Marvel Legends Silver Surfer (Hasbro Ronan Series)
Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com/reviews/item/103 on Mar 10, ‘09 8:37 AM
In the world of toy collecting, you win some and you lose some. And sometimes fate decides to use you as a punchline.
When I first found Silver Surfer on the Toy Kingdom shelves, I was overjoyed. I had found the two hardest figures to secure from the so-so Hasbro Marvel Legends Ronan Build-a-Figure wave! At Suggested Retail Price! Hoarders be damned! Now I could lay back and wait for the rest of the figures (which are more so… than SO!) to go on sale.
I am fate’s bitch.
Apparently, the figures weren’t ever gonna go on sale. By the time I caught on to this fact, collectors were snapping up the other figures left and right. Namor, poof. Invisible Woman, poof. Thing, poof. So here I am with my lone Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom, but no Ronan. I picked up Mr. Fantastic and Moleman in time, but there’s no hope for the last three. I still can’t brign myself to pay P800.00 for that Super-Saiyan Johnny Storm though.
Still, getting my hands on Silver Surfer was great. I had been wanting to get a Marvel Legends Series 5 Surfer (the one with the magnetic feet), but was always bothered by his alien looks. Then Hasbro came out with this one.
The figure is the best one Hasbro has released since they got the Marvel license in 2006. Despite being a little short (in 6″ scale, he’s probably about 5′9″ or so), the figure sports the incredible joint system that made Marvel Legends the toy line to beat in it’s Toy Biz heyday, but with an entirely new sculpt. It’s no wonder people were hoarding this figure left and right once it was realeased. The blank body, bald head, and excellent articulation make for a hell of a custom figure base.
The only real problem (if you want to call it that) with him is the hands, since they’re basically sculpted in a static pose that is obviously meant to be used for poses where he is surfing. But then again, he’s not the Silver Salesman. Marvel didn’t name him the Silver Shoemaker. I didn’t pay money for the Silver Stoner. I wanted a Silver Surfer. That’s exactly what Hasbro gave us.
If you have a Bulid-a-Figure Galactus from the Marvel Legends Series 9, he’ll look great displayed next to him. If you were able to complete your Fantastic Four from Hasbro’s Ronan wave he’ll also go well with them. If you are rich beyond the dreams of the common man and can afford a Sideshow Galactus Legendary Scale Bust… well then you probably already have him. For the other people, grab him if you can find him. He is one of the real “must haves” from any of the Legends lines.
Marvel Legends Nemesis Wave
Originally posted at http://slangards.multiply.com/reviews/item/121 on Apr 15, ‘09
How long has it been since we started posting on the “HML 4 HOLOCAUST Series” thread on the PinoyToyKolektor forums? It started in 2007 and reached 100 pages before this series was released locally. I was already prepared to let go of Marvel Legends and start concentrating on other lines when we finally got the announcement that this was finally coming to the toy stores.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay Red Hulk Wave prices for these babies. Instead of p9k, I shell out p6.4k. As someone recently pointed out to me, (in mocking tones) “that’s expensive”. To which of course I replied, (in geeky pontificating voice) “No it’s not! That’s only p800 per figure. I paid almost p1,300 each for my Red Hulk figures. I’m actually saving here!”
If I try really hard I almost believe it.
I still love the packages on the Hasbro Marvel Legends. If you’re careful, you can open 2 sides of the clamshell, pull out the tray and get access to the figure and Build-A-Figure (BAF) piece without destroying the card. If you like displaying toys in their packages, you can slip them right back in anytime. Of course, if you’re an MOC collector, these still suck since they are so easily damaged. Virtually all units that are available in retail outlets here have bent cards since the series is being sold by set only and is wrapped up tight in a plastic bag.
Let’s go in order of suckage to awesomsauce. First up is Beast. I know, I know. Say what? Everyone and his mother wants to get an Astonishing X-Men Beast. It’s the reason half of them bought it in the first place! I say unto thee, *phbbbt*! He is the suck.
He is everything I hate about the things Hasbro changed in the Legends line. Sloppy paint, mediocre sculpt, and awful AWFUL articulation. The one here has decent paint (though the lines still aren’t clean), but I saw a few examples with really crappy color bleeds. Being unable to really pick and choose a nice one makes it even worse.
If you place him next to the X-Men Classics Stealth Beast variant, you’ll see what I mean by sculpt. Even if you don’t take the paint wash into consideration, the older one looks much more realistic. This one looks like it was just won at a carnival. If I had the skill, I’d rather custom my own from the XMC beast.
His articulation is unbelievably bad. Really horrendous. The poses you see are the extent of his ability, really. Sad, considering he’s supposed to be ultra agile. Going from head to toe: His hair makes head movement non-existent. His hip joints are blocked by the pants so movement is limited. Lack of thigh cuts or their equivalent means he’s contained to having his legs open wide, in a half-assed lotus position, and standing. He doesn’t even have the weird ball/hinge joint Hasbro seems to be so proud of.
Next up is Black Bolt.
I hear he’s one of the big characters in the MU right now, with a new title, War of Kings coming out, so it’s another toy a lot of people want. You’d think they would have put more effort into putting out a good product. Not so much. He’s not the total failure that Beast is, but it’s pretty close.
He shares the same body as Adam Warlock, and while I liked that figure, it wasn’t for his body (…it was for his sense of humor! ba dum bum ching!). So old Blackagar Boltagon shares the same articulation problems, but doesn’t get the retro gear or the 80’s do. To make matters worse, his wings look like an afterthought. The one I opened looks awful, with tattered edges right out of the box. If you fold them up, they don’t look right at all. I suggest putting him in a flying position at the top of your shelf and leaving him there for all eternity.
Nova is one of those figures I just can’t decide on. Somewhere between the suck and the meh. I think he’s using Moon Knight’s body, but that’s in the plus category. It’s a great looking design that has tons of articulation. But it looks as if they did some re tooling with it in the hands and feet area. His hands are both articulated, but he can’t make a proper fist. He looks great flying though.
He’s another big deal character in the MU right now, heading up the Nova Corp (this still sounds like total knock off on the Green Lantern Corp). I don’t know why they didn’t put more effort into him.
The next one up is Punisher. This is the figure that made me really want this set. I was never really wowed by the previous punisher toys, but the prototype shots of this one really got me. It’s based on Tim Bradstreet’s version of the Punisher which is very distinctive. He looks a hell of a lot like the Ray Stevenson movie version.
There are two versions in the series, the classic black and white one, and one in camouflage tones and face paint. Since I didn’t have a punisher toy at all, I opened both. There are a few details that I don’t like, but overall it’s a win for Hasbro.
Though he’s got excellent articulation below the waist, there are some missing joints above. One, he doesn’t have a waist. His body turns, but it’s dependent on the stomach crunch joint. It works, but not well. Two, he’s got the stupid Hasbro combination joint for elbows which limits his poses with the guns. Bugger. Another thing is that his skin pics up dirt and stains like nothing I’ve seen since Kingpin’s white coat! It turns grey almost immediately from dirt on your hands. I have to keep cleaning him.
They really should have included a few more accessories with him. If any character needed more gear it’s Frank. In the Punisher #4 cover, he’s got a web-belt and is loaded for bear. A shoulder harness with another pistol, an assault rifle and a few grenades would have made this guy the pick of the litter. It’s gonna be hard finding things that will fit. His hands are sculpted to hold his own guns and other Legends weaponry doesn’t fit, even if they’re in scale. Still, with a little work and some judicious toy hunting, I’m sure I’ll be able to equip both my Punishers for their own little war on crime.
Tigra is the surprise wild card for me. She was going to be one of those that I’d consider selling in a few months, but after trying the toy out, I found that it’s well made with decent sculpt, articulation, and paint.
Next to the other female Legends, I think toy making is coming a long way. It’s really improved from Hasbro’s first attempt with Emma Frost and looks much more natural and feminine. It’s even an improvement on She Hulk from the Fin Fang Foom wave. You need to watch out for paint though. Of the two I saw, one has noticeably cleaner register lines than the other.
Articulation isn’t the best, but if sacrificing a few joints gives you a more feminine figure, then so be it. That may be a double standard, but with female figures, I think sculpt is much more important than adding a double knew joint.
Last, but by far the best… Daredevil.
Since I already had the Frank Miller Daredevil (Face Off), I wasn’t too keen on getting another, but again, it was a nice surprise to find out that this was a great toy that brought together everything. He really is the best of both worlds, retaining the super articulation of Toy Biz, while getting an improved more realistic design.
Daredevil is another character that has gotten quite a few incarnations in plastic. None were ever really that great. You had the Ben Affleck one, the one with the big head, the one from the box set, and the face off one that looks… odd. I’m glad to say that this IS the definitive Daredevil.
The only problem is that the string that connects his billy clubs is loose and tends to get un-tied a lot.
That’s it. One thing. The rest is pure awesome.
Ok, I said last, but I forgot the entire reason this set is a must have; HOLOCAUST… or Nemesis. I like “Holocaust”. It sounds scarier.
This guy is just amazing. He’s not a Pitt sized BAF, but maybe a little bigger than the Red Hulk. Pretty good, size he’s supposed to be a normal sized guy in a suit. The material he’s composed of is a translucent plastic, though not as clear as the one pictured in the test shots released by Hasbro last year. Still, it works great. There are little blurry dots all over that simulate the energy that is supposed to be contained in his suit. Kewlness.
Like the Red Hulk, he shares the same kind of soft ratcheted joints. They don’t “clack!” like the old BAFs anymore. It’s a great improvement. I don’t get scared posing him now. Everything stays in place wonderfully once posed.
He’s got a few surprises. One, he’s got an extra joint on his wrist. Lord knows Hasbro didn’t need to give us one there, but there it is. He also has a removable helmet/faceplate thing. It flips up and back to expose his skeletal remains (which are fully sculpted by the way). yuck. To top it off, his skeleton neck has a compound joint that allows the head to look in any direction! score!
He is surprisingly stable and can hold a bunch of poses that look great with the AOA Sunfire figure. If they had a few more AOA characters, it would be quite a display. BLINK, Hasbro! BLINK!
There are more hits than misses in this set, and if you have p6.4k to drop on toys and are a fan of some of the characters here, I say get it. If all you want is one character, you may need to just wait for a collector to get tired of it and sell it off at a slightly higher price.
Iron Man 2 Concept Series
It looks like Hasbro is finally winding down on one of the funnest lines in their line-up, Iron Man 2. Since the movie’s release in May of 2010, the toyline has been pumping out some choice product and despite the quality issues, you can’t argue that we didn’t get our share of geektastic characters. With sub-lines that covered the movie, the comics, and silly repaints, we got a ton of suits to fill in our armories, and several villains to have Tony fight against.
But now that the new Thor, Captain America, and Avengers movies are looming on the horizon, it’s time to retire the familiar red cards. Since the last few waves have been heavy with comic characters and it’s been almost a year since the film (an eon in Hollywood time), it’s understandable that Hasbro’s gone and filled this wave with a ton of pegwarmers. 11 more “Concept Armors” for your shelf.
While most collectors aren’t going to be lining up to get these re-paints, I’m definitely looking forward to picking them up. After all, you can never have too many Iron Men…
McDonald’s Marvel Superheroes
Happy Meal Toys!
Having learned my lesson about Happy Meal Toy collecting, I usually just buy the entire set in one go as soon as I know they’re out. Otherwise, you’re going to be stuck with every figure in a set EXCEPT the one that was sold out that first day. This often leaves me with 5 or 6 “Burger McDo” sandwiches (cheap sausage burgers with thousand island dressing) and roughly a liter of cola to consume. I’m kind of glad that McDonald’s lost the Disney license because otherwise I’d be doing this on a monthly basis which can’t be good for a body.
This time around, I only had to get 4 of them, which gives my stomach a break. The Marvel Superheroes Happy Meal toys are apparently another continent-exclusive set, with some figures showing up here, and some showing up in other areas of the globe. Maybe they’re all available in the US, but I’m too lazy to search the forum boards for that info, so I’ll leave that to you. All I know is that in the Philippines, we got The Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. The others (Captain America, The Thing, Human Torch, and Silver Surfer) didn’t make it. As far as I’m concerned, we got the better half.
Before I start, I’ll have to warn you that all of these figures have already been sold out for weeks. The Hulk was sold out two or three days after they showed up. If you want them, you’ll need to find them on eBay or find a McDo branch out in the boonies somewhere.
I’ll go from crappiest to coolest. Hello, Iron Man!
He’s way out of scale next to the rest of the toys (admittedly, not much of an issue to the target audience), smaller than the rest of them. He’s also sculpted in a very awkward pose that means there’s not much you can do with him display-wise. Either you need a flight stand for him, or you lay him down on a shelf.
His gimmick is a motor and wheels at his crotch. You put him on a desk, pull him back and he zooms away in a straight line. Bah. I don’t know about you, but it’s my opinion that this only works for toy cars. It would have been better if they had just put him in a firing pose as if he was shooting Repulsor blasts and then stick an LED in his palm. At least then he could interact with the others.
Spider-Man is only slightly better.
The gimmick on this one is even weaker than Iron Man’s. He’s got a magnet in his chest that is meant to allow him to stick to your refrigerator. I say, “meant to” because it DOES NOT WORK. The magnet is so weak that no matter how you pose his arms (set on swivel joints for some ridiculous reason) he tends to slide down the front of your fridge. The plastic is just too heavy for the itty-bitty magnet to support.
Then there are those ridiculous swivels. He’s got one on his neck and on each shoulder. The problem is, he’s posed in such a way that these joints are utterly useless. Plus, inexplicably, he has webs over his hands that look like they are meant to hold suction cups. There are none, which means he looks good only in that one position, which is crawling along some surface.
The reason he wins over Iron Man is that he looks pretty damn good in that position.
Wolverine, though, is worth it. He’s probably the best designed out of all of these guys, with a solid shelf presence, interesting pose and fun action feature, he’d have won out if not for Hulk’s sheer size.
He’s wearing his Astonishing X-Men costume here and is sporting an anime-esque look reminiscent of Joe Mad’s artwork. He’s probably got the most issues with paint since he’s basically half and half, so watch out. His action feature is pop-out claws controlled by a lever on the back. Flip the lever and presto! Bone claws! Push it back and they disappear. In. Snikt! In. Snikt! I was doing this for half a day.
Hulk also has a great action feature and his button is also on his back. Push it and he goes RAAAAUGGGHHH! and flexes his pecs.
Ok he doesn’t go RAAAAUGGGHHH! but you can’t help but say something to that effect when playing with him. There’s a nice snap to it when he pounds his ham fists together and they snap back into place crisply. He’s even scaled pretty well to match a Marvel Universe collection if you can get over his goofy cartoonish looks.
The only problem is that the back of his arms are empty. They basically just left it an empty shell with some cross braces honeycombing it. You can’t really see it if he’s displayed, but you won’t be able to turn him around. And again I suppose it’s not that big a deal to the toys core audience which is why it doesn’t really bother me. It’s definitely the winner and the one that I was on the lookout for when I bought these.
These are the best toys to come out of the MickeyD toy factories in quite awhile now and I’m glad I was able to complete a set. Don’t think I’ll be letting go of these babies anytime soon. Hopefully I’ll be able to find the other 4 someday as well.
Oh my god.
I MUST see this movie! It’s called Enthrian (Robot) and is the most expensive Bollywood film of all time. It was released last year and stars an Indian version of FPJ with a haircut like that dude Fireball from The Running Man.
This shit is bananas!
If you're looking for biased, one-sided views of toys and other assorted geekery, then you're in the right place. If you want objective, you'll need a blog written by someone who isn't an obsessive geek.
These are my views on various toys, movies, places, and things, along with assorted pictures and the the occasional link to stuff I find sufficiently geeky.
Enjoy your stay and leave a comment.
Slangards
I may give you a half-way serious answer.
