I’ve avoided buying too many Marvel Universe figures for one reason or another over the last couple years. I bought a few at first, but they didn’t win me over. Lately though, the line has been getting harder and harder to resist. In the last couple weeks, I’ve picked up a few more and been much happier with the figures.
I think it’s a mixture of things that is drawing me back to Marvel Universe. Character selection is surely a factor. I love parts of Marvel, but having learned to read with DC Comics I have more affinity for some of DC’s third and fourth tier characters than I do for some of the big guns at Marvel. My Marvel likes are somewhat eccentric, so many of the early MU figures were ones that I a) didn’t really care about or b) received bad figures and so I either passed or purchased a wanted character and was disappointed with the final product.
* – I always feel like I have the worst luck with Marvel figures of my favorite characters. Marvel Legends of War Machine, Nova, Rogue, and Captain Britain were all eagerly awaited disappointments. And then Marvel Universe got me with Moon Knight, Blade, Ms Marvel, and a few others.
Even though I wasn’t buying, I did notice that the figures seemed to be improving as Hasbro went along. And then, they got me. The character selection started getting around to the parts of the Marvel Universe I’m interested in. In this case, outer space.
Thanos is an ugly duckling that’s obsessed with death. And I don’t mean the concept of death. Shortly after he was exiled from his home planet (he was a big, ugly purple dude with bad intentions on a peaceful planet of beautiful people), Thanos met Death. It appeared to him as a beautiful woman and he promptly fell head over heels for her. He didn’t seek to gain her affection with the usual chocolates and flowers – this was Death afterall – so he set himself to killing half the universe (Aww, you shouldn’t have!”). He tried his best with Cosmic Cubes, Soul Gems, & the Infinity Gauntlet, but pesky heroes like Captain Marvel & Adam Warlock always managed to thwart him.
Thanos started showing up in stores back in October apparently, but trying telling that to my local stores – I just ran across him a couple weeks ago. I’m not up on MU case assortments, so I don’t know if I got a late case or a revision, but either way I was happy to find him on the pegs. He jumps out at you because he’s barely contained in the package. He’s an inch taller than a standard figure, but he’s also twice as wide.
His sculpt is built around the buck used for Juggernaut, but it works perfectly for the figure. Plus, he’s got all the right unique pieces – new head, two new tunic pieces, forearms/gloves, and boot tops. He does reuse Juggy’s feet, but I think its fine. A universe destroyer should have good treads after all. All the new pieces are spot-on with the little details and trim. I especially love the head sculpt. He’s sneering at me disapprovingly just like he should.
Thanos also sports another extra piece – the Infinity Gauntlet! This was a perfect addition for him, it looks good, and it swaps out with his regular glove with ease. Pretty cool.
The paint works hard to help make the figure even better. The figure is molded in his classic blue color with a heavy wash that darkens his costume and draws attention to the sculpted details. Combined with the bright, shiny gold used for the trim, boots, and gloves, and I don’t know how any Marvel fan could leave this guy at the store.
There is a little bit of slop here and there; mostly gold specks where they shouldn’t be, but nothing major. His face also has some decent paintwork with the small gold details, eyes, and open mouth.
Once I got him open, it was his articulation that really made me feel good about the purchase. I knew I wanted him for how he was going to look on my shelf, but I was really impressed by how well he moves. I haven’t been a big fan of the MU articulation overall – I can’t stand the Surfer that came with my Galactus for example, but Thanos features more articulation than any of the figures I bought back when: ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips, swivels at the bicep, forearms, thighs, and boots, double hinges on the knees, and single hinges on the elbows and ankles. The bottom of his tunic blocks the articulation a bit, but he’s still got great poseability. It’s really fun for such a bulky figure. Continue to Captain Marvel…
now if only they can replicate the MU thanos in ML…
The Old MS Thanos fits quite Well with ML… Now If Hasbro would make a Shuma Gorath… Want to complete a Marvel Superheroes Display…
I had him and liked him quite a bit. He’s one of the handful I regret parting with.
I love MS Thanos too, but being a Thanos fan I wouldn’t mind seeing Hasbro take a shot at him. They could do some decent part-swapping with the Red Hulk mold, or maybe do a BAF down the line.
I for one would dig seeing multiple versions of Ol’ Purplepuss, though I’m pretty sure I’m alone in that. I’d even dig getting him in his “civilized” attire, sporting the simple tunic from the end of IG.
I’d be down for some other versions of Thanos for sure.
Can’t wait to get this!
Congrats on the find, Noisy!
Thanks! This wave has shown up at 2 Wal-Marts here in the last couple weeks, good luck!
It’s a shame they dropped the paper accessories. I know a lot of people weren’t big fans of them, but it was nice to get a little snippet of story with a figure and a copy of the card art.
On Thanos though, his wave is a bit of a ghost wave, similar to Jean Grey’s assortment. So you’re a lucky bugger for finding him.
I have enjoyed the few files that I have. Constrictor stands out, but yeah, I won’t really miss them.
I’m still surprised to hear the the Jean Grey wave was a ghost wave. There were a couple characters in that wave that tempted me a few times. I was clueless that it was a harder to find wave.
I had been waiting for a long time to find Thanos though.
The internet is rejoicing if you’re going to be doing Marvel reviews from now on!
I still haven’t been able to find a Thanos locally. You made that suck just that much more today.
Aw, shucks…
Sorry I reminded you of your Thanosnessless?
We definitely need more Cosmic Marvel characters. We spent forever with just the Silver Surfer. And I agree with you, he just isn’t that good of a digure.
Are all the Surfer’s the same mold? That Galactus is awesome, but I was disappointed by the Surfer. He needs a few figure that can get into some cool surfboard poses.
See, this is what happens when you start posting so many awesome pics… we just start taking you for granted…
Sweet use of the argonauts ‘skelly as Lady Death! Awesome words and pics, as usual.
I found Thanos early and really like him. ML is returning? I hadn’t a clue… great news!
Keep it up, Noisy… you’re going to make a toy review lover ‘outta me yet! Thanks again!
Thanks! I was really happy when I remembered I had that Skeleton for that pic! LOL
Marvel Legends is on tap for a 2012 return. They’re expanding the 6″ Iron Man line this year to make way for it. Some movie and some comic versions in that lineup.
Dude, what IS IT with you and super-powered gloves? First you have Darkseid emulating the King of Pop and now Thanos is the Infinity Grab-A$$? Well played, fiend, well played indeed.
They’re getting really good use out of that Juggernaut buck, and it’s worked well every time (Juggernaut, World War Hulk, Thanos). They might be able to get a decent Ron Lim Drax the Destroyer out of it, if they wanted to go deeper into the Infinity Gauntlet theme.
I’d completely forgotten the Darkseid jokes… good thing I didn’t repeat! Apparently, I just find gloves dirty. 😀
Don’t mention World War Hulk… I don’t need that figure… really…
I’m definitely down for a Drax. Even ML never really got Cosmic enough. I was disappointed with both Nova & Warlock and we didn’t get many beyond that.
DC Classics is doing the same thing right now too. They just don’t want to do space figures it seems.
Well, maybe space figures other than Green Lantern. You’ll be swimming in those soon enough.
LOL
Yeah, I should’ve put that caveat in there. We are getting Green Lanterns, but I guess I mentally file those under a different heading. I was thinking more like Captain Comet, Darkstars, the Faceless Hunter, Ultra, etc.
Ooh, ooh, this bugger is tough to get–I too, have found him elusive despite apparently having been released 2 weeks back.
Great pics! And at the risk of temtping you further, NoisyDvl5, I just did a review of World War Hulk over on Chase Variant. Go on, click it if you dare…:P Heheh. 😉
I’ve never been able to find Thanos anywhere. Indeed, I think I was lucky to find any of the other figures from his Wave, as I’ve never seen any of them on the shelves since… 🙁