psymount

Forge looks more than decent and is the only "must have" out of these for me. Pity they couldn't have used the Ronan wave Mr. Fantastic head on that body and repainted the box set Thing in the classic colors instead of reusing one they just released.

Works for me. My main issue with artist specific figures is once a company realizes they can show a higher profit margin by doing them. They end up releasing figures of the same half dozen charecters over and over in different artistic styles. Charecter diversity goes out the window and you're lucky to get any new ones at all. IMO Hasbro needs to stick with generic versions of established charecters in costumes from different eras and let Marvel Select do the artist specific figures.

Yup, because it's easier to ignore someone than respond to blatent snarkiness. @smilepunch@ The bottom line is that YES my issue is that they chose to go with the Frank Cho artist specific version because anyone who's read comics for any real length of time. Knows that artists tend to come and go, while it's the charecters that endure from decade to decade. One of the things that has made the M.L. line so popular is that you can build a coherant display of charecters and teams that aren't crippled by being artist specific the way the majority of figures by a company like D.C. Direct are. Charecters that are lucky to get 1 chance at having a figure done should never be artist specific for that reason. It wouldn't matter to me IF these where ones like Spider Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk or Wolverine who have had and will have figures done in several different styles, but these are more than likely the only versions we'll ever see. You can rationalize them being "good enough" however you want. Even try to turn it into and dismiss my issue by claiming I'm a "Hasbro hater". It's still not going to change my opinion or make these figures any less of a disapointment for me.

That's like saying does it really matter which version of Firestar we get? Even IF ithe only one we'll ever see is in her Hellion costume that she only wore for a couple of issues of a limited series?

That's a plausible rationalization about the bikini costume. At least until you do a simple search for one of the covers to the 2005 Frank Cho limited series with the Natzi created superhuman version set in an alternate universe. and even her hair is more red than blonde. Which IMO after flipping threw the 1st issue, would have been improved by the nudity he originally wanted to include. Other than some over the top T & A, that version has absolutely nothing going for it.

They're not true to any of the comics I've read over the years. Here's a list of her appearances before the 2005 Frank Cho limited series that was set in an alternate universe. Hopefully you have at least 1 of those issue's in your collection that you can dig out and check for yourself. Shanna The She-Devil #1-5 Daredevil Vol. 1 #109-113 & 117 Savage Tales #8-10 The Rampaging Hulk #9 Marvel Fanfare #56-59 (story printed after years of shelving) Ka-Zar Vol. 2 #1-2 Ka-Zar Vol. 3 #1-34 Ka-Zar Vol. 4 #1-20 Uncanny X-Men #250, 274-275 Uncanny X-Men Annual #7 & 12 Marvel Comics Presents #68-77 Namor #16-19, 21 Tales of the Marvel Universe Sensational Spider-Man #13-15 Captain America Vol. 3 #31 X-Men Unlimited vol. 1, #1 Every charecter is someone's favorite and even though these look like decent sculpts with the exception of the G.I. Joe Adventure team repainted Tiger. They're not the established versions that I know or want.

This is the mainstream 616 version:

What I want to know is WHY they chose to go with the alternate/Ultimate version of these charecters who have only appeared in 12 or 13 issues instead of the 616 ones who have been around for decades. Personally I would have paid convention exclusive prices and made room in my displays for the charecters I knew, but not these artist specific versions that will barely be remembered 5 or 10 years from now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanna_the_She-Devil "A blond, alternate-universe version of the character starred in the seven-issue miniseries Shanna, the She-Devil vol. 2 (April-Oct. 2005), writer-artist Frank Cho. This Shanna is the result of a genetic experiment and has superhuman strength and agility. One member of a scientific expedition that encountered her named her Shanna after the "comic book character". The series was originally scheduled for release under Marvel's "mature readers" MAX imprint,[citation needed] but was reworked, with Cho eliminating its nudity before publication. Ir ran with a "PSR+" rating through issue #4, and a "Parental Advisory" rating afterward. A four-issue sequel miniseries, Shanna The She-Devil: Survival of the Fittest (Oct. 2007 - Jan. 2008) by writers Justin Gray and James Palmiotti and penciler Khari Evans, featured this same alternate version of Shanna. Shanna appears in ultimate form in issue #3 with ultimate Ka-Zar on the last page of Ultimates 3."

The only thing worse than these reissue's is that they're sure to clog the pegs so that nobody reorders any assortments with new charectors when or IF they get produced. Just like with Toybiz and the 2nd wave of Fantastic Four Classics that were almost impossible to find because of all the movie figs nobody could get rid of even at rock bottom clearance prices.

I think the BAF concept is essential IF we want to get less recognizable or obscure charecters out of the M.L. line. Plus it ensures that the figures are more evenly packed in a case. I don't think anybody wants to go back to the way things were before they were introduced when it was a certifiable pain trying to track down short packed figures like Pheonix, Deadpool, Juggernaut, Hawkeye, ect and chase figures were almost impossible to find. IMO the main problem with Hasbro is they don't have a toy/comic geek in charge of the line who understands the concept of team and display building the way Jesse or the 4 Horsemen do. Who understands that kids and collectors both will buy figures of charecters they're not familiar with IF they're nicely done.

Outside of a video game cut scene and maybe a 10 minute boss batte. Shadow King really hasn't had an established look that IMO is strong enough to warrent a BAF. He's another one of those backdrop charecters like the Kree Supreme Intelligence that would look good standing behind your figures, but really isn't worth wasting shelf space on. Abyss has only had a couple mainstream 616 appearances besides the AOA ones and the video game. He might make a fairly decent single caded figure IF they could figure out how to do his arms or torso to show him using his powers, but there are larger charecters with more appearances that are better suited to the BAF concept. I'm all for a Living Monolith, but honestly he hasn't appeared more than a handfull of times in comics in the past 20-30 years and besides he would need to be Giant Man size to look half way decent. Personally I've always hated Nimrod's name and original color scheme. Altho the pale scarlet he's been sporting in recent issue's of New X-Men is a slight improvement. When it comes to more Sentinals I'd much rather have a classic one as a BAF or Bastion with some OZT Prime Sentinals as army builders.

So the green Pterodactyl man named after a LOTR villian is lame, but a pansy pink mutant hunting Nimrod is kewl? @loll@ Don't even get me stated on the obese Egyptian fezz wearing mind mucker. @grumpy@

Ideally I think he should have been included in the box set with Ka-zar, Shanna and Zabu. Altho I do like the idea of a 2 pack with Garokk. Otherwise he should deffinately be a single carded figure. Personally I'm tired of X-Men themed BAF's since they've done almost twice as many of those as they have the others.

Usually I try to group them by era or the order in which they joined. For example Top shelf = Giant Man, FA gold Iron Man, FA green Hulk, Wasp (Goliath pack in) and Thor Middle shelf = Black Widow, Hercules, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Quicksilver, Captain America, Black Panther, classic Iron Man Bottom shelf = Falcon, Mrs Marvel, Beast, Wonder Man, She Hulk, Ant Man, Yellowjacket, Wasp,War Machine and the Iron Man armory display