“No, I’m the Ant-Man!… I know, it wasn’t my idea.” – Ant-Man, Marvel’s Ant-Man. (Cause even the movie’s gotta make fun of itself…)
I’ve not seen Ant-Man yet (obviously), but I’ve gotten a wee bit obsessed with the toys. I’ve already bought over a dozen items from Hasbro, Diamond, Funko, & LEGO. (fingers crossed!). Truth be told, its’ not really about the movie though. I’m sure I’ll like it, but it’s more that I just really like the suit. If nothing else, they really nailed a great overall look for the Ant-Man. Part of it, from what we’ve seen in the handful of trailers, probably stems from them setting Hank Pym in the past a bit. The suit gets a great retro feel as a result and I’m seemingly fascinated by it. There’s even a children’s book I’m eyeing at my LCS… The suit looks great on the LEGO minifigures, particularly good on the POP Vinyls and Mystery Minis, but we’ll get to all that – today is about how it looks best on action figures proper. Looking it over, I think the only thing I don’t like about the suit is that, if past Marvel movies are any indication, it will be different when he appears in Captain America: Civil War. I just hope they keep the changes simple.
Despite my myriad of purchases, the two main figures of Ant-Man I wanted to add to my collection are the eventual Hot Toy & the Marvel Legend. The Hot Toy just because it will be awesome, and the Marvel Legend because… it’s kinda the ultimate Marvel toy line, right? Hasbro hasn’t conquered the MCU as much I want – we’ve only barely completed the basic Avengers line-up and we’re missing a ton of villains (let’s just add Yellow Jacket to the list right now), but it’s ML and I’m hopeful Hasbro finds a way to work the major movie characters into the line sooner or later. We did get Coulson & Maria Hill this year, and the comic line-up has become amazing, so I have hope for some of more unlikely wants.
Ant-Man finally get his due with an all-new sculpt and headlines his own wave. It’s pretty cool! The rest of the wave was loosely affiliated with him – we did get a Giant Man & Wasp, Ultron was the BAF (though based on the movie design, Ultron will forever be associated with Ant-Man in the comics) and them some C-List villains rounded out the wave. Overall, it’s a decently strong wave with Ant-Man & Ultron pretty much swallowing the tooling budget whole. It’s a pretty good wave even if I might sell off one or two now that I’ve built Ultron.
Since he got an all-new sculpt, we’ve ended up with a particularly accurate figure that really looks fantastic. The details are found throughout the figure, front & back, and it really stands out on the shelf. The helmet looks great, the exposed face is probably the softest part of the sculpt, but it’s decent enough. The only thing I would’ve liked to have seen differently is some layering with the mask that would let the lenses be translucent.
Articulation is a high point for the figure. There’s nothing missing that I really want! He’s got ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, wrists, hips, & inverted ankles; double-hinge elbows & knees; swivels at the waist, biceps, and thighs; and an ab crunch. The hips could use a little more movement, but he can pose well with what’s there and I’m satisfied with the results. Continue to Page 2…
This wave finally showed up at wally world so I was able to pick out a cleaner helmet than the one you have.
Fun review of a great figure!
I think we all pretty much agree we would have liked 2 heads with this, the ‘open face’ and the ‘closed face’. I debate seeing if Star Lord’s head fits…
Otherwise, it IS a nice sculpt. I like the details. I like the paint. As much as I’d like to build Movie Ultron, I’m giving the rest of the wave a pass. I’m way too OCD to keep the BAF parts and sell off the unwanted figures.
I haven’t seen a single piece of Ant-Man art featuring an open mouth (I have to assume it’s based on an earlier design that was altered by the time the cameras rolled), so this figure having it bugs me. I think the figure looks great otherwise, but because of that inaccuracy, I haven’t been able to pull the trigger. I keep hoping Hasbro will announce a variant, or a boxed set with an more accurate faceplate, but knowing them, that probably won’t happen until Civil War.
I’m guessing, guessing, mind, that the closed face is needed because breathing and stuff. Also whatever the way the shrinking works. I assume it’ll be a discussion in the movie.
I seem to recall the comic book Ant-Man had that do-gimmie mouthpiece deal so he could talk to full size people and maybe talk to ants.
I will buy a variant Ant-Man, just as I would have bought a ‘short coat’ Star Lord. I’ve seeing the ML Star Lord on cheaper prices locally, maybe I should do as others have done and buy one then whip out my X-Acto knife…
Getting all excited by that stupid Amazon exclusive Avengers 4-pack now. Glad I ordered one. 🙂
I realized today, that even the test footage made 3 years ago had the full helmet. At what point was there a plan for an open-mouth cowl?
Maybe we’ll learn when the ‘making of’ book comes out in August? Altho I have to admit I’ve become disenchanted with those releases, never enough detail, too many pages spent on screen shots. I don’t recall a single 3-view plan for either version of the Helicarrier for example.
But remember Hollywood thinking. “We’re paying this actor x millions of Dollars so we gotta see his face, otherwise why did we spend that money?” Isn’t that the core reason why most every movie featuring a comic book person who is normally masked, they’re always ripping those masks off? Over and over.
(never mind Batman’s seeming problem with blonde women. “Hey, know what? I’m Batman.” Altho I guess that was more an issue with the ‘Tim Burton generated’ movies…)
I like the suit, but the helmet is bugging me six ways to Sunday. As James noted, it has to be based on an earlier design, but the trailer does feature a scene where he has the helmet on, but it’s not “Activated”, so it’s not fully closed. then again, that scene does look kinda wonky with it’s CGI, so…?
I’ll probably have a better opinion in a few days after I see the movie. I just wish we had gotten an alternate Rudd head, like we’ve gotten with numerous Caps, and now Spidey and even Danvers. I have tried several alternate heads, and one that does fitI think is the unmasked Steve Rogers head from the Ultimate Cap/Fury 2pk? not sure, it was in a tub with about 20 other heads. We didn’t get the uniform neck ball joint on this guy.
my only complaint about the body is that pipe on the back of the neck. presumably, it’s a rebreather attached to the helmet in the movie? the body has some decent custom potential, but that pipe is the first thing to go when I get around to it.
I haven’t seen this case for order at the usual e-tailers, so I think I lucked out in finding mine last week at my old store when I swung by getting a load from storage to take to my new place. first hit, all but Bulldozer, second hit found what looked like three cases on back aisle endcap. I only saw that because I was turning cart around and glanced over to see I wasn’t hitting anything and saw the Ant boxes. #SCORE!! Granted, I now realize regular retail is costing moreover online ordering, but again, I haven’t really seen them for sale online.
Finally saw this wave but grabbed a Bulldozer. What I wanna finish the wrecking crew. Now to get Tball and Piledriver. (Kicking myself for not grabbing back when was $8 )
On Ant-man, not seen film but know will get. Fun and.great review and await a YJ too. Even if reminds me of a Rider a bit. (The Walgreens Antman looks like a Showa era cannon fodder guy (like.Black Satan or G.O.D.)
Piledriver WAS about retail cost on Amazon. not sure if he’s gone up n the last few weeks since this wave hit? I think Thunderball is about twice retail?
there are a few collector groups on FB that do trades and decent priced sales all the time.
Does Ultron’s head fit on Ant-Man’s neck?