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Packaging - ***1/2
The clam shell packages have really grown on me over time. They are
tremendously sturdy, allow you to see the whole figure, and store extremely
well for the MOC'ers. The downside of course is that it's not
particularly collector friendly, but then again, no card/bubble set up is.
Sculpting - ***1/2
The sculpt is intended to mirror the look of Namor depicted on issue 67 of
The Savage Sub-Mariner. Fortunately, they avoided the constipated
grimace, kept his mouth shut, and gave him an appropriately serious and
grave expression.
There's lots of detail in the
sculpt as well, both head and body. The detail work on the
musculature, along with the nice work on the face sculpt, make this an
extremely nice figure.
He has his wings on the back of
his feet, but they are made of a very soft plastic, so you'll have to work
with them a bit to get them looking just right.
Okay, there will be those that
do not like this figure simply because the design is not the one they'd
prefer. Just be glad he doesn't have a hook for a hand.
Paint - ***1/2
The paint ops are excellent all around - the flesh tones are well done, and
they've pulled off some shading on the body and face that rarely works.
The eyes, eyebrows and hair line are all extremely clean,
and there's no bleed between the dark colors of the vest and cuffs, and the
lighter colors of the body. The lighter lines on the vest could be a
little smoother, but otherwise it's perfect.
Articulation - ****
This is as articulated as you can get in a 6" figure. There's a
ball jointed neck (although the range of motion is somewhat limited), ball
jointed shoulders, cut bicep, double jointed elbows and knees, wrists,
waist, cut thighs, ball jointed hips, ankles, hands and feet. Yep, the
fingers of the hands are articulated, so he can grasp various sizes of
weapon, and his feet are jointed at the mid point to allow him to stand on
the ball of his foot. Toybiz first used this with the Blade movie
figure, and it works much better than you'd first imagine.
You may have to use the freezer trick to free up a few of these joints,
and the ball jointed shoulders didn't allow for quite as wide of range of
motion as you'd like, but overall he's a fantastic example of excellent
articulation.
Accessories - ***
There are three accessories - his staff, a stand of moving water, and the
comic book.
The comic is a reprint of the original, and is a nice touch, but most
folks will toss it in a box. There are some nice display possibilities
with it however.
The staff is a fairly close representation to the one you see on the
cover. Unfortunately, the plastic is a bet cheap, and therefore is
going to come pretty misshapen right out of the package. A little hot
water will help you straighten it all out.
The last accessory, and best, is his water stand. It snaps together
tightly, and displays him extremely well.
Value - ****
These are selling for $7 at Toys R Us. An extremely well articulated
6" figure, well sculpted, with several accessories, all for seven
bucks? You can't go wrong. Compare that to the DC Direct figures
that have far less articulation, hit and miss sculpting, few or no
accessories, and cost twice as much. This is a deal you can't beat.
Overall - ***1/2
I'm a DC fan. Always have been, and grew up reading DC
comics. Okay, so I did occasionally pick up an FF book, a Namor book
or the occasional Spidey book. But 80% of the time it was DC.
This is the kind of figure action figure collectors
want. They don't want statues, they want action figures. They
collect toys, and when they want to buy statues, they buy them. Toybiz
is proving that you can produce an action figure that could actually be
played with AND looks terrific.
Where to Buy -
I picked him up at Toys R Us, and Target should have them soon as
well. On-line:
- Amazon.com
has the singles for $9, but you can also pick up the set of four for
$30. Not as good as the store price, but if you don't have a TRU
handy, it's an option. Search for 'Marvel Legends'. (MROTW Affiliate)
- Action
Figure Express also has a set of four for $30. (MROTW Affiliate)
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