I tried. I really did. I tried to get the face in focus and not be whited out. But I couldn’t. I’d blame my camera skills or my Photoshop skills, but that would be too easy. Instead, I’m blaming it on the mediocre head sculpt and the pasty white flesh tone. Because it’s always easier to blame Hasbro.
And that should set the tone. Nova was a 2009 Walmart exclusive in the Nemesis Series from Hasbro, this wave really didn’t have anyone of note in it, just a couple of Punishers and Dardevils, Tigra, Black Bolt, and Astonishing X-Men Beast. I think, if my memory is correct, everyone wanted this wave, and, collectively, everyone hated it. This wave featured a number of fan-demanded characters, and their execution was… horrible. And Nova… well… I think I’ve covered this base figure enough…
Toy Biz Captain Mar-Vell
Toy Biz Captain Genis-Vell
Hasbro Yellow Jacket
Hasbro Guardian
Hasbro Quicksilver
To go any further into the chaos of my thoughts on this sculpt and the articulation would be absolute overkill. I shall refrain.
Instead I’d like to make an appeal to Marvel to give us a new Nova figure in Marvel Legends, Studios, media tie-in, or whatever Brain Micheal Bendis feels he needs to rebrand it as today. In the event that you are living under a comic book rock or a Marvel animation rock, then you know that Nova is a hot property.
On the comic side of things, this dude has been around forever. Richard Rider, being the bomb, is a young superhero who gets super powers and becomes part of an intergalactic police force. Or something like that. Then he was part of a wanna-be Avengers group called the “New Warriors” in the ’90s, and then he was part of the whole Marvel Multiverse Annihilations and whatnot. Hell, he’s the reason there is a Guardians of the Galaxy. I think. I get lost in what started what, but he was palling around with Rocket Racoon, Gammora, Drax, Groot, and Starlord before they were Guardians. And now there is a new Nova with a super-cool book.
In the animated world, Ultimate Spider-Man is on season something and Nova is part of the Super Spidey Gang working for SHIELD and fighting crime. He’s a smarty little tyke and loads of fun to watch.
He’s totally demanding a new figure. And not that crappy t-crotch Ultimate Spider-man cartoon thing that you can find on shelves. I mean a super-cool version of Nova that fits with the latest branding of Marvel Legends. I haven’t decided what kind of sculpt this guy should have, the new Superior-Spidey sculpt? Seems small for Richard Rider, but might be right for Sam Alexander. I feel Rider needs the new Black Panther sculpt. Yeah, it’s big but he’s all grown up and needs a grown-up body, but with his current costume he might actually need a new unique sculpt. But then you can’t really army build with that sculpt. Gah. Hulk head hurt.
Amazingly, I found that you can still get this bugger on Amazon.com
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