Marvel 3 3/4 Figures: 2011 to Nowadays Times

Now we're gona bum-rush these mostly single pics of figures.  Many of these are from various posts where I was just showing off new purchases (again), so I'll make a quick schpeal about them as I go and we'll all leave a little more informed, eh?  Well okay, so maybe you won't be so much informed as pumped full of another's opinion, but you get the idea.  Lot of pumping going on.

This is Dr. Doom, by the way, from a single pack; just a repaint of the same one that was in a comic pack. Nice colors, but as I have said (when talking about Ultron), he has wonky shoulders that kinda annoy me. Still, he looks good! I am just looking forward to an eventual Doom mold that is easier to pose. 'Course I'ma get ALL Dooms, because I have a collection. ...so there.

 

 

Here's Shocker - take that how you will, but the REAL jokes come from the 6 inch version of him with the missile hands and the vibration gimmick, but maybe we'll cover that some other day - ANYWAY, Shocker comes from the same Spider-Man toyline that Venom in the last post did. He comes with big obnoxious box launchers that go on his wrists...in place of molded wrist shockers. Kinda annoying. So I used some leg armor from a Jango Fett figure to simulate them:

Small price to pay, 'cause Shocker is one of my old time favorite villains. Mostly because I had ONE Spider-Man comic when I was little, and Shocker was in it.

Comic pack with Deadpool and Taskmaster! Deadpool is friggin' awesome; he has nice hard plastic swords and a knife, a pistol, and possibly a rifle-I-can't-remember. Taskmaster is cool but his gun and sword have teeny tiny handles and they just flop around in his hands. This annoys me.  Totally worth it for Deadpool.

First version of Thanos! Cool figure, but not as good as the one in the recent comic pack. I've got a soft spot for this guy too, 'cause my very second Spider-Man comic had him in it.

Guardians of the Galaxy! No idea who they are - just bought it for the guy with the awesome helmet.

Says he's called Starlord, and according to wikipedia his original version had a cool Elemental Gun, but this one just has normal guns. Of course, I imagine he's much cooler with Elemental Guns, so that's what it is for me (among the million other things I'm imagining for this guy - I just love the look).

This is Rocket Raccoon, and he's hilarious. Raccoon with a big gun. He would be awesome if they hadn't decided to give him useless cut joint arms and a neck joint. That's it. Kinda makes this pack a ripoff, because you're only getting two figures while other packs have three full figures. I don't see why Rocket here couldn't have had ball jointed shoulders and cut joints in the hips. Would have been fine! Sadly we just got this useless mess.

Otherwise there's Drax the Destroyer - supposed to be able to kill Thanos at one time, but now he's a male stripper? Or a murderer, I dunno.

And Groot, who is supposed to be a giant tree man, but this was all we got.

Moving on!

Hydra Soliders! Found these after the movie line was filtering out. They were kinda hidden at a Toys R Us. Got both movie and comic flavors. Neat figures! I suppose you'd want more since they're mooks, but I'm happy with what I got. They come with guns and GIANT guns of the same make that fire missiles, because that's how we do.

This would have gone in the Iron Man 2 posts, but I'm finding these as I go. Found him WAY after everything should have been gone, and I think on clearance. I like the look, but it's still that akward mold where he only looks down.

Black licorice flavor of Destroyer! The light is even harder to see, but I loved the color and couldn't pass it up.  Plus, the painted the eyes on this one and it's quite fancy, eh wot.

OKAY, I know I had complained about how much I hate giant, slobbery Venom figures with long tongues, but I made an exception for this one. Something about this one is alright for the most part. Maybe because I have my favorite Venom already, and it's cool when they can make a giant figure like this but still allow him to be well articulated.

Catching up to the present - OKAY!  Avengers figures! They took out some articulation like wrists and ankles and chest joints, but they still end up being cool! In fact, I almost like the simplification. Iron Man here fairs much better than the Iron Man 2 mold of the same armor. Easier to play with and you don't get them into awkward messes when trying to pose them.  Plus: OH MAN they went back to the old style of hips!  I love it!  So much easier to pose and play when the hips just move up and down and side to side rather than having to twist the ball joint to move it up and down and twist it again to move it side to side.  Was kinda hoping for this kind of articulation in the Iron Man 3 figures, but...no dice.  They went even MORE simple, sadly.  Anyway, these figures are still in stores and I urge you to try them out.

Storm! A disappointment you could see in the package, so I'm not sure why I bought her. Probably because seeing new Marvel Universe figures is always such a shock, so I tend to get what I can find. She is completely painted on...so pretty boring. Shoulda left her. Neck is also WAY too long.

New Thanos! Much better than the last, though he doesn't come with the Infinity Gauntlet. It still fits on this one, but doesn't match his gold color. You know what, though? It's not like it's HIS gauntlet, so I think it makes sense that the gold would be brighter and more...important looking. So it fits! Also: Lookit that face. Yeeeah, that there is some classic Thanos!

Mr. Sinister, or Metakomen as I called him when I was a kid. Yeah, I had no idea who this guy was or what he did until the old X-Men cartoon came out, and by that point I didn't care 'cause I had been using him as this Metakomen guy I made up as a kid. Needless to say, I got him for that purpose alone. I do wish they have given him a hand for holding things though, 'cause I gave Metakomen a sword....ah well.

Bought a Black Panther after watching the "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" cartoon. He was a particular favorite, and I knew I had to have a figure of him. This one is from a TRU exclusive with a lighted base. Cool figure, though I would have liked some detail on him somewhere.

Ultimate Hawkeye! Thought he looked cool. Figure works well, but the guns they give him barely fit in the holsters at his sides. I cut the bottoms off so the guns went deeper in the holsters and gave him some G.I. Joe guns.

Psylocke! A bit of a disappointment; the sword falls right out of her hands. I swear they don't check these things sometimes. Anyway, she is still using the arms without the bicep swivel, and that's kinda awkward. Also I think her head is a repainted Jean Grey. Still, not bad if you're looking for a representation of her.

The Amazing Spider-Man toyline had some neat stuff, though most of it goes back close to the old Toybiz days of articulation.  I'm not really complaining, honestly.  This is a good way to do mild articulation: wide stances for the legs and outward movement for the shoulders.  Give you what you need and allows them to stand and/or be knocked down.  This is my replacement for that one from the last post using the same suit.  Much better this time around!  Also, as a bonus: he actually has an open hand for holding things.  What a novel idea!  Action figures that are built to do more than what they should.

I did of course get the super articulated version of the movie suit, and it's cool, but it could have used some work.  For instance: his hands are just open.  Why not the standard fist-hand-and-web-hand?  How about at least some fists?  Why are his hands open?  Heck, on the back of the package he DOES have a fist and a web shooting hand.  Who thought this was a good change?  Slappy hands Spider-Man is more menacing than punch-you-web-you Spider-Man?  Ah well, still a cool figure an a good representation of the new movie version.

I didn't know I was a Hawkeye fan until the Avengers movie and cartoon.  He's pretty awesome in both!  I found this guy later in the line, and only a few times afterward.  The arrow is supplied from G.I. Joe.  Otherwise he comes with two bows - one normal, and one with a missile launcher, though the launcher can come off the other bow and you have two of the same.

I'm not complaining, 'cause the Ultimate Hawkeye I got can have the other bow.

Also found Black Widow...who is, okay.  She's cool but a little annoying, I guess.  Basic complaints are as such: only one hand is molded with a trigger finger (had to cut the other finger), the guns stick out of the holsters awkwardly, her *ahem* voluptuous be-hind makes the belt ride up on the front, and her face only resembles Johansson at certain angles. Also, her curved back makes it hard to take a lot of poses. Does whatever requires an arched back, but anything that might make a person hunch forward (anything actionful) just doesn't work.

I'm not crazy happy with the figure, but I doubt we'll get a better one, so she stays.

I've always liked armored looks for Spider-Man, but we rarely get toys of his official armored suit, so I take what I can get.  Plus this one is hilariously riding a glider similar to his arch nemesis, so he's good for laughs as well.

And welcoming you to the good land of DIE, it's Magneto - of whom just got blasted in the face from a tailpipe!  They wanted to make his face a shadow, but the idea doesn't get across fully.  Still, I liked the rest of the look so I got him.  I think the face has actually grown on me!

This comic pack was brought to me by the letters D-O-O-M, that spells awesome.  Why did I want a white Doom?  Because. 

Also Spider-Man is pretty slick, and has a much more beefy body that works for my old stories, as I've explained.  Not a bad figure, but if you're looking for Spider-Man and you're NOT working with old stories you made up as a child, then this one is weirdly beefy.  Like Spider-Man usually doesn't look like that.  I mean, if you compare him to other Spider-Man figures.

Speaking of beef: She-Hulk!  I never cared much until I found out she was the original breaker of the fourth wall in her hey-day.  Pretty great figure, too!  Only drawback is the big hair which kinda gets in the way.  Not too much, though!  I also think I coulda used a BIT more girth in the arms, 'cause she's supposed to have Hulk strength, but oh well.  The ladies always get stick arms when it comes to toys.

I have one from the Iron Man 2 line, but it's not the same as this!  He is missing wrist articulation sadly, but he's still an awesome figure.  nice accurate face sculpt and the articulation works as much as you'd like it to - nothing to blow you away, but this is more than what you're probably gona get in the future.  Other than the coat and arms, he's using a Winter Soldier body from the Captain America movie line. 

And...oh!  I have caught up!  The most recent pics you've seen in another post, but I'll put them here again just to have them in the same place:

Kinda fuzzy, as you remember, since that's one of the first pics I took here in the new house.  Kraven is a sweet figure though the necklace he comes with doesn't stay on his neck in a way that looks cool.  He holds his accessories well, though, which is a major plus considering a lot of Marvel Universe figures (seems like you can never tell if they're gona hold things well or not). Spider-Man is my new favorite!  The absolute BEST Spider-Man I've gotten, and I doubt I'll find better.  He has everything I want minus a little movement in the neck.  The best part is that he has a nice open hand for holding things!  It's been so long since a standard Spider-Man figure has been able to hold whatever I want him to.  Now I'm still on the hunt for his Ultimate variant.

And then finally Mr. Cheetos here, which I once again must add: I have no idea why he's saying that.  Great figure, and my first toy of Juggernaut, period.  I found him hidden at a Meijer because...well that's how Meijer plays the game.  They randomly put out old assortments of figures that were supposed to be long-gone.  No idea why, but it does give me an extra crack at older figures, so I'm not complaining!

Okay, that's it for all the Marvel figures in the 3 3/4 scale.  Previous pics, that is.  At some point I'd like to photograph favorites and do some spotlights on the best of the best of this scale for Marvel.  If you obliged me and read any of that junk then you've probably got an idea of what might be on a post like that, but rest assured: I was far too lazy to take pics of everything, so there's a lot left to cover!