You might remember that not too along ago we sung a lot of praise for the Arnim Zola series from Marvel Legends by doing not one, but two reviews for the series. Piledriver and Thunderball were the swaps, or variants, for the wave, along with Madame Masque and Viper. Piledriver and Thunderball are part of the Wrecking Crew and we recently got Wrecker to help complete the team. We are still missing Bulldozer, but we are hoping the recent episode of What The-!?, starring Dozer, is a sign of things to come.
Piledriver is a really old character. Created in 1974, this fast member of the Wrecking Crew has been mixing it up with the Defenders, Avengers, Spider-Man, Thor, and many others. The event that solidified him as a critical part of the Marvel Universe was Secret Wars, the one in the ’80s where the Beyonder whisked a number of heroes and villains off to another world to battle to the death. I always liked him; I think it was the colors.
The figure is a rehash of another figure we’ve seen before: Young Avengers Hulking, who was later retooled into Warpath. The biggest complaints towards the sculpt are that he is too big, tall, and that he has gloves on. The gloves make the figure an easy repaint/variant for his buddy Thunderball, who does have gloves and carries a big ball and chain around. Since Piledriver is a puncher, I get the complaint. If only someone could sculpt some hands and offer them up as kit…
He is tall. Wrecker, Piledriver, and Thunderball (Bulldozer isn’t out yet, but yeah) all share the same body and it is a tall body. I get the idea that these are big overpowered villains, but they’ve never been represented as giants in the comics. It would have been great to get this team on the Hyperion buck.
As a quick note, I love the head sculpt. This is a throwback to some of the fantastic head sculpts that we saw during the ToyBiz era. Perfect.
The articulation is all there. It’s perfect and it works. I could nitpick for the sake of nitpicking, but let’s face it, this is a good, solid toy. Here is the breakdown:
Rocker ankles
Hinged ankles
Double-hinged knees
Thigh swivels
Ball hips
Swivel Waist
Hinged ab
Ball shoulders
Swivel biceps
Hinged elbows
Swivel forearms
Hinged neck
Swivel head
The accessories are the key in this figure. No, not the ball and chain! But the head piece to Arnim Zola. Ooooh I am behind in collecting this bad villain of Captain America’s, but I am a step closer now that I have Piledriver!
Look, gloves and oversizing aside, this is a critical figure for anyone wanting to complete the Wrecking Crew. He’s a classic villain in the Marvel Universe, and you’ll kick yourself for not getting him when they release Bulldozer and the price/availability of this bad boy goes sky high/away.
You can still pick him at:
