Punisher

Welcome back, Frank. After his family was murdered in a criminal government conspiracy, US Marine veteran Frank Castle turns vengeful vigilante and ally to Daredevil - that is, when their interests align. Yes, despite the fact we're reviewing this on Webby Wednesday (because Punisher is in the new Spider-Man movie, and that's a great excuse to move him up the schedule), this figure is technically based on Born Again. There was already a Netflix Punisher, and it's not like he's actually changed since then, but that was back in 2018, so getting a new version is good for new fans. Plus, finding this right on the shelf at Walmart instead of needing to order it online is a big help, as well! The major difference between this figure and the last one is that this one isn't wearing a coat - that'll be handy when we get to the articulation, but it's not like there's a lot of variety to be had from "guy who wears all-black clothing with a skull painted on his chest." This is a new sculpt, however - no reused parts. The shirt he's wearing beneath his armored vest has a collar this time, and of course the arms were going to be new. All the details on the vest are here, like the straps and ammo loops, and he's wearing a belt with pouches full of extra magazines. There are kneepads on his cargo pants, and he wears more modern boots this time. Unfortunately, the head doesn't look as good as before. The sculpt of the face is great, capturing Jon Bernthal's broad nose and minorly befuddled look, but the Photo Real paint-printing lets the sculpt down: it no longer has that glossiness the early face-prints had, but outside of a very strong, direct light, the shadows seem too dark and kind of... gummy? Like, spotlight him, and the toy looks almost human; just use the normal lamp in your room and it seems sad and dopey. The eyebrows need to come down lower in the middle so he doesn't look sad. Considering Punisher is just a guy in black clothing, the paint on the body is minorly impressive. Like, yes, he's mostly just black plastic, with pink plastic for the arms and head, but they chose to make his kneepads dark grey, to help break up the bleak look of the legs slightly, and the skull on his vest was photo-printed to best re-create the look of the faded, smeared paint from the show. Plus the paint continues beneath the chest joint, so it doesn't "break" as soona s you move him. There was also room in the budget to put grey paint on the exposed parts of the magazines in his belt, and to include the US flag on his right arm, and a non-infringing version of the old Marine Raiders insignia on his left. Plus, the semi-shaved sides of his head fade really nicely. Short of doing a bloody version of the figure, this is about all they could possibly have done for him. The articulation is average for Marvel Legends: swivel/hinge ankles, no shins despite the bering a perfect place to put them, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljoint hips, a swivel waist, balljointed chest, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, pectoral hinges, a balljointed neck, and a barbell head. Unlike most of Hasbro's attempts at necks like this, Frank can look both up and down fairly well! Not as well as a balljoint/hinge would, but better than most Iron Men. Plus, with no trenchcoat this time, there's no worrying about making sure he looks good when bending or twisting. The figure comes with two hands with the trigger fingers out, a right fist, and a left hand that's open wide enough to cradle a rifle or shotgun. Unfortunately, the figures does not include a rifle or shotgun: he has a pistol, a knife, and a tactical hatchet, that's it. The knife and gun can store in his belt, but the axe he'll have to just hold. But still, the only way that the left hand will be of any use is if you borrow a rifle from a different figure. The previous Punisher, perhaps. Don't expect to trade hands around if you have both toys, though: Punisher 2's wrist pegs are slightly bigger than Punisher 1's, so while you might be able to get the hands in, they won't move correctly. The digital render had a fully open left hand instead of one with the trigger finger out, but then he would have only ever been able to hold one accessory at a time. For a few months, Walmart had a really cool mid-aisle display with all sorts of "collector" toys from Mattel and Hasbro - I found Marvel, Transformers, GI Joe and Star Wars figures on there, and loved checking it at at the stores that had it. It was recently removed when the planogram was refreshed, but it's not like all the stuff that was on it just went into the regular action figure aisle; all those figures just disappeared. Well, I found Punisher (and a couple other things) in the clearance aisle. I'd passed on Punisher before, because he wasn't drastically different from the one I already had, and there was no BAF part to make him more worthwhile. But for $15? Heck yeah, I'll impulse-buy that! -- 04/08/26 What's up with that giant hand? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.