Hasbro’s SDCC exclusive offerings over the past couple of years have been extremely interesting and often unpredictable. Between Thunderbolts, X-Force, and last years random hodgepodge of cosmic-themed characters we’ve gotten a number of highly needed characters — albeit in an often aggravating manner. I am not a fan of exclusives in any form, and I am even less of a fan of sitting at the computer refreshing a Hasbro page over and over in the hopes that the toys I want won’t sell out before I can get them. Nothing is worse than the crippling “dump of shame” when you have to empty your own cart of items that have sold out in order to hopefully purchase the other item you may want, and then having that item sell out while you’re removing the previous item from your cart . . . yeah, you know exactly what I mean, you’ve been there with me.
So this year, like previous years, I paid the cost to be a boss and went the eBay route. I can always get more money, but I can’t get that wasted time back. Well, I can, but the time machine isn’t quite finished yet. I didn’t want to run the risk of missing out on another assortment of characters that won’t be making it to retail any time soon.
With a movie coming up, Dr. Strange is poised to be an even hotter commodity than he was back when he was only starring in horrible made-for-tv movies and guest starring on the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. In a very short time he’s managed to get a figure in the recent Marvel Legends Infinite Wave and is headlining his own SDCC wave. Yep, it’s a Strange world we’re living in.
Packaging is packaging, and I often fall in line with Robokillah’s view that packaging is just trash waiting to happen. But SDCC packaging can often be a different animal completely, and this year’s packaging is probably the best of all. While a few years ago the cardboard Mjolnir was pretty cool, and last years Galactus Engine was nifty, both pale in comparison to an honest to goodness Book of Vishanti replica. This goes beyond mere packaging and enters the realm of display piece.
Stick this on your coffee table and you have the ultimate conversation piece that will just end up with a lot of raised eyebrows. Or pop it onto a podium and pretend you’re a Sorcerer Supreme. Or shove it in a shelf and pretend you’re worldly. Cosplay as Dr. Strange with it. Or Clea. Sexy Clea. Go nuts.
Speaking of dressing up as things, if you did have it in mind to dress as Dr. Strange for Halloween or just for casual Friday, this set also provides the All-seeing Eye of Agamotto for you. Just imagine going to work with the Book of Vishanti tucked under your arm and the Eye of Agamotto pinned to your lapel. You’ll be the talk of the office. At least until security comes for you. Then they’ll still be talking about you, but in a very different way.
But you’re not here to hear me yammer on about the bitchin’ packaging. Let’s take a look at the toys inside and see if they’re worth the ridiculous premium I paid for the set.
Dr. Strange is the host of the party, so let’s start with him. Like I said we just got his regular modern appearance in the recent Hulkbuster wave, so instead of doubling up on the same Strange we get a nifty Astral Form Strange in this set. If you’re a fan of, or even moderately knowledgeable of, Dr. Strange, you know he spends a lot of time getting metaphysical with things and creeping his way into a higher plane of existence in his astral form. This is how he fights particularly esoteric villains, travels around faster than mere mortal conveyances could manage, or checks out the other player’s cards in the weekly poker game. They know if Stephen is particularly focused on his cards then his see-through self is no doubt floating around in the room, so they hide their cards.
Canonball recently reviewed the Hulkbuster wave Strange here, and as this is the same figure, I won’t bore you with the same details. In short, Black Panther body with a new less-muscled torso, new forearms, and hands with spell-casting fingers. The regular figure is built on a sturdy foundation and his modern costume is a very well done update with nice colors and without some of the bad design decisions that can plague a lot of updated looks.
The Astral Form is cast in a bluish clear plastic that gives him that ethereal ghostly look without being a true “Invisible Woman clear,” and the costume details are given a silver paint job. His eyes are also painted silver, which makes his overall appearance visually stunning and slightly creepy, which is as it should be when you’ve left your body. Like his retail figure, Strange comes with Scarlet Witch’s Hex-effects, except colored to match his Astral form. Astral Strange is arguably the least necessary figure in the set depending on your proclivities, but I think you’re be doing yourself a disservice if think you can do without him.
In the comics, Brother Voodoo briefly took over as Sorcerer Supreme and became Doctor Voodoo, because being Sorcerer Supreme also comes with a medical license or something. Brother Voodoo is one of those niche characters that dates back to the ’70s when Marvel was trying out all kinds of wacky concepts in their various anthology titles. Here we have Voodoo in his updated look instead of either his original look or the slightly updated version of his original look that was one of the choices back during Hasbro’s fan vote several years ago. Hasbro has tended to skew modern for their SDCC decisions and for many of their retail decisions as well, so this was an expected though unfortunate choice. While sleek, this is a bit of a generic look for Brother Voodoo, and I miss the more unique details of his previous appearance.
Brother Voodoo is based on the Black Panther body with new arm bracers, a waist piece, and an Eye of Agamotto-adorned partial cape thing that lays over that cape we’re all getting used to seeing. I really need to pick up the Rick Remender series that featured Voodoo’s time as Sorcerer Supreme. He comes with a partially translucent staff with a couple of creepy green glowing demons jutting from it. His right hand — his staff-holding hand — has an up-and-down joint instead of side-to-side that facilitates holding his staff in an offensive fashion.
He’s got a great head sculpt with a nice set of dreadlocks. While it’s great to have a Brother Voodoo figure, it’s slightly bittersweet that he couldn’t have been made in one of the costumes that evokes the look more connected with Brother Voodoo.
Magik was one of two figures teased at Hasbro’s 2014 panel. Many assumed that she would be appearing in some kind of magic-themed box set and it looks like they were right. Magik marks the first time Colossus’ sister makes an appearance in the Marvel Legends line. Magik has one hell of a history, having disappeared into limbo, aged, de-aged, killed, resurrected, and on and on. She’s another Sorcerer Supreme-type s,o she fits in fine with the other members of this box set.
She’s built on the Spider-Girl body with a new left arm, new torso, and a new head. She’s appropriately sized for her younger age, and the slight oversized nature of her head makes her feel even younger/smaller than the Spider-Girls who use this same body. Magik comes with two different swords, one of which is partially translucent and quite large. I haven’t read a lot featuring Magik, so I’m not too sure what each of these swords are supposed to be. I know she has a Soulsword, but I’m not sure which is supposed to be that, or if both are, or . . . well, you get the idea. Some reading is clearly necessary here.
Hela was one of the bigger surprises of the set. Primarily a Thor character, Hela is a Goddess of vast mystical powers, so she fits well with a mystic-themed set. She’s built on the Red She-Hulk body with only painted embellishments along with her ornate headpiece that requires two extra pieces that slot into holes in the back of her head.
As we’ve come to expect with Asgardians, she’s quite tall and dwarfs normal-sized people. Her cape is fabric so that will no doubt tweak some people, but it doesn’t bother me. I’m not a fan of the way the hips are pegged on this particular body — they peg straight up so a bit of “Rubik’s Cubing” is involved to move her legs — and It makes me pine all the more for the ball-jointed type of hips found on the Moonstone body for all females. It’s a minor complaint, but I do wish they could find a way to alter the hips for anybody using this type of body going forward.
Her paint job is a nice pearlescent green with brighter green detailing that are both clean and very art-accurate. I didn’t expect to get a character like Hela in a time when Asgardians seem hard to come by if their name isn’t Thor, so she was most welcome.
Finally, the most divisive character, we come to Dormammu. Yeah, he really splits fandom in terms of costume choice. Modern is better! Classic is better! I’m not changing my mind! Well, I’m not changing mine! And so on and so forth for more pages than the Book of Vishanti. While I’m firmly in the camp that would have preferred the classic Dormammu (because I don’t give a crap about how “cool” a toy looks), I actually think they made the right choice for the SDCC set in going with his updated look because visual appeal is a major part of something like this, and this Dormammu has more going on from a visual standpoint with the armor and the this and the that.
I’m thinking this just leaves the field open for a classic Dormammu on the Grim Reaper body in the inevitable Dr. Strange line when the movie comes out. It worked for Ant-Man, so I don’t see why it can’t work there, and everybody can eventually be happy.
Dormammu is a large figure built on the Terrax body, which I don’t think has been used since Terrax himself. It’s a physically imposing body, and, amped-up with the armored parts and all, Dormammu is a larger-than-life villain for Strange to go up against. The floating armor problem does crop up with him, so you might want to glue down the torso piece if that’s going to bother you. And the head on mine seems to pop off extraordinarily easy, like the peg hole is just a shade too wide. I can’t get that satisfying “pop” when I attach the head, so it may be just a hair larger than it should be for that snug fit. I’ll have to do something about that. I don’t know if this is a problem with everybody’s (I haven’t looked at any other reviews) or just mine, but it’s something to watch out for.
His head is very nice. It’s hard to go wrong with heads that are on fire, and Dormammu has a nice windswept fire thing going on with his head.
The oversized skirt piece is flexible, so Dormammu still has a decent amount of maneuverability in his legs. He has a pearlescent purple paint job over his body, and his hands are partially translucent, I’m assuming to facilitate certain light effects when he’s holding his two skulls.
Yes, he comes with a pair of purple Ghost Rider heads that he can hold, with lighter purple flames billowing from them. The heads are both partially translucent as well, allowing for all kinds of properly lit effects. The heads are also fully functional, so you can pop them both on a pair of figures to serve as demon lackey’s for Dormammu to send after the hero of your choice. Of all the accessories, these are probably my favorite just because of all the options they allow.
Overall this was another nice SDCC set full of never-before-made figures. If you haven’t managed to acquire yours yet, it will be available on Hasbrotoyshop on July 28th.