I’m rummaging through the pile of figures on my floor for review, and Puck looks up and says, “Dude, ya gotta review me. You gotta make case for not just a do-over, but for Alpha Flight.” And I thought, hell yeah! With the release of the Warlock X-Men series, this is a great time to revisit the little scrapper.
Puck has a special place in my heart; he’s another scrapper in the Marvel Universe along with guys like Wolverine, Thing, Hawkeye, guys that have to fight for their place among the “Heroes.” Puck’s character makes a lot of changes depending on the decade, but I’ll always like him from the John Byrne era of the Alpha Flight comic. He’s seen a recent revival in Captain Marvel, but the team really needs a good writer and artist to lift it off the ground.
The action figure does have a good team lifting it off the ground, but they need to rally and make it better. Puck is a good action figure, but it could be better. The sculpt does have a lot going for it, it is a small scaled figure but it missed that bulk that the John Byrne art gave it. Some of that can be fixed with delivering a better chest, one with more girth and height. The head is also small, but a larger head is an easy fix, and as you can see from the resized head cast, it makes a huge difference.
The articulation is really good for the scale of the figure. Hinged ball joints are used all throughout the figure. It’s a great amount of articulation and movement, even rocker ankles were added. BUT — the figure desperately needs an ab joint; a decently designed ball joint would give a huge range of motion. The knees could use a bit more range of motion to achieve a squat.
Puck needs another fist or swappable hands. I get the splayed hand for the acrobatic needs of Puck, but another fit would help with the fighting poses.
Having Puck in my collection makes me want the John Byrne era of Alpha Flight even more. And with the male and female bases being made these days, it should be easy to slap Guardian, Shaman, Snowbird, Marina, Northstar, and Aurora on them. Sasquatch will need a new sculpt, and, sure, the old ToyBiz one is a solid figure, but it would be great to get an update. And, as mentioned, Puck could use an update. Hasbro, it’s time, Canadian collectors need their team.
Puck is long-standing member of the Marvel Universe and a much-needed character for any era of your Marvel Universe collection. This isn’t a horrible figure and is a decent placeholder until Hasbro makes that ultimate Puck — and Alpha Flight box set. You can pick up Puck here:
