Sunday, October 7, 2018

Action Figure Review: Thing from Marvel Legends Series: Fantastc Four by Hasbro

    It has take over a year but Hasbro has finally completed the Fantastic Four in the modern Marvel Legends Series line with the introduction of Benjamin Grimm, better known as the Thing! As I mentioned in my review of Mr. Fantastic last week I had seen the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and Mr. Fantastic at Walgreen's stores a number of times but it wasn't until I saw the Thing that I decided I needed all four members of the First Family of Marvel in my toy collection. Hasbro did a great job with all four members of the Fantastic Four but the Thing is pretty much the best of the set. This is the first time I've ever completed the Fantastic Four in toy form. In fact, the Thing was the one team member I was missing from Toy Biz's classic DC Superheroes line. Let's get to clobbering this review so that whether you want to reenact the adventures of the Fantastic Four or put on your own independent, unlicensed action musical of the Fantastic Four, you'll know what you're in for!



 The Facts:

Height: 7 1/4ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/ hinge ankles, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, swivel waist, mid-torso balljoint,  swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel/ hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged neck, and a ball-jointed head.


Accessories: Four interchangeable hands, two interchangeable portraits.

Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars
 The Positives:



* Man, the Thing looks great, doesn't he? He's just so classic and definitive looking. Honestly, if you asked me at any point to imagine the Thing (other than while watching John Carpenter's The Thing), this is exactly what I'd come up with. He's orange, has some amazing;y detailed rock like skin, and just oozes a funky, fun comic book feel. He's also wearing the blue trunks, which is really the default look for the character, wouldn't you agree? When both the Thing and Dr. Tobias Funke can pull off a look, it's a guaranteed classic.

* The Thing is pretty large. He is a very, very heavy figure and there's just something about him that rocks. Sheesh, I didn't even intend for that pun. Seriously, though, he feels like he easily could have been a build-a-figure. He's not that much taller than everyone else, but he's just so dense. The sheer heft of the guy is impressive!

* I love the default headsculpt as it does a great job of capturing the Thing. It's a great blend of the various versions of the character that manages to still remain some of the Kirby character while looking like a thoroughly modern and recognizable rendition of Ben Grimm.


 * The texture work and paint work/ paint wash on the Thing's skin is excellent. It looks s well thought out and rendered that I really have a hard time imagining any company doing a better job of capturing the character's look and physique.


* The Thing comes with an alternate portrait to his angry looking mug that shows him... well, even more angry, really. I love this one! That angry grimace is exactly what some fool is going to see shortly after hearing "It's clobberin' time!"


* The articulation is excellent, particularly for a larger and bulkier character. Yeah, the elbows aren't double jointed like most Marvel Legends releases but they work very well. This guy us tons of fun to play around with and pose in various "smashing" poses.

* To help give you some better poses, the Thing includes two sets of hands: A set of wide grip hands and a set of fists. The fists are for straight up punching but the grip hands are useful for lots of stuff: They're expressive while also allowing the Thing to pick up smaller villains in order to give them a good Clobberin'. The hands swap easily and are super thick.
  
   Wow. Hasbro did a great job with this release and it is absolutely an Epic figure. Remember that even though one of my primary collecting passions is DC action figures (specific Gotham/ Batman related stuff), I will absolutely say that Hasbro is kicking the snot out of everyone else producing superhero action figures today. Their quality is excellent, their selection is amazing, and man do they ever give us some cool extras. It is really fun to have the Fantastic Four assembled!



   Here's a shot of all four members of the Fantastic Four! Remember that these are all Walgreens exclusives so keep checking your local stores. Hopefully you'll have good luck with these!









This is the first action figure of the Thing I've reviewed on the site. For more Marvel Legends Series figures, check out the following:

Marvel Legends Series by Hasbro (2016)
Enchantress (Mystic Rivals)
Nico Minoru (Mystic Rivals) 
The Punisher

Marvel Legends Series: Black Panther by Hasbro (2017)
Black Panther
 
Marvel Legends Series: Captain America by Hasbro (2016)
Black Panther
Demolition Man (Mercenaries of Mayhem)
Nick Fury 
Nuke 

Marvel Legends Series: Deadpool by Hasbro (2018)
Deadpool (Boxers)
Deadpool (X-Force)
Domino
Lady Deadpool 
X-23 (X-Force)

Marvel Legends Series: Fantastic Four (2017)
Mr. Fantastic

Marvel Legends Series: Guardians of the Galaxy by Hasbro (2017)
Angela
Groot Evolution

Marvel Legends Series: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 by Hasbro (2017)
Drax
Gamora (Daughters of Thanos)
Nebula (Daughters of Thanos)
Rocket Raccoon & Groot
Star-Lord 
Yondu 

Marvel Legends Series: The Unbelievable Gwenpool by Hasbro (2018)
Gwenpool

Marvel Legends Series: X-Men by Hasbro (2016)
Cable
Havok
Iceman
Juggernaut
Kitty Pryde
Phoenix 
Rogue 
Wolverine

8 comments:

  1. I managed to pick up Mr. F and Thing by accident, both were worth it!

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    Replies
    1. I love that wording! "By accident!" The next come I come home with an obscenely large bag of action figures I'm just going to tell my wife that I acquired them "by accident."

      Do you have Sue Storm and Human Torch as well?

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  2. There's a Thing variant I'd like to see: one with an alternate Ben Grimm head (human Ben) from that time when he temporarily lost his powers and had to wear an exo-suit designed to look like his original orange form.

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    Replies
    1. I'd be down for Thing in his trench coat, hat, and glasses.

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    2. Wasn't there also a time in the comics when Sandman, of all people, visited Thing while he was in the hospital for some reason or another?

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    3. I am definitely not the Marvel expert, so I can't help you there. Heck, when you first mentioned this the only Sandmen I could think of were DC characters. Then I remembered Thomas Hayden Church from Spiderman 3. Yup. You probably had better ask elsewhere! haha

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  3. The thought just occurred to me: another Halloween decoration suggestion would be Thing, the Mummy or a generic mummy, and Edward Scissorhands (if there ever was an action figure of that character) -- Rock, Paper (or technically paper since Egyptians did use papyrus a lot), Scissors.

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    Replies
    1. That's awesome. Heck, I might use that for a minifigure picture. I think I have a Marvel mini The Thing and I know I have lots of minifigure mummies. I used to have a Mez-itz Edward Scisorhands, but I think he broke. If I could find him that could be a good pic.

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