It appears that Hasbro's 16th wave (or 5th wave for 2011) has hit the shores of Manila and thanks to Mr. Santos who posted images of his find on Facebook, we now have a look at the figures on cardback and loose. Shown from this wave includes the following figures:
- Magneto (Purple Outfit)
- Iceman
- Absorbing Man (From the back of the package it looks like a variant will be in the works for this one)
- Astonishing Wolverine
- Tony Stark Iron Man
These will likely start hitting US shelves in the next month or so.
I agree this is a pretty sucky wave. I'll definitely gel Wolvie. Maybe Sorby as well if I can get him cheap.
Aren't they rereleasing the SDCC MU exclusive thor? Just with a different head or what not?
They are re-using the mold. He's in Wave 17 with a different head and different paint aps (no colorwash being the main change).
To amend an earlier point: I doubt we ever see an exclusive re-released in its original form (i.e. the exact same figure with no changes to sculpt, paint, or accessories).
Aren't they rereleasing the SDCC MU exclusive thor? Just with a different head or what not?
Not only that, but it would have been great to see some then rerelease something like the SDCC Red Skull or the mail away Nick Fury. They did it with the Ultimate (WWII) Cap so I don't see why they couldn't do it again with other figures.
Red Skull is on an Indiana Jones figure (one that was only used for this past summer's SDCC, if I'm not mistaken), so I can't imagine Hasbro would use it again. The head is a different story, and one that I could easily see being used again down the road.
And I'll go out on a limb and say that the Ultimate Cap was just a sneak preview of the Captain America movie line.
As far as re-releasing exclusives, I don't see it happening. They are doing that with the Sentinel figure, but I think that's being done to recoup costs and to assuage the fans that were upset over the color scheme of the first retail version.
Absorbing Man and Iceman are improvements? How? They don't have added articulation or more accurate sculpts. Their originals weren't even inaccurate in relation to their source inspirations. These aren't improvements. They are only repaints.
They are repaints, but they are improvements upon what has been previously released. Ice-Man in clear plastic is a simple enough concept, yet the XMOW version was incredibly stumpy, while the three-pack tried to just make him look like snow rather than ice. To me, this version trumps both in terms of usefulness and representation. I say the same thing about Absorbing Man, mainly because I think the prison pants are more accurate. The fact that he has a variant that not only has him in steel form (including the pants) is even cooler. Simply put, the Secret Wars version was too simplistic to me, and the new release is better at showcasing what it is he can do.
Are they more articulated? No, but I don't expect every single figure to be the second coming of W13 Cyclops. If anything, the added articulation has detracted from more than a few figures, but that's a different discussion.
Magneto is not an accurate rendering of any comic version or movie version of Magneto. He's the AIM soldier, complete with the AIM belt and everything, with the Magneto head and cape tacked on. Even though Hasbro has sculpted much better capes than the Magneto one since the Secret Wars version, they didn't even redo that, and they kept the flat, undynamic cape with the weird corner-furl on there. They didn't swap the AIM soldier's hands for more Magneto-like hands (i.e. gesturing, power-wielding poses), even though that's something any of us could have done with a small collection of the hands available to Hasbro. How is this figure an improvement?
The belt's removable, so it doesn't me in the slightest. I like Magneto with bare hands, so that, too, isn't an issue. Is it comic-accurate? Not really, but I don't mind mixing different lines or realities, so it's not going to sway me from buying it.
Is it the definitive version? Nope. Is it better than the stumpy Secret Wars version? Hands down. I'm hard-pressed to think of a single figure from those sets that hasn't been made better either as a re-release or as part of a different set, and Hasbro is slowly but surely making amends.
I get that this version isn't at the top of anybody's list, but I'm more than happy to place the W16 Magneto amongst the other villians on my shelf. He won't replace SHS Magneto (it will take a hell of an effort for Hasbro to top that), but I have no issues with his inclusion in the wave.
An improvement is the coming Daredevil figure. That's an improvement in sculpting, in articulation, in paint scheme, and in accessories. It's an improvement of Daredevil in his most recognizable costume, as well--meaning that we will have a definitive version of Daredevil that corrects mistakes on Hasbro's previous attempt. The Magneto figure doesn't improve upon their initial one--instead it offers him in a different costume--one which, in this case isn't even a popular costume or a comic-accurate one. This isn't an improvement: it's a step sideways. The available materials they used to make him weren't even modified to fit Magneto: why is he wearing the AIM belt?
I don't need to see every figure being made with the Cyclops mold. I already have issues with the rocket ankles and unnecessary mid-calf articulation. And I'm already growing less and less enamored with the thigh-cuts, especially when they detract from the figure's costume and paintwork. Sometimes less is more, but YMMV.
Hasbro is improving their figures, but they're doing it in next year's waves. This wave is simply repainting. The Wolverine is one people have wanted--and it he hasn't been widely available in this costume. So this one I do appreciate. But he isn't some sort of across-the-board improvement, as next year's Daredevil and Punisher and Hulk look to be. An XO:Wolverine sculpt, the figure is less articulate than any MU counterpart. This Wolverine, the same one available in the X-force 3-pack and the same body available in the XO:Wolverine & Colossus 2-pack, can only rotate his head side-to-side. He can't look up or down. He has loose, ugly ball-joints for hips. His torso is similarly immobile. And while the paint on this new version is comic-accurate, it isn't so sophisticated that it might differentiate the blue on his shoulderpads from the blue on the rest of his costume. This isn't some bold new Wolverine figure, articulate as the latest molds. This is a figure we've seen for years and been unable to acquire until now. That's not what I call a serious improvement.
I call any Wolverine that shows him in his modern uniform an improvement. And I definitely call a Wolverine that's height-accurate an improvement over other versions that make him look 6 feet tall. He's more detailed than any other version (no lame painted on belt) and is articulated enough to make the expected Wolverine poses. I personally like the ball-joint hips, and I've never had a problem with them getting loose. As far as the paint, the comic doesn't distinguish his shoulder pads from the rest of his costume, so why should the figure?
The fact that the mold has been used before means little to me, as I don't own either of those figures. I've been looking forward to his release for some time, and I'm not disapponted with Hasbro's decision to re-use a mold that looks pretty good.
The only real downer is the Tony Stark Iron Man, but other people seem to like him well enough, and I'll let them defend that figure if they so choose.
i for one can not wait for this line huge x-men fan so its a great wave for me along with getting another ast wolvie
Not only that, but it would have been great to see some then rerelease something like the SDCC Red Skull or the mail away Nick Fury. They did it with the Ultimate (WWII) Cap so I don't see why they couldn't do it again with other figures.
It's either a good sign or a bad one; I can't quite tell when MU pulls a page from the Star Wars playbook. I can appreciate efforts to keep figures and characters available for newer fans, and I'll be the first to say I think that's a sound strategy. That said, an entire wave full of repaints or non-newness makes me sad as someone who's been around from day 1.
I'll still pick up a few of these. The astonishing wolvie is almost an improvement over my kitbash of the astonishing costume with the XMO yellow wolvie mask. I'll have to see about the yellow, though, which seems a bit too bright.
The iceman is a cool enough variation on a figure I already have, and Magneto is a headswap away from being a different character altogether. Still, I say it would have been nice for hasbro to throw us a bone with a new character made from kitbashed parts. Spitfire, Speedball, Spot, and I'm sure 1000 other characters could be easily made with existing parts
this wave doesn't reak with glitz, glamour and anticipation, but I'm a Marvel Universe fan and unless they do a really really lame wave, i'll still pick them up when they hit retail.
I know you're right about this, lister, and we are getting awesome waves following this one. This is just the first time in the MU line where I'm not buying most of the figures in a wave--and that's a little bit shocking to me. It isn't even that I have such huge problems with the individual figures, as much as it is that the entire wave is only repaints. It there had been one or two new characters in the wave, I wouldn't mind so much. But every one of these is like, "well, let's revisit this character and make things right with them." I don't feel, for instance, that the original Absorbing Man was "wrong." I might get the variant of him if I see it, but I'm not going to try and order him. I have been waiting for the Astonishing Wolverine, but is it the kind of improvement on the character that Hasbro is clearly capable of, looking at their waves to come? No, not so much. If there was some way of sweetening this wave, it would be one thing. But as it is, there's no really fresh material here. Knowing my local stores, this is going to be the wave that they stock up to the nines, and that I'll be waiting for them to sell all of next year so that they can put out new product. It's just a shame and a bummer.
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