Is this a joke? I am in total agreement with the thread starter. The Nemesis wave is probably going to be the best wave this year. The Ares wave character selection was pathetic. Which was the worst? Ultimate re-paint War Machine? The horribly articulated Ben Reilly? The repaint Kang? the one-thousandth Human Torch? the one millionth variation of Iron Man? or the repeat Vision? (Vision is the best in the wave, but I was happy with Toy Biz Vision). I only bought the figures for Ares, who is great but he is the same size as Crossbones. I think it is odd to choose to make a BAF of a character that is going to be the same size as a regular figure in the wave. The Red Hulk wave had some great figures that needed to be made (Adam Warlock and Spiral), but the rest were just okay. After Adam and Spiral, I only bought Silver Savage.
Nemesis wave has the best character selection of this year's waves (in my opinion) and the best BAF. Black Bolt has been on the most wanted of many a collector since the onset of MLs, and I personally cannot wait for Beast(my favorite comic book character). After his prominence in recent cosmic events, Nova is a must have, too. Daredevil looks great, and the Tigra is another Avenger to add. Punisher I could do without, but he makes only six figures to collect for the BAF.
And the BAF...I have been wanting this figure since the mid-90s when I first laid eyes on Holocaust. He was my favorite new character in AoA and on all hypothetical fanboy threads of "what BAF would you choose next", I have been putting Holocaust since the conception of BAFs. I cannot wait for him. Anyway, time consider yourself wasted.
I rarely post here these days but, I felt that this thread deserved a response. For the record, I've got to side with Balthus Dire.
Back when this wave was originally solicited as wave 4, folks were excited to hear that Tigra, Black Bolt, and Nova were all being included in this wave, along with fans of completing the AXM team with Astonishing Beast. A FA DD was also pretty high-up in want-lists/Top 10s, etc. The Bradstreet Punisher was really the WTF figure in the wave, that and who in the heck was putting Holocaust at the top of their list of BAF choices? The fit hit the shan when folks (myself included) saw how pathetically articulated Black Bolt, Tigra, and AXM Beast were. Keep in mind that the announcement of the Rulk and Ares waves was still a ways off, as Hasbro was revising their marketing plan for the line, shifting the BAFs (except for Foom) to exclusives.
Blackbolt - top 10 fan fave
Nova - top 10 fan fave
Tigra - top 10 fan fave
FA DD - top 10 fan fave
AXM Beast - fan fave
Bradstreet Punisher - WTF?
Nemesis - uhhh, not in my top 10, but it's cast in translucent plastic?
Spiral - top 10 fan fave
Warlock - top 10 fan fave
TS Wolvie - most iconic/widely anticipated version to not be updated (heavy hitter)
Black Costume Spidey - fandom has been calling for a decent update (heavy hitter)
Silver Savage - uhhh, Target wanted this? (heavy hitter)
Union Jack - much-welcomed pleasant surprise
Rulk - uhhh, not in my top 10, but a well-executed welcome addition (heavy hitter)
Crossbones - much-welcomed pleasant surprise
Guardian - top 10 fan fave (especially all those Alpha Flight fans)
Kang - many folks so happy at the notion of getting this guy for less than $50
Vision - some were calling for a redo for the ML7 version (I like ML7 fine)
Scarlet Spider - one of the last Spidey costumes to have a well-articulated sculpt, dare I say a somewhat-obscure, fan fave (heavy hitter)
HR IM - Walmart wanted this? (heavy hitter)
Ult. WM - Walmart wanted this? (looks like a heavy hitter)
Human Torch - Walmart wanted this? (heavy hitter)
Ares - uhhh, not in my top 10, but a well-executed welcome addition
I marked heavy hitter by the characters that the retailers would likely consider to anchor the waves. I do think that Nemesis may have had the most potential to please but, the execution overall was quite a letdown. Given some of the surprises character-wise in the other lines and how well they were executed overall, comparitively the Nemesis wave seems to be lacking, even with the notable absence of a real "heavy hitter." FA DD and Punisher are the closest thing to "heavy hitters" in that wave, just because each of those characters had a feature film.