Also, Psycho Man and High Evolutionary were brand-new, good sculpts - but they just feel small.
I felt the paint apps didn't do the figures any favors, and between the size on Psycho Man and the paint I felt they looked a little cheap? Which isn't something I say about Legends too often but they seemed lacking to me, and I still think Psycho Man's head needed to be bigger for the body, and High Evolutionary needed some silver to break up the magenta - either highlight the belt or the collar for it to stand out, maybe needed more gloss to look more like metal armor. I don't know.
The portrait they used for Sue wasn't the best either. Not sure why you would do the Negative uni's and not use Byrne's artwork for your models.
We still need, I feel, a true Kirby/1st costumed appearance team, and I would take a Byrne look team for sure. It confounds me a bit that they try hard to nail some artist looks like the Jim Lee X-Men and McF Spidey, and have done a good job on many 1st Appearance figures, but ignore other signature looks.
I don't remember an era of McFarlane Multiverse that wasn't plagued by the same bad design choices that continue plague them to this day.
I guess you missed when every figure was a new sculpt and they were swinging for the fences. All I see now is the same 2-3 bodies, none of them new, none terribly good, reused every time. I get Capullo might not be your thing, or SGM, or the Page Punchers designs, that's fine, but at least they tried making cool toys and put effort into it. Poor engineering and proportions might have doomed them early, even I was bothered by that despite the obvious enthusiasm.
I don't own Mezcos but damn that set looks good - best FF yet. So it's a consideration, but yeah I get it's not Legends. Disagree about Maximum - Reed is A list I would imagine, should be and if the movie hits then a Reed with a lot of swappable parts including a torso would be a no-brainer. Johnny with flame attachments and bases. They would be perfect for that line, it's not a Walmart line remember. Maximum I believe is for the serious collector who wants their heroes done properly and will pay for something satisfying rather than $20-25 for inferior product that is close enough. A hit movie would go a long way for that happening like Panthercult mentioned. I really hope it kills it.
The Marvel Select Reed is a great stand-in - and no need for a MAXIMUM upcharge, just 7" of figure in a $30 product with a whole lot of goodness packed in. Great face, too.
Also, Psycho Man and High Evolutionary were brand-new, good sculpts - but they just feel small.
I felt the paint apps didn't do the figures any favors, and between the size on Psycho Man and the paint I felt they looked a little cheap? Which isn't something I say about Legends too often but they seemed lacking to me, and I still think Psycho Man's head needed to be bigger for the body, and High Evolutionary needed some silver to break up the magenta - either highlight the belt or the collar for it to stand out, maybe needed more gloss to look more like metal armor. I don't know.
Yes! Something about those two figures just didn't click and that's one of the reasons they did not do well. A lot of care went into those new sculpts but something also happened that made them feel lacking - that's a good word for it.
@ditko A broader variety of bad choices is still just a bunch of bad choices. Hard to say it was even that broad since it was like 12 characters ad infinitum.
I would absolutely love to have an accurately scaled Kirby/Perez/Byrne Thing figure. I'd even buy all 3 if they were to make them. However, at this point I don't see it ever actually happening.
The Mezco fits the Kirby/Byrne bill. Not sure I recall the Perez version.
I wasn't going to buy a Mezco four-pack just for Thing and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
The trouble with the FF is the colors have to match. That won't happen if you're mixing lines and styles.
The Mezco is close, but not close enough for me.
Kirby:
Perez:
Byrne:
?w=768
Mezco:
I hate those giant balls Mezco used for his wrists. I also don't like how plain/drab they painted him. He might look better with a black wash applied, but for that price, it should have been done already.
As for the Byrne version, I know it couldn't be done the way Byrne drew him. There's no real working joints to articulate. He would have to have bendy arms or something like it.
I just noticed something.
I grew up a kid in the ‘70s, and lived my junior high, high school, and undergraduate college years in the ‘80s. The Perez-era Thing is my Thang. 🙂
I never liked how Byrne drew The Thing’s head. The perfect dome sans rocky brow never looked right to me.
Now, look at the iconic image of Ben from the opening splash page of FF #51, This Man, This Monster. One of my favorite issues. Along with tens of thousands of other folks.
The King drew Ben with the round dome and no real discernible brow on that page.
I bet that’s why Byrne drew his Thing like that.
In fact, his “How to Draw the Thing” page is a direct ripoff of that image from FF 51!
I wish the 4 on the belt was on a magnet and could be removed on 1/12 Thing.
Kirby always drew him with the brow, it's just hard to see it in that splash from FF#51. I think it's the angle he drew him or maybe just a bad inking job, but it's there. Iirc, Byrne stated in an interview that he didn't like how Ben had been softened up in the years after Kirby left. I think he even referred to Perez's Thing as being looking like Fozzie the bear. That's why he made him have less human-like anatomy, so he would look more monstrous and Thing-like.
Seems to me like Kirby meant for there to be a brow here. The rocks all line up where the brow should be, but it definitely doesn't protrude much in the drawing.
Yeah, which may have influenced Byrne to get rid of the brow. I know he drew it initially, but once he was writing and drawing the FF, he slowly phased it out. I'm a fan of either version. I started reading the FF in the 70's so I was a huge fan of George Perez's FF. I originally didn't care for Kirby's FF, but grew to love it the older I got. John Byrne's always been my favorite comic book artist, so of course I was ecstatic when he took over the FF.
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