The legendary line that was called Marvel Legends changed the toy industry in a big way. Detailed sculpting, excellent paint applications, appropriate accessories, and a high level of articulation were all features of high end 12 inch collectable markets.   But Toybiz found a way to get those features into a 6 inch scaled mass market line of toys that were priced under $10 a pop.  Well the company that was Toybiz is now going by the name Marvel Toys.  Let's see how their first attempt outside of the Marvel Universe fared.

Packaging:
   
Now that we got the individual figures done we can focus on the things that are similar to all of them.  Gone are the days when plastic was cheap, so too are gone the fully plastic clamshells.  They have gone with the tried and true plastic bubble on top of a cardback.  It is a sturdy design and will protect the figure during shipping... which is the primary purpose of the packaging. The characters are displayed well and have their own unique graphics on the front and the packaging as well as their own bio on the back.  The shape of the package stands out but is very difficult for the mint on carder.  These things just attract bends and dings in the cardback.  And I for one really wish that we could all just get away from cardback being the peg holder.  Paper is too weak to hold the full
weight of action figures.  It WILL bend.

EASE OF ESCAPE:

Each figure took about 2 minutes to get out of the package.  A quick scoring of the tape holding the two plastic flaps on the back with an exacto knife and yank upwards and you can free the inner tray from inside.  All of the figures were held in place by twist ties, but only about three or four just enough to keep them from flopping around in the package.  All accessories and build a figure pieces were placed in form fitted, so nothing is holding them down... but neither are they at danger of coming loose.  You can't make it much easier to get to your figure without sacrificing the packaging's ability to protect it from shipping damage. 

Building the Build a Figure 
Let's put together Pitt.  It is easier to attach him if his body stays in half till the end.  If you can't tell by looking, there is a "R" or "L" sculpted inside the arms and legs so you can get them on the correct side.  This is very important as it is very unlikely you will be able to remove them if you put them on wrong.  Also of note is that while the "chains" are sculpted onto the arms, they are separate from the legs.  So you will want to get them on the legs BEFORE you attach them because it is difficult to get them over his big honkin' foot.  It takes a lot of force to get the joints to stay put.  The mushroom peg could have been a bit bigger to make it easier.  Once you have the arms and legs attached you can combine his upper and lower torso.  Push it in until he doesn't fall back apart.

 
Now you got one big ginormous Pitt 
... and an itty bitty Timmy.

Pitt is awesome.  He is almost worth the $60 you have to spend to get him.  Well, ok not exactly ... but darn close. 

Sculpting:
Whoo boy.  This guy looks great.  His face is dead on perfect.  He is greatly disproportionate with his tiny head and overly long arms and
big feet.   The details are excellent, with 
torn pants, and muscles, and veins, and
the wrinkles of skin.  I can't find a fault
in the sculpt and on a guy this big there
is a lot that could have gone wrong. 
Score: 5.0 out of 5

Paint Application:                      
Again great.  His skin has a multitonal paint
job that gives it depth and makes him seem
alive.  His pants have a fine level of drybrushing that makes them just seem real.  The biggest
disappointment is the chains.  They are sculpted fine but barely painted  and stand out as what
they are.  A single piece of plastic.  It almost   ruins the piece but is saved by the rest of it.  
Score: 4.5 out of 5                        

Articulation:
35 points on a ten inch figure is impressive ... but do they work well?  Well he has the typical ball jointed neck, shoulders, and hips.  For some reason they went with single jointed knees and elbows.  These don't actually allow much motion due to his bulk.  It only moves about 45 degrees but the weight of his hands cause it to fall back to about 30 degrees.  So his arms are either straight or... almost straight.  Luckily the ball jointed shoulders and wrist help make up for the weak elbows.  His fingers are individually jointed at the knuckle and the middle joint.  Kind of like Savage Dragon's hands but without the thumb joint.  This helps a lot in adding character to his posing.  He does have a joint in his man ponytail, but the hair only looks good in one position.  To sum up, he has over the average articulation for a figure his size, but a third of it is difficult to use or doesn't really help. 
Score: 4.0 out of 5

Accessories:
Well, he comes with six figures ... I kid.  He is technically one giant accessory.  You could count Timmy as an accessory to him if you wanted to.  The little guy looks pretty cool.  He is non-articulated and sometimes has difficulty standing on his own.  He is posed dynamically enough to be interesting but not distracting. 

Custom Options:
When it comes down to it this guy is a Hulk waiting to happen.  The jacket and chains are all removable, except for a little work that will have to be done on his wrist chains.  Then he needs a replacement head, and manicure for those un-hulkish nails (same for the toenails) and ... you have a grey hulk.  Some paint will turn him green, or leave him grey to have an Ultimate Hulk that is worthy of the qualifier.  Me?  I might track down an extra one to give my army of Superman figures a Doomsday to really fear. 

Final Thoughts

As a series this is pretty darn awesome.  Not only are most of these characters seeing plastic for the first time, they are all done rather well.  Even if they are not the most popular comic book heroes ever, they were treated like they were.  That kind of fan service is amazing and makes me glad that Toybiz is still alive and kicking, even under their new Marvel Toys moniker.  Let's take a look at the final scores for the whole set.

SuperPatriot:      3.9 out of 5                                                              
Ripclaw:              4.2 out of 5                                                              
Witchblade:         4.3 out of 5                                                              
Judge Dredd:      4.4 out of 5                                                              
Madman:             4.5 out of 5                                                              
Pitt:                      4.5 out of 5                                                              
Savage Dragon:  4.9 out of 5                                                              

                                                               Full Set average: 4.4 out of 5                                                              

Fantastic set over all.  Well worth the $60 you'll have to spend to get it all.  Especially for you
customizers out there who have been missing the old Marvel Legends and their amazing ability to pack
in tons of joints.  So I'll end with a wonderful group shot of the whole gang just hanging out.

--November 19th 2007