Marvel Legends Infinite Series: Captain America - Black Widow

I may be a little late to the party (by a year or so!) with this post and truth be told I meant to get this posted last week. However there are times where the plastic has to be set aside to take care of more pressing "life" matters.

Last year Hasbro changed up their Marvel Legends line. Gone were the large blister bubble packaging, replacing it with a sleek black packing. The Build-A-Figure concept continued as well. The other noticeable change was when you got to the cash register with that figure in hand. Gone was the MSRP of $14.99. These highly articulated action figures now set you back $19.99, in most stores. At times it seems as if the higher price is justified, but that is strictly on a figure by figure basis. Some figures come loaded with accessories, while others lack accessories or gear. If you are just picking up a few figures here and there then the price hike isn't that bad. However if you are chasing the Build-A-Figure, like many do, then this is another $20-$30 depending on how many BAF parts you need.

The other big change of course was going to a overall theme for each wave. The first to receive this treatment was Captain America: the Winter Soldier. The figures in this wave are a good mix of comic and movie universes. I personally loved this wave and kept all the figures minus 2 - the movie versions of Cap and Bucky. For many the big draw of this wave was of course the topic of today's post, Black Widow.

   

I have to say I like the new packaging Hasbro is using here. The inner blister tray can be pulled out allowing you to replace the figure and accessories back inside for display or just for safe keeping. I wanted to keep the packaging intact, but Lord knows I have enough empty toy boxes in my closet as-is.

Black Widow is based on her movie look. I usually skip the movie themed figures, but with her I made an exception. Perhaps it's because the sculptors did a remarkable job of capturing the likeness of one Scarlett Johansson.

Natasha comes packaged with an alternate head and another set of hands. The Build-A-Figure in this series is the S.H.I.E.L.D. Mandroid and you get the torso and shoulder gun.

One of the criticisms lately from Transformers fans has been the watered down bios on the back of the packaging. This seems to have carried over to Marvel Legends as well as you don't get much in the way of learning about the character.

The addition of extra hands and an alternate head is a nice treat, but no weapons? Seriously Hasbro, who thought it was a good idea to release a Black Widow figure and not give her at least one gun?

Black Widow's hair has changed a bit since she first made her debut in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) in Iron Man 2. Personally I think this alternate head is based on her first look - sort of. Her hair was the long initially so the short, slightly curled hair may be a little different, but still looks good. The face isn't bad...but I prefer the straight hair and face sculpt on the other head.

Again, the alternate head looks pretty good once snapped on, but I still prefer the other version. I can't really explain it all that well, but the face just looks a little "off" to me.

While Black Widow may not come with any actual guns for her to wield, her right hand is sculpted to hold a pistol very comfortably. She even has the trigger finger molded to fit the trigger of a gun...if you can find a decent weapon for her. She does however have a gun holsters sculpted on both of her thighs...with guns that she can't remove.

I could be wrong, but I think this is an all new female sculpt for Black Widow. The proportions are nicely laid out and not grossly exaggerated as some female action figures can be. She is sporting high heel shoes as you can see, but the heels are filled in to allow her to stand on her own. Surprisingly I got her to stand without any assistance quite well. That's more than I can say about some other ML female figures (i.e. Gamora).

Natasha is commonly portrayed wearing a black, tight fitting uniform. In the MCU she was given a more practical (and believable?) outfit. While it still shows off her figure, it doesn't leave her upper "lady parts" exposed near as much as many of her comic book outfits. Being that she is working for Fury in the MCU, she appropriately has the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the upper part of her right arm.

     

You tell me, curly or straight hair? Which one do you prefer? Regardless of your hair preference, just look at the face sculpt. The face on the left looks more round while the face on the right look more natural.

The easiest way to remedy the issue of no weapons is to head down to your local Walgreens drug store and see if they still have an Agent Venom figure from the Spider-Man series of Marvel Legends. Flash Thompson comes packaged with two sets of guns, one black set and one gray/silver set. He can't really use all 4 himself so I loaned the gray/silver set to Natasha.

Compared to Black Cat, Black Widow looks so much better. Then again these 2 figures are coming from different angles. While Natasha has been ripped straight from the MCU silver screen, Felicia Hardy has more of that comic book look.

You probably noticed that I didn't really talk about the figure's articulation before now. Doesn't really matter as if you've bought any modern Marvel Legends figure, then you know what you are getting here. You can't really tell from my pictures, but this figure is loaded with articulation. I feel as if this is one of the best female Legends figures to date.

For many months it seemed as if this figure was impossible to find at retail. She commanded $50-$60 on eBay at one point. Then she started popping up more and more it seems and her price came back down closer to the MSRP. With the increased price I can't really say I'd pay much more than retail, but this is one of those figures that deserves to be bought.

the Avengers: Skrull Soldier

Last summer's the Avengers movie was the summer blockbuster most of us fans were hoping that it be.  Of course Hasbro was going to try and cash in with their own series of action figures.  As with the previous two series of Iron Man figures & the Captain America series, the Avengers had figures based on both the movie designs as well as the comics.  I opted to stay away from the movie stuff only because I'm not made of money and just pick up the occasional comic figure.  Over the last handful of years I've grown to really like and appreciate what Marvel has done with their cosmic characters and the stories.  From Annihilation to Realm of Kings to War of Kings and eventually the whole Thanos stuff, the cosmic stuff has had me hooked.  All that said I was excited when I saw that a cool looking Skrull had made it in the Avengers series.

At first glance I loved the figure.  I could tell this Skrull looked like he ate more of his veggies as he seemed "thicker" than the previously released Skrull in the Marvel Universe line.  I wasn't sure what to make of his double-blade axe weapon, but I gave him a chance.

The Skrull Soldier was released in the 2nd wave (?) and most people were actively looking for the Scarlett Johansson Black Widow figure and to some lesser degree, Hawkeye.  At first this figure seemed plentiful, then the supplies started to dry up.  Were fans possibly troop building?

While the included axe weapon looks a little big in the Skrull's hands, it's not a horrible looking weapon.  Although when I think of Skrulls I don't think of them using melee weapons...Super Skrull aside.  The axe can also conveniently be stored on his back, a feature I love.

The blades from the axe can be removed and used for a more hand to hand style combat.  The center of the axe blade has a handle for a figure to grip.  I assume the axe handle can double as a spear type weapon.

I much prefer the new headsculpt over the Skrull that was first released in the Marvel Universe series.  While the blue and purple armor may not suit everyone, I still prefer it over the MU's costume.  It may not be comic accurate, but as I said in my intro the Avengers Skrull just looks beefier.

Do you like the MU Skrull better, but like the Avengers headsculpt?  No problem!  Thanks to the construction of these figures the head simply pops off exposing the ball joint underneath.  Switch the two heads and now you have a more traditional looking Skrull to take on the Fantastic Four or any other Marvel hero.

If you are a fan of Skrulls, cosmic characters or just a big Marvel fan in general then this is a great figure to own.  He blends in well with figures from any of the Marvel movies and with the Marvel Universe series.  Who knows, perhaps this figure's inclusion in the Avengers line of toys is a pre-cursor of what is to happen in Avengers 2?!

2014 Marvel movie announcement!!

Marvel has been working on building a unified movie universe w/ several of their franchises such as Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America and now the Avengers.  If you stuck around for the scene after the credits rolled in the Avengers then you would have seen a character teasing us all for the next Avengers movie...and this movie slated for release sometime in 2014...

Now at this point it's too early to tell which cast of characters the movie will contain.  Will it be the 2008 cast from above or will it have characters from the original comic series?  Two characters that are almost guaranteed to be in the movie will be Nova and Thanos.  Thanos is obvious and Nova is arguably one of the most well know Marvel cosmic characters.  I just hope it's the Richard Rider Nova and not the guy that just showed up in the Avengers vs. X-Men comic.

With Thanos in the movie the comic geek in me says it's a safe bet that Drax the Destroyer will also be in the movie.  If they can make him look anything like Hasbro did w/ his Marvel Legends figure then I'll be a happy camper.

Wow.  I'm still beside myself.  I really didn't expect this.  I was hoping for cosmic characters to get the movie treatment after seeing Thanos in that short scene in the Avengers, but I didn't expect it.  

My brother pointed me to HERE about the announcement.  While it's not officially official yet I'm sure the big news will come at the just around the corner San Diego Comic Con (SDCC).  

These next few years will be full of great Marvel movies.  It's going to be a fun ride to 2014!

We aren't surprised, are we?

 

I guess Marvel realizes they are sitting on a cash cow by now, wouldn't you think?

Free Comic Book Day Haul

This past Saturday (5/5/12) was the annual Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) event.  I'm lucky enough to have a big and equally awesome comic book store located in Charlotte, NC (Heroes Aren't Hard to Find).  Each and every year they do up FCBD big.  In addition to all of the free books available they bring in all sorts of artists to do free sketches.  Yes, free!  Most of these guys and gals don't skimp on the sketches either.  In years past I've gotten some awesome art from Mark Brooks that he easily could've charged $40+ for.

While my interest in comics may have waned a bit I was still excited to attend the event so I took my oldest daughter and met my brother for breakfast before the event.  Other than one book I really didn't know which publishers were participating and what titles would have free books.  I figured Marvel would do something Avengers since the movie and all just launched in the U.S.  Pretty much though I was flying blind.

After we ate we got to the store about 15 minutes after they had opened and the crowd was already out of control.  I'd like to say I had fun browsing the comic racks, but there were so many people in the store I couldn't step back from the rack far enough to see anything that was on display from the middle down.  If the fire marshal had driven by I'm sure the store would've been fined by the sheer amount of people crammed inside.

I did manage to get my hands on a fair amount of free comics for myself and a few for my daughter.  I wanted to browse the discount boxes they pulled out, but both my daughter and I were already tired of being stuck in the crowed so we left and went to Target.  I promised her a new My Little Pony so I had to make good on my promise.

Back to the books.  Here is what I ended up taking home with me.

I have no idea what this book is about, but that's what FCBD is all about - trying new things.  Arcana Comics decided to launch this new title with issue #1 being the freebie.  From a marketing angle I can see this working as plenty of people will read the first issue and many may want to know what happens next and pick up issue #2.

How could I pass up a free Star Wars comic?  I also noticed the Whedon name on the front so I thought why not.

I didn't notice at first, but the Star Wars book is actually a flip book w/ a Serenity story on the reverse side!

Flip the book over and you'll see why I was interested...

Wrath of the Titans baby!  I can't wait to read this one as the cover is awesome looking.  Check out Medusa there in the lower corner.

Never been much of a fan of Witchblade, but it was free and I saw Tim Seeley's name on the cover.  I loved his art from his Devil's Due G.I. Joe days.

Image decided to go with a big flip book packed with stories from several different series - none of which I'm familiar with.

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.  Need I say more?

I became a huge fan of Abnett & Lanning with their various cosmic stories over at Marvel Comics so I'm really eager to read this.  If it's as good as I hope I may have to look into this title as a regular read.

This is the book I was wanting the most...Transformers: Regeneration One.  Simon Furman finally gets to continue the stories he started way back when for Marvel Comics.  I actually already have this book coming to me thru my mail order subscription so Arkvander - if you're reading this and forgot about this book - it's all yours.

I wasn't surprised to see a freebie Avengers book.  From flipping through it while at the shop it appears to be a new story.  Not a fan of Bryan Hitch's cover art though, blah.

I didn't know about this Spider-Man book, but with the new Amazing Spider-Man movie right around the corner this one shouldn't be a big surprise.

Both the Avengers and Spider-Man book have this big ad on the back.  Since I dropped ASM from my reading list last fall I really don't know what this is about...but I'm intrigued.  

Outside of the obvious reasons to be excited about FCBD it acts as a perfect launching pad of sorts for the big annual comic book convention that Heroes also hosts - Heroes Convention.  This year my wife is planning on coming with me to hunt through all those bargain boxes.  I think she is more interested however in getting a hotel room in uptown Charlotte so she can have a night to sleep with no children!  I do look forward to this time we get to spend together and her help will be much appreciated.