Marvel Universe Secret Wars Dr. Doom and Absorbing Man (and Wasp!)

This was the one pack from the 4th and final wave of the Secret Wars 2 packs that I was really looking forward to.  Why?  Because we finally get Dr. Doom is awesome 3.75 inch scale!  I believe it's the first time ever he appears in this size.  Also, I can't deny that the pre-sale photos looked awesome.

Unlike most Marvel Universe figures, Dr. Doom actually comes with an accessory and also...the Wasp! She's in her shrunken form so you'll have to squint to see her in the package pic.  I think it's also a first for Wasp in this scale.

Does this mean that I'd readily chuck the Absorbing Man?  Heck no!  He comes with a ball and chain!  A ball and chain, I tell you!  Of the steel variety!  Larger than a man's head!  And he's one of the villains who actually thinks he can take down the Hulk (No one takes down the Hulk!)  He'll make for a good fight scene companion for the Jolly Green Giant, him and whatever army of Hulk villains are made for the Marvel Universe line in the future. (We want the Leader! Now now now!)

So does this 2-pack live up to much much eagerly anticipated...uh..anticipations? More after the jump!

Like: The number of accessories.  These guys technically come with 3 between them--Wasp, Doom's Luger, and that ball and chain for Carl Creel.  While the chained ball is exactly the same as Thunderball's, Doom's Luger is actually a pretty nice piece of weaponry.  It looks like blaster pistol from the Star Wars universe.

As for the Wasp, she's painted in flat colors which are accurate to her Secret Wars comics appearance, and I think the paint actually obscures some of the tiny detail on the sculpt.  She just the right size for a MU sized figure to hold in their hand and if they ever make a 3.75 inch version of Janet Pym, this "accessory" will serve perfectly as her shrunken form.


One other piece of removable "equipment" is Doom's cape, but you'll have to pop of his head to get at it. (Which was easy form me seeing how the head was so loose it popped of right out of the package). The cloak's also got a peg and two slots so that he can stick it on his back like Secret Wars Thor.

Like: Doom's and Absorbing Man's head sculpts are as close to perfect as you can get.  Doom's hood frames his face correctly (as opposed to his Marvel Select version), while his mask has the classic scowl and down-turned mouth that's Doom's trademark look.  There's also some nice scoring/hatching of the hood to give it a "cloth-like" texture.  It's really a beautifully done head.

Carl Creel's head is also superbly done, with a nice, smooth egg-shaped dome coupled with a low bow, large jaw, and a really evil look caught between and scowl and a smile.  Special mention also goes to his pants and shoes.  For standard prison wear, these don't look half bad!

Both these figures' eyes are painted--Doom's are yellow, while Ab Man has one regular and one painted yellow.  I think Creel's are done better--their more visible.  Doom's eye colour can best be seen only when he looks upwards.

Like: The paint!  Both these figures have a nice job done.  But where the Absorbing Man's got paint covering him from head to to, Doom's cloth parts (cowl, cape, tunic) have been sculpted in colour.  His armor's matte metalized silver is smooth and uniform on his arms, legs and face.  His belt, its buckle and the holster are also painted and pretty nicely with very minimal overlapping.  But the cape clasp is probably the weakest in application, with the gold paint looking a little uneven over the green plastic.

Absorbing Man is even more amazing paint-wise.  The first thing is his flesh tones--they've been sculpted in flesh, given a slight wash and highlighted with more flesh paint.  It's easily the best flesh I've seen on a 3.75 inch figure I've seen.

His prison dud pants, belt, and shoes are beautifully done, but his steel transforming left side of the body looks a little off.  But just a little.  They've covered his left arm, part of his face and some of his upper chest with a dark grey that looks more like dried cement than him absorbing the steel properties of his chain ball.  Still, the paint is applied well--it's just not quite the right colour of steel.

Like: Their articulation.  Doom has the standard Hasbro 22 points of articulation and Ab Man has 20.  And even after being spoiled by a whole bunch of super poseable Iron Man 2 3.75" figures, I don't find these guys a let down at all.  The lack of ball-joints at the hips prevents side kicks and really wide stances, but other than that these guys match up evenly and are really well painted to boot!

Dislike: Doom's head fell right off his neck peg when I was removing him from the package.  Somehow the hole in his head is tad shallow, so turning his head would result it it coming off easily.  I had to use the nail polish method to thicken up the neck peg ball so that his head wouldn't fall off at the slightest touch.

His head ball joint is reduced to swivel-only because of a thick neck peck.  Thankfully, it was easily remedied by paring away some of the access plastic with an exacto knife.  Doom now easily looks up, down and all around with the excellent head able to completely cover up any mods I'd done!

Dislike: That his cape is heavy and prevents him from fully using his chest pivot.  But then a long heavy cape also allows Doom to balance better of the edge of the cloak, so i guess this is a minor, minor dislike. :)

Dislike: That Absorbing Man can only hold his ball and chain in his right hand, but his absorption effect takes place on the left side of his body.  I'm not 100% sure, but I feel like his body's transformation into the whatever he touches should begin at the point of touch?  Heh, I suppose this is minor too, but these figures are very well done so it's pretty hard to dislike anything.  I guess Carl will have to touch his ball with a left hand form time to time...

RATINGS

Dr. Doom

Aesthetics: 9/10 - Simply magnificent.  If they never come up with another version of him it wouldn't be a problem because this guy is just that good.  From the armour to the head and mask, to the clothes and to his belt and holster--it's not just well tooled and sculpted, it's also very comic accurate.

Poseability: 7.5/10 - Two things restrict his movement--his little skirt and the cloak.  But slits up the side of his tunic allow for sideways movement, though front-wise it's still a little blocked.  The cloak, when pegged to his back firmly, will fall off if the shoulders are turned too far back.  His head, just a swivel at first, is really excellent after a simple modification.

Fun: 9/10 - Doom = fun!  Fun, fun, fun!  He speaks in the third person, believes everyone other than himself is an insect and thus makes enemies of everyone!  Doom's the kinda guy who has dominated the world, wants to destroy all the heroes, steal their powers, and ultimately become a god.  He's a big picture kinda guy, and having a figure that really captures his arrogance and genius just serves to remind me of it every time I look at him.

 
Value: 8/10 - He's got a cloak and a Luger (for those he deems unworthy of dying by his inventions).  He's also got an insane amount of tooling.  His entire hood, tunic and cloak have been given texture, while his armour is all metalized silver.  Bottom line: there's been plenty of work put into him and he comes with a couple of accessories, so he's good value. 

Overall: 8.4/10 - Dr. Doom is too good to ignore.  If you're a Marvel fan, it doesn't matter if you like him or not--you'll probably buy him anyway.  He's the bad guy of bad guys, he steals Galactus' power in the Secret Wars series.  And he defeats the Beyonder with it!  Badass!

Absorbing Man

Aesthetics: 8.5/10 - Great flesh tone, great sculpt, especially the head, which is pretty distinctive in character as well as emotion (huge scowl).  Him standing alone empty-handed looks pretty pedestrian.  Put a ball and chain in his hand--now we're talking!

Poseability: 8/10 - He's practically a naked dude with painted on clothes and power, so he's got free range of motion from all his joints.  Still, MU's ball and socket hip joints don't allow for the range that full ball-joints do.  Also, he's missing and elbow swivel.  So while Carl Creel can pretty much do anything he needs to do with his articulation, there's still room for improvement.  Even so, he's poseable enough that I didn't notice he's missing the elbow swivel till just now.

Fun: 9/10 - This dude is a lot more fun than I realized, especially with the ball and chain in his hand.  I had lots of fun posing him for pictures and with other MU figures.  I just love how 'alive' his accessory looks in his hands  He also proves extra fun for me because he's a Hulk foe!

Value: 8/10 - A great ball and chain and a tiny figure of Wasp almost instantly make this guy (along with Doom) worth it.  But wait, he's also got a great sculpt and an excellent paint job. 

 



Overall: 8.4/10 - This is a very satisfying two-pack to get because both Doom and Absorbing Man are superb.  The characters couldn't be more contrasting--the evil genius Dr. Doom and the dumb brute Absorbing Man!  The Ab Man has especially turned out to be a surprise and to think I almost didn't get this two-pack because I didn't fancy him too much!  While he's not as badass as Doom in  the series, he does score with Titania, so I guess that makes him cool?  Haha  ;P

Thor! (and Enchantress)

Thing about Thor is this: he's one of the original Avengers, he's (arguably) as strong as the Hulk, he wields arguably the most powerful weapon in the Marvel universe, and he can also control weather, especially storms and lightning.  But somehow he's always not a main player in most story lines.  He may have (had) his own comic book, but he never seems to be anyone's favourite for a leading role. Well, until the upcoming movie at least.  And even then it's so that they can make an Avengers movie after that.  Maybe that's why it's taken so long for a Marvel Universe 3.75" version of him to appear.  But appear it has and boy have we all been awaiting his arrival! (Ok, most of us.)

And here's the bonus: Since it's a Secret Wars 2-pack (Wave 3) he comes in, he's accompanied by the lovely enchantress...or so we think!

I have to admit, Secret Wars Thor (or classic Thor) is really a blah character to me.  I was always more interested in the Hulk or Spiderman, or even Captain America.  Thor was just some dude with a hammer that spoke funny and had a funnier costume.  Seriously, who runs around with six dinner plates on the front of his or her tunic?  His hammer, though, was awesome.  And which kid wouldn't want a mighty weapon that would return when thown and can call down lightning?

Hasbro haven't failed to recapture the fantasy of the hammer in this toy, and despite it size, you can make out the inscription on it:

Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.

It's the one accessory that comes with this 2-pack and it's a (necessary) bonus too, considering most Marvel dudes come with a grand total of zero accessories.

Thor himself is brilliantly represented in his classic guise, bringing to mind one of the two versions of the Norse god I'm familiar with--Neil Gaiman's from 1602 (The other being the Ultimate Thor).  And this was the first thing 1602 Thor says when he makes his first appearance:


I am Thor of the Thunders--
Mighty My Mjolnir:
Fighter of Frost-Giants,
Stronger than Storms

I think that pretty much sums up our boy here.  But sadly, the same can't be said about the Enchantress.

Look at her packaging art:                                                          And just look at how she turned out!


Hmm.

Let's take a closer look in the review...

Like: Thor!  He's really classic accurate, right down to this lantern-like jaw and winged helm.  Gotta love those classic boots and knee pads as well.  The guy is muscled like a maiden's fantasy (Thanks, George R.R. Martin!) and has got the deep blue eyes and long blond locks to back it up.

Dislike: Enchantress.  It's almost as if this is what she would look like if she were an ugly, wicked witch who had to charm everyone into thinking she looks the way we think she looks--blond, elfin, and beautiful.  And this is her with the spell worn off.  Either that or she's had some really bad plastic surgery.  Just look at those eyebrows!  They obviously don't have the best plastic surgeons in Asgard.

Like: Thor's Hammer.  Mjolnir is tiny but extremely detailed from the inscipttion down to the leather grip and strap.  Pity that the piant on it doesn't match up to the sculpt--it's a bit flat, even for a classic figure's colours.

Dislike: Just look at the sculpt on Enchantress.  It's a mess under her arms, her skirt is an extra piece of molded rubber that really looks odd resting on her hips and makes her look, well, like she's wearing a rubber skirt.

Like: That both the figures have waist articulation.  So far, only Captain America and Spiderman have them on the figures I own, so it's nice to see that they added more to figures to make them poseable.

Dislike: that the Enchantress has no bicep or elbow swivels!  How the hell is she going to do those intricate hand movements to cast spells?  It makes her really tough to pose, considering that he leg/hip articulation is limited by the rubber skirt, and her head can barely move because of her voluminous hair.

Like: That Thor's cape pegs into two holes in his back.  This means it comes off anytime you want it to as well.  Why?  So there's no more cape getting in the way when you don't want it to.  Another plus is that it also gives Thor that 'raised cape' look that he always seems to have, like he starches his capes or something to make them sit higher above his shoulders.  They should have done this with Magneto from Wave 2 as well, instead of making his cape just hook over his head.

Dislike:  The paint on these two figures leaves much to be desired.  Thor's got yellow paint all over the front of his helmet, and has a dot of silver on his hair as well.

The hammer, as I mentioned before, is a little flat.  And while they do have the inscription on there it's not 100% clear  His wristbands have a bit of red/black overlap but they're not too bad, as is the yellow paint on his boots.

As for the Enchatress. **Groan**  She all painted on clothes except for her rubber skirt.  Her leggings are great, especially the circly patterns, but painted top?  Painted sleeves?  Coudn't they have added some tooling on the body so she wouldn't look  like she has body paint on?  Well, I guess Hasbro thought the one rubber mini-skirt was good enough...

And as if that isn't enough, her face!  Oh my goodness what did they do to her face?  First off it's a different shade of skin-tone for her arms and body.  Then there's the poor paint apps for the eyes and eyebrows, which make her look like she's just been embalmed.  And what's with the pin-prick like irises?  I mean, she seduces Thor and even the Hulk in Secret Wars.  She ain't seducing anyone like this!

Like: Thor's sculpt is really a sight to behold.  Bulging biceps and triceps?  Check.  Excellent head sculpt including winged helm? Check.  One closed fist and one open to hold Mjolnir?  Check.  Even the fingers on his open right hand have each been molded individually and his neck peg has been thickened so he's got a muscular neck (though it does reduce the ball joint to a swivel).

RATINGS
Aesthetics

Thor: 9.5/10 - Very, very pretty. (Verily.) It's just too bad that some of his paint apps can't keep up with the strong sculpt.  Also, I prefer his current costume, though this one is more iconic.

Enchantress: 8/10 - Not pretty at all. There are basic problems like a poor sculpt (underarms) to the paint really letting the sculpt down.  The torso, arms, and face come to mind here.  A pretty character with an ugly figure.

Poseability:

Thor: 9.5/10 - He's a bulkier than standards mold but he's flexible with an extra waist swivel and removable cape.  Loses points for the swivel-only head and the hip/leg joints, which would be as flexible as any of the smaller, regular super heroes if his mighty buttock muscles didn't hinder them from bending backwards more.

Enchantress: 7/10 - She's standard except for three main things: her lack of a bicep/elbow swivel, her hair-impeded head and her skirt getting in the way of her legs movement.  What's left, you say?  Not much.  Verily.


Fun

Thor: 9.7/10 - He's a classic and will look good next to Captain America and Iron Man. In fact, I'm waiting till I get the chance to, then I'll bust open and review all the Iron Men I've accumulated.  Once that happenes. I'll get a shot of the original three Avengers together fighting side by side against who else but the Hulk!

And for those who've seen Hulk Vs. recently, I can't wait to do a battle shoot with the Green Goliath and the God of Thunder one on one!  It could even be a sequel!  Heheh, watch this space...

Enchantress: 7/10 - She's the 3rd female character to be made into a MU 3.75" figure.  The first was Carol Danvers (modern and classic) and the second, Jean Grey. So that means shes also the first villainess.  But what a pity she's been so poorly executed.  It's rare that I play with a toy and feel demoralized. This, unfortunately, is one of those times.  Sucks the fun right out of it.  Verily.


Value

Thor: 9/10 - He's a bulkier than usual figure and comes with Mjolnir.  Him and the wicked witch also come packaged with issue 11 of the 12 part Secret Wars so Thor is there or thereabouts considering I spent S$30 (US$21.40) for the 2-pack.

Enchantress: 6/10 - Pulls Thor's value down.  I just can't see now how they made a D grade character like Enchantress into a figure and couldn't even bother putting in the effort to make her at least decent. In fact, she should be done absolutely fantastically to justify even wanting to produce her. She isn't.  In fact she's worse.  Such a pity.

Overall:

Thor: 9.45/10 - Throw, throw, throw your hammer, see it fly straight and true; Verily, verily, verily, verily it comes right back to you.

Maybe Mjolnir can't actualy do that but it sure looks like Thor can make it happen.  He loses some points here because Enchantress weighs him down (all together now!), verily.  I've seen single-packed versions of him in his new scale armour (I think that's yet to be released) and I would imagine those would be slightly more worth it, simply because you don't have to put up with a really bad looking Enchantress.  Still, this is the only time you can get classic Thor, and he's worth it.

Enchantress: 7/10 - She's a new record low overall score here on Chase Variant! :P  I'm really disappointed at how she turned out.  But it'll be a while before they come up with another reason to put her on the pegs as a figure, so I guess this is as good as it gets for poor ol' Enchantress (and all 2 of you Enchantress fans).