Marvel Legends Retro 3.75" Figures

Last year I preordered three of the Hasbro Pulse exclusive Marvel Legends Retro 3.75" figure 2-packs, which I still haven't opened! I love the card art so much that I'm kind of just enjoying them that way for now. Yes, I sold off most all of my 3.75" Marvel Universe collection to make room for other things, but the retro style of these simpler figures really appeal to me.

Below, 3.75" Spider-Man and Electro with Marvel Legends 6" Retro Series Spider-Man and Electro- I have that entire wave of 6" Spider-Man Retro Series figures I've not opened either...

There was another 2-pack available of Iron Man and Black Panther, with metallic deco in limited edition foil packaging, but I opted for the Iron Man/Cyclops and Black Panther/Capt. America 2-packs...

This past March I bumped into Daredevil and Elektra, two characters that seemed to be unconventional choices so early in the line, giving me hope as to who might be coming in future waves. I really appreciate the inclusion of accessories for these two great looking figures...

And finally, I found Magneto and Human Torch this past weekend, just a couple weeks after finding Carol Danvers in her Ms. Marvel outfit. There is an Iceman and Hulk out there as well, the latter of which I'm particularly interested in. I have no idea how far this line will go, but there are a lot more characters I'd like to have in this style.

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Marvel Legends Fantastic Four

I assembled this Walgreens Exclusive Marvel Legends Fantastic Four team at the end of September, but postponed photographing them until I completed the Sci-Fi Laboratory diorama featured in my last post. The diorama was in fact inspired by finally collecting them all over the course of their months long, one-by-one release. A number of Walgreens within my immediate vicinity limited this to a mere task of patience as opposed to grossly overpaying on the secondary market, even purchasing Human Torch and Invisible Woman at a significant discount on sale last spring. Check out the video:

While collectors have expressed their nitpicks particular to this wave of figures, but it's hard to deny Hasbro's overall improvement over the figures ToyBiz produced in the 2000s. Like the 3.75" scale Fantastic Four sets I had from a few years ago, Hasbro included H.E.R.B.I.E. in this 6" update of the Fantastic Four, a nod to the '70s cartoon that quicly became Marvel canon. And to get a big figure like Thing with alternate hands and head sculpt at the price of a regular figure was an outstanding value. Great set I'm glad to have finally collected!

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Wave 48 Fantastic Four MiniMates

Back to one of my favorite subjects lately here on the Super-DuperToyBox, Marvel MiniMates by Diamond Select! In this post we'll look at three of the four 2-packs released in the 48th wave of these fun 2 1/2" action figures, completing the other half of my Fantastic Four MiniMates team, and adding a couple villains I was interested in, namely Blastaar and Puppet Master!

Right off from the start, I'll say I was disappointed when the ball peg from Reed Richards' neck extension broke off inside his head. Fishing it out of his head so I could have a serviceable Mr. Fantastic left his head wobbly as well. That's a shame because this is otherwise such a great MiniMate, and one I looked forward to getting.

I love the classic blue & white FF outfit this wave featured! Reed came with normally proportioned extra limbs, but his stretched alternate limbs make him great! His twisted base and giant fist are the same as the Super Skrull MiniMate, one of my favorites.

Diamond thoughtfully gave Mister Fantastic the Ultimate Nullifier, which he used against Galactus as a last effort to stop him from devouring Earth. Appearing first in Fantastic Four #50, the exact functionality of this weapon has remained vague, but is described as the most powerful weapon in the Universe, able to wipe out any opponent or his whole timeline if not destroying the one who wields it first.

At first I wasn't so keen on Puppet Master, having read very little about him, but his accessories make him a unique and fun MiniMate. The work apron is a nice piece, but the tiny MiniMate dolls he comes with really make him great, and he can be dressed completely civilian using the additional arms and torso overlay included- really great!

Sue Storm the Invisible Girl, who later went on to marry Reed Richards, also came with great accessories. In addition to extra limbs cast in transparent plastic, Diamond included a force field base and alternate 90's hair piece that is... well, a mullet.  Her alternate limbs were difficult to change, so I'll probably leave them on, as I prefer anyway. 

Sue came with a Moloid from Subterranea, one of Mole Man's minions in her 2-pack. I read about the Moloids in  X-Factor Annual #3 a couple years ago, part of the Evolutionary War title crossover that ran through several Marvel annuals in the summer of '88. More recently, I've enjoyed their antics as children (Mik, Kor, Turg, & Tong) in Matt Fraction and Mike Allred's FF.

So with the addition of Sue and Reed, I now have the complete Fantastic Four!

With parts from Reed Richards and the Flame On Human Torch that came in the wave of MiniMates, I can assemble Johnny Storm, younger sibling to Sue, the Invisible Girl. Now I can photograph him in different phases of his transformation into the Human Torch! Johnny came with a normal head, but the Flame On head is the star, alight with translucent plastic, and blank yellow eyes, under a fiery & furrowed brow. A tornadic swirl of flames circle his bases, cast in the same translucent orange that most his body is composed of...

Flame On Human Torch with Nova Flame Human Torch...

Flame On Human Torch came packed with Blastaar...

Blastaar is a super-villain from the Negative Zone, enemy of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the Inhumans, and Earth in general. He's a beefed up MiniMate whose blast accessories fit nicely over his over-sized hands. The hair piece on this one is great, as are the Silver-Age armor details on the torso overlay.

Blastaar makes a great enemy for Johnny and the Thing to battle...!

Since I now have such a broad swath of Fantastic Four characters, such as Annihilus, Super Skrull, Silver Surfer, and Dr. Doom, I thought it would be another great opportunity to shoot a group photo with one of my favorite toys, my ToyBiz Cosmic Power Galactus...!

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TRU 15 Nova Flame/Annihilus MiniMates

I picked up the Nova Flame/Annihilus 2-pack some time ago, but decided to open it when I found anther 2-pack from the same TRU 15 wave of Marvel MiniMates recently. Having read the Fantastic Four #600 50-year Anniversary Special (2012), the former of these 2-packs was of interest to me, telling the tale behind Johnny Storm's apparent death and subsequent triumph over his Negative Zone tormentor, Annihilus. It's a frightening tale akin to stories of Hell, in which one is gorily killed every day, and revived to face death again and again. But the stubborn Johnny bands his fellow enslaved together and escapes with Annihilus in chains at his feet!

This is a great 2-pack, starring the Human Torch in his nova flame mode, the hero's maximum output of heat, dispelled omnidirectionally in an explosive manner. He looks like a regular Human Torch MiniMate, but does have several fiery accessories, including  fireball gloves, and a magnificent base any MiniMate fan that's collecting the Fantastic Four should have.

The figure also has extra flame shoulder overlay that laps over his head, and flame anklets for extra flare. The yellow eyes and classic Torch lines painted onto the figure's front side and face are perfect Silver-Age goodness! I love translucent plastic figures in general, and naturally, this character lends itself well to the treatment.

I like this Annihilus MiniMate okay- the spiked shoulder armor and bat wings are really dramatic! It would have been nice to get a Cosmic Control Rod with him, but he looks good and poses well, his wings articulated well enough to tilt from side to side for flying poses.

Annihilus creeps me out- he's all buggy with a killing disposition that's downright chilly. Johnny couldn't seem to kill him after many nova flame assaults. He's from the Negative Zone and hangs out with guys like Blastaar. Nasty creature.

This was an intelligent pairing that is still contemporary with the latest Fantastic Four saga recently concluding. The team just defeated Doom, Kang, and Annihilus in a dimension hopping, alternate reality colliding adventure that centered around old Johnny Storm's frantic race to stop Doom's plans for permanently undoing his team mates.

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