I know absolutely nothing about “Marvel’s Wrecking Crew”. Honestly I never even would have bought this guy if I didn’t need the Arnim Zola piece. He’s awfully generic.
Actually, that’s not true. He’s very original in that he looks like what would happen if Power Man and Iron Fist had a kid.
To keep this from being the worst, shortest intro in the history of Needless Things, I’m going to do a quick run-down of black folks from the Marvel Legends line.
Ultimate War Machine – I don’t have a picture for the regular one because somebody stole my figure. I suppose because it was so awesome, and it was. This one looks really cool, but is a repaint of Ultimate Iron Man, but with the helmet glued on so they didn’t have to sculpt a James Rhodes head. I need to track down one of the 616 versions.
Blade – Okay, I don’t have a picture for him, either. I had this policy where I wouldn’t buy the movie versions of Marvel Legends because they really didn’t fit in with the rest of the figures. But thankfully Hasbro has a new Blade coming out later this year and he looks amazing.
Deathlok – Go read my review.
And here are a few that I would love to see sometime soon:
Brother Voodoo - An obvious choice, particularly given his recent stint as the Sorcerer Supreme.
Cloak – How has there not been a Cloak & Dagger 2-pack? (and don’t bring up the Marvel Select one because Direct and Mass Market toys do not mix)
Darwin – He was in a movie that was a huge hit and revived a franchise after the destruction caused by one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. He was cool in the movie (though his death sucked and was ridiculous), but Darwin is rad in the comics. Read X-Factor.
Gateway – Please, please, please Hasbro make a Gateway. I know he’s not very exciting to look at, but he is such a HUGE part of the awesomeness of my era of Uncanny X-Men. Plus, he’s back in Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force.
I know I left a few off the list of produced figures and there are a ton more that could be made, but I think that’s enough of an intro. Just wait ‘til I get to an Asian or Hispanic character. Now that is going to be tough.
First Glance: He’s big, but just not very exciting to look at. I’m sure there are plenty of folks very excited to be getting ol’ Thunderball, but I think it’s odd that he would see release before Wrecker; especially considering Wrecker has already been released a couple of times in the smaller Marvel Universe line.
Sculpt: Okay, that’s a great face. Thunderball is angry and chock full of character. I really dig that.
As
far as articulation, he’s got ball joint analogs at the shoulders,
neck, and hips. There are swivels at the biceps, glove tops, waist,
and thighs. His elbows, abdomen, and ankles have pivots and the knees
are double-jointed. Oh, Thunderball also has the stupid Marvel
Legends toe joints, but his aren’t all loose so I’m not going to
hold it against him.
The
head has a decent range of movement and doesn’t have that weird
look that some big man heads do. You know – when the top of the
neck is all tiny but the head is huge. I really like the thigh joints
Hasbro used here. The combination of the swivel/pivot at the hip and
the swivel at the top of the thigh work very well and look nicer than
the standard ball joint (which seems to be a thing of the past) or
Mattel’s awkward hip joints that I didn’t even realize I disliked
so much until Marvel Legends came back. The rest of the joints all
function very nicely and will stay where you put them. The figure is
surprisingly light and well-balanced.
Looks-wise
the sculpt is nice and not as knobby as some other large figures
(Maestro, Bishop, Warpath). All of Thunderball’s parts are
proportionate and match up. I like that his pants have some shape
rather than just being tights. It gives the figure a little more
character. Also helping out in that department is the big, yellow
belt. It’s plain, but the fact that it is a separate piece rather
than being painted on is very important.
The
only thing that puts me off is that Thunderball’s arms and legs
have this weird, lined texture on them that I do not understand at
all, particularly when you consider that his body does not have it.
It looks odd and I’m honestly not sure what the sculptor was going
for. But it isn’t as off-putting as the lines on Bishop and Warpath
(despite sharing some parts, it looks like Hasbro smoothed out the
lines a bit from the Warpath figure).
Design: Thunderball is pretty simple. His lemon/lime design does set him apart from most of the rest of the Marvel Legends (except for Iron Fist) and the paint job is good. There’s not really any shading, but the separation of colors is tight. My figure doesn’t suffer from any blots or bleeding.
The
head looks very good, with the hair color and the yellow of the head
sock maintaining their respective places. This is important when
you’re dealing with black and yellow, as collectors of Mattel’s
extremely spotty Sinestro Corps learned.
Accessories: Thunderball comes with his enchanted wrecking ball, Arnim Zola’s “head” and TV remote(?), and a page of the Arnim Zola narrative that I’ll probably never get around to reading.
The
wrecking ball is a solid piece of plastic. Normally I would say that
I’d prefer it if this thing were on an actual chain, but this
actually works pretty well. The way the weapon was sculpted allows it
to look good either hanging down or being swung through the air.
Thunderball can hold it securely and it looks natural. Also, the idea of an enchanted wrecking ball is hilarious, but not quite as silly as an enchanted crowbar. An enchanted sledgehammer is, apparently, perfectly fine.
Thunderball can hold it securely and it looks natural. Also, the idea of an enchanted wrecking ball is hilarious, but not quite as silly as an enchanted crowbar. An enchanted sledgehammer is, apparently, perfectly fine.
We’ll
get to the Arnim Zola pieces later.
Packaging: A plastic blister taped to a cardboard back. With a couple of exceptions the art on the cardbacks has been better in the second series. This is one of the exceptions. While I do like the fact that both variations of the figure are shown on the card, the art is kind of crappy. Whoever did it took a fairly generic-looking dude and made him look even more dull.
Overall: Thunderball is one of those figures that I wasn’t too keen on initially but once I got him out I ended up liking. He poses very well and looks good on the shelf. He’s sturdy and well-designed – just a good toy. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up buying Piledriver, too, if I ever find him. I can only hope they’ll get around to doing Bulldozer (who actually looks cool) and Wrecker (who is purple and green and therefore a must for me).
4
out of 5
You shouldn’t have a problem finding this guy right now. Pretty much everybody seems to be stocking the second series of new Marvel Legends at this point and Thunderball doesn’t seem to be flying off the pegs from what I’ve seen.
have to admit even though i already have his mu figure. he is not bad for a marvel legend figure. plus love that he comes with his wrecking ball though would have rather hasbro had done the wrecking crew as a boxed set and hasbro has said they do want to do cloak and dagger for they are favorites of the design team.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about the box set. C&D would be a nice SDCC set I think. Better than the garbage Matty just announced, anyway.
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