Dear Fwooshers, the impossible is possible. Hasbro IS releasing Fantastic Four Marvel Legends. I shit you not. Those weren’t teaser press photos or teaser customs on display at recent cons. And the figures showing up on eBay are legit. Yes, my dear Fwoosh friends, the Fantastic Four are on their way.
And they will be glorious. The first figure released is Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, and she is coming as part of the upcoming Walgreens Exclusive Marvel Legends. Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic and Thing will follow, which is perfect if you think about it. Namor was a Walgreens release and he’s a Fantastic Four frenemy, making that tie-in kinda cool. I’m going to spare everyone the long drawn out love fest for Sue Storm and the Fantastic Four — you already know the Fwoosh staff has a mad-on for them. And while I am writing this article, I have a feeling VeeBee won’t be able to resist an opportunity to go Shakespeare on this figure.
The figure is based on the Kate Bishop Hawkeye figure that we’ve seen used on a few females so far. It’s a great base for the smaller build of females, with the Storm build and Moonstone build filling out the larger builds (for the average female). It fits Sue, or at least my vision of her from the comics. And to throw in an “oh, chums” comment, I’m talking about Kirby, Perez, Byrne era of Sue, not necessarily the more current versions like Wieringo or Pacheco (although good fits as well, and, well, old … ). I read the recent Robinson and Kirk Fantastic Four comic (2013, ya’ll) and she’d fit there too. But my love of the FF will always fall back to the Kirby/Perez/Byrne era of the ’60s and ’70s.
I loooove the head sculpt, it’s a great Sue Storm, though I can’t tell if it is too big. Hasbro has a thing for big heads, but it seems to look okay. I’ll pull out the calipers and visual test devices another time. For now, loving her. For those of you wondering, I seem to find a great range of motion in the head sculpt.
Out of the package there were no major issues. One of the knee pins had to be pushed in and the shins had some serious package warp. The left hand that is invisible and swappable is warped. Not huge issues, and everything can be fixed with a pass of the hairdryer.
Now comes the complaint part. Sue has a partly invisible right arm, and her extra hand is partly invisible. I guess this is cool. A partly invisible Invisible Woman, but I’d rather she was either fully colored or full-on clear plastic. I don’t know why, and I know it’s being super picky when I should just be happy, but I have to point it out. The other kinda questionable thing is the “4” insignia on the chest. It’s not black, not really grey, and not white. It’s got this weird checker pattern. Going back to Kirby, black or blue circle (consistency issues) blue four; Perez black or blue circle (consistency issues) blue four, Byrne (for this costume) black circle blue four. This insignia seems unfinished or was chosen as it was neutral. Now that I’ve pointed it out, I don’t hate it. I actually like it quite a bit; it does pop.
Sue comes with Herbie, the psychotic robot pack-in. He’s actually not totally psycho, but he’s had his moments. It’s a great pack-in and actually fun to play with. The head is on a ball and socket and you can get some “number 5” poses out of it. It comes with a stand that sticks in to the bottom the robots body, and, kinda like Doop, the figure’s expression might be saying quite a bit about that.
You need this figure. You want this figure. It’s a must have for the Marvel Legends collection and it blows every Sue Storm before her out of the freaking water. No comparison, and anyone that makes apologies or excuses for the previous figures needs a Luke Cage slap upside the head. This is an awesome figure and I cannot wait for the rest of the team.
