As part of the Captain America Marvel Legends Giant-Man Series, Walgreens is getting an exclusive: Prince Namor, the Submariner. Or just “Namor.” No one calls him “The Submariner” anymore; they might call him “Subby,” or “Nams,” but not “THE SUBMARINER.”
The figure is set to be a Walgreens exclusive, but like many of the exclusives, I was able to get mine through KapowToys in the UK. When the box arrived, I noticed on the back of the figure package that the figures from the Giant-Man Series were listed, therefore making Namor an official part of that release. Sadly, he has no Giant-Man parts. But he does come with a spear and extra set of “swimming” hands.
The figure is a variant of the Grim Reaper, Captain America, Red Guardian base; he shares the same shoulders, biceps, hands, hips, thighs, and lower legs. The head, forearms, chest, abs, waist, and feet are all new. The swimming hands are new, but they do look similar to the Iron Fist slappy/kung fu hands; they might be larger and perfect for Thunderbolts Luke Cage — you know, so he can slap some people around. As mentioned, there are no Giant-Man or Civil War-related parts.
The newly sculpted parts look sharp and they have me hoping these are tooled without the Namor-specific raised surfaces; this would make for a great taller, yet thinner, character. The legs might need some shaving for that. But as it stands this figure is great. It looks like modern Namor, and the head sculpt is simply fantastic. I love the original ToyBiz Marvel Legends Series 2 Namor for a classic-looking figure. But this new head sculpt is perfect for the modern comic look. He’s even got that arrogant smirk.
There’s been some discussion about his physique. It seems that this sculpt isn’t “swimmer body-shaped” enough. I swam competitively through college, and swimmers came in all shapes and sizes. We seem to associate the V-Shape with them a lot, but I swam with Olympians who were square-, pear-, and oval-shaped. If anything, Namor reminds me a lot of a backstroker that I swam with in university who was built like a tight end. The shoulders do match what I expect from a swimmer. I never met a swimmer with skinny shoulders; it’s impossible to swim 3000-5000 yards/meters a workout, twice a day, 5.5 days a week. And the Namor sculpt succeeds there.
I was also curious if the old ToyBiz kit would fit on Namor, and it does, kind of. You’d have to remove the new figure’s collar, but I think it is workable. The new figure has a sculpted-on belt, again workable. Even the paint can be acetoned off. You would have to repaint the chest and abs. And sand down the raised costume surfaces. I’m not certain how much work is needed for the old vest, but it is a doable project.
The articulation is great, and it’s been covered before in multiple articles. The extra armpit space that the new chest sculpt gives is a pleasure, you can get his arms fall at his sides naturally. The head sculpt doesn’t allow for a lot of extra space at the head. The hinge works well, but I’ve gotten used to that little extra ball-and-socket movement.
This is a fantastic figure and I am certain that I could go on endlessly about why you should be picking it up and how cool Namor is, but I’ll save you that pain. Stop reading, put down your device, go out and buy this figure.
