Chen Lu, the Radioactive Man, is one of the founding members of the Masters of Evil and a constant thorn in Thor’s side, and he is now a Marvel Legend. If there is no other reason to post another article on this figure, it’s to make that statement. Everyone knows Magneto, Loki, Bullseye, Green Goblin, all those “A-Listers,” but in his time Radioactive Man was an A-Lister. He was a super-nuclear bad man that was ready to take over the world.
Or at least be a thumping buddy for Thor anytime we needed to remind ourselves about the dangers of nuclear energy. As Hagop said in a recent podcast, nuclear trumps immortality, we think.
Radioactive Man was one of the figures that was shown at SDCC 2013 that never caught on with retailers, but caught on with collectors. And we all know those things don’t always align. Like many figures shown or advertised of late, Hasbro’s been working overtime trying to find ways to “sneak” these figures out to market. Star-Lord made it into the SDCC 2014 Exclusive Thanos Imperative Box Set, Radioactive Man is part of this Target 3-Pack, and hopefully we’ll see more of these swaps and other figures hit the market.
Radioactive Man isn’t like this huge new sculpt. It’s Hyperion with some paint and a skirt. There’s some debate on the Fwoosh forums about the head sculpt being Luke Cage’s or not. It seems to be different, but then the “Jolly Rancher green” makes it hard to discern. And, really, who cares? It’s freaking Radioactive Man! In his classic costume! Yeah, sure, most of the costume is painted on, but it’s a great paint job and the skirt really looks good. Kinda makes me want to buy another one to turn into the Forgotten One/Gilgamesh.
The figure is cast in clear green plastic that makes him look like he is glowing radioactivity; it’s really well done and looks really cool on my display shelves. There’s something about clear plastic toys, going all way back to the Micronauts’ days that brings out the kid in me. Some of the feedback on the figure decries the use of the clear green plastic: some people wanted a painted Lu, but me personally, I wanted the clear green, not just to satisfy some boyhood thing. I wanted it because it is the best and coolest way to make a green-glowing villain. One my big concerns with clear plastic is that they are either too hard or too soft — not an issue with Chen. He’s perfect. The plastic on mine doesn’t suffer from overly weak or strong clear plastic issues. It’s a great toy that can be rolled over in your hands for good pleasure.
There is very little paint on the figure, just the chest and the eyes. That’s it, and it doesn’t need more. Hagop mentioned that he would like to see a sculpted shirt of some kind, and he’s right — that would have banged this figure out of the ballpark instead of the painted shirt. Hasbro compensates for this by providing solid paint apps and matching colors between the molded green plastics of the skirt and the boots and the tank top. I can forgive this oversight of painting the tunic, because, Radioactive Man.
Yeah, Radioactive Man. Always wanted, never got. Now have. I know there is going to be a number of box sets with paint issues. I know there will be collectors that hate this set. Crazy talk. This set is amazing and it’s a great way for us to get two very desired characters: Radioactive Man and an updated Ms Marvel. This is a must-have set.
