I am just happy to see that the faces have a bit more expression than the pics we originally saw of them back at announcement. They looked so bland it was sad.

Anyone notice those spider-gwen figures are not up for order or purchase by themselves anywhere? i have a feeling that's going to be the hot one in the bunch.

She was available as a single figure through Dorkside at least, for about a minute... lol. Locked one down before she went poof.

either way i already got one coming in the case, but i might want to grab an extra to keep sealed possibly :)

About that whole sealed thing... I'll never be a MOC collector (no offense to anyone! =), but I've compromised by keeping all my packaging so that I can put figures back in box when I rotate my shelves. I'm installing a peg board fixture in my room where all the boxed figures will hang, and when I feel like taking a specific character out to play around with, I just "shop" for them on the pegs. Keeps things fun, and also saves space and money.

Yea i only just started to do it with my spidey characters, other then that all the others are opened and displayed

I told BBTS to ship my loot yesterday. I'm looking forward to the Absorbing Man wave. I'll try to post some pics.

I'm not sure why they (Hasbro in this case) have anyone other than figure enthusiasts shoot action figure promotional pictures. It's so obvious when a figure is just plopped in front of a camera and the photographer has no concept of what makes it cool or which features are the most photogenic. I can forgive a lack of imagination, but when pics are taken that actually detract from an otherwise good looking figure, it irks me.

It was due in Jan.

Im also looking forward to it as well, sensational suit ben reilly, gwen, and the rest of them.

I was cruising ebay last night, and saw some people already have the red skull onslaught on sale. That could mean we arent far away from that wave either then

BBTS will resume shipping on the 28th...just FYI.

http://www.toyark.com/attachment.php...1&d=1450975419

Roma? However, she needed Merlyn to die before she stepped out of his shadow and assumed her role as Omniversal Guardian. Sue Storm is powerful, and that stint she did as Malice was an interesting reflection of how dangerous she could be potentially. Also a reflection of Byrne/Claremont's tendency to turn their favorite heroines into villains (i.e. Jean originally, then Sue, and finally Wanda). As En Sabah mentioned, Rachel was the best Phoenix and demonstrated the most control while tapping the power of the Phoenix Force. However, this aspect of the character is not consistent and gets turned on and off like a light switch. Hope, potentially? Storm's an omega-class mutant, but somehow she doesn't feel like one. "Her" (Adam Warlock's 'sister' or female counterpart), maybe? Then there are the magic users like Enchantress, Morgan Le Fay, Selene, Wanda, and Magik. The term "powerhouse" can be taken a number of ways, but I was thinking more along the lines of Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Supergirl, Maxima etc...on that score Strontian/Xenith is the only direct comparison.

But your observation about Marvel's (and DC's) gender specific coronation of 'infra-genius' status, still nags me. The best I can come up with after a night of thinking is Nightshade. Lady Nightshade was a technological genius, but being a Power Man enemy, and being a representative of 'blacksploitation' pulp of the 70's, she is a relative unknown. Karla Sofen, possibly? At least she is a doctor (albeit a PHD, of a 'soft-science'; she's a psychologist, not even a psychiatrist like Samson) and has been lauded by the likes of Zemo, Graviton and Osborn for her ability to manipulate others (FYI I really like Moonstone as a character). And as you mentioned, there's Sage. But mutants present an interesting problem when their ability is intelligence or magic. Wanda's mutant hex difficulties have been explored and explained. Strange warned her (and everyone else) that her powers, without mystic tutelage, would present a real threat to everyone. However, someone like Forge should present similar issues. His power is building wild creations. While writers have explored his problems remembering how to create what he has, I've never read a story where that ability runs amok. Potentially, he's far more than Tony Stark. Damn...see how easy it is to go back to male heroes? Yeah, more kickass women please....

Is Valerie Cooper still around in the comics? I always considered her a force to be reckoned with - not because of any powers or physical skills, or even an advanced intellect, but because she knew how to work both people and systems to her favor. A mastery of red tape, guile, and knowing the ins and outs of the people she's dealing with.

I mean, the woman had Mystique on a leash, albeit briefly.

She ranks up there with Amanda Waller in terms of 'comics women who get the job done without doing any heavy lifting at all.'

Huh, then I really do have no reason to pay for my Spider-Man stuff until next week.

Amen brother!

As for the discussion on powerful female characters, I never understood why Mantis was so dumbed down. As I understand it, her role as Celestial Madonna should bring some pretty potent cosmic level psychic powers along with it but she seems pretty low powered. I am also hoping with the recent turn of events in actually making female characters into more than just skimpy outfit wearers that we will see some significant improvements all around. I would have enjoyed seeing Kitty Pryde remain in her Black Vortex state as well.

Sounds like I have some spot trades to pick up, because I have no idea who Kitty's Black Vortex persona is lol Dr. Strange and Hercules were my first books (outside of a few Silver Surfers) in years! I have lots of trades for some current stuff, but I'm largely clueless about what's happening in/on most books/teams.

Edit: Forgot the important part; I'm totally with you on Mantis. She was actually the Celestial Madonna, for what, all of five minutes? Her relation to the Cotati and martial abilities make her pretty formidable on a street-plus lvl, but I thought such a lofty title would advance her to a cosmic lvl. Almost like the Designate (Tarene). Guess not.

For being what felt like another forced Guardians and X-Men crossover, Black Vortex was not bad. It really goes to show how some heroes are not as heroic as they believe and just how heroic others really are. My already lofty opinion of Kitty was greatly increased.

Yeah, I am completely confused on the whole Mantis thing as well. I really like her from the Guardians runs she was in and I think she could be a really interesting cosmic level character if they keep that personality intact. A buddy series with Mantis and Cosmo would be awesome as they were rather amusing together during GotG. Granted part of that was the confusion of others based on their telepathic conversations bleeding over into verbal.

I only read a couple of issues of Black Vortex overall but I think Star-Lord's initial behavior made sense to a point. For him it's still a very recent and fresh memory that Nova had to sacrifice himself to save them from the Cancerverse and Star-Lord doesn't want anyone else to have to die because he isn't good enough.

I fully agree. It also showed Quill being somewhat knowledgeable of his own short-comings for once.

If only i was into these cosmic titles like all of you guys... only cosmic title im currently reading from marvel is Venom space knight.

How I hate Venom the space knight (not the book itself). It's bad enough he was already straight up a good guy in spite of everything that had come before but making him cosmic also just feels wrong. Venom's popularity always came from two things: he looked cool and he was f*cking demented. Now he is neither. Compared to the space knight crap at least agent Venom had that whole struggle with the inner evil thing going on.

While i like space knight venom, i prefer and miss eddie brock venom a great deal... however the art for this new series is awesome. The new look is starting to grow on me as well.

I never cared for the Eddie Brock version of Venom. I much preferred the Flash Thompson Agent Venom. Not sure how I feel about the new version. The concept of perfect symbiosis was interesting to me though.

I cannot say this surprises me. I tend to dislike the traits in characters that most others like and like ones they do not. Probably one of the big reasons why I dislike Wolverine.

If you want to give something a shot, check out the Annihilation event and/or the 2008 Guardians series. They are both on Marvel Unlimited if you have it. In my opinion some of the best cosmic stuff from Marvel.

You would think that with Venom being pushed off into the alternate direction that he has been as of late, that Marvel would at least give a more of a nudge to Toxin right now for the old school Venom fans who have been there from the beginning. He could be the closest thing to classic Venom that we have at the moment, being that it's current host is Eddie Brock. It would be interesting to see Brock suddenly realizing that his new symbiote no longer feels the same weaknesses as his much older one, as well as has a few abilities his priors did not, and suddenly decides to tie up some loose ends with Spider-Man. It could make for a good read and a nice re-boot of the character.

Would probably help out Toxin a bit too if they could come to an agreement as to what he looked like...I think Brock would look great as the classic, half red, half black symbiote monster (or at least a little more like red and black version of Anti-Venom, with a spider logo in there somewhere,) as opposed to the weird, blob looking spaghetti monster he's been drawn as of late.

Spider-Gwen will be a nightmare to find.