The Mad Bubbler

Yeah, quality has gone down. I'm not super-optimistic, though, as the quality of Hasbro products has been steadily decreasing, across the board, for years. I collect a bunch of Hasbro lines, and plastic quality and quality control have been in decline for at least a decade, while prices continue to climb. I first noticed them using thinner, lower-quality plastic with the Wal-Mart exclusive Legends from the first Avengers movie, and it has slowly gotten worse since. "Frozen" joints have become a huge issue- the number of Hasbro figures I've gotten with joints that need to be put in the freezer and/or put in very hot water before they'll move has gone up dramatically.

I collect many different toy lines, with Marvel Legends and 3.75" Star Wars being two of the highest priorities. That being said, it will definitely impact how much I buy. If anything, I should be spending less than I am right now on toys. I will definitely have more of a "hierarchy" of how I prioritize things- I will pre-order the high priority figures, but I will take a "wait and see" attitude with more figures, and see if I can get them below MSRP at some point. I'll also continue to cut down on how many Star Wars Black Series figures I buy, and cut down on Transformers, etc.. The biggest issue is that Hasbro keeps lowering plastic quality and having quality control issues. I am getting more Hasbro figures with "frozen" joints, for example. The fact that Hasbro can't even replace defective figures with the exact figure adds to the issues. Call me crazy, but maybe Hasbro just has to consider making a LOWER PROFIT MARGIN on each figure. That's one of the issues with being a publicly traded company- anything that isn't growth in profit is considered bad.

-Man-Spider: The ToyBiz "Classics" one was not very poseable, despite having a pretty solid sculpt. A fully posable one is necessary, probably as a BAF or deluxe release. -Banshee: This time, in his blue and yellow uniform. -Baron Strucker -Dan Ketch Ghost Rider (with cycle, as a "Riders" set) -The Blob: They could even use the same tooling as the original BAF, just make it out of a better-looking, non-speckled plastic. -Dracula: I'd prefer a modern, armored version, but a re-do of the 70s one would also be cool. -The Mandarin: Green and yellow robe -Classic Hydra Soldier -Classic Ant Man: The retro one was on that TERRIBLE giraffe-necked body- we need a completely new one. -Classic Power Man and Iron Fist

In no particular order: -Lockjaw -Blastaar (classic outfit) -Annihilus (classic, comic accurate- unlike the weird BAF we got) -Stegron -Awesome Android -Ch'od -Warstar -Zzaxx -A-Bomb -Spider Slayer (as pictured) I would really like Giganto and Shuma Gorath, but I think they are both too large and complex for Hasbro to release as BAFs, and would probably need to be done as deluxe figures, sold on their own. -

The detail on this is nice, but everything just looks a bit too soft... he needs bigger, rockier "brows," etc.. Is he drawn like this in the more modern comics at all?

Yeah... in the past few years, the quality of the paint jobs on the faces/heads of Marvel Select figureshas really gone downhill- I'm not sure what's up with that.

Yes! I would definitely buy THIS Hulk (without a terrible head sculpt). And I agree- Hasbro probably won't do a completely unique body just for early-Silver-Age Hulk, but re-using it and having it be slightly too big is good enough for me.

Yeah. The figure just doesn't resemble any version of Hulk from any form of media. It's not good. These are supposed to be "special" figures, but the 80th. Anniversary one is 100 times better. I could maybe be suckered in to buying a cool-looking repaint of it, but this fugly one, I'll only buy at steep discount, as kind of a joke, an example of a terrible figure to chuckle at. Hasbro needs some consistency- their head sculpts have been getting more inconsistent in quality lately. Sue Storm is not great, this Hulk is awful, and the upcoming Sabertooth is cartoonish and terrible.

I’m sorry, but I have to politely disagree with you here. The Paul Harding head sculpt looks a lot less like Bronze Age comic Hulk, and a lot more like Mick Jagger. Heck, the old Mego Hulk’s head sculpt was much better than the weird Harding one.

The torso seems a bit narrow compared to the limbs, especially the beefy legs, but overall, it’s still a really nice, must-buy figure.

X-Men wave: -Banshee (blue and yellow) -Wolverine (Fang outfit) -Deathbird -Corsair -Mimic -Morph (X-Men animated, but without the cel-shading paint of the upcoming animated figures) -Lilandra BAF: Ch'od

Yeah, at the very least. I feel like for the MSRP, and as a better tribute, we should get a hole-less shield, and at least a simple sculpted display base of some terrain, or something. When a regular figure with a BAF piece is $22.99, this without a BAF piece isn't worth 10 bucks more.

It's a nice figure, but it doesn't feel $32.00+ nice to me. Maybe I'm a bit biased, because I'm disappointed by the lack of an actual sculpted display stand for the figures in this line, but these don't feel "ultra-premium" to me. I'll probably buy it, but I think the 80th. Anniversary Cap will still be the "definitive" classic Cap figure for me.

This is what I would like. I don't want to see general-release waves being done with artist-specific themes, but I think it would be great to see one-off figures or two-packs based on specific artists, particularly classic ones like Ditko and Kirby.

The Marvel Minimates line seems to be running on fumes- it's harder and harder to find them anywhere other than at a few online retailers (other than the Walgreen's exclusive ones), there are only 3 2-packs per wave, fewer waves per year, and now this... I'm sure the Marvel license is expensive, but this isn't the way to go. I want to support this line, but this is almost $10.00 a figure, and I don't care about the "deluxe packaging." I don't know what the rules are with the license, but you'd think they could find another retail partner to carry the regular waves- Target, Meijer, and Wal-Mart are all carrying more "collector-targeted" toys right now, from companies like Mego and Neca.