinge ankles. It sounds like a lot, but because of the limits of each of those joints, they add up to zilch.

This is about all he can do:

The poses that he can achieve just don’t look particulary great. For instance, the neck joint is effectively a swivel, but it’s mounted in such a way that he looks UP when he looks to the side. It’s an unnatural pose.

Similarly, he can raise his arms up, but his lack of bicep swivels and the limits of the elbows mean that it just looks like he’s flapping his arms. This is further complicated by the pose they stuck his hands in. Their neither clenched as a fist, nor spread as if he’s about to lunge with claws. They’re just sort of… relaxed.

Don’t even get me started on the legs.

Looking at the promotional pics, what got me excited was that it looked as if Diamond had decided to add a swivel-hinge ball joint to the hips of the big figures. This would have helped with poseability. Sadly, though the hips are obviously sculpted with that idea in mind, they’re just solid pieces. There’s no thigh cut.

I thought I was done ranting about thigh cuts, but here it is again. Dammit, toy manufacturers. If you’re making action figures, then thigh cuts and bicep swivels should be standard!

The lack of that joint coupled with the severely limited ankle joint with no rocker swivel, means that this guy’s feet won’t stay level with the floor unless he’s in a relaxed standing position. Why then do they even bother INCLUDING articulation?

ARGH! KARATE CHOP!

EAR DRUM PUNCH!

Despite the crap articulation and lack of accesories, I have to reccomend this purchase. It sucks as an action figure, but as a display piece, it’s choice. I mean anything that can stand toe to toe with the Legendary Comic Book Heroes Pitt in terms of detail and size (and beat him in weight), has got to add something to any collection.