Monday, May 29, 2017

Minifigure Review: Pack A from M.U.S.C.L.E.: Mega Man by Super7

 I'm just going to come out and say it: These are terrible. I love both the vintage M.U.S.C.L.E. and Super7's M.U.S.C.L.E. revival. I've reviewed nearly everything they've released thus far and nearly all of them have received high marks. While I'm certainly anywhere as big of a fan of Mega Man as I am of Masters of the Universe, Alien, or Street Fighter, I certainly have enjoyed a number of the games and I'm almost always willing to pick up some minifigures, particularly M.U.S.C.L.E. Folks, let me tell you that these are quite possibly the most disappointing minifgures I've ever owned. I hate to say that as I really was excited for these. They fail on almost every level, however; the plastic quality is crap, the detail is soft, the color isn't right, and the figures just feel sticky and oily. If you read my reviews regularly, you know that I don't usually write too many negative reviews. That's because I tend to only buy figures I'm pretty sure I'll like. I ordered this set as soon as I received the notice that it was available from Super7, so I kind of ordered sight unseen, knowing how good the stuff is Super7 usually produces. I'm not sure what happened here, though. Let's take a closer look at Pack A from M.U.S.C.L.E. Mega Man and see if you agree me...



 The Facts:

Height: 1 3/4 inches

Includes: 3 figures

Non-Scalper Price: $6 dollars


* Before we get into the figures themselves, I do want to point out that I like the packaging. It captures the look of the classic M.U.S.C.L.E. toyline while still having it's own personality influenced by the Mega Man games. If you collect these mint on card, you'll honestly probably be happier with this set than I am.
 Mega Man

* Pack A includes the plain vanilla Mega Man (AKA Rock Man). He's standing in a very traditional M.U.S.C.L.E. pose, so that's nice, but he doesn't feel like a M.U.S.C.L.E. figure. The detail is really soft, perhaps to the point that he honestly feels more like a bootleg than an actual M.U.S.C.L.E. figure. The detail here seems almost non-existent, as even the facial features are hard to make out.
 Ice Man

* One of the robots from the original Mega Man game, Ice Man seems like he'd make a pretty cool mini. He's sporting a furry hood, a studded belt, and some sort of tank on his back. Again, too bad the detail is so minimal and the plastic so shiny that it's tough to tell what you're looking at. A couple of years back I reviewed this set of minis from the dollar bin at Target: Those are better than these!
 Sniper Joe

* Snipe Joe might be a standard, mass produced robotic minion, but he's also my favorite in the set. Too bad that, again, he falls victim to the poor detail, shiny plastic, and weird malleable limbs of this set. Seriously, the arms on these figures feel like you could legitimately snap them off, which is really weird for a M.U.S.C.L.E. figure.

* These guys just don't feel like they're very well made. To date it feels like Super7 has been improving the quality of this line, with each release getting better and better. The Street Fighter 2 line was absolute minifigure perfection, so it's heartbreaking to see Mega Man regress to being far worse than even Super7's earliest offerings in the M.O.T.U.S.C.L.E. series. Just the fact that the figures feel oily and sticky really turns me off from them.
Again, it's rare for me to give something a truly bad rating, particularly a minifigure. These end up with the rating of Crap and a 1/2, though. They're awful and they're only getting an extra 1/2 because they're not broken in the package and the packaging is nice. Unless you absolutely need these, avoid them! Considering that Super7 is now taking preorders for the Masters of the Universe Classics line, a far more expensive investment than a pack of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, they really need to ensure that everything they're putting out is of the highest quality. These are not, and it has me a bit worried

I haven't reviewed any other Mega Man stuff, but I have reviewed plenty of other M.U.S.C.L.E. figures, including:

M.U.S.C.L.E. by Mattel (1986)
#009 Wakusei Barukan
#080 Paper Miira
#179 Black Buffalo
#212 Parthenon 

M.U.S.C.L.E. Alien by Super7 (2016)
Pack A: (Alien, Ash, and Ripley) 
Pack B: (Alien Egg, Kane in Spacesuit, and Parker) 
Pack C: (Attack Alien, Brett, and Kane with Facehugger)
Pack D: (Dallas, Kane with Chestburster, and Lambert)

M.U.S.C.L.E. Masters of the Universe by Super7 (2015)
#1 Masters of the Universe Set (Green)
He-Man, Teela, & Man-At-Arms
Purple Skeletor & Skeletoken
Ram Man, Buzz-Off, & Man-E-Faces
Skeletor, Beast Man, & Trap Jaw
Whiplash, Tri-Klops, & Mer-Man

M.U.S.C.L.E.: Street Fighter II by Super7 (2017)
Pack A: (M. Bison, Ryu, and Vega)
Pack B: (Balrog, Dhalsim, and Ken)
Pack C: (Blanka, Guile, and Sagat)
Pack D: (Chun-Li, E. Honda, and Zangief)

8 comments:

  1. Damn.I wonder If you just got a bad batch?Have you checked other reviews?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I picked up the whole set of 4, so I doubt it. I've heard a few other folks talking about these (most don't seem interested) and it really seems this is pretty consistent across the board.

    ReplyDelete
  3. WHEW! Geeze, glad I couldn't afford them at the time. This sounds bad, man. I wonder if they'll issue some sort of apology for this, especially considering the better quality of everything else. I've been swaying back and forth on the MotUC offerings, though I'll probably end up getting them, but I hope they don't end up with quality like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This actually caused me to cancel my MOTUC order. Not only does it seem concerning that their quality control over a simple minifigure is this spotty, but considering they chose to release these rather than order a second revised run gives me some hesitation.

      Delete
  4. Wait...Where's Mega Man's cannon on the vanilla one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Mega Buster is on a Mega Man from pack B. He's called Mega Man Firing.

      Delete
  5. Oh man! I was really looking forward to these, but may put off purchasing them! DANG!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd hold off. Maybe they'll release a better run in different colors down the line.

      Delete

What'chu talkin' 'bout?