Lego - The Avengers: Captain America's Avenging Cycle!

While The Avengers action figures are so far proving a little disappointing, there's no doubt that Lego getting the license for the franchise is good news.  It's great news indeed that they've finally been released in our favourite brick form--and here's their smallest offering in retail so far!

Though I grabbed the Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape and Hulk Helicarrier Breakout set first, this was soon to follow following its release about a week later.  I guess it was also the quickest to put together and that it had one of the figures we've all been waiting for--Captain America!  Sure, I was also dying for Hulk, Thor and Iron Man, but hey, Cap really grows on you!

From his slightly more edgy Ultimates self, to his stance (and death) in Civil War, to his awesome on-screen incarnation, it's no wonder the kids are all seeing stars and stripes.  Well, at least mine is.  He never fails to point out the Cap shield when he spots it--and he's just over 13 months old!

So enough talk and more review action--here we go! ;)

Check it out!

The Avengers: Stark Tech Assault Armour Captain America

This review should be named "Captain America and His Toys Part II"!  Why?

Simply because the good captain is learning that having less super strength and less speed is just not good enough!  Gone are the good ol' days where he was the strongest, the fastest and the most famous (and only) super hero.  Sure, he's still a master of battlefield tactics and the bestest (eva!) leader there can be, but who can see that sorta thing?  Being reanimated in this day and age where the most flashy (Iron Man), the most misunderstood (Hulk), and the most buff-n-blond (Thor) get all the attention hasn't been great for Cap.  So what to do?  Take a leaf from Tony Stark's book and get some toys of his own!

But why "Part II" you ask?  Because this should've been part I.  And the pics in this review will also give you a glimpse or two of Part III. ;)

To get back on topic, the Stark Tech Assault Armor Captain America has been on my radar ever since I saw it on the shelves in stores.  But the retail price of S$49.90 (US$39) is a huge put-off.  So I was willing to wait till clearance.

As luck would have it, the eagle-eyed Rangerlord, whose skill with a bow can only be outmatched by Hawkeye himself (or so he says), spotted this sweet, sweet piece of action in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for 60% of the price!  Needless to say, it was a score for sure!  So was he worth it?  Let's see!

Check it out!

Thor 3.75" Fireblast Marvel's Destroyer

Poor, misunderstood Destroyer.  He's not a bad guy at all--just an abused suit of magical armour.  Locked up by Odin, used by Loki, stabbed by Sif, hammered by Thor.  He even eventually got chopped up to become Agent Coulsen's plaything.  And all just for obeying instructions.  Tsk, tsk.  Really.

But lo!  He gets an action figure!  Even Sif doesn't get one.  Or at least one that we can see long enough on the pegs to actually buy.  :(((((

To tell you the truth, I actually didn't see much of this guy around either.  In fact, I think my original intention was to get the Inferno Destroyer from the mythical Wave 4 instead of this one.  But when I didn't see any of that elusive wave on pegs, I moved to get this guy instead.  In fact, part of the reason I didn't open him up till now was because I was holding out on hope that I'd see Inferno Destroyer sooner or later.

More than a year on, and I've spotted All King Odin, Asgard Attack Thor, and Sorcerer's Fury Loki, all of which are repaints of older figures.  No Inferno D, no Sif and definitely no King Loki.

As I mentioned in my previous review on Secret Strike Loki, watching The Avengers has made me really want to review every Marvel Universe and Marvel movie 3.75" figure I owned but passed up on putting up here.  Fireblast Destroyer is one of them.

Sure, it's been more than a year, but what they hey, the toy's still as good (or bad) right?

The wife and I managed to watch Thor and Captain America once more before we caught The Avengers on the big screen for the first time and I have to say, those movies feed into this summer's record-breaking blockbuster seamlessly.  Though you don't really need to have caught the former two movies, it does enhance the experience of The Avengers.

And boy does it make me wanna take out my action figures and play with them. So that's just what I did with the Destroyer!

Check it out!

Thor The Mighty Avenger 3.75" Secret Strike Loki

I'd like to begin with a standing ovation, a standing ovation and three cheers for fella who plays Loki in Thor and of course, The Avengers.  That's right, Tom Hiddlestone.  There was only one of you and yet you more than held your own against the Mighty Avengers ensemble.  Aw heck, in fact Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansen, Sam L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner--all of you deserve a long, long round of applause.

What can I say? It's been 9 days since I first caught the movie, and 5 days since I saw it a second time and I'm still buzzing.  And as I write this, I'm plotting a 3rd and possibly a 4th viewing. (One of these schemes involves sneaking in on free tickets to What to expect When You Are Expecting and then peeling away to catch The Avengers.  Heheh.)

He's no coward all right-he called the Hulk a "Dull Creature."

So why review this older Thor figure when there are other, newer figures from the Avengers line?  Well, because most of the 3.75 range is under articulated (See Ultimate Thor, Gamma Punch Hulk) and because Joss Whedon is a god in the movie heaven that is Hollywood.

He's made me wanna go back and review every single Marvel Universe, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and and Marvel action figure I haven't put in front of the camera and blabbered about.  And I just might.  So who better to start with than with Loki, the ultimate deceiver, played by a man who just steals the scene when he's in it?

When Secret Strike Loki was originally released a year back, there were already pictures of a King Loki to come, so I held back, thinking that I'd be able to easily pick this figure up on clearance.  And it's turned out to be true!  I got Loki here for S$10!--only for the price to be slashed to almost half that a week later. -__-

But here's no regrets, because after all the lack of PoAs from the Avengers line, this Thor movie figure has turned out to be quite a gem!

Check it out!

The Avengers 3.75" Battle Hammer Thor

I just realized that I really am liking the Thor.  Really.  Just now.  I mean, I never really was a fan of any of the Avengers, save the Hulk, but he was an Avenger for such a short period and for most of it, a pawn for Loki to boot.

Iron Man?  Nah.  He needed to plug himself in a little too much for my liking in the 80s and 90s.  Giant Man and Wasp?  Sheah, right.

But Thor?  He was sorta cool but in those days when I was a kid he was too He-Man-like.  And anyone who looked a smidgen like my hero Adam of Eternia was obviously a fake/imposter/not the original.  I also had issues with the bare sides in his costume top.  (Is he wearing a shirt or is that some sort of double-sided apron?)

Fast forward a good 30 years later and these guys are all mainstream--Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor all have their own movies and are coming together in The Avengers opening hereabouts in a couple of days.  I find myself now liking them, even Hawkeye and Black Widow (sorry Giant Man and Wasp!  Maybe in Avengers 2?)

And I suppose it's the way that Marvel have marketed their B-Listers and made them A-Listers.  10 years ago, the average person on the street wouldn't know who Iron Man or Thor was.  Now everyone knows and those of us who knew already find ourselves liking them.

For me, it all began with this little story called the Ultimates.  All the characters were too interesting to ignore.  It wasn't because they were all saints or completely badass.  It was but because I could relate to them and their struggles with ordinary things like morals and dealing with relationships and even having super powers.

Ultimate Thor, for example, was the "Is he for real" hippie who no one believed was a Norse God except for himself.  Yet sometimes he would know things or perform extraordinary feats that would throw you off just when you think you have him pegged for a fake.  Or a god.  And then there was his hammer, half axe and half hammer head.  Even the circles on his suit started to make sense.  I was sucked right in.

So here we are, just days before The Avengers is about to hit screens.  So I guess it's fitting tribute that they've included Ultimates Thor among the first couple of waves of movie figures.  Named "Battle Hammer Thor", let's see how he turned out.

Check it out!

The Avengers: Captain America Goliath Assault Tank

The Avengers 3.75" line has so far proven a little disappointing in the action figure department.  A lack of articulation at a high retail price is a off-putting.  Sure, the sculpts the are beautiful and the paint is pretty good.  Heck, even the packaging really pops on the pegs.  But when you get past all that, you get a figure less playable than pretty much everything out there, except some of those "new" (read: re-released) Star Wars figures with all of 5 points of articulation.


But lo!  Beneath the pegs and on the shelves, in boxes instead of cards, full of compartments and moving parts and every inch as great-looking as the 3.75" figures themselves, were the Avengers vehicles!  There's the Quinjet, Iron Man's jet, the Assault Armours, and this, the Cap's Goliath Assault Tank.  The problem is that their price points are also quite high.  And if it weren't for the Rangerlord finding this in Manila for 2/3 the retail price in Singapore, I would've gotten this much later.  So let's see whether it's as good outside the box as it looks in packaging!

Check it out!

The Avengers: 3.75" Gamma Smash Hulk!

I was really hesitant about getting any of the Avengers movie 3.75" figures.  Almost all of them lacked  articulation, mostly in the wrists and ankles, and Hulk was no different.

The first time I saw him on the pegs, I also felt he looked a little fat and not at all gamma en-muscled.  The price of S$19.90 was also S$3 up from the Iron Man 2 figures and equal to the retail on marvel Universe stuff.  Both of those lines have way superior articulation. So it was an easy pass the first time round.

But then I saw less of him on shelves and I kinda started to dig the green.  I guess gamma radiation can have that sort of effect.  But still, I balked at the price.  All the various department stores that had store-wide 20% discounts kept the Avengers stuff at nett price.  The sly dogs.  Still, I passed.

Then on making a long overdue visit to Toyrealm in China Square Central, I finally relented. There was one more Hulk left on the shelf and I felt that if I we to pay retail for this guy, then I'd want to give my money to the nice guy (Vincent) who owns the speciality store.  And guess what?  He gave me a couple bucks off each of the Jolly Green Giant and the Battle Hammer Thor I also picked up!

Needless to say I was now really up for the new plastic crack and busted them wide open the minute I got home.  And while I didn't expect to be blown away, which I wasn't, I guess I can't say I was totally disappointed.

Check it out!