Classic Avengers

(Marvel Universe Multipack)

Height: Thor approximately 12cm to top of helmet. Iron Man 11.5cm tall. Hulk 12cm tall. Ant-Man 2cm tall. Wasp 2.5cm tall, 3.5cm with wings.

Articulation:
Thor - 23 points total- ball-jointed neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, bicep swivel, hinged elbow, swivel wrist; mid-torso ball joint; swivel waist; 5 points each leg: ball-joint hip, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Iron Man - 24 points total- ball-jointed neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, universal-joint elbow, swivel wrist; mid-torso ball joint; 6 points each leg: universal-joint hip, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Hulk - 25 points total- universal-joint neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, bicep swivel, hinged elbow, swivel wrist; mid-torso ball joint; 6 points each leg: ball-joint hip, thigh swivel, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

No points of articulation on Ant-Man and Wasp.

Colors:
Thor: Molded black, red, yellow, blue, and fleshtone. Painted silver, red, black, white, and blue.

Iron Man: Molded pearlescent yellow. Painted gold and black with orange-gold paint wash.

Hulk: Molded (green)fleshtone. Painted purple, black and white with dark green paint wash.

Ant-Man and Wasp: Molded red, transparent pink (wings, Wasp) and clear plastic (wings, ant). Painted black, gray, blue, silver and fleshtone.

Accessories: Hammer, Cape (Thor), flying ant (Ant-Man).

Release Data: Released at retail August 2011 at an MSRP of $19.99. Available slightly earlier from online stores.

Author: RAC

(more...)


Brought together by the trickery of the evil god Loki and bonded by their mutual heroism, these mighty adventurers form the core of what will become the world’s greatest team of Super Heroes. Separately, each is incredibly powerful, with advanced technology, ancient magic, and endless strength on their side. Together, they are the unstoppable Avengers!

Opinion on the work of Jack Kirby goes in cycles- reading former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter's website showed me that. Shooter recalls how an auctioneer at San Diego Comic-Con in the mid `70s tried to start the bidding on a Kirby sketch at $5, and Shooter was so offended that he bid $200. And then shortly thereafter Kirby was beloved again, thanks largely to Neal Adams' well-intentioned crusade to get the man what he was worth.

But nothing lasts- judging from many of the people I talk to on Twitter, public opinion of Kirby seems to be back in the $5 range again. Which is fine- I know what I like, so do they, it's all good. But one comment did stick with me: "Jack Kirby couldn't get hired in comics today." Who is that supposed to be an insult to, precisely? There are an awful lot of extremely talented people who can't get work in comics today, and that says very little by itself about their abilities. If you believe that little cliques of creative people hire exclusively on merit and skill, go watch a season of Project Runway and get back to me.

Maybe if he could've learned to do ugly, unclear art with inappropriate-to-the-scene facial expressions traced from inappropriate-for-children pictures, he'd still be relevant.

What does that little rant have to do with today's review? Everything: the Marvel Universe Classic Avengers boxset is a Jack Kirby boxset. Specifically, it is a boxset designed entirely around the original Kirby-drawn lineup of the Avengers from the first two issues. It can't be any later than those, as by issue #3 the Hulk has left the team and Iron Man has donned his first suit of red and gold armor. By #4 the roster includes the freshly-thawed Captain America. So this is a very specific boxset, and while none of these figures are entirely new(except Ant-Man and Wasp), the figures have all been given very specific likenesses to suit the set.


Thor

While this is my first copy of this Thor body and I'll review it as such, it comes from Secret Wars Thor, and was used again in the Wal-Mart exclusive Goliath/Thor boxset as Ragnarok, AKA "Clor," AKA "the robot/clone of Thor that killed Goliath." (Eagerly awaiting the Elektra/Bullseye and Gwen Stacy/Bridge playsets, Hasbro!) The head is new, of course, and it's totally Thor circa Avengers #1. The shape of the face, the shape of the helmet wings, the way the hair falls... Kirby Thor all the way. Splendid! The one weird thing about it is that it seems to have a yellowish tint on his jaw, as though they were trying to emulate some extremely blonde 5 o' clock shadow. Or maybe I just got one with bad paint, though one other site with pictures showed a similar yellowness of jaw. I'm not sure it works, but it's such a light color it doesn't show up too badly in normal light. Other than the head it could be any version of Thor; it's specifically a minor amount less broad than Kirby's version on the cover of Avengers #1, but I'm probably the only person insane enough to want Kirby-accurate musculature. (Well, maybe not- Darwyn Cooke was using Kirby stylings in a lot of aspects of his New Frontier artstyle, and so I have my Kirby-style figure... it just happens to be a Golden Age Batman. Yeah.)

The head is of course restricted by Thor's hair, but does turn to either side to a fairly natural degree. He can look up a bit, but not too far because, again, hair. The shoulders get above average range, and the arms are able to be raised above neck-level. Thor's cape manages not to restrict their swivel, even! The arms are the Marvel Universe style, with a bicep swivel and a single elbow joint. The elbow gets 90 degress, so that works. As opposed to an open hand, Thor gets a gripping hand for his hammer. Plus of course a closed fist for the punching. The torso joint works pretty well here, with a good and noticeable level of tilt in all directions. Thor's belt is a separate, molded piece, and it looks a lot better that way, far as I'm concerned. Hips are the ball-joint type, and as with Secret Wars Iron Man the shape of the joint means the legs never move straight forward. But their range is otherwise good though I'm missing the later thigh swivels. The knees are double-jointed, and don't double over fully because that'd be impossible, bulky as Thor's thighs are. The ankles swivel fine and lean forward and back a bit, but they're definitely not the best ever.

Let's call Thor's cape an accessory for the sake of this review! It reminds me a lot in shape of General Grievous' cape... but fortunately not so in execution. Instead of locking around Thor's neck, it plugs into his back at two different points. (I'll have to check and see if Thor can wear two GI Joe backpacks at once.) It is a bit restrictive, mostly in the legs, but it looks good at least. The other accessory is of course Thor's hammer, which is pretty small. I'm pretty sure it's varied from artist to artist, but this version is about the right size for its appearance on the cover. It also has, in microscopic, barely-legible text, the famous inscription. It fits his hand well enough that I'm not worried about it going anywhere. And if you want him to hold it by the leather thong (Yes that is really what it's called) as if to spin it or fly, the loop is wide enough to get it wrapped around one finger at least. Not super-secure, but doable.


Iron Man

From the neck down, this is the Very Good First Appearance Iron Man from last year's Iron Man 2 toyline, except repainted in gold as Tony did in his very second appearance. From the neck up, we have a new head that reflects Jack Kirby's version of Iron Man, with the domey, chinless helmet leading into a high collar and the antenna that was left off of the previous toy. It's not ideal that the antenna's stuck onto the side of the collar as it is- it should be over a little further and sticking straight up out of the shoulder. Also there's the minor problem that the suit still has the various nicks and dents that looked much more congruous with the rusty finish of the original release. It really is a very minor thing, but I can't help thinking Tony would try to get all the imperfections out of the body before he sprayed the whole thing gold. But this is a remold, and there are limits to what you can do. It's a lot more accurate and less ugly in its remolding than the IM2 Silver Centurion, I'll give it that. Speaking of limits, this figure also lacks the skirt Kirby gave Iron Man. Yay! Not that I wouldn't like a more accurate figure, but plastic skirts kill hip articulation, as Red Skull has proven. Beyond that, the big difference is that he looks a bit less chunky than Kirby Iron Man, being based as it is on Adi Granov artwork. But it's not bad.

The head on mine was good and stuck when I got it- again, people might say this isn't "paint-lock," but it's most frequent on figures with heavy washes, so... Even once it's unstuck, you'll probably have to keep a finger on the collar piece to keep the antenna from turning with the head. Naturally, such a head is swivel only. The rest of the articulation is identical to the original review. The golden color is accomplished with what I'm thinking is gold paint over yellow plastic, with a red-orange wash to deepen the color. Like most paint washes it also pools around various details, making it look like Iron Man was wallowing in Cheetos before taking on Loki alongside the others.


Hulk

Many artists have done their takes on the original Frankenstein Monster-esque Hulk face, usually exaggerating it further than Kirby did. This face isn't the most extreme example of that I've seen, but it does remind me of McFarlane's gray Hulk as much as Kirby's Hulk. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned up in that capacity. As you'll notice, Hulk is wearing purple trunks here instead of his usual shredded pants- this is another detail that maps to the Avengers #1 cover. The musculature isn't Kirby, as is to be expected. But interestingly enough this isn't a reuse of a previous Hulk figure, but a Juggernaut! Juggernaut's about the same height as the "normal" MU Hulk as far as I can tell, maybe a bit shorter. But he's actually less muscular, as in the `60s they hadn't exaggerated his physique to the current degree. (Kirby was actually closer to reality here, which is rare.)

Apparently Juggernaut was a new enough body that the neck is a universal joint (or has been replaced with one, since his domey helmet wouldn't benefit from it much), so the swivel and tilt are both great. The shoulders get the arms 90 degrees to the sides, and the bicep swivels are fine in some poses, but because of the size of Hulk's arms they intersect with the torso in some poses. Because Hulk's arms are so muscly, his elbow doesn't get quite to 90 degrees. The wrists swivel, and Hulk has two fists as opposed to a fist and an open hand. Because he's the Hulk. The torso joint tilts equally well in all directions. The ball-joint hips are kind of small- they're not too difficult to move, but their ability to hold up over time concerns me. The thigh swivels work with no problems. The knees don't bend all that far compared to, say, Iron Man- see the comment on biceps above. The ankles have great tilt, and since he has big hulky feet, he's extraordinarily stable. I think I'm more than fine with this as the default Hulk in my collection.


Ant-Man(with Flying Ant) and Wasp

Lucky for Hasbro that two of the founding Avengers could shrink, or they'd never have been able to do this set as a $20 3-pack. Lucky for me too! All three fixed-pose figures are sculpted and painted pretty well considering their sizes.

Henry Pym is one of those characters that people have spent forever trying to find something to "do" with, changing to a new superhero identity, or flipping his shrinking power on its head to make him Giant-Man or Goliath... and his one most memetic traits- spousal abuse -is largely the accident of an artist who went a little too far beyond the writer's intent. But this is before all of that, back when he was just Ant-Man. Hank is a tiny little figure a bit taller than a half-inch, and is squatting a bit so he can ride his flying ant. It's not enough to just shrink to be called Ant-Man, after all- his helmet gives him the power to communicate with ants telepathically. Going by scale to the other figures in the set, Hank grew the ant when he shrank himself since I'd put this as being a 1/1 scale ant. Look at it next to Thor's hand and you'll see how freakishly huge it is.

While Janet Van Dyne (later Pym and then Van Dyne again) has never had the same identity problems as her husband-to-be, she went through a lot of costumes- this of course being the first, with its red tunic over a black bodysuit with silly-looking "This is what the 1950s thought the future would look like" headpiece. Reading her Wikipedia article makes me realize that Pym Particles are probably right up there with GN Particles as Most Magical Pseudoscience Ever. All the powers she had to use through the use of Hank's gadgets ultimately became available to her naturally- convenient! Those include the same growth/shrinking powers Ant-Man has, but also a pair of wings which only appear when she shrinks, as well as bioelectric "sting" blasts which began as mechanically-aided things but ultimately became ingrained because of repeated exposure to Magic Minovsky Particles GN Particles Pym Particles.

Wasp, having no need to hitch a ride with an ant to fly, is scupted in a typical flying pose- though not the one on the cover of Avengers #1. (Neither is Ant-Man for that matter, seeing as how he's riding two ants there. Two ants without wings. Through the air.) Her wings are pink, which does map to the cover but was a feature I'd forgotten entirely. She's also sculpted a bit larger than Hank, and I have to wonder if that was intentional.


Closing Remarks

First off, by current market prices $20 and tax is quite good for three figures and three mini-figures small enough to be called accessories. Secondly, they all look good and while none of them are perfect, their idiosyncrasies don't break any of the three main figures. Finally, I really love artist-specific figures, especially when they're of an artist I really like. Breaking it down by figure, I'd say Hulk is Very Good, Iron Man is just as Very Good as he was last year, and Thor falls more towards Good. For my personal tastes, this set is Very Good as a whole, and on the verge of Excellence.  If you don't like Kirby, don't expect to get as much out of it. If you do? You're in for a treat.

-RAC