Marvel 3 3/4 Figures: Some Old and Ugly Pics

So lets travel back to February 2009 when the wife and I (then fiance) were still living out of her mom's house (at least for another month or so) and I had a crap camera and no backgrounds or specific lighting.  I was waiting for the Marvel Universe figures to show up for the first time, and ran into Wolverine Origins figures first!

What can I say?  The laptop had some good lighting back then.  It was also a shared laptop back then, but now it's mine!  Yay for hand-me-downs!  It's how I get all my electronics (save for a few here and there and the current awesome camera I'm using). 

Ugh...I assume he's supposed to be slashing there.  Anyway, the Wolverine Origins line coincided with the movie at the time and had a bunch of different versions of Wolverine through the ages and some other X-Men and villains.  This one was real important to me 'cause he was my first Wolverine back in the day - Toybiz's brown suit Wolverine with the removable mask.  This one is still one of my better Wolverine figures, and you can still get him in a few different packs that are currently out (one comic pack with She-Hulk and some multipack with others I can't remember). 

Marvel figures in Joe size were new and novel then, so I had to do a comparison shot.

And then I put Gambit's coat on him?  I dunno.

My favorite is Wolverine giving a robot a headlock, because I'm sure that's effective.

Anyway, he came with a red sword that I think is base on some comic thing.  The blade was forged to kill people with healing mutations I guess?  Don't care.  I used it to simulate Storm Shadow v2's red sword from his original figure.

Next I got the classic yellow 'n blue version 'cause of course.

They've used this mold a few times with a different head and possibly some other shoulder pads.  Funny thing is, back in the day, I thought the brown costume was his classic costume and this one was second!  I always count the brown one as top, even though this one was first.  Still, I did managed to grab a Toybiz version of this back in the day, so he's still nostalgic.

He comes with another katana, this time a normal one.  Standard for Wolverine, but back in the day I didn't know anything about his comic stories, so I always thought it was redundant.  I remember looking on the back of the Toybiz packages and seeing that he was supposed to come with a sword (mine was hand-me-down so he didn't have a mask or sword) and I had thought it was hilarious.  What possible use could he have for a sword?  Unless his mutant power was "claws" like in the old Genesis game. 

But yeah, he's a samurai or something so it's story related.

Moving on!  I also bought Gambit, but he's kinda disappointing.

They decided to cut a few important points of articulation that makes him hard to pose.  he has no wrists, so you're limited on how you can use the staff and "throw" the cards.

And he has no ankles, but that one doesn't matter so much.  The wrists are the real kicker, 'cause you just can't get much done with a staff if you can't hold it with both hands.  That, and the coat limits him a lot and his chest joint doesn't actually do enough to remedy that.  He came out again in a comic pack with Mr. Sinister and a MUCH better headsculpt.  And a red scarf.  And a hard plastic staff instead of a rubber one.  The no-wrists thing is still kinda annoying, but if you're looking for a good Gambit, that comic pack one is your best bet right now - pretty sure that pack is still in stores now.

After I had found the Wolverine guys I had found the Marvel Universe first wave not long after!

The first Iron Man figures they made were standard and stealth, like you do.  I actually still highly enjoy that mold, though they haven't bothered to use it since, which is kinda weird.  I think they wanted to put some space between their first molds and the new stuff, but some of the early ones weren't bad...some of them.  Beyond these two they made a red and silver variant, and then I think this mold showed up in a few early multipacks.  So far it's one of the few Iron Man molds in the Marvel Universe line where his palm is out.  It's amazing how many Iron Man figures since just have his palm facing down, where he can put out his arm and...I dunno, shoot the ground?  Strange.  I think that's one of the main reasons I still like this old mold.

Now like I said: SOME of the molds are still good.  This one was ugly right from the get-go.  I liked this Spider-Man when I got him, but time did not do well for the little bugger.  His body was too wide, head too small, and he was just overall awkward.  He played well enough, but for some reason the proportions just bothered me.  Sadly they DID keep using this mold for awhile, though at least they made some different heads that made the mold look better.  Still, I didn't bother with them.

So that's it for the old 'n ugly pics!  The figured I bothered taking pics of are actually some favorites, at least for Wolverine and Iron Man.  The others...well they've come a long way since they first introduced Marvel Universe.  It's funny.  Hasbro is pretty much the king of 3 3/4...so why did they have to do some trail and error for the Marvel Universe line before getting the right mix?  Ah well.  No telling how long they're gona last now, 'cause they've been notoriously hard to find for awhile and it looks like 3 3/4 movie toylines with articulation are gona be a thing of the past.  Who knows!