Review - Super Hero Showdown Series 1 Starter Sets

Super Hero Showdown Series 1 Starter Sets
by "Junkpile"

Here's my review of the two Starter sets. They come as:

Spider-Man vs Thing and Wolverine vs Hulk

I'll give you the basic run-down for Spidey and Wolverine, then the Hulk and Thing.

Spider-Man and Wolverine

Articulation
Please keep in mind, each joint I list is for one side of the figure, except for the mid-line stuff like waist and neck, etc.

Ankle - true ball-joints, allowing side to side, up and down and all the in-between
Ankle – hinge for up and down
Calf - top of boot cut-joint
Knee – double joint
Top of thigh - cut-joint just below the hip ball
Hips - ball-jointed*
Waist – belt-line cut-joint*
Abs - upper torso and abdominals are seperate pieces (think ML 1 Captain America)
Shoulder - ball-jointed*
Bicep – swivel
Elbow – double joint
Forearm - cut-joint

Wrist – hinge
Neck - ball-joint, but he can't really look up too far (Wolverine has the most upward range of the three smaller figs)

The Hulk and Thing

Toe - hinge
Ankle - true ball-joints, allowing side to side, up and down and all the in-between
Ankle – hinge for up and down
Knee – double joint
Top of thigh - cut-joint just below the hip ball
Hips - ball-jointed*
Waist – belt-line cut-joint*
Abs - upper torso and abdominals are seperate pieces (think ML 1 Captain America)
Shoulder - ball-jointed*
Bicep – swivel
Elbow – single hinge joint
Wrist – hinge

Left Hand - fingers are on a hinge, so that all four move at once
Neck - ball-joint (Hulk can look down and straight ahead; Thing can look up and straight ahead)

The joints noted with an asterisk bear a little explanation, because they don't look like the usual joints TB uses on their Marvel Legends figures.

The hips - they actually look like a "T" shape, with balls on the ends of the upright. They stick out at 90-degree angles, allowing the tops of the thighs (which have a cup-looking end) to fit onto the hip balls.

Sculpt

They all have pretty nice sculpts, with their own strengths and weaknesses. I'll go over the individual stand-out good and bad. For all of them, they're really detailed for being such small figures. I'm used to the so-so sculpts of the old TB 5-inch toys, and the detailing in the larger DCD and ML figures, but the sculpts used for these figures are pretty close to the level I've come to expect from TB's Marvel Legends line.

Wolverine - He's a little tall (almost an oxymoron at this scale, I know...) , but otherwise, pretty good. The shoulder-pads on his costume hinder some of the range of motion of his shoulders, but it's not too bad. I'm torn on the execution of the claws. They're molded as three claws on each hand, but the plastic is not seperated. In one sense, that's OK. You can probably tell from the pic that they're pretty warped. There's no telling what they'd look like as single claws.

Spider-Man - This is very reminiscent of the McFarlane looking super-poseable spidey from SMC 12. Due to the size, though, you lose some of the joints; most notably the ab-hinge. It might be too difficult at this size to include, but it is Spider-Man, after all. He's suitably thin, but that makes him feel a bit flimsy.

Thing - This is the best sculpt of the line. It's easily my favorite sculpt of the character... EVER. He's big, and thick, and he's actually got the right amount of articulation. The ML versions have all lacked the bicep-swivel, and are based on the out-dated old torso, where the lats pull forward and leave holes in his back. The head-sculpt is also dead-on. The texture is great, too. They didn't skimp on the "rockiness". Only problem is his height; too tall. He should really only be about Spidey's height, but he looks Hulk in the eye, and towers over the others.

Hulk - I'm a huge Hulk fan. He's always been my favorite Marvel character, so I was psyched to get this figure. That said... I'm a bit disappointed. It's actually a decent sculpt. The musculature is great, and easily rivals any of the Hulk movie or Hulk Classics figures. Myonly real problem with him is that he's stooped over. His torso doesn't straighten up, so he's sculpted in a permanent "hunch-back". This also means that his neck sticks out at an angle, and not straight up (explaining why he can't look up). If they'd fix the torso, he'd be my favorite TB Hulk. The headsculpt is pretty uninspired, as well. They've made better, but they've made worse.

Paint

They all have great paint applications. The stand-out features here are Thing's eyes. They managed to put those big blue eyes under that over-sized brow with some real skill. They look great. Everyone else is pretty good, with no real problems to speak of. Wolvie has a blue spot on his bicep, but that's the only thing out of place on mine.

Accessories

The starter sets each come with cards, tiles (for building your "board", a rulebook, and dice, and their action stands. I'm still really happy with the action stands. They're great for Wolverine and Spidey. Neither one is too sturdy on their own two feet, but the stands can be set up to make them stand on the "ground", or be placed in mid-leap.

Overall

Spider-Man - 8 Definately a neat little figure. He loses a few points for losing some of his articulation, and for being so thin. It's really a double-edged sword for figures this size. He's supposed to be skinny, so the scale is correct. Problem is that at this size, with this plastic, his limbs bend fairly easily. I still need to straighten the leg on mine.

Wolverine - 8 A very good representation of the character. Like I said, he's a tad taller than I'd like for the scale of this line, and the claws are kinda weak (they're still weak on the 6-inch versions), but a nice figure nonetheless.

Thing - 9.5 My favorite of the line so far, and the best sculpt of Ben Grimm yet. I wish they'd just take this figure and blow him up to 6 inches for ML. He blows the 5 and 6 inch versions away!!

Hulk - 7.5 I'm impressed with the sculpt, overall, but the awkward torso loses him someserious points. He could have been fantastic... I just feel like he's a bit mediocre

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