Rustin's Spoils of the Week #209

Still haven't had a chance to dig into my SDCC 2018 haul yet, so let's take a look at a bunch of stuff for one of, if not the, biggest movies of the year. Avengers: Infinity War was okay, certainly better than Avengers 2: The Frankenberry Wears Prada but not as cohesive or engaging as Avengers 1. But, as with any of these movies, it did result in a load of neat toys! So let's us take a look at the first round of Minimates and Marvel Legends released for the film, eh wot!

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Iron Man Mark 50 & Thanos
These two figures have the distinction of being the most released of Minimates for this movie. They're available as two-packs at both Walgreens and not-Toys R Us, plus they're also in the direct market exclusive 4-pack. Both are great Minimatizations of the costumes from the movie. Iron Man uses really nice, metallic paint and just an upper torso piece to complete the look. He comes with alternate helmet and hair piece, and a flight stand but sadly no new "weaponized" alternate parts for this nanotech suit. Thanos' kinda goofy costume looks pretty decent, actually, in this style and he comes with swappable Infinity Gauntlet accessory. His "big hands" have a deep recess and fit perfectly on the clear stand's foot peg, but unfortunately the central peg that inserts into the wrist on the Infinity Gauntlet reaches all the way to the base of the glove so it doesn't fit on the stand - a real shame as that would have offered some real fun (real easy) display options! Still though, this is a good set and I'm very thankful that DST gave us swappable parts for both figures so that I would mind having duplicates once I get the 4-pack.

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Iron Spider-Man & Hulk
This is probably the most visually dynamic of all the sets since it has the four major colors represented, and so nicely! I keep forgetting that Hulk technically did appear in this film, but it's nice to get him - it's just a weird pairing with Spider-Man. I guess it was more about getting these two popular characters out in both assortments, but it seems like a Hulk/Thor set and a Spider-Man/Dr. Strange set would make a lot more sense - both in terms of the film and in terms of pairing Minimates with and without swappable extra parts. I can't say that I like this "Iron Spider" suit at all, but I will concede that it works much better as a toy than as a costume in the film. It's captured well here and he come with four removable mech legs.

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Dr. Strange & Thor
This set is one the Walgreens exclusives, in their first series of Minimates from the movie, and it's a weird one. It's an odd pairing (though I suppose they were "buddies" in Raganarok) and the figures are kind of bland. Strange is basically a re-release of the Minimate from his standalone movie, but with a slightly different facial expression and slightly clearer magic spells on his hands. I would have been nice if they'd given him a more extreme expression or use a new color (ideally green) for the magic spells... Thor... boring. He was one the things I enjoyed most in the film but this release is utterly frill-less. He needs an alternate head with the eye patch or Stormbreaker. It's just feels like a cheap, filler release unfortunately.

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Star-Lord & Proxima Midnight
And this Walgreens other initial exclusive. I'd pretty much only just heard of Proxima (no, not Solo's Lady Proxima... Marvel's lady Proxima) thanks to the animated Minimate, so it was kinda fun to immediately see her translated into the Cinematic Universe. Her Minimate looks pretty nice here and they gave her a newly sculpted head in order to incorporate her Galactus-eyebrows. DST really nailed her pointy staff here and it's a surprisingly cool accessory and weapon. She comes with an unmasked Star-Lord, who gets an all-new "zipped up" jacket slip for his torso. It looks nice and distinctive (and really drives home how barebones the Strange/Thor set is given that both figures here get new pieces).

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Groot & Rocket
This set was intended to be a Toys R Us exclusive, but of course that whole meltdown happened DST was able to redirect this (and the second TRU series) to the Direct Market so that they didn't get screwed by TRU. It's a cool set and goes with the two Walgreens exclusives pretty well. Groot is his new adolescent self and gets some new pieces to nicely bridge the gap between baby and adult. Interestingly, and cleverly, they used arms for his legs which is a cool touch. Rocket seems to reuse the parts from the Guardians 2 figure but gives him new, more raccoon-y legs. He looks great and is the best Rocket they've done yet! I hope this is the base for future Rocket Minimates. He comes with a MASSIVE gun, which is cute. This is a surprisingly cool set; I dig these much more than I expected and they're probably the best Minimates of both.

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Drax & Gamora (Walgreens)
In Walgreens' second series of Infinity War completes the core Guardians team with these two. Both are VERY similar to their Guardians 2 Minimates, but get different facial expressions - Gamora is now slightly frowning rather than slightly smiling while Drax is in full-on battle cry. He gets he signature daggers and she gets her new little dart/spear thing from the new movie. Violence!

DST - Avengers Infinity War: War Machine & Cull Obsidian (Walgreens)
I barely remember War Machine being in the film (other than the scene with Rhodey and the General towards the beginning acknowledging the events of Civil War) but he does make for a neat figure. The "digital camo" blocking on the armor is capture really well here, though it does seem a bit "trying too hard" for the film's designers. Like Iron Man, he just gets a nice, subtle upper torso/shoulder cover and to his his over-the-shoulder cannon attaches. He has a removable helmet and his hair is just painted on the head, which is neat (though shouldn't it be a bit grayer?). Cull Obsidian is the big goofy evil-Hulk of the film, and is capture pretty accurately here. He gets a new head, upper arms, torso armor and skirt plus his two "blaster" things. It's a pretty great release all things considered, for a mediocre design. The only thing that could have improved it would be an alternate hand with the embedded blade.

DST - Avengers Infinity War: Black Panther & Ebony Maw (TRU)
The not-quite-Toys R Us exclusive for the second series of Minimates is this'un! We get yet another basic Black Panther, complete with swappable hair and mask. It's a straight re-release of the standard BP from his movie, but now with an angry face and fuller beard. He's with Ebony Maw who I believe (they were all so generic) was my favorite, and the coolest, of the evil bad guys. He's captured fairly well here though I kinda think the "tall" head might have been a better choice for him. Either a slight stand or hover base would have been nice (maybe even that floating rock bit from Terrax) to help recreate the New York battle scene.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Serpent Society
Sometimes when Hasbro digs into the C-List we get saddled with dumb crap like Thundra, and some times we get amazing figures like this one! I really have no idea who this guy is, but MAN does he look COOL!!! Bright green limbs, coats in scales (reused from the recent Goblin), and rich purples - all cast in glorious metallic plastic! He's a beauty to behold and a super unique, super cool and super fun addition to the shelf! This is the kind of figure that makes me love Marvel Legends! Plus he comes with Thanos' left arm feature the non-removable Infinity Gauntlet.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Songbird
Readers have already explained who Songbird is to me, but I still have no idea who she is. She looks SO MUCH like a late '90s X-Men character (like Maggot) but apparently she's not (?). Regardless she does make for a striking figure with her navy blue and white costume, featuring gold accents. She gets an all-new translucent pink set of energy wings (no doubt the root of the titular "bird" part of her moniker) which plug in to her back, and under her hair, fairly snuggly. It's not a figure I needed or wanted, but other seem very excited for her and she does, at the least, look cool - so I'm pleased to have her.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Taskmaster
Hasbro finally gets around to giving us the real Taskmaster, after that weird modern version a few years back. This one really captures the classic look and is a big improvement over that wonky ToyBiz version. The colors are bright and the paint work is nice and tight. He comes with a sword, pistol and his signature T-logo-ed shield, and a removable cape. The cowl is attached to his skull head - the whole head looks neat enough but I'll be curious to see what the "modern" version of the skull mask from the previous figure looks like on this body. It's a fun figure and a well-deserved upgrade for the character.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Captain American (Avengers Infinity War)
How is it that putting a beard on Cap makes him look so much cooler!? I really, really love his dirty, road-worn look in Infinity War! This is pretty much a reuse of the movie body they've used for the last couple outings but now with a new torso and forearms. One of the aesthetically cool things about Infinity War Cap is his rolled-up sleeves and brown gloves, and while his sleeves are rolled up... he's only wearing one glove... weird. And what's even weirder is that he comes with alternate fists for both hands, but the one for the right arm is lacking a glove as well... what went wrong here!? He comes with a Wakandan shield - but only one... again, WTF, Hasbro? So now we have to hope for a "version 2" to fix this... He's a got a new head as well, and it's MUCH more accurate than any previous Movie Cap head, but it has a weird anime-ish vibe to it, like it's from one of those Japanese lines. It's a good figure and I really want to love, but there are so many weird choices Hasbro seems to have arbitrarily made that really end up hurting it.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Iron Man (Avengers Infinity War)
Here's our obligatory Iron Man figure for the movie - a great new sculpt that really captured the sleek new nanotech-based Mark 50 armor. Interestingly his faceplate is a separate piece glued on to the mask. I assume that made production easier but it seems like a lost chance for a RDJ face reveal function. He comes with swappable repulsor-hands and fists, and two energy blasts - but some of those funky nano-tech weapons would have been preferable. He's also the only figure in the series to NOT have a piece of the Thanos Build-A-Figure.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Iron Spider (Avengers Infinity War)
As mentioned above, in the movies I HATE this costume and find it gaudy as hell. Buuuuuut it does translate well in to toys. This sculpt is really nice and super detailed, and the paint work is surprisingly tight and crisp. From the neck-down the body is cast in a shiny, metallic plastic but the head seems to be standard, flat coloring so it seems odd. It would have been ideal to get an unmasked Peter Parker head here or at least non-thwip hands, but are ya gonna do.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Proxima Midnight (Avengers Infinity War)
This is a wild new sculpt and quite large. The paint is fairly tight and clean, and the sculpt is really detailed. I'm not crazy about her Galactus Mask being translated into long, protruding eye brows, but it's fine. She comes with her signature staff, but it doesn't seem as cool or as on-model as the Minimate version above, surprisingly. Overall it's a good figure of a forgettable character. She comes packed with Thanos' torso and waist.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Thanos, Build-A-Figure (Avengers Infinity War)
Thanos' bizarre "active wear" costume from Infinity War is definitely a big step down from his more traditional and iconic armor seen in his previous appearances. This is just so... casual. And it's so weird that his shirt extends down in the back - like he was SUPER concerned about his butt crack peaking out so he needed to make sure it was covered at all times. This figure captures the look of Thanos in the movie quite well, but it's just not a very good or interesting look. The Infinity Gauntlet turned out great though - an excellent sculpt with great paint apps for the stones.

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Scarlet Witch & Vision
Vision!!! FINALLY!!! This would-be Toys R Us exclusive showed up at some stores initially but has since moved online. It's a logical pairing of the two star-crossed lovers. Scarlet Witch captures her Infinity War costume quite well and she gets one of the new digital printed faces that, in-hand, looks remarkably accurate to Elizabeth Olsen! She also comes with two little "energy" wisps that awkwardly wrap around her wrists. BUT the real star here is Vision! It took us three movies to get him but it turns out the wait was well worth it as this figure is gorgeous! It nails the look of the costume and uses translucent plastic for the cape, metallic plastic for the body and limbs, and pearlescent plastic for the head, hands and feet - all of which add the sense of accuracy while simultaneously making the figure pop visually really nicely! And for shins'n'tickles he comes with swappable open-palm and closed-fist hands. This is easily one of the best two-packs Marvel Legends has done in a long while!

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3 Responses to Rustin's Spoils of the Week #209

  1. Onslaught says:

    Ahhhhh how did you find the Walgreens Infinity War series 2 ones...Haven't seen those yet and I've been searching for what feels like ages

    • yo go re says:

      I haven't seen ANY of them, PERIOD! No Walgreens, no specialty market, nothing! I thought maybe there weren't any for this movie!

  2. Jared Hockenberry says:

    Actually, the Infinity War Cap is an /entirely/ new sculpt. You can tell not only from the sculpt details, which are new (and also accurate to the Infinity War costume instead of the Winter Soldier costume, noticeable most on the shoulders and thighs, in addition to the fact that the bicep swivel is mid-bicep now instead of closer to the shoulder), but also from the proportions, because he no longer looks weirdly skinny.

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