Welcome to Fwooshnet.com’s “buy 1, get 3 free” reviews. Below you will be subjected to not just one person’s opinion, but 3 people’s opinions, all of whom have extensive experience and references on things entirely unrelated with reviewing action figures. This time, SamuRon, Carl, and Magnuz will be bringing you their thoughts on Marvel Super Hero Showdown Punisher!
PACKAGING
SamuRon: Cardboard backing, plastic bubble, and no twist ties make it as easy as possible to get to the toy. They even put in a plastic insert to keep the cards from flying when you rip this sucker open. MOC collectors (I can hear the other guys groaning right now) should be able to find cards that aren’t dinged, thanks to uniform package sizes.
Carl: I think the SHS packaging is kind of overdone for figures in this scale. It looks good for what it is, but if it will shave some money off of the price I would like to see them shrink the cards.
Magnuz: Colorful, bright, jubilant… a bit… too much. I like the character images but there’s alot of them. I know it’s to show the concept of combatting characters but nonetheless it’s a bit cluttered looking on the card. Cards and bubbles are cheaper than clamshells like what’s used on their Marvel Legends counterparts, but it doesn’t seem to help the price of the figures that much. The packaging functions though. It has good info and images on the back and shows off the figure well.
SCULPTING
SamuRon: The level of detail Toy Biz is packing into this figure and the rest of the Showdown figures is staggering. Clothing folds, buckles, straps, clothing seams and pouches are all meticulously detailed. This is offset by two problems with the figure. First, he’s got too much length in the legs, and appears lanky instead of built to dish out and take some pain. Second, he suffers from old man face. Instead of grizzled, we got grandpa. And while I don’t think it materially affects the sculpt, I do wonder why his right boot is longer than his left.
Magnuz: Considering the scale that these are both presented and sculpted in, sculpting gets many points. But that doesn’t mean we can forgive them for everything. The face sculpt just comes out rather poor in the final product, maybe a problem due to the shrinking of the figure, or the paint; nevertheless it’s not a really good headsculpt for the character. It’s not flat out horrible or wrong, just not great. He’s also a bit on the skinny side. Punisher’s always tended to be a bulkier man, and this figure’s nearly as skinny as the semi-anorexic black Spider-man from this line.
Carl: When you factor in that these figures are sculpted at around 8" tall it’s pretty easy to be impressed by what you get. There are some reservations on my part in regard to the sculpt of some pieces but I think that has to do more with the relationship between sculpt, paint and articulation, than it does with the sculpt alone.
PAINT
Carl: Body is great, lots of subtle browns and greys on the pants and boots; face is not so much. Of course I have the Wires painted Proto as a comparison, but still, the end result leaves something to be desired. Most of the problems that I have revolve around the face. He is very pale and his lips stand out in contrast. Another thing is the area around the eyes. The width and angle that the eyebrows are painted at gives the face an expression i’m not sure the sculptor intended. Last thing is the neck looks very thin, one reason is because the neck is not exposed. By contrast that brings more attention to the head and all its problems.
Magnuz: Good for the scale, details the sculpting nicely, and the skull while being somewhat simple is good. Face could use some cleaner paint but it’s understandable at this size and level that you can’t expect perfection. All in all the paints on par with larger mass produced figures like Marvel Legends.
SamuRon: I would have gone with white gloves and boots, just to make the figure a little more interesting, but the figure’s mostly black and it’s hard to go wrong with that. The weathering they did on black areas like straps and pouches is subtle and effective. Some minor issues with the white – the skull emblem doesn’t quite cover the black completely, and the ammo pouches show some other reddish color that’s been rubbed against it. Mostly it’s the paint on the face that isn’t up to par. The ruby red lips plus the drybrush of white make him look like a wicked witch.
ARTICULATION
Magnuz: Almost fantastic considering the scale (alot of considering the scale when it comes to these figures ). I found the articulation useful and unobtrusive, blends well with the sculpt and functions as it should. Aside from the lack of motion in the ball neck and the missing wrist swivels he has most of the useful articulation you could hope for. I think comparing these to other highly articulated smaller figures such as Micro-man shows that unlike them, here the articulation is sculpted to flow with the rest of the figure, not obtrusive bland and blank joints just stuck into a blanker body. Articulation is basically kept on the same level as Marvel Legends which is a good bonus. Also while the use of ball/pin sockets allow the popping off of the shoulders/hips is alot different than ML and can limit the movement in those joints, it’s not that big a hindrance and it keeps breakage down.
SamuRon: For the most part, the articulation we love in Marvel Legends is replicated here. Double-jointed knees and elbows work as expected. The hips and the shoulders are the standouts here allowing a great range of motion. The hips show how you can get a combination of both motion and appearance. I wonder if they could have recessed the shoulder ball deeper into the torso or covered more of it with the shoulder itself. On the flip side, Punisher’s missing wrist swivels, the ball jointed neck is more like a swivel, and the ab articulation won’t hold a pose.
Carl: It’s really hard to judge but parts of this figure (as well as others in the line) don’t seem like they were sculpted or designed with this kind of articulation in mind. I’m speaking mostly in relation to the shoulders and hips on Punisher. The way the hips are set on the figure they end up making his crotch "taller" for lack of a better word. Which then adds to the overall thin look of his frame. Factor in the layout of his shoulder joints and things get a little messy. If his shoulders were imbeded into his chest a little further than they are the proportions wouldn’t seem as off. Aside from the look of the articulation there aren’t really any complaints. Everything functions as it should so messing around with the figure is fun which is really all you can ask for. Except in this case where you can ask for wrist swivels, cus really…he needs some.
ACCESSORIES
SamuRon: Sure, he comes with a "gun" that’s used in the game plus the submachine gun strapped to his hip (non-removable), but that’s it. His hands are sculpted with the trigger fingers extended, so it’s too bad he didn’t come with weapons to put in them. The stand is a welcome accessory, and the cards were fun to look at and read.
Magnuz: I know for this price they are supposed to be giving us alot, and considering what we get technicaly we do get a good bit. An action stand, playing cards, game tiles, instructions, the figure, a little gun that works with the game. That’s all well and good if you intend to play the game. If you do the price and all this is fine, but if you’re looking for just the figures most of this stuff’s useless. The action stands a bit bland but works decently. The rest of the stuff is boring and useless if you don’t care about the game and thus you’re left with a toy with no accessories at all. Punisher, a man of many weapons, has none here but an oversized gaudy missile launcher you’d expect to see with some Mattel Batman toy. So you have little in the way of accessories if you consider this as just an action figure and not a gaming piece.
Carl: Outside of the action stand it has all been kind of useless to me. He needs a gun. Not that guns are in any limited supply at this scale, it’s just funny that he doesn’t come with one. I’m not sure that TB’s fault but still. The cards make nice coasters, and the little launcher will make for entire minutes of fun when you chase your cats around. I kind of feel the same way about the accessories as I do about the packaging. In my case it’s not really adding to the figure, it’s adding to the cost, so if they go away I won’t miss them.
PLAYABILITY
SamuRon: Hi, my name is SamuRon and I’m a MOC collector. But if there are toys to open and play with, Punisher and the rest of the SHS figures are them. Punisher is loads of fun to pose and play with, and I’m looking forward to pulling my GI Joes out of storage to engage in some gunfights – the side benefit being that I’ll commandeer some weapons from those Joes.
Carl: He is a really fun little figure. He fits in very well with all my other 1:18 figures and for that reason alone I love him, but I have to say I’m not real big into the game aspect of the figure. I know that’s not the case with everybody but that’s how it works out with me. I haven’t tried to play the game yet or anything I’m just not interested I suppose. They could have packed the figure with toothpaste and it wouldn’t affect my decision to buy him. One of these days when I am really bored I’ll try the game or something but as far as playing with the figure at this point it’s a lot more fun to let Frank kill Cobras.
Magnuz: While I haven’t played the game, and I’m not one to play such games, I’m sure for those who do the playability is high. But as an action figure alone, he’s quite fun as I’m sure the rest of the figures are. And if you’re keen on this scale then this is a big deal for you to have figures of your favorite Marvel characters at this size. Not even being a big fan of this scale myself I find the figure fun to play with, which means he’s got to be pretty good to impress even those not interested in the scale. Give him some weapons and he’s even more interesting. And at this size he can interact with other lines a great deal more than Marvel Legends can, such as using vehicles and playsets from similiarly scaled figures.
IF FWOOSH RULED THE WORLD
Magnuz: Wrist swivels and a better neck joint or at least more movement in it. Drop the game and focus on the figures, maybe even purely as two packs, but cheaper than the $15 they are now. While $15 for two figures is better than $8 or $9 for one, it’s still a bit much considering their size and lack of accessories that aren’t purtaining directly to the game. Overall unless you’re hardcore about the scale or deathly interested in the game, these things are just a bit too expensive to be enjoyed, especially when their only outlet is TRU, who’s known to sell things at a higher cost than discount mass retail chains such as Walmart. I could easily see these as low as 6 bucks for singles at Walmart, and that would be a great deal more reasonable despite being the same price for a figure that’s 3 inches taller and comes with better accessories.
SamuRon: An M-16, a pistol, and a better headsculpt would have made the Punisher as good as could have hoped for.
Carl: White gloves, white boots, swivel wrists, standard SHS shoulders, a neck and some weapons. Toss in some toothpaste, get rid of the game tiles and knock like a dollar off the MSRP.
