Stinger Action Figure Review

As a recent birthday gift, I received the Marvel Legends Ant-Man and Stinger 6-Inch Action Figures 2-Pack which was initially intended as an exclusive release for Toys R Us but apparently saw release through Entertainment Earth after the formers collapse. Not only did I receive the 2-Pack, I also received a loose Stinger figure for display purposes. Today I'll be solely focusing my  review on the Stinger figure.

The Stinger figure comes bundled with a Scott Lang Ant-Man who wears his most recent comic costume. This makes it clear that - despite the MC2 originating the Stinger identity for Cassie Lang and her Main Marvel Universe counterpart recently adopting a version of the MC2 Stinger costume - this particular figure is modelled on the Main Marvel Universe Cassie Lang. This is further supported by one minor difference between Cassie's MMU and MC2 Stinger costume; shoulder pads.

The MC2's Stinger does not wear a costume that feature metallic shoulder pads. In relation to the figure, you'll notice it is barely visible in the picture above, owing to a lack of pain on the shoulder joint. It's a minor issue, but still worth mentioning. More noticeable is the different coloured purple paint on Stinger's legs when compared to the rest of the figure. 

I've checked elsewhere online and this appears to be the case for all Stinger figures, not just mine. It's even visible on the box art. Again, it's not a major issue, but still worth mentioning.

 Much like the Toy Biz Marvel Legends series of old, Hasbro's Marvel Legends are known for their super articulate figures and attention to detail. As for Stinger, the figure boasts amazing articulation, including poseable wings and a head joint that can tilt all the way up, allowing for fun flying poses.

Finishing on a positive note, this figure is a drastic improvement over the Marvel Comics 2 First Appearances set's Stinger figure released in 1999. Not only in size, but in proportions and articulation. The best figures are those that stand under their own power in various poses and that's something the old figure simply cannot do, whereas the new Stinger can be placed in many dramatic poses. The attention to detail is clear, if sometimes unevenly applied. All in all, I'm pleased to see another MC2-related figure following Hasbro's Marvel Legends Spider-Girl figure in 2015.

Until I have another opportunity to talk about a new MC2-related action figure and play like a child again, I remain

frogoat

It Figures: Spider-Girl Action Figures

Hasbro has recently announced there 2015 Marvel Infinite Legends Spider-Man wave and it includes a certain web-stunner. Check it out:

 Yeah, I think I'll be ordering this particular figure. It looks pretty decent, well articulated and the coloring isn't bad either (I'd have preferred a brighter color pallet, personally) but the one major draw back for me is the webshooters. Those are not accurate. At all. But, nevertheless, I'm happy with the figure and look forward to putting down my hard-earned cash for this toy.

 Now is as good a time as any to take a look at the previous few Spider-Girl figures released over the years. Shall we jump in? Lets!

 

This one is from 1999,  a part of the Toy Biz Marvel Famous Covers series.Based on what I can gather from the box-art and online, this was initially made exclusively available through Previews magazine. You are looking at my own figure in the images above, which was one of the hardest to find items I've ever had the misfortune to seek on eBay. It's a nice package, but I wonder what the figure would be like out of the box....

These four figures pictured above were (again) made available exclusively through Previews as part of the Marvel Comics 2 1st Appearances set in 1999. Above we have: (from left to right) American Dream, Spider-Girl, Stinger and Wild Thing. The other three in the set were relatively easy (if not inexpensive) to track down, but Spider-Girl herself was a challenge to even find, let alone ship to Australia. It took the might and ingenuity of my loving and tolerant partner to find and organize the purchase and (by way of two separate countries postal services re-routing the item) shipping of the Spider-Girl figure you see before you. Thanks, honey! One comment about this line of toys; Those breasts are huge! My goodness me! The articulation isn't great, but salvageable with the leg joints being particularly irritating when trying to get the figures to stand and pose. Regardless, having a complete set entirely composed of some of the MC2's female heroes impresses me and I always enjoy seeing them sitting on my shelf.

That's it! There hasn't been a legitimate Spider-Girl action figure released since 1999, so this upcoming release by Hasbro has me enthused to say the least. If you are interested, take a look around the web and see some of the great MC2 custom figures people have made. Very cool stuff out there.

Until we get a new set of super poseable MC2 figures including J2, Darkdevil and the Ladyhawk twins with a Build-a-Figure Dragon King, I remain

frogoat  

 

Death's Head and Copyright Conundrums

Back in the 80's Marvel had the license to publish Hasbro's Transformers comics. This wasn't something new. Companies often license out the rights to their properties; it's an excellent way to make money from licensing fees while spreading the word about their kick ass products. Simon Furman was tapped to write the books and he decided that Transformers was simply too cool a concept to tread water with. Furman's run on the Transformers is considered prolific nowadays, and it's easy to see why. He set about world building, and fleshing out the characters. A lot of the concepts that are used today in Transformers, such as Primus and Unicron and the Creation Matrix are all ideas created or expanded on by Furman. The trouble is, when it comes to copyright and ownership, who actually owns characters created by writers and artists working for Marvel published in a licensed comic book featuring concepts and characters owned by Hasbro, who, in turn, got the idea from a Japanese toy line? *Phew*

So, let's talk about Death's Head. Death's Head was a bounty-hunter that was introduced by Furman and  Geoff Senior to do battle with the mighty Cybertronian Autobots. Only, Marvel by this time was savvy to the possible copyright conundrums their license agreement could pose, so they pulled a swift one. If Death's Head was initially published in a regular not-tied-to-Hasbro publication, then Marvel could make a strong case for ownership, if the matter ever came up. A hastily put together one-page tale was published in various Marvel UK titles before the character showed up in the pages of Transformers. Pretty clever, yes?

Death's Head would go on to become a great Marvel UK property, stopping off in the year 2020 and meeting Iron man of that era and even bumping into a time traveler known as The Doctor, who shrunk him down to average size before dumping him on the rooftop of the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building. Talk about 6 degrees of separation!

Death's Head has gone on to become one of my personal favorites. The self-styled Freelance Peacekeeping Agent's (though Beast may have had a hand in this particular nomenclature) simply will not go quietly into the night. We've had Death's Head II (aka Minion) and Death's Head 3.0 (who's showed up in everything from Amazing Fantasy to Planet Hulk to Nova) but nothing compares to the original.

He's Death's Head, yes?

frogoat