Ultron
Toy Biz Marvel Legends
Series 11 Legendary Riders
2005
What a steaming pile of crap this figure turned out to be. No, really — a steaming pile of crap. I’m certain that if I defended this figure in the past, I must have been drunk or sleep deprived because this sucker licks the sweat off… nevermind.
This figure first appaered in 2005 in the Legendary Riders Marvel Legends series. He came with a flying thingamabob that had a classic Ultron head on it. It looked a mess in the package and is a mess to display. Certainly everything works, joints etc., but the exectution out of the factory was a mess.
But the factory isn’t entirely to blame. Truth is, this Ultron was doomed from the start. Collectors wanted Ultron. They wanted classic John Buscema Ultron. You know, the nondescript-looking robot with the psycho-looking head. Yeah, that one. That’s the one we want, and make him all vac-metal while you are at it. No, instead fans were treated to something that looked nothing like Ultron.
Sure, sure, it was based on Paul Komoda art and sculpted by Four Horsement Studios, but the concept and sculpt just weren’t classic Ultron. Truth is, for the out-of-this-world concept and sculpt I would have loved the figure, maybe not as Ultron, but as something that I could army-build and use as some kind of evil robot to battle whatever! Komoda is a fantastic designer and his concept was totally kick-ass. I managed to find some pictures that you can see below. Four Horsemen Studios actually did a great job translating the concept to prototype, and if everything had continued along this course, we would have had a killer figure.
Now, I don’t remember the details. Not a one. I’m certain they are out there, somewhere. But between collector rage and factory fuck-ups, the figure that we ended with lost all of the coolness of the concept and the prototype. All the proportions were off: the chest huge, the legs small. Something went wrong. And they changed he head; in what can only be Toy Biz’s attempt to apease the raging collector, they put a classic Ultron head on there. And it looks awful. The thing is huge! It’s got to be one of the most oversized noggins I’ve ever seen! And instead of looking spooky-scary, it looks like some fairy tale creature that should be travelling with the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus! I mean, what the hell?
Big steaming pile of poo. I’m certain there is a logical explanation in this. I’m certain that it makes sense. I’m certain that the history is documented somewhere. I’m certain it doesn’t matter anymore. We recently were treated to a new Ultron in the Iron Man Marvel Legends wave. It was a rehash of the undersized Titanium Man with an Ultron head and painted silver. Hmmm, OK. Still not “classic,” still a cop out. And yes, I know that Diamond made an Ultron in Marvel Select, but that’s not Marvel Legends scale. Sure, it looks kinda right and you can make the excuse that Ultron is a robot and has been large in the comics, but it’s not a 6″-scaled robot.
But it is better than the Marvel Legends series 11 thing we got.
The engineering on Ultron isn’t bad: rocker ankles, hinge ankles, double-jointed knees, ball-jointed hips, swivel waist, hinged abs, ball shoulders, upper bicep swivel, ball elbows, lower bicep swivel, forearm swivel, wrist swivel, hinged wrist, and a ball-jointed head — TONS of articluation. And it works for the most part. The elbows struggle and there is way too much in the swivelling there. The ab joint engineering isn’t great; the weight of the upper boy and the ratcheting really don’t work all that well together. Otherwise, this figure has all the standard articulation.
The sculpting is really good. It really is. Four Horsemen Studios were a good choice to translate this figure from 2D to 3D. It just came out of the factory all wrong. And I don’t know who did that head, but it is an abomination that must be destroyed — bitch slap it to the hell it came from. As you can see in the picture, the butt-flap is missing, lost to some unknow hell in some box somewhere in my house. I think the thing fell off shortly after I pulled him from his plastic prison.
I’m not going to mention the glider.
I won’t recommend that you buy this figure. I can’t. But if you are determined, it is still possible to find the figure on Amazon.com.
As always, you can discuss this topic further on the Fwoosh forums.
