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Marvel Select Juggernaut
Diamond Select Toys
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Jin Saotome is back with a look
at a terrific figure from DST - take it away, Jin!
These days the rising costs of figures are hitting collectors hard and
it’s rare that people feel they got their money’s worth. Gone are the
days of $8 Marvel Legends figures or $5 GI Joes. Companies tried to
blame oil prices, and then it was inflation or the economy in general.
There’s often a bit of buyer’s remorse when you shell out over $15 for
a mass-market, average paint app, 6” DC Universe figure these
days. So on the rare occasion when a figure comes out that
meets or even exceeds your expectations related to the price you paid
it’s definitely worth mentioning. Today it’s an unstoppable force.
Today…it’s the Marvel Select Juggernaut by Diamond Select toys! There
are two versions of him, one with the helmet on and a variant without
the helmet. How does this massive force of destruction stand up against
today’s market and discriminating collector eye? Let’s find out.
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Packaging
- **
The
same as the rest of the Marvel Select Packaging, Juggy’s is your basic
reinforced blister card. It’s huge of course to contain his massive
bulk and shows off the figure well including some awesome side-panel
art and a bio about Cain Marko on the back. The problem with the
packaging lies with the figure, he’s just too heavy for the card! Even
though the hook is reinforced with plastic the glue is already
separating and the whole front bubble is literally sagging off the
card.
Some tape will fix that up but you’ll have to do that
yourself as certain companies tape the bubble down but not DS at this
point. Still the packaging gets the job done. I just fear it will
detach over time, especially if you have it standing up or hanging.
Store him flat on his back.
Sculpting - ****
Right on the back it says “Sculpted by Gentle Giant” and boy does their
work shine. GG is the company that sculpts those amazing Mini Busts
Mike is always reviewing and has done many action figure sculpts in the
past.
Juggernaut
is a testament to their skill and displays detail on a level you don’t
really see on mass-market figures these days. If he didn’t have joints
Juggernaut could easily be mistaken for a statue!
The detailed
costume is leathery looking and full of rippling muscle definition.
Juggy’s armor bands and helmet have a hammer-copper look to them and
the bolts on the helmet itself look great. Though the helmet doesn’t
come off you can see his face sculpt underneath full of rage, or is
that sadistic glee? Juggy’s boots are wrinkled and textured, even
having sculpted tread on the bottom.
I was really surprised
with the level of detail here because frankly it looks better than any
of my other Marvel Select figures. Gentle Giant did a wonderful job of
blending the joints in with the sculpt and using very small peg holes
you won’t really notice at all.
Paint
- ****
A great sculpt
can be brought to even higher levels with great paint applications and
that’s what we have here. There’s virtually no slop on Juggernaut with
crisp definition where the bands sit on the skin along with wonderful
looking dark reds/browns used. He has airbrushed shading in all of his
muscles and lighter red highlights in places where they could have just
left him molded in color. His skin tone is highlighted in a natural way
and even has a bit of gloss inside the muscle like he’s been sweating
after a long hard day of pounding the X-men into the ground.
There
are highlights of a copperish bronze on his helmet, knuckle, and arm
bands that make it look quite like real metal, not too heavy either,
just a light drybrushing that brings out that hammered metal look I was
describing earlier. His boots are a lighter red than his outfit and
stand out well without looking comical. Juggernaut has some huge feet!
Articulation
***
At first
glance you might think he’s an unarticulated brick. I mean that’s
normally how large, stocky figures end up. But Gentle Giant worked some
great articulation into Juggy’s massive frame. His head is pretty much
just a swivel because of the large helmet but we’ll let that slide as
it’s dictated by the design. Juggy’s shoulders have excellent range
being ball joints that allow him to reach straight out and even above
his head. His elbows do their job and bicep cuts allow for some nice
punching positions. The only complaint (and this happens with lots of
larger figures) is that there’s no wrist joint so you can’t pose Juggy
doing an uppercut.
The abdominal hinge is well hidden and
allows you to hunch him forward a great deal, important for any
running-through-buildings-or-cars poses. At the waist he has ball
jointed hips that combined with the knee allow you to give him basic
running poses. Mind you he’s not going to be doing any high-kicks or
splits, we’re talking about Juggernaut here. Juggy is a bit of an
oddity when you get to the ankles however. Where almost all figures
have the pin joint running through one side of the ankle to the other
allow forward/back tilting, he has the joint running front to back.
This gives excellent side-to-side motion but only limited
stepping-forward range.
I heated the foot and got it to move a
bit more and it seems like there may be a ball joint lower in the foot.
Either way it was a first seeing the pin joint positioned in this way.
Accessories
- **
Two
stars and I’m being generous here….VERY generous. Juggernaut comes with
a diorama, yay! But the diorama is only half his size, what? You get a
small 4”x6” cardboard cutout that fits into a curve plastic stand.
One
side has an explosion (or a sunrise coming up behind clouds depending
on your mindset, hah) and the other a demolished city. But it’s so tiny
it does nothing, looking like a joke behind Juggernaut. If they
included this with the smaller 3 ¾” Marvel Universe Juggernaut, sure.
But I was expecting Juggy’s cardback to unfold into something huge,
he’s 9” tall! DS could have just ditched this accessory and added those
wrist cuts into the budget.
Value - ****
Juggernaut
is three pounds of plastic, nine inches of terror, all for a mere $17.
He’s painted with amazing paint apps, has great articulation, and
sculpted like a statue by Gentle Giant. You simply don’t see that kind
of value in figures these days. Toys R Us raised their DC Universe 6”
figures to $18! Mattel has Masters of the Universe classics for $20
(plus shipping) and while they’re nice figures… JUGGERNAUT IS STILL
THREE POUNDS OF PLASTIC. After purchasing him you’ll feel like you’ve
just ripped off Diamond Select and should be running to your car for a
quick getaway. THAT is how I want to feel EVERY TIME I purchase a
figure. Like I’ve finally got my money’s worth.
Fun Factor - ****
If
your kid can lift Juggernaut, he can have some serious fun bowling over
other figures and having him stomp through lego walls! This figure is
three pounds of solid plastic though and could easily break a glass
table, or a head if thrown. Drop him on your foot and I guarantee
you’ll be in for a broken arch! Massive block of awesomeness he is,
your kid, and you will have fun playing destruction derby. Juggernaut
is one of those Marvel characters that looks intimidating and even my
5yo nephew knows who he is exclaiming “De Jugguwut!” You tell em kiddo,
he’s unstupbubble!
Overall
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***1/2
Amazing
sculpt, amazing paint apps, decent articulation, serious heft, classic
look, uh…crappy accessory, all for a Jackson. If you’re taking him out
of the package then disregard that packaging score. And honestly I
could care less about some backdrop. Juggernaut is going to be one of
2011’s best figures. Watch out about dropping him on small children or
pets and get ready for an unstoppable amount of fun!
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This product was purchased for for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Jin Saotome.
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