Oh we need Hydra troops.

Great looking line all the way.

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Additional thoughts looking at the pics of the actual figs:
A) Very please overall, altho there's a few choices I wouldn't have made were I making the *perfect* line.
B) No ball neck for the Hulk? WEAK. Also , his ankles make him look like he's got elephantiasis.
C) I'll probably be sticking with my custom DareDevil, lol.
D) Closed fists are lame, so are glued-in pumpkin bombs.
E) Since these are made by Hasbro, what's the hold-up in giving ball hips to SW figs and a waist swivel to 25A Joes?
F) There better damn well be a modular Flying Bathtub FantastiCar in my future, dammit.

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Here's a early review:


A little review from Rob @ Raving Toy Maniac forums:

Hey folks,

I just had a chance to play with the new Hasbro Marvel 3-3/4" figures and I wanted to chare some initial impressions. They had 4 of them - Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Punisher and Iron Man. We were able to open all but the Punisher, so I messed around with Spidey, the Surfer and Iron Man.

One caveat - they are production samples (i.e. from the factory) but early ones, so I don't expect them to differ when they come out. But, early productions samples are usually very carefully controlled, so the paint is going to be perfect on these where once production begins there could be changes.

The designer behind these at Hasbro is an ex-Toy Biz guy so he has the right mindset to begin with. The figures were packaged and the cards are small but they have a clean and simple design to them. They had little fact cards and such with them.

The figures are an improvement on the Showdown figures. The joints are tighter and the arms and legs do not come off easily (at all really). They still have the ball-and-socket joints for the shoulders and thighs, but they are using abs plastic vice pvc, so the joints are tighter and stay tight (i.e. they do not come off).

The figures had double-jointed knees, hinged ankles (Spidey had a ball and socket type ankle that hinged and swivelled), ab sockets (they twisted at the abs not the waist and could bend at the abs), elbow hinges, twisting wrists, ball jointed shoulders, bicep twists and ball-and-socket neck joints.

They had great range of motion, all had good paint and no stuck or overly loose joints. They are very well sculpted (Dave Cortez, Phil Ramirez and Sam Greenwell worked on these) and the details are great, even with the smaller size.

The Surfer has pegs to put him on the board (included) but they didn't fit as snugly as I would have liked. I think the hinge for the double joints on the knees was PVC, so it is softer and the SUrfer looked a little bow-legged.

They seemed to stand okay, but there was a table cloth so I can't really speak for how stable they will be long term is standing on a shelf.

At first glance, these are better than the Mattel DC figures in terms of sculpting and articulation and detailing/paint. I think they will end up being $2-3 more when they hit retail in March, so this may hurt consumer (kid) sales when they come up if the DC figures stay at $5. Collectors will likely complain and then buy them anyway.

They are very nice, though. Better than the Showdown figures and they have a good design and play factor to them.

As a side not, I think someone might have pilfered the Surfer (sans his board) from the little dinner they were at. I don't know who did it, but wouldn't you rather have Spider-Man or Iron Man?

-Rob

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Twist at the abs & not at the waist?! Just like the 25th Joes. WEAK!
What is up with Hasbro not adding waist articulation? The Showdown figures have that at least.

The review keeps me optimistic.
Can't wait for march!

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Funny thing is the news said they expect the price of oil drop quite a bit at the end of the year. Does that mean the price of toys will drop?

Nope.

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Walmart:
$6.94 for Star Wars figures with Build-a-Droid part.
$6.63 for lousy Clone Wars animated figures.
$6.84 for 25th Joes
So these Marvel figures will probably be $6.94.

I would like to see some of these next to some of the better Showdown figures. Like Silver Surfer, is the Showdown figure skinnier or about the same size?

I wouldn't mind paying that for figures with quality construction and paint. Heck, Showdown figures were $9 at first and the quality didn't get much better until the end of the line. I of course would rather have them cheaper.

I didnt even ponder it till it was mentioned, but perhaps there is a chance of a Beta Ray Bill. That would kick tail sooo bad.

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Can anyone say... Army Builder HAND ninja packs?

Snakes and stormy should be BUSAY!

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these are cool. I like them alot.Joes are better but these I'm gonna get me some.
Here is my wish list
Hawkeye,warlock,Firelord, Nova,Thanos,Gambit,rogue,Cable,warpath,shatterstar,Black cat, deadpool,archangel,kazar and shanna.

What I plan on doing is to buy all the ones I want (sorry, wave 1 Wolverine...), and if it's a character I already have from Showdown, just swap them out. That way, my 4" Marvel display will still be diverse enough with all the different characters, and I'll be able to slowly upgrade to the Hasbro versions as they are released. I hope that we get some sort of playset in the future, and I hope it's not a retooled Mustafar playset A Danger Room would rock!

Really liking what I'm seeing so far!

If they release that Wolverine figure in brown and orange, I will probably be compelled to buy multiples of it...

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These seem perfect to me. They're essentially 25th Superheroes, which means I'll be buying at least one of each and army building whatever bad guys they release.

AWESOME!

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