I’ve wanted to do some Avengers reviews, but there’s been one big problem. Finding them. I’ve been to Walmarts hours from here and have very little to show for it. I did manage to snag a leftover Thor on one run, but his photo shoot didn’t exactly go as planned. Snap.
Now, I’ve only seen Avengers twice, but I’m going to look into the future and tell you that I’ll be watching it like a million times when it finally comes to cable. I know this because that’s what I do for movies that I really, really like. 2009’s Star Trek is a good example. I only saw that in the theatre once, I own the DVD, and yet I watched it on FX twice just this weekend. Sure, like Avengers, there are one or two changes I’d like to make as an “armchair quarterback”, but I’m going to shoot for some hyperbole here and say that I find both those movies pretty much flawless. I can watch the new Trek over and over again and still be grief-stricken by the first ten minutes and ready to jump out of my chair for the last ten.
I have little doubt that Avengers will be the same. Heck, I already watch Iron Man whenever I catch it on and I guarantee I’ll be doing the same for all the Marvel movies that led up to Avengers in the coming years. It’s fantastic work. The artistic chaps and businessmen came together to make an excellent product and, as they should, they’ve all been able to cash in. Now, filmmaking still does their strategic accounting – “if we expect to make “x” profits, then we can invest “y” dollars”, but it’s nice to see the paradigm of quality paving the way to profit actually working now and again. Kinda makes you wish a big domestic toy company would try it.
That’s not to say there aren’t some quality toys out there. We are getting some really nice figures lately. MOTU figures are likely at their pinnacle. We’ve got sprawling DC & Marvel 6” collections. G.I. Joe & Transformers are forging ahead, but have amassed some fantastic anniversary product honoring the toys of our youth. There are some amazing high-end pieces being made. And plenty of smaller companies producing some of the best toys out there. Things are good. But wouldn’t it be cooler if the Avengers figures were as good figures as the movie was a movie?
Hasbro has to do the accounting – if they only think they can sell “x” units, they can only invest “y” dollars, but I’m just not as thrilled with this first batch of Avengers figures as I was with the movie. I think Hasbro could’ve done a little more (at the very least, I’m still hoping they will).
The first hurdle is more the fault of Wal-Mart than Hasbro, of course. The entire assortment is a Wal-Mart exclusive. Now, that shouldn’t be a problem – I’m 45 minutes from Walmart HQ. There are a dozen Walmarts within a half hour of my house. It jumps to nearly three dozen if I expand that into an hour. But here’s the thing, I’ve been to nearly two dozen of them in the past three weeks. And only three, two of them being that full hour away (and the third isn’t all that close), have pegs for these figures. That slays me. I imagine that’s something many of us are dealing with – and that’s just those of us fortunate enough to live where there are easily accessible Walmarts.
But after I’ve find them, or find a couple of them rather, I’ve been a bit disappointed. I’m still anxious to find Hulk & Hawkeye, so I’m not knocking this line as a whole yet, but I haven’t been able to pick up a Cap due to bad paint and I skipped the cheesy battle-damage Iron Man (opting to snag an IM2 figure that was still hanging out at TRU). Of the two I picked up, I was really impressed with Loki, but he is decidedly out of scale – someone at Hasbro must not have known or cared that Tom Hiddleston is 6’ 2”. He’s a great figure, but he’s an inch too short.
This brings me to Thor. I was happy to pick up Thor. He’s the same figure as was released last year, but with a new and much improved head sculpt. As Loki is a little too small, Thor is probably a little too big, but my biggest problem with this figure was when his leg broke off during the photo shoot. Were you thinking this review started off a little melancholy? Well, now you know why… Continue to Page 2…
Nick Fury / Black Widow 2-pack. Make it happen, Hasbro.
In the Lego Minifig scale, we’re missing only Nick Fury. He showed up rendered on a promo poster, so it could happen? Or else Lego was just teasing us for the sake of recreating the movie poster, which could be a possibility.
In Minimates scale, we have the whole team. Well done, DST!
In 3 3/4″, we have to re-purpose an IM2 Nick Fury (who is himself a re-purposed GI Joe), and hope that the Hawkeye / Black Widow wave hits anywhere with some regularity, soon.
In 6″, like you noted, there are some really obvious gaps. I never saw the Nick Fury from the 6″ Cap line, but maybe it was easier to find elsewhere? Really need a Black Widow, now.
In DST’s 8″ line, we’re missing Black Widow again, and an updated Captain America. Loki and Iron Man are re-packaged from previous releases, and you’ll have to hunt down a Thor from last year’s movie release. No Nick Fury here at all, either.
Hot Toys has been teasing a sixth scale Hulk, so they’re about to give us the entire team, just like we saw in Minimate scale.
It’s a shame when team completion isn’t a priority for everyone, equally.
I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again–who really buys female action figures?
I’d like to think there are little 10-year-old girls out there checking the toy aisles for a Black Widow figure every time Mom takes them grocery shopping because “she was so cool and pretty and she can fight like the other heroes!” But realistically, the shortpacked Widow was picked up by some 25-30 year old (male) collector. Hopefully it’s for their personal collection, but there’s also the chance they’ll immediately turn around and list her on eBay.
And it’s not like ALL female figures sell quickly. Rise of Cobra’s Cover Girl and Scarlett hit the clearance aisle quick, but Agent Helix was the hot ticket for a good while. Was it because Helix was a better figure? Was she sexier?
What about 25-30 y/o female collectors?
On a side note, that Loki looks surprisingly good for a human action figure made by Hasbro.
Hm. I think I suddenly need more Loki in my life.
Who wants a total plastic sausage fest on their shelves?
you’d be surprised…
but i digress. i believe most likely the average female figure is indeed bought by 18 to 34 year olds males. it’s a shame, but it’s likely true. i don’t see girls in the action figure aisle ever, and i’m there w/ my boys frequently enough that if they were there, i’d spot them.
My niece complained to me several times there was no Kitty Pride action figure for X-Evolution, who was her favorite on the show.
I fail to see why it matters who buys the female action figures. Yes, it would be cool if some young girls were inspired by the likes of Black Widow or Arcee or Scarlet or etc., etc., etc., but the point is the female figures do in fact sell. The toy companies, however, cling to an outdated mentality that they don’t, which is why we’re unlikely to ever get a complete 6″ Avengers team (for those of us who can find any of them, anyway. I lucked into a Captain America and Thor over the course of a week and a half, but it’s not easy going trying to collect this line). Hasbro’s leaving money on the table and pissing of their fans (aka paying customers) with their antics.
Toy companies know they sell–otherwise they wouldn’t make them at all. And yeah, I know the desire for a “complete” team is high–you should have heard the Power Rangers fans flip out when the “basic” (aka not Mega Mode) Pink and Yellow Samurai Rangers weren’t announced at the same time as the males; the girls were eventually released in the following wave.
I’m not overly fond of the frenzy new female action figures whip us collectors into (yes, I include myself in that dirty, sweaty lot). We scour the toy aisles from first thing in the morning to the middle of the night, and when we find a Black Widow, Hope Summers, or Catwoman, we instantly turn into Gollum. “My Precious!” we chitter as we clutch our treasure to our chests, a white-knuckle grip on the package as we scan the rest of the displays for more, hidden by other collectors underneath the WWE figures and clearanced ThunderCats.
And I find it funny/sad that Renegades Scarlett chokes the pegs, despite her being a prominent character in the show and a decent modern Joe. I joke that it’s because she’s dressed sensibly; if she had bare arms and legs and bright red lips, she’d fly off the shelves.
it matters in the sense of the targeted demographic… as in, since the companies insist that the lines must appeal to moms/kids, if moms/kids aren’t buying the female figures, if those figs are hard to dins and sell through more rapidly than the male figs, it verifies that the “adult collector” community is indeed a major buying presence at retail.
My daughter buys some…especially TFs and imports. Rarity I know but true. It frustrates her when the 30 year old dudes snag the domestics up and scalp em on evilbay.
Don’t forget a certain Agent who is the crux of the Marvel Movie Universe!
His only action figure form so far was as a Minimate. For shame, Hasbro. 🙁
YES, PLEASE!
THE SON OF COUL SHALL NOT BE DENIED!
Here, here!…And here again!
A big Quality Control problem. I’m sorry for your action figure.
Who had the stupid idea of posing the action figures in poses inside of their package?
Marketing did.
Good review, even if it is for a “variant” of a figure released last year with new accessories.
Did you manage to find the previous Thor figure? If so, I would head swap him with this guy. I feel your pain over getting a rare figure that breaks immediately. (esp with so many stores around you that SHOULD be carrying these, and they don’t!) I finally tracked down a loose DCD Indigo Corps Munk figure on ebay, only to have him arrive with a broken hip. The dealer does have more in stock and is being kind enough to replace him, free of charge, thankfully.
I do like the addition of the Heroclix stands, which help these stand out (no pun intended), but it also presents the problem of finding more stands for the other figures which can fit in this line, like last year’s 6″ movie line.
i’d love to see every hasbro marvel fig start coming w/ those heroclix stands.
Shame he’s broken. He looks really solid, I would definitely prefer the sleeveless look though.
What exactly is the ironman figure that’s there? I’ve been looking for a good one.
It’s a Hasbro Iron Man 2 Mark something or other figure and can still be found on the pegs at various Toys “R” Stores, which restocked IM 6-Inch figures when the Avengers hit (a side note, but these restocks included previously hard-to-find figures like Crimson Dynamo and Avengers Initiative War Machine).
I just happened to notice that Mattel uses sturdier plastic for their 6 inch toy lines compared to Hasbro’s ROML and this. Hasbro’s plastic is rubbery and very delicate to deal with when playing with the figures. I was disappointed when I found this out.
Considering how hard it is to find these, that makes him breaking even worse. I have a feeling I will never see these at retail unless there is some big shipment waiting to hit shelves later this summer or they make these available on Walmart.com a year after the movie comes out. I had the same issue with the DC Classics wave (which eventually came to Matty) and the same issue with the ML Ant Man wave (I only found AOA Wolverine). I still remember buying Buttons Mc Boom Boom from the old COPS N CROOKS line (hey was one of the hardest to find cause he was so cool and had guns in his chest) and breaking the door on his chest withing seconds of opening him! I almost lost it…
that ML10 wave (Ant Man/BAF Giant Man) hit haphazardly around here. almost every store got one case, and a few others got more than that, with one store in a smaller town getting in an island and probably half the action figure aisle. The only advantage this store has is being right on the interstate and I had no problem getting a couple full sets, other than the variant Weapon X, which was the short-packed figure (and only available to the stores that had the island display?)
otoh, WM’s exclusive DCUC w10 came and went with few problems for me. My main WM store got in a case, sold out. got in two more cases, sold out, then three more cases, which seemed to linger for a bit, meaning the local buyers were done. THEN they got in at least TEN more cases and there are still a few Foragers and plenty of Power Girls sitting in clearance today. they were $11 for the longest time, but a little while back I bought one of each on different trips, then suddenly they were $3! D’OH!
I had two Thors — bought the second one because I wasn’t happy with the paint apps of the first — and ended up returning one because the right leg was so unstable. Luckily, the second Thor was almost perfect. Almost, because the first one’s cape could be used to help him stand; the second one falls unless pegged.
It’s very odd, these distribution networks. My rinky dink Walmart has had at least four cases of these and I’ve caught three full cases and all but a Hawkeye of one case on the pegs. And most normal Walmarts around me have pegs for these (not those stupid new Walmarts with very scaled back toy sections). I’ve grabbed one of all but Loki. And the two Thors, as mentioned above.
The big problem now is that, even for a store like mine that got a good amount of cases, we are finally backed up on Iron Mans and Captain Americas. If you missed the first four cases — a good amount, but not one of the one-per-case figures lasted more than 24 hours except Loki, and he was gone within 36 hours — you might be out of luck now as no new cases may be forthcoming. But you never know.
I wonder if my Walmart will be punished for having so many Avengers by not getting any DKRises Gordons…
Shame about your figure, dude. I’m sorry you had to deal with the hassle. But you still gave a fair review, so bravo!
I do think the head sculpt does look a little like Chris Hemsworth. But I think it would be lightyears better (like you said ;)) if they’d gotten his hair right–the length, the curliness/body. And I completely agree about that damn helmeted head from the fig before–I have it and hate it! I can;t wait till I manage to hunt down one of these somewhere just so I can head swap! 😉
I have been on the fence with getting this movie version of Thor.
Yes, the head sculpt is far better than the old winged helmet.
And, yes, he is big in height, but not big enough or even muscular enough for me.
Thor is one of my favorite Marvel characters, but aside from getting a neat version of Mjolnir that has a great strap, I just don’t know If I want to spend nearly $18.00 on this exclusive. 🙁