Hydro-Man/Daredevil is now available for all to pre-order (initially it was only available to Pulse members)
And I see zero logic in the Spidey line when it comes to cel-shaded vs regular deco. Kraven is a good example - the colors are totally ToyBiz, why no cel shading? Because the color scheme is good enough. Do animated Aunt May or Mary Jane have cel-shading? No. But Ock does (minimal, but it's there). Goblin does not, and neither do Peter and Smythe.
To me an "animated" line should have cel shading (which I hate, but I get people dig it) and / or series style guide specific sculpts. The rest of them are just retro carded (or retro VHS, I guess) comic figures that have zilch to to do with animation.
I don't see cel-shading on Doc Ock at all. He doesn't have it. The lines on the glasses don't really count. Actually, except Animated Venom and two Spider-Man none of the "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" figures have it. And I like that. I can put them with already released figures that more or less fit the Animated Series design. Retro Kraven we got is also from the animated series, just like Retro Scorpion. Kraven needs a new head sculpt. Scorpion - new stinger. There was also Hobgoblin, but we never talk about him...
Mixing a comic book and cartoon series under one retro line is just fucking stupid. Like...How are they going to release Animated Kingpin now or Rhino or Lizard? Will they? Shove them into a giant VHS box piece by piece? They already did comic book Kingpin on a retro card. Same with many others. And his figure already cost a lot of money. That's the problem.
If you want to do Animated Series line - put them on VHS or made a new specific retro card. Toy Biz had many different retro cards for Spider-Man line - made them instead.
Ignore - wrong thread!
I know there are quite a few members here who prefer just a basic Daredevil figure, but you can't deny that for at least since 2008, Marvel Legends Daredevil releases have been suffering from some major stagnation. Either its Hasbro introducing a new flavor of the month costume that doesn't hang around in the comics for very long, or its a new release of the classic costume but with the same basic paint scheme over and over again. You should at least be encouraged by Hasbro's efforts to try something new with a classic Daredevil by giving him a comic accurate costume. Since this is more than just another dyed in the wool daredevil and features comic style inks, I'm actually quite pleased with these results. I'd go as far as to say that this will be my main Daredevil in my collection for at least the next decade and unless we see leaps and bounds in engineering from Hasbro when it comes to paint applications or articulation, I can't see how they intend to one-up themselves after this release.
Unless you're planning to draw Daredevil's shadow on your shelf with markers, this is not a comics accurate costume. It's a comic book inspired rendition of shadows on his solid red costume. Every figure we've gotten is comics accurate. They're not inaccurate because they don't have inky crosshatching painted on them.
I typically loathe cel shading, especially Hasbro's version of it. But in this particular case, I think it looks...okay? I didn't buy the 3-pack, and I would still prefer a single-release Daredevil with the classic two-tone red paint apps, but I did pre-order this. It helps that I'm a sucker for clear blue plastic, and so I want this Hydro-Man - even though I have the previous one already.
Still looking forward to the Mafex Daredevil, which will end up being my classic, "main" display Daredevil, anyway.
Agreed. Daredevil looks pretty cool this way, but Hydro-Man looks awesome. Love translucent figures.
I've come around a little on Daredevil, but I wish the cel shading had been done differently. In my mind's eye, it's a black base body with red highlights.
I can't see how they intend to one-up themselves after this release.
that’s easy ; brighter red and the Vulcan buck
@thwippersnapper I can understand the desire for a brighter red costume, but the Vulcan body? Daredevil is an acrobat. He literally keeps acrobatic equipment in his home gym. Putting him on the Vulcan body would seriously inhibit his range of movement as an action figure. Also as far as the shade of red on his costume is concerned, I think it might actually end up being a lot brighter in hand. I can specifically recall when the Sensational Spider-Man figure was solicited a couple years ago, the shade of red on his costume looked really dark and dingy in the promotional pictures. But when we got the actual figure in hand it was really bright and vivid. It was even brighter than the standard retro spidey. So I'm willing to bet that's the case here. Those bright studio lights just washed out all the color but under natural lighting it will look borderline flourescent
Unless you're planning to draw Daredevil's shadow on your shelf with markers, this is not a comics accurate costume. It's a comic book inspired rendition of shadows on his solid red costume. Every figure we've gotten is comics accurate. They're not inaccurate because they don't have inky crosshatching painted on them.
I've tried that before and the results weren't nearly as professional looking as the applications on this figure. And also because they were done in marker they faded in a years time since I like to handle my toys rather than just leave them on a shelf. So again Kudos to Hasbro for taking the initiative themselves.
Also I would make the argument that there's a little more to just giving an action figure his standard costume and calling it "comic accurate". There's a case to be made that when it comes to characters like Spider-Man, Daredevil, Venom, Wolverine, etc...A lot of what makes them comic accurate is their iconography. How they are presented on the page. And often times toy companies fall short of that ideal version and instead opt for a more simplified design because it was traditionally believed to be more "cost effective". "This new Daredevil proves otherwise because that's still a $25 figure we are getting here with all of the shading we traditionally see in the comics.
But as far as the other figures are concered, they need that same level of love and attention. I don't think we've had a comic accurate Venom yet because there hasn't been a figure made with meticulous blue highlights over the black costume. With wolverine I'm accustomed to seeing the brown suit with reddish brown highlights, and the yellow suit should incorporate blue highlights on the mask and stripes, while the blue parts should be mixed with black shadows and the yellow should have some mix of amber and black shading. Same can be said for Spider-man because his costume always feels like it should be a black body with lots of blue highlights instead of straight blue.
Again, if you look closely at this new Daredevil, you can clearly see crosshatching. That is quite different than cel shading a hand drawn acetate or animation cel. Hatching is a technique only found in comics because its borderline to achieve really detailed shading in animation with hatchmarks and lines when you have to draw up to 24 images sequential images just to account for a single seconds worth of footage. So this new Daredevil figure has a comic book inspired paint job. Hasbro only used the VHS line as a vehicle to release this one new Daredevil that happens to be a super accurate comic release.
I'm with you. It reminds me much more of comic art than the cartoon and I like it. I prefer Mafex or old Toy Biz. Loose Collector shades it the way I want too, this is more like paint slopped on......but it still works. I wish they would do a better Cyclops with this style. Or Spidey from the 90s.
@stoopid_sandwich I would prefer the Vulcan buck because I want that Colan / Buscema look and the Vulcan physique is closer to that classic DD portrayal imo. It doesn’t move like the RyV body, sure, but it works well enough for how I’d pose the guy around 🤷♂️
Cell-shading, cross-htahcing or whatever other "artistic" aesthetics, whether comics or animation inspired, sucks. I'm fine with it in an instance like this, where the figure has already been released "clean" and it fits into a specific subseries or exclusive.
But, in no way, shape, or form should cell-shading be a default look for an action figure line.
Here's the thing.... the Retro Card Kingpin was an animated Kingpin - the color scheme and the neckerchief were animated series conceits and aren't comic based.
Now, the reality is that it may cost you over $100 to get either of those previous Kingpin figures, so it might be worth it to repackage in VHS format for them
I'll admit I don't get the want for slavishly screen accurate figures from the animated series such that the retro Scorpion and retro Kingpin don't work. Those seem like workable options to me - but I guess I'm not the target audience.
I ordered this Daredevil/Hydro Man 2-pack because I like the translucent Hydro Man and don't care at all about the oil-slick Daredevil deco. I ordered the Smythe 2-pack because I don't have that Smythe in my collection. Ditto with Aunt May. If they do a VHS Morbius/Blade 2-pack, I'd see how they were executed and might get it. But if they did Mysterio and J. Jonah Jameson in a VHS 2-pack, I'd probably skip it. I have great figures of those characters already and don't need them with sharper animated colors or whatever.
Cell-shading, cross-htahcing or whatever other "artistic" aesthetics, whether comics or animation inspired, sucks. I'm fine with it in an instance like this, where the figure has already been released "clean" and it fits into a specific subseries or exclusive.
But, in no way, shape, or form should cell-shading be a default look for an action figure line.
NECA's comic book inspired line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles disagrees with your conclusion. Any line can make paint effects like that a key component, the company producing them just has to actually do it well.
I'll admit I don't get the want for slavishly screen accurate figures from the animated series such that the retro Scorpion and retro Kingpin don't work. Those seem like workable options to me - but I guess I'm not the target audience.
It's totally fine to look at a product, or hear the pitch for one, and conclude "That's not for me," but I guess I don't get your "not getting" the want for a screen accurate character when the toyline is based on a TV show. I'm guessing most who have been collecting Marvel Legends for awhile already have a bunch of Spider-Men, goblins, and symbiotes from various comics and films and there are probably lots of people who grew up on the cartoon and want a toyline based on the cartoon to actually resemble the source material. Everyone has their own degrees of compromise when it comes to a figure's likeness, but when there's clearly not much effort being put forth to make the figure accurate to the source material it's not on the consumer to accept whatever a manufacturer is throwing at them. Some inaccuracy that doesn't bother one collector might be the final straw for another. Settling for a workable option is just that - settling.
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