But I do have Mr. Fantastic, and he is...well, not quite as fantastic as I'd hoped.
They tooled up a new torso for him, which was a great idea because Reed is usually slim but not musclebound. The new parts do a good job of reflecting that. Unfortunately, the torso is the only new part. He reuses Pizza Spidey's legs and I think his arms too, so he winds up with an normal physique on his upper body but rippling muscles in his thighs. It's not super noticeable unless you're looking for it, but it's disappointing that they'd go to the effort of making a "normal guy" torso and give him "super athlete" limbs. He's got the swappable "stretch" arms as well, which look nice. They're not jointed, but they're made from a pliable plastic so you can get some bend in them if you want. They're not quite as bendy as I'd hoped, but I suppose heating them up would help with that. Reed's powers are up there with Kitty Pryde's on the "difficulty to make an action figure of" scale, but I'd say that this does a pretty good job of embodying them in plastic form.
He comes with a tiny little doodad that I'm told is an Ultimate Nullifier, which I suppose would mean more to me if I'd read any actual F4 comics and not just gotten to know them via '80s X-Men crossovers. I really wish he came with a pipe to smoke, but in this day and age that was never a real possibility, and he's probably not allowed to smoke his Dad Pipe in the comics anymore anyway.
The head sculpt is great too, one of the nicest unmasked faces I've seen on a Hasbro figure. Looks a bit like George Clooney in his younger days.
Overall, it's a nice addition to the team but I wish they'd invested just a bit more into making some slimmer limbs. Not just for Reed, but for all the other characters down the line who'd look a lot better using a mold that wasn't as ripped as a WWE wrestler at the height of the steroid era.
It would be a perfect fit for a Phoenix figure, for sure. It's just a shame that they did both well-known Phoenix schemes right before Songbird here came out, else I'm sure they'd have reused this part for one of them.Skyquake87 wrote:I just assumed it was, as it looks very bird-like.
I think it was a money-saving move more than anything else. Ghost Rider's bike looks way bigger and more intricate than the one they shipped with Black Widow, so they probably had to make the figure a straight repaint to keep the budget in line.Skyquake87 wrote:I'm guessing it's because Blaze is back in action in Doctor Strange at the moment, and he's the definitive version for a lot of people. Not me though. One thing I really like about this figure is how they've coloured him to look like that dark blue they used to use in comics to represent black. The bike is really nice, although I don't know if I like it more than the Skull Cycle Toy Biz did. No pegs for the figure's feet to peg onto, for one thing. Overall though, it's pretty cool looking and looks awesome on display. Still would love a Ketch version with his bike, which I always thought looked amazing
I'm not super in love with the blue colouring here, but I do like that they did something different so that the figure will stand out from the previous Ghost Rider. Hopefully that'll keep those folks who already own the last one but buy this for the bike from feeling ripped off.
I'm pretty sure that every GR story I've ever read has starred Ketch, while the only fiction I've seen with Blaze has been the godawful Nic Cage movies, so I'm with you on that front. I'm honestly not sure the costume is different enough that I'd want both. I think the pants were grey and he had 90s "badass" metal studs everywhere? But I'd be mighty tempted if it was the costume and the bike.
My Blaze GR beat up my Black Series Biker Scout and stole his speeder, but it's not quite the same.