TheArrow

My first impression is favourable. I like and want Mockingbird in this look. But then I start to question things: I already have a "better" Silver Centurion Iron Man, I like the Tigra I have already. I'm not feeling any jangle for Spider-Woman because I wasn't reading WCA when she was in it. Hank IS a different look and was in the run of stories I enjoyed, but.........I'm thinking that sculpt is going to be in demand for loads of kitbashes. Honestly, there not enough new for the asking price.....if the set goes to s big discount, yes. I'd jump on it. But it still looks favourable to me. s

Yeah, the whole BAF concept kinda stumbled right from the start. If you wanted the whole wave, then it was gold, if you wanted MOST of the figures. they could slip in a less-desired figure, or even a mort and you'd still get value out of it. But when it was just the BAF you wanted, and the whole wave was morts, or figures you just didn't care about.........then it got tough. Of course, there's no way Hasbro could predict our wants, so the rosters were purely luck-of-the-draw. Okay, I accept that. But when the figures started getting smaller, or compromised in terms of articulation.......then things get irksome. Small BAFs really don't project much value for the dollar and they are even more gimmicky when they are a whole figure ( with the larger BAF piece) in a wave. Something like Spider-Ham was a bit of a draw, but that lil guy has no knee articulation--and it's minor omissions like that that make a buy stop and think twice. Sadly, we will not see a Galactus, or a Sentinel BAF ever again..........those size of figures will be Haslab offerings, and it feels like a slow degradation of what is offered. And with price-points climbing, and presentation--sculpt & paint apps--getting tricky.....I'm getting even pickier as a consumer. Ch'od is a good example....sculpt is okay, but the lack of paint apps really no-sale the figure for me. Bah! I'm griping and I don't wanna..........it's too easier to get bitter. 😞

Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, housepets of all manner...........I present to you........the Porcine Pinnacle, the Herculean Hog, the Swine of the Spaceways, the Pig of POWER........... RAZORBACK Yes, yes........I know...........I know.....you need a moment .....a breathless pause to take it the MORT of the Moment. I thought once upon a time, that the most mort-full of the Marvel Legends multitude was.....Man-Wolf............or the head of Silvermane upon that dinky little RC car. Or was it the ToyBiz (freckled) Scarlet Witch??? BUT I WAS WRONG!! No matter, they all have been swept aside, by the Bombastic Boar. This...............THIS is where the boundary lays, the outer periphery of Marvel madness. AND THEY DARED MAKE HIM. Gaze upon his banyard countenance, behold and be beguiled by his electrified mane and knoweth that you shant likely witness such again. Or shall ye?? I love this figure...........I mean, I knew I would, but holding it in-hand is just so so much more. For all the wonderfully "serious" heroes and villains that Marvel has, it's characters like this that make me smile. Such a goofy get-up...I cannot stop laughing.

I think when talking about Aunt May, my own inclination would be to go for the classic Comics version--the John Romita sr. design. I think it is, by far, the most iconic look for the figure..........................BUT..... In terms of "eyes-on" for the character, the 90's cartoon ( mathematically) probably had 5 to 10 times more viewers than the comics of the day then ( 3-4 million viewers versus maybe 200,0000 monthly readers). So the cartoon may be more prominent in the minds of fans than the comic. My assumption is we'll see a Classic May figure in the next year, because all it is is a new head sculpt and (slightly) repainted body. Once they have that classic head in the field, they can do May in all gold as a Herald of Galactus and so forth.

I'm getting the impression that my own suspicions are being confirmed........that the nutty price hikes were an experiment by TRU to see "what the market would bear", and found their sales dropped. When I visited TRU the past couple of times over the past year, my observation ( for what it is worth) was that there was always plenty of stock on the pegs, but that it wasn't moving particularly fast. So TRU rolls back the shelf prices and action figures start moving again. So, yeah.......a "surprise", but also not really a surprise, me thinks.

<wrinkles nose> The white of her hair needs a bit of a light brown wash and white drybrush to help it LOOK like hair. As it is, it looks like the white tail of.....something...has embedded itself into her forehead..... Yoiks.

I'm not so sure.........there's a precedent for one of them: Mattel did a cross-over between MOTU and DCUC, the latter being a licensed brand at the time. Both Hasbro and Mattel could well have cross-promotion clauses in their licensing agreements.

GI Joe Hot Wheels. Maybe a commemorative 12" GI joe and Barbie set, LOL.

The proportions and sculpture do seem like a throwback to the ToyBiz wave 1 Cap.--but it seems to me like both ML and Select have been showing slightly softer sculpts over the past while.

I agree with that. Alpha Flight, besides being Canadian icons, has a couple of other things going for it. It's one of the very few teams that is almost wholly anachronistic/iconic in that sense, but it also represents some of the fundamental forces of the Marvel universe: magic, mutants, technology, aliens, monsters. Those five attributes are a well-spring of story ideas, IF they are played right. Like you said, they don't have to be set in Canada, they don't even have to mention Canada at all despite them practically waving the flag just standing there. (Once in costume, they literally are Canada, though, LOL) It's like limiting Batman because he comes out of the Bat-cave--you don't have to, it's just a piece of real estate.

IIRC, he was back in whole ( after some fashion) but they were writing him as an EVIL dude, and some conflict with his wife Heather and a child. I don't recall the specifics, but I think they should just revert him back to "Canada's Captain America" and go from there.

The perennial problem with Alpha Flight remains: For all the iconic characters on the roaster, they're still faced with the (unsolvable) question--"what do you do with CANADIAN super-heroes" John Byrne himself ran out of gas before he eve hit 30 issues......not even 2 1/2 years. It lasted just over 100 more issues, before cancellation, and then a handful of unremarkable "revival" mini-series and one-shots that had no spark to them. Personally, I think it's beyond frustrating. This is only a 5 issues mini--I'll sign on for the duration, but I will always hope someone can come along, and write the title in a way that keeps its flavour and is interesting enough to go the distance. Heck, if all Marvel does with it is a series of 5-6 issues minis every year or so , instead of an on-going, I'd be okay with that.

<Happy slappy dance> Woooooooooo!

There was a set, at the end of the Toy Biz era....

Paste-Pot Pete ( okay, okay.TRAPSTER) Wizard Armored Sandman Quasimodo Triton Karnak Crystal Gorgon Machinesmith Marrina Box Nemesis Talisman Caliber Smart Alec Diamond Lil Air Walker The Recorder Master of the World Petrified Man Moses Magnum Count Nefaria The rest of the Imperial Guard Classic Captain Britain George Perez Beast Stingray Sunturion Classic Attuma Balder the Brave Destiny Scorpio Mesmero ...just off the top of my head....