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Desperate to repair his reputation as a master mercenary, Deadpool challenges one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet to a no-holds barred fight to the finish! With a captive audience watching from the sidelines, Deadpool tackles the Taskmaster with both hands and feet literally tied together.
Hey look, it's Deadpool! In fact, it's the only Deadpool that seems to exist in the 4" scale: it's the same body seen in the Deadpool Corps taco truck, which means it's also the same body seen in the Wolverine Origins line. The good news is that this super-reused body has plentiful articulation: a balljointed neck, pegged and hinged shoulders, pegged and hinged elbows, peg wrists, a balljointed chest, pegged and hinged hips, peg thighs, double hinged knees, and pegged and hinged ankles. The edges of his costume details are sculpted, not just painted on, which is probably why they keep reusing this so much. Gotta make the mold money back somehow!
However, that's not to say this Wade Wilson looks identical to the
other versions: the red of his costume is closer to the orange
side of the spectrum, and it's matte, rather than gloss - it makes him look more "toyish." The black sections don't quite fill their sculpted areas, and he's completely missing the black apps on the balls of the hips.
To further set him apart, he gets different straps over his chest. The belt is now separate, while his harness wraps around the shoulders and includes a large pad on ons side. He's armed with two katana that store on his back, a black pistol for the holster on his leg, and a knife that fits in the sheath on the back of his belt. Terrific! This is the way it should be.
As much as people love Deadpool (make the damn Ryan Reynolds movie already, Fox!), it was really Taskmaster that sold this set - he's nearly as popular as Wade, and there's no other way to get him. The first time DP and Taskmaster met was in Deadpool #2, where Wade managed to circumvent Tasky's "photographic reflexes" by using the Macarena. Seriously.
Anyway, in that issue, Taskmaster was wearing a costume that looked like his normal one, but was colored entirely wrong. This one, thankfully, is back in his traditional tones: blue, white and orange. The body is mostly Hawkeye's, with Captain America gloves and a new belt and cape.
Naturally, the head is new - it's not like there are a lot of "skull wearing a hood" pieces out there (unless you're Mattel) - but it does present a problem: the head sits too high on the neck. Since these pieces weren't designed at the same time, the balljoint socket isn't deep enough, and he ends up with a touch of "giraffe neck" and a gap 'twixt hood and cape.
In keeping with his "I use everybody's gimmicks"
power set, Taskmaster gets a bunch of accessories. There are Hawkeye's bow and quiver full of arrows (his cape is even molded to leave room for it behind his left shoulder), his Taskmaster shield (reused from any number of Captains America, and the same sword and gun that Baron Zemo would later come with.
Since this is a Comic Pack, it includes a comicbook - in this case, Cable & Deadpool #36. The story focuses entirely on these two characters: Deadpool breaks Taskmaster out of prison, then manacles himself to prove he could beat Taskmaster with his hands tied. In the original comic, the story is followed by a brief scene involving the Rhino, but this reprint cuts that out, instead offering several Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe pages recounting Taskmaster's history. Also, the cover no longer has a big black border to make its reprint status blatant.
This is one of your most-requested reviews: not a week goes by without someone wanting to know about Deadpool and Taskmaster. Deadpool is the same as he's always been, but doesn't look like a rehash, while Taskmaster isn't pefect, but is still very good. This is a real winner of a set, which may explain why it was always so ragingly difficult to find.
-- 05/26/14
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