Hercules!
Sometimes (rarely), random trips to the craptastic Walmart by work pay off. Case in point: Today they had a case worth of the new Hasbro-produced Marvel Legends up. Only one of each, and apparently no chasers in this lot. Only picked up Hercules, as the rest of the wave... Fails to impress. Quick thoughts:
The plastic quality is noticably better than ToyBiz's, surprising no one. Firmer, denser, and just all-around less cheesy feeling, with a lot less of the mold flash and scarring that the TB stuff tended to have. Almost all of the joints work perfectly, which again is a departure from the TB experience, with nothing stuck or painted shut. Speaking of paint, it also seems to be improved, although I didn't have duplicate figures to compare. There's still problems; Herc's beard isn't painted in quite right, and they added some painted vein detailing on his arms (in addition to the already molded-on veins) in a disturbingly varicosy color, and the boots just don't match the strappypants at all. But none of the case I saw had the leperous splotching and so forth that the TB stuff all too often had, so that seems promising. The only really negative aspect is that he can't hold his mace at all well. He has knuckleless gripping hands, but they're just slightly too large for the mace's handle. But the loop on his belt holds it perfectly, so it doesn't really matter too much. One oddity is the lack of toe joints and peg holes for a stand; I didn't notice those until I got him out of the package, so I didn't check and see if the others in this wave are the same. And speaking of the packaging, it's kinda crappy. As is the total lack of a pack-in comic. And the two buck price hike. But hey, at least the joints fuckin' well work!
In-package impressions on the rest of the wave: X3 Beast looks quite nice, if that's your thing. Green Scar Hulk is kinda strange, if just for the super-craggy face. Banshee looks a lot, lot better in person than he ever looked in prototype shots, which is a complete reversal from the norm, although the one I saw could've used better paint on the teeth. Unless they're supposed to look rotten. Ultimate Iron Man looks a lot worse in person, particularly the undersized and strangely waxen Tony Stark head. And, last and most certainly least, Emma Frost looks even more like Ann Coulter than the proto. Stick thin, strangely tall, pinched, axish features, lank blonde hair... It's Ann to a T. All you need is to kitbash a little black slutdress and it'd be dead on. I have to assume this was some sculptor's bad joke, considering that it's pretty much the opposite of how Emma's been depicted since, well, ever.
As for the Build-An-Annihilus, well... The prototype's colors already looked weird. The final seems to have the lavender-y bits (gloves and torso) cast in a very... pink... plastic. It's quite odd.
The downside to finding these guys is that it makes my already futile hopes for finding the ToyBiz MODOK series chasers even dimmer. Pretty much all of the Walmarts and Targets that I hit, never big supporters of the line to begin with, have completely dropped the TB stuff and devoted the pegs to the Hasbro lines in their post-Xmas resets. That just leaves TRU, and the one that I hit regularly got in a bucketload of chaseless Mojo and MODOK cases right after the holidays, so I'm not expecting to see anything there soon or ever. Thus, if anyone happens to find the chases for Captain Marvel (Genis), Thorbuster Iron Man (Destroyer), or either of the long-haired versions of the Wasp, I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium for 'em.
The plastic quality is noticably better than ToyBiz's, surprising no one. Firmer, denser, and just all-around less cheesy feeling, with a lot less of the mold flash and scarring that the TB stuff tended to have. Almost all of the joints work perfectly, which again is a departure from the TB experience, with nothing stuck or painted shut. Speaking of paint, it also seems to be improved, although I didn't have duplicate figures to compare. There's still problems; Herc's beard isn't painted in quite right, and they added some painted vein detailing on his arms (in addition to the already molded-on veins) in a disturbingly varicosy color, and the boots just don't match the strappypants at all. But none of the case I saw had the leperous splotching and so forth that the TB stuff all too often had, so that seems promising. The only really negative aspect is that he can't hold his mace at all well. He has knuckleless gripping hands, but they're just slightly too large for the mace's handle. But the loop on his belt holds it perfectly, so it doesn't really matter too much. One oddity is the lack of toe joints and peg holes for a stand; I didn't notice those until I got him out of the package, so I didn't check and see if the others in this wave are the same. And speaking of the packaging, it's kinda crappy. As is the total lack of a pack-in comic. And the two buck price hike. But hey, at least the joints fuckin' well work!
In-package impressions on the rest of the wave: X3 Beast looks quite nice, if that's your thing. Green Scar Hulk is kinda strange, if just for the super-craggy face. Banshee looks a lot, lot better in person than he ever looked in prototype shots, which is a complete reversal from the norm, although the one I saw could've used better paint on the teeth. Unless they're supposed to look rotten. Ultimate Iron Man looks a lot worse in person, particularly the undersized and strangely waxen Tony Stark head. And, last and most certainly least, Emma Frost looks even more like Ann Coulter than the proto. Stick thin, strangely tall, pinched, axish features, lank blonde hair... It's Ann to a T. All you need is to kitbash a little black slutdress and it'd be dead on. I have to assume this was some sculptor's bad joke, considering that it's pretty much the opposite of how Emma's been depicted since, well, ever.
As for the Build-An-Annihilus, well... The prototype's colors already looked weird. The final seems to have the lavender-y bits (gloves and torso) cast in a very... pink... plastic. It's quite odd.
The downside to finding these guys is that it makes my already futile hopes for finding the ToyBiz MODOK series chasers even dimmer. Pretty much all of the Walmarts and Targets that I hit, never big supporters of the line to begin with, have completely dropped the TB stuff and devoted the pegs to the Hasbro lines in their post-Xmas resets. That just leaves TRU, and the one that I hit regularly got in a bucketload of chaseless Mojo and MODOK cases right after the holidays, so I'm not expecting to see anything there soon or ever. Thus, if anyone happens to find the chases for Captain Marvel (Genis), Thorbuster Iron Man (Destroyer), or either of the long-haired versions of the Wasp, I'm willing to pay a reasonable premium for 'em.