[Weapon XIX]

Now some brief thoughts on the line:

The articulation cutback is an odd give and take. The loss of ankles and wrists does suck, but I'm really liking the new hips! I love that I don't have to struggle to twist these ball jointed hips at odd 45 degree angles that make it unnecessarily hard to pose.

I'm not a fan of the ball knees. I mean having that ball and socket hip already gives the leg some lateral movement. Giving the knees the same thing is a little redundant, especially on Loki. On Iron Man it's a different story, but I'll get to that in a sec.

The loss of the torso joint doesn't really hurt Thor or Loki, though it's absence is hard to miss on Cap and Iron Man.

The sculpts for Thor, Loki, and Cap are great! Lots of little detail that I wish was highlighted more by the paint apps, which weren't too bad all things considered. I mean Hulk didn't have those crazy wonky eyes that every damn Hulk from the last movie line (including the one I have) suffer from.

The two figures I'd highlight for complaints are Hulk and Iron Man.

Hulk - He's small. Yes he's taller than the old MU Hulk but he seems undersized. There's a teaser pic of the Hot Toys Avengers lineup where he's closer in size to the 6" hulk, but we'll have to wait for more footage/pics for a better size comparison. I can get over the height thing but his proportions just seem a little off - his arms could stand to be longer for sure. And Hulk's articulation below the waist is just strange. He's the only figure in the line with 45 degree angled hips but not lateral twist so he's more like a Star Wars figure. But that would be fine if he had ankle articulation. Without it his poses look kinda funny, like when a baby is sitting down and his legs are turned funny and his feet are pointing out. I don't mind the action feature, the ab crunch, or the tan pants at all really. I just wish he were a little bit taller, had longer arms, and dammit, he really needs ankle joints - more so than any other figure in the line.

Iron Man - the articulation thief has struck Iron Man the hardest. I haven't even attempted an iconic post of IM smashing his fist into the ground. With perspective shots you can make the MU G1 Iron Man get into a passable pose, but I don't think this IM can even get to that. The hips are particularly hindered by the sculpt - you really have to twist those thighs to get the legs up. This is when that ball knee would come in handy as the lateral movement could help to get the leg into a more natural looking sitting position, but the knee is also severely hindered by sculpt. Also since he's got the ball knee instead of the double knee, he's significantly shorter. This is another figure where I could forgive the lack of torso articulation and ankle articulation if the lower body articulation were better. But as it is this IM is definitely found wanting. I'm looking through my other IM figures to see if I can sort of whip up a better MK VII. Maybe a MK IV torso with MK VI legs? I don't know. I'll figure it out.

Price is what keeps these figures from being great. The cut back articulation would be fine if these were $6 -$7. Hell, at $8 Cap, Thor and Loki would be downright great (especially compared to non-Hasbro figures in that price range - I'm looking at you Mattel, Jakks, Jazwares and Unimax), but at $10, Iron Man straight up sucks.

I am looking forward to Hawkeye and Black Widow though. Their articulation seems to be on par with Thor and Cap and that's not bad. But at the price point, I doubt I'll be army building any of the "enemy."