Yes, in Uncanny Avengers (which is one of the two currently running comics from Marvel I care about, I really enjoy it and Moon Knight) we're finding out High Evolutionary is the twins' actual creator or something, the story isn't finished yet. It's honestly fine by me to say Scarlet Witch isn't a mutant as she's always been more tied to the Avengers anyway.

Regarding current comics in general, I am saddened. Nova is dead and replaced by yet another high-school aged character, the Guardians of the Galaxy have been altered way too much to fit the movie crew, and X-books are getting the short end of the stick. I'm seriously still super bummed about Richard Rider being a skeleton floating in another dimension and almost nobody in the stories seems to give a crap. I can only wait until he is revived, along with Wolverine.

I do enjoy (like I said) Uncanny Avengers and Moon Knight's new book. Superior foes of Spider-man was funny. Rage of Ultron was a terrific graphic novel, so was Starlin's Infinity Revelation.

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The Marvel cartoons sucked before Disney got a hold of them. In fact, the only one that was truly good was The Spectacular Spider-Man. However, that is one show out of a ton.

Plus, Disney is in charge of Star Wars Rebels, and that show rocks. Disney

As previously mentioned, I only kept up with Deadpool - and considering the spoilers I just read about his death (I don't get my issue until the end of the month) I'm pretty disappointed. The book, in its final issue, suddenly ties in with an event I haven't read, will never read, and hasn't even been alluded to in Deadpool up to this point.

And that's the problem with comics. I think a much more successful business model would be to do away with the shared universe altogether, and allow writers and artists to do mini-series (twelve issues at the most) with a definitive beginning, middle, and end using any characters they want.
No continuity.
No decades of sloppily edited stories and convoluted events.
Just great artists and writers making great stories without restrictions - basically what DC has been doing with Earth One, and what Marvel's Ultimate universe started out as, but without the need to continue each story until they wear out their welcome.

But that's just me.

And since this is an action figure thread, let me say this: I really wish Hasbro would make a new Cable action figure. The previous ML versions haven't been that great (although I've tried on occasion to get the Toybiz brown suit variant for a decent price). I'll probably get the Marvel Select release, because Cable has been drawn to be that big in the past, but... well, it isn't ideal. He'll be bigger than my Hulk. My Chinese Deadpool needs his best buddy, though.

not to derail the legends thread, but i tell you marvel has been kind of pissing me off as of lately... the whole secret wars thing is is really screwing shit up. i been keeping up with the a few marvel titles and even got into a few newer ones this year and everything is just basically stopping. Amazing spidey ,spider-man 2099, hulk, spider gwen, ant-man, howard the duck. what really sucks is we don't know what or when the hell if and when these will resume or just be rebooted.

At least DC is just pausing for 2 months and then back to all the popular titles....

You know what I am really loving about these guys that I got? They are a movie line, but the figures are based on comic versions and not the movie versions for a lot of them. That I think it just awesome.

Anyway:

Thor - This figure freaking rocks. I love it. He is big, he looks striking, the hammer sits in his hand without an issue, and he just looks godly. Unfortunately, I don't like that he doesn't have any ankle rotation to turn his feet when you stretch his leg out. Also, he comes with a sword, while cool, seems pointless.

Scarlet Witch - Damn, she is awesome too!! This is one of the best female sculpts I have ever seen on a comic book figure. I absolutely love her cape too and I like that you can take off her hands to put the magical rings on her arms. The articulation is nice, but thank the gods her cape is long because the high heels make it impossible for her to stand on her own without it.

Sentry - Not sure what to really think here. I know nothing about him and he really doesn't look at all cool colorwise. In fact, he looks generic. The toy itself is good though but it would have been nice for him to come with an accessory or something. Maybe Thor got his sword?

The '90s X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons were good and those were pre-Disney. That was 20 years ago now, but those were good. Of course I mean good under the circumstances of being a Saturday morning cartoon, we're not talking about Breaking Bad level programming here.

Honestly I think more than anything, the internet's proven more damaging than Disney (or maybe it's a combination of the two). It's fantastic that other people's voices are being heard, but I feel that a week or so of "trending" on Twitter will now lead to a character getting their own brand spanking new awesome series!! Only to be cancelled four issues later.

This influx of new series which sprout up everywhere has good intentions, but all of these will inevitably get cancelled because no-one can afford to pick up 22 new comics a month.

My only problem with Marvel now is that they are FAR too jittery to get to the next best new thing. As another poster said it's the same with editors, who allow every writer to do whatever they want regardless of continuity or respect to the characters (Spider-Man and the X-Men, anyone?)

On a related note, just picked up an Ares BAF on Ebay. It blew a hole in my wallet, but I really enjoy Ares in the comics (flashy shouting axe wielder may be a part of that) and have wanted the figure for a good few years, so I can't wait for him to get here!

'The Avengers:Earths Mightiest Heroes' was moving in a very positive direction prior to being replaced by the more 'kid friendly' (IMO) 'Avengers: Assemble'. It was a pretty obvious move and a smack in the face for adult viewers who were presented with the prospect of watching either 'Avengers:Assemble' or 'Ultimate Spiderman'...both are non-starters.

Marvel also had a number of good dvd features at the time; 'Hulk Vs', 'Planet Hulk', 'Ultimate Avengers' (the first one), 'Iron Man' and 'Doctor Strange' just to name a few. However, post acquisition, all of that dried up. Why? I'm not sure, but it did strike me as odd given that animated flicks were celebrated by fans and received pretty well by critics.

As far as Marvel's 90's 'toons, I'd say your sentiment is pretty uncommon. At least, in my experience. You yourself brought up 'The Spectacular Spiderman' cartoon, which many people loved. 'The Fantastic Four' cartoon was arguably even more popular. I remember getting up early Saturday mornings (mid 90's) drunk and hung over in college with 5-6 buddies all in the same state to watch the cartoon religiously. Even the 'toons of lesser quality like 'The Incredible Hulk' were watchable. The 'Iron Man' cartoon of the time did really suck...the one that was a failed attempt at the Iron Man: Force Works comic....unngh, now that was tripe.

My overall point is that one would think Walt Disney Co, a publishing company that has its roots in cartoons, would do a better job supporting Marvel's efforts to produce animated features for all ages. Not just 'Big Hero Six'...which I've heard wasn't bad, but I just can't picture myself watching it.

EDIT:...I forgot to address this...Star Wars Rebels?!?! I'm a Trekkie, dawg. Star Wars can get stuffed in all orifices!!...and I mean that in the nicest possible way!;)

I WAS the poster lamenting about Marvel's editor in chief green lighting everything. The internet definitely plays a role in the matter. However, only a weak-willed...in over their head...conviction challenged editor in chief would be willing to drop everything they know about publishing and genuflect to the fickle and fleeting fancies of the internet world...do what you know to do and the internet will celebrate it because it represents good product.

Marvel is a mess, there are some gems, but the future ain't looking good. I jumped off years ago and all I hear now (admittedly from older cats) on the web and in LCS's is how people are making an exodus from book culture. I'm not suggesting that Disney's purchase of Marvel was all bad...or the sole reason for 'craptacular' comics...hell, I'll take your money, thank you very much! Just stay out of daily operations the way you did when you were bankrolling Tarantino's films. Marvel needs an editor in chief who is willing not only to push back slightly against Disney's whims, but push back against the drivel being presented by writers and artist at Marvel. I've worked in news publishing, a financial publication (for 3yrs) that successfully transitioned from print media to web-based services...and I cannot stress enough the importance of strong editorial leadership...

If things continue as is, there will be no "material" for movies and television programing to tap...

Yeah, they were good when you were a kid growing up, but have you actually tried watching them today? They are terrible. The animation is choppy. Spider-Man has really bad CGI in it that is also choppy. The editing is all over the place. The only one that I would still consider to be partially good is Silver Surfer.

Is Earth's Mightiest Heroes the one that tried to just be Justice League but with Avengers? Yeah, no, I didn't find that show even remotely enjoyable. In fact, I was bored to death with it.

Haven't tried out Assemble or Ultimate yet. Ultimate is because I was so bummed about Spectacular's cancelation I just stopped caring. I do want to check it out though as I was told Cloak and Dagger show up in it along with a few other Spider-Mans.

I loved Doctor Strange and thought Iron Man and the first Ultimate Avengers were decent, but Planet Hulk sucked. It doesn't help that I don't care for the concepts behind the story to begin with. Hulk Vs was a mixed bag. I liked the Thor one, but the Wolverine one had too much Deadpool in it.

I never cared for the Iron Man or Avengers cartoons. Hulk was okay, but if you watched one episode, you watched them all. The Fantastic Four was fine, but again, try watching them today without nostalgia attached and they are quite bad.

"Wasn't bad?" Big Hero 6 was only the best animated movie for 2014. It was the only one that did not disappoint me in some way.

That's how I feel about Star Trek. At least anything that is not Abrahms' movies.

Not sure why you can't like both though.

Marvel was a mess before Disney bought them though. That is why I feel Disney is the best thing to ever happen to them because they need to start cleaning house. They need to get the company back on track to writing comics for enjoyment and not for money.

The problem today is that both DC and Marvel are writing comics for the money and not for the enjoyment. As such, their writers aren't doing their best, they are half assing it to get a paycheck. Geoff Johns seems to be the only one at DC that still cares.

I sense criticism of the 90's X-Men cartoon and must swoop into add my opinion. I loved it then and i love it now. Yes there's some cheese but overall I think it holds up well, the stories more so than the animation of course. Granted there's a handful of episodes that aren't that great but they're still, as a whole work, pretty awesome.

I wish we had a ML Cyclops in that style. And Storm of course.

As to the rest of the comments Dr. Kain I agree with you. Marvel took a slight drop off in quality, to me, around 2001-2002. But it wasn't until after Morrison left the X-Men and the New Avengers started (though the first arc was good) that the quality as a whole nosedived. There were some few lights in the dark (Loved Mike Carey's X-Men run, as well as the X-Force leading up to Necrosha, and thought Civil War and Secret Invasion were pretty good events, along with a few story arcs here and there) but overall 2004 marked the beginning of the end to me.

And it seems as far as my taste go there was yet another drop in quality three to four years ago, when really the only good book out has been Hickman's New Avengers, and I did like Infinity.

SO basically , to me, overall most things up to 2001 were awesome and enjoyable.
2001-2004 was pretty good (though I will say that Uncanny X-Men was at the lowest point it's ever been at during that time)
2004-2011/2012 was not that great but still had moments of enjoyment
20012 onwards has been fairly terrible for the most part.

All just my opinion of course. I should add I don't read anything beyond avengers or X-Men so if there's differences in other corners of the MU that is understandable.

Ultimate Spider-Man is pretty good, especially once you get into the second season and you start getting cameo episodes. The Deadpool one is fantastic, the Blade (2-parter?) is pretty good and the GotG one was good as well. I fell off at the beginning of the third season, but its certainly light years ahead of the new Avengers MCU-lite show.

Blasphemy! There's no such thing as too much Deadpool.


Also, I really like these guys. Although I don't have a designated place to display them yet.

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They aren't terrible, they're dated and made for children so as an adult I can't possibly see them the same as I did as a child, but I have re-watched some and they do have some level of entertainment value still. What cartoon does hold up? Like none of them then, no '90s cartoon compares to the potential quality of modern shows really because they were made 20 years ago and technology has made some amazing advancements. Batman: The Animated series would be like the only one to hold up based on its stories and the fact that it invented an animation style, and that's only counting the good episodes because almost every license based cartoon ever has at least two episodes which just aren't good (I'm looking at you "Prophecy of Doom").

Being an animator i can assure you that, things will be like they were first off it was cheaper in the 90's and people wanted to do it, I did at one point think Todays animations aren't as good simply due to art style as in one colours with barley any shading. due to the fact some people want animations to be moving illustrations company's don't have the money to give animators for more time to draw, also if you look back at Disney when they first started with animations. Forget Art style watch for performance of characters and story-lines. DC comics seem to be at awesome with their animations keeping it at its prime form.

I do actually like both, I just prefer Star Trek far more. It was a joke, hence the wink (I thought that was a given on the interwebs - the whole sarcastic quality that nearly all of the internet functions on). I have enjoyed razzing Star Wars fans (almost as much as I do Batman fans ;);)) ever since Conan featured a bit where Triumph mocks a bunch of Star Wars loyalists with a Spock impersonator:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQj_bwMf7DM

...still classic!

In all seriousness, using Stars Wars Rebels as some sort of demonstrative measure of whether Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm will be a resounding success is premature. I'd say let the dust settle, we're not even three years in on this deal.

...and again, I do actually like Star Wars so take my teasing with a grain of salt.

Of course they were a mess, FINACIALLY. They were insolvent teetering on bankruptcy which prompted their acquisition by Disney (and created a cascading avalanche of licensing divestitures that hold the answers to your questions about where the FF figs are).

You claimed that you stopped reading Marvel 10yrs ago. Money problems aside, are you suggesting that those stories were as bad then as they are now? Annihilation? Winter Soldier? Immortal Iron Fist? House of M (in which Wanda proclaimed, "No more mutants.")? All of these well received seminal works happened prior to Disney showing up. Maybe you didn't care for the stories from that period (there are always outliers - which is fine), but it's my opinion that those stories were a far cry better than today's lackluster efforts.

I don't see Disney clearing anything, really. If that was their intent, they would seek real leadership for Marvel. In actuality, it would behoove them to do so if they want to keep milking this cash cow.


I hope you are not suggesting that Disney somehow isn't a profit maximizing agency, because that would be absurd. What you're bemoaning ("writers aren't doing their best") cycles right back to my point of editorial leadership.

Anyway, I doubt you and I will ever see eye to eye on a number of things...which is cool because diversity of opinion creates passion within this subset of pop culture. Do you...I'll do me...

I could'nt have said it better myself, although I read the book I can't wait till odinson gets his hammer back.

I'm still utterly confused on what the Secret Wars event is supposed to be. Haven't read anything since the end of Spider-Verse.

On topic, I paid $100 for a complete Sentinel. Shipping was expensive, but it has the Omega Red tentacles unlike a lot of eBay listings so I went for it. I almost went for the Masterworks MU Sentinel instead, but the articulated fingers and the OR tentacles sold me on the Legends version.

But I love a good art style. :p

The fact that Batman made its own art style AND had terrific voice acting with character progression and good story arcs make it great. On the subject of old cartoons holding up, I watched Beast Wars again last winter and I still love it (not just for nostalgia factor either).

On topic: I think I'll be getting the new Giant Man just to put him with my MU figures. The only book I've even read featuring the look is Rage of Ultron but it was so good.

You are right, they can still be enjoyed, but you have to look past all of their flaws, and they are riddled with them. Hell, I would probably still buy the 90s Spider-Man toon on DVD if they ever actually did a complete collection.

Gargoyles.

Oh, BTAS definitely does have a bad episode, but you are talking about a series that had like 90 episodes. Not everyone is going to be good. Hell, I think Prophecy of Doom and The Underdwellers are terrible episodes. However, you have The Forgotten, The Demon's Head, Off-Balance, Robin's Reckoning, Heart and Ice, Feat of Clay, Perchance to Dream, The Trial of Batman, The Man Who Killed Batman, I Am The Night, and most importantly, Almost Got'Im to make you forget about those episodes.

TheBlueMarvel, I didn't fully stop reading Marvel ten years ago as I absolutely love JMS's run of Spider-Man. It just sucked that they ruined his entire run with the god awful Iron Spider and Civil War crap, but then insulted it with One New Day.

As for the money, no I'm not saying Disney is not in it for they money. They are a business after all. What I'm saying is that these comic companies are pooping out any and everything they can instead of actually having writers and continuity because they only care about the money. They don't give a crap what their readers think as long as someone is buying their titles or watching their movies. Disney though cares about their customers as much as they do about money.

The KO pools aren't bad but they feel a little brittle to me.
got mine from viperskingdom...they actually sent me 3 for the price of one.

I never watched Gargoyles, but it's got Keith David as the lead so that's good in my book. That being said I am sure that it had at least one or two episodes that aren't so good as the rest.

Two-Face (I and II), Second Chance, and Beware the Gray Ghost are some of my episodes to add to that list of great episodes. The Laughing Fish and Dreams in Darkness were pretty enjoyable too. The New Adventures didn't have as many good episodes and also had the worst episode from both shows (Critters, seriously an evil farmer bug monster makin' scientist?) but it did have: Old Wounds, Over the Edge, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Judgment Day.

Actually, Gargoyles didn't have any truly bad episodes, but there are a few episodes that aren't as good as the rest. Nevertheless, the animation is amazing, the story telling is just down right incredible (hence why it is considered to be my second favorite American cartoon of all time) as it is mature and is full of Shakespear references and characters. Not to mention it features one of the greatest episodes to show kids why they shouldn't play with guns EVER and do it without compromising the story telling of the episode.

I actually count BTAS and Gotham Knights as two separate series. BTAS is the comics of the 70s while GK is the comics of the 90s. Critters is definitely awful, as is Love is a Croc. The ones you mentioned are also good, but you forgot Growing Pains. That episode is deep.

I've never heard anyone call it Gotham Knights before but it sounds like an applicable title. Another '90s show that I liked which also happens to be a cartoon technically was HBO's Spawn. The plot was weird as shit and didn't fall in line with the comics at all really but it was faithful in terms of mature content and style, too bad it got canned short and we're left with a cliff-hanger ending but supposedly Todd McFarlane's looking at making a new one or somethin'.

As much as we agree that Batman had an awesome '90s cartoon we should really stop talking about non-Marvel stuff here before the thread is completely derailed.

Edit: Holy shit how did we forget to mention Mask of the Phantasm as being a great thing about Batman: The Animated Series!

"Series writer Paul Dini originally wanted the new show to be titled Batman: Gotham Knights". Fans kind of ran with the name since it was a style change from the previous seasons.

And Mask of the Phantasm is still my favorite Batman movie of them all, just nudging out Keaton 89.