[TheBlueMarvel]

RANDOM:
This may have been discussed already, but I noticed some interesting things when inspecting pictures of the upcoming Scorpion. Beyond the obvious new Mid-Large mold (i,e Grim-Reaper, Whirlwind, Punisher, Kraven et al), I see that Hasbro opted for a ball-joint torso over the ab-crunch. My initial thoughts were that Hasbro was engaging in a strategic homage to the Toy Biz Scorpion masterpiece. "Strategic" in the sense that many Legends collectors consider that fig to be one of the very best Toy Biz had to offer and failing to match the effort (let alone improve on it) would result in considerable egg on the face - cough - Shocker - COUGH - canon Mysterio. Essentially, play it safe and just faithfully reproduce the original outing - easy peasy. Then I glanced over at my recently acquired Caliban wave and remembered that Beast has a combo ball-joint-ab-crunch (which I think I'm digging - check back with me in six months), which in turn made me think of the 80th Anniversary Hulk which also appears to have a ball-joint torso.

All of this got me wondering if we could be seeing a slow creep toward the more aesthetically pleasing (for some - not me) ball-joint for male figs bringing them in-line with the females. Recent Hulk figs have featured ball joints for the past 4 (or so) iterations, so that's not that unusual of an occurrence. Meh, it's probably nothing...however, if Hasbro is contemplating trying to make their wares more visually appealing at the expense of functionality/articulation, well, I'm not sure if I want that...I recently declared my preference for a less articulated Loki sporting a superior sculpt, but that's suitable (imo) for one-offs and I'm not certain I'm on board for a line-wide shift in design.

EDIT...and RANDOM (redux):
I see now that the Ark has become even more mainstream with an Amazon roll-over (ohh...ahh...corporate sponsorship can only make things better, right? ), the powers that be have removed easy access to the forums from the front page. Can't have all that vitriol and humanity on full display, now can we? Another layer of annoyance...