Toy Review: Marvel Legends Valkyrie & Hulk

12/2/10

Marvel Legends Valkyrie & Hulk

I have to admit, the breadth of my comic knowledge is very narrow, mainly limited to the brief time that I collected them back in the 90’s. As such, I had no idea who Samantha Parrington is and how she was related to Bruce Banner until I put my considerable Google-Fu and Wiki-jutsu skills to the work.

Apparently, Brunnhilde the Valkyrie had been trapped by The Enchantress and she forced the soul into socialite Parrington’s body and threw the man-hating Brunnhilde at The Hulk. She is supposed to have battled him to a draw, though I don’t see how that happened since the bio at the back of the box clearly states that The Hulk is the stronger of the two, and enjoys invunerability. Anyway, the spell eventually wore off and Sarah returned to normal and walked away.

I know I say this on every Hasbro review I do, but jeez, I wished they’d get another guy to do their toy photography. The way the showcase their figures on the back is just positively dreary. The photos are clear and crisp, but there’s no imagination to it at all. They’re ACTION figures, guys. Make them DO stuff!

The box that this 2-pack is housed in hasn’t seen any changes since the last few times we saw it. It has the same shape and style as the one’s that the Iron Man/Maria Hill figures came in, just with different artwork. Then again, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That box was pretty good the first time around and it hasn’t changed now. It allows you to open the package easily with a pair of scissors to cut some tape and a few rubber bands. No twist ties. Then if you want to store them (or sell them), it’s easy to replace them in the box.

In no time at all, you’ve got our Jolly Green Giant and his playmate out of their plasitc prisons.

Now they FIGHT!

There’s a sticker on the front of the box that labels Valkyrie as “Fans’ Choice Winner!” The whole thing was kind of a crock though, since you know that Hasbro will eventually release all these figures. I mean they took the 3 the fans chose, and paired them up with 3 they didn’t. What’s the point of having the poll?

Well anyway, Valkyrie has been in Hasbro’s pipeline for something like 2 years now. Since back in the days of the first Hasbro Marvel Legends Series. Remember the “Hasbro Elbow?” That swivel-hinge joint they love to use that combines to take the place of a hinge elbow and swivel-bicep but gives the figure half as much poseability? Well it’s back.

Ugh.

Aside from that, this figure’s got all kinds of other problems. There is something wrong with her head, like it wasn’t sculpted to fit this particular body. You notice it most when you pose her with her head facing up, as if there’s a big gap underneath that you can percieve on the edge of your vision.

Another is the lackluster sculpt of her face. She’s supposed to be fighting the HULK for crying out loud. She should have some kind of emotion on her face; a scowl, a grimace, a smirk even. From what I’ve read of this lady’s character, she’s a pistol. She’s not posing in FHM for bikini photos… she’s cutting down the enemies of Asgard.

Fourth, let’s talk about that scabbard… WHAT THE HELL, HASBRO? What was the point of this thing? It’s too small to have fit the sword they gave her, and it’s not even functional, with no hole to slide the sword into. It attaches to her hip via a peg and hole pairing, but the peg doesn’t snap into place and it’s too short. It falls right out if you turn her the wrong way.

The rest of her is pretty plain looking, too, a mix of hit and miss. She’s got sculpted wrist guards, but her arm bands are painted on. Great hip and ankle joints, but awful knees. Fair articulation overall, but terrible balance. Detailed weapons, but plain cape. Good looking hair, but a dull treatment on her costume.

I feel she might have been a good figure when Hasbro was starting with Marvel, but having seen better since, I’ve got to say she’s a dissappointment.

The Hulk however is not.

Let me set something straight. I am heavily biased.

I love anything to do with The Hulk. Toy Biz and Hasbro have put out many many figures of the Hulk (whose costume has essentially always been torn purple pants) and I don’t care if they keep churning them out. If they make them, I will buy them. I bought the entire Fin Fang Foom wave because it had so many Hulks in it. I bought the entire Red Hulk wave so I could build the Build-a-Figure of Red Hulk. I will eventually buy that huge life-sized Hulk statue they have in the Megamall Toy Kingdom branch, see if I don’t!

Now that you know this, it’s no surprise that I got this set. Red Hulk was one of my favorite BAFs and I paid almost Php 9,000 to assemble him. This time, I can get the same figure for only Php 1,800.00!

Well almost the same figure.

There are only 2 differences between the Red Hulk and this figure (dubbed the McGuinness Hulk after artist Ed McGuinness) and those are his color (green, duh) and his new head.

The new head is awesome. Remember what I said about Valkyrie’s plain expression? Well, this Hulk looks as if he’s about to pound someone into the ground, build an outhouse around the hole, and then maybe, just maybe, drop a load of gamma irradiated feces on his head. He LOOKS angry. It could be because he’s got that ridiculous Moe haircut, but you’d have to ask him. Some might not like the cartoony style of McGuinness’ Hulk, but those guys already have the Face Off Hulk to satisfy them. This one is all mine.

The face looks much more human than the Red Hulk’s, who has very tiny, beady eyes, but it’s a great contrast. They look very good together, especially since they both have FISTS. I really hated that slap happy hand that Toy Biz gave Face Off Hulk, and all those halfway fists that the other ones had over the years. This guy’s got proper piledrivers.

They’ve given him some airbrushing to accentuate his musculature. I don’t remember Red Hulk having this extra application. I’m not sure how well it works, but I have to say I like it. He doesn’t suffer that unfinished look that the BAF had, and the plastic doesn’t look as transluscent.

Articulation surprisingly good. This is a large figure for the 6″ scale. That usually means very limited range for the joints, but the figure’s design is such that he’s got an ample amount of room for his limbs to move. It makes for terrific posing options.

Though only 1 of 2 figures in this set are worthy of a recommendation, I’ve got to say that given the fact that The Hulk is so good, and so much bigger than the other 6″ figures, it’s good value. I paid Php 1,000 for the last 6″ Iron Man figure, so Php 1,800.00 for two Exclusives (did I mention these new 2-packs are all Toys R’ Us Exclusives?) isn’t too bad.

I’m hoping that we’ll see more of these sets on the shelves soon.