Pulp-Era Avengers by Chris Schweizer

Indie comic creator of the Crogan Adventures series, Chris Schweizer, has lent his unique style to one of the industry's biggest franchises, the Avengers. Of course he couldn't just do some plain-old illustrations of Marvel's greatest heroes, he did his own interesting spin on the characters. Schweizer re-envisioned each member as Pulp-Era heroes. The results are simply fantastic.

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Knockoff Nation: Hulk MiniFigures

Welcome to another installment of Knockoff Nation.  This is a (semi)regular article on HiddenLevel where I (OgelBlockHead) will review toys that come from the Far East, typically China, that are off-brand versions of more popular brands.  In the past this usually indicated poorly made toys; cheap plastic, castings from lousy molds, sloppy paint, mismatched parts, etc., this is no longer always the case.  If you know where to look, you can find some really nice toys at a great price.

Today's review is of Lego knockoffs of the Incredible Hulk(s).  There are a few Lego sets that currently include the green Hulk but not of the gray or the red.  The prices that I have found for this set are fairly reasonable.  I bought them on Ebay for about $5.  If you look around, you should be able to find it for about the same.  At that price it's less than $2 each, which is more than reasonable for a regular sized minifigure, never mind these large figures.  As always, you can usually save by bundling with other figures.

Knockoff on the Left, Lego on the Right

When placed next to a real Lego minifigure, the knockoff (called KO from here on out) figures come pretty close to matching the original.  The Hulk I have is from an Avengers movie set so I am not sure if the ones from other sets have a different face print, but it is a bit different from the KO.  The other difference that I can tell is that the KO is a little shinier than the Lego, not by much, but you can tell by the photos.  Other. than that, I think these 3 figures could pass as Legos.

The  look of the Hulk figures is great.  The scale works well with other characters, depicting them as appropriately larger.The articulation isn't quite as good as the typical minifigure.  There are only joints at the wrists and shoulders.

First up we have the green Hulk.  This figure is of Dr. Robert Bruce Banner's alter ego that he turns into whenever he becomes angry.  He's a really nice shade of green that matches how he is usually portrayed.  These torn pants appear to be khakis as opposed to the typical purple color.

Next up is the Red Hulk or Rulk as he is sometimes referred to.  Unlike the other two Hulks, this character is not Bruce Banner.  This figure is of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.  He is a long time rival of the original Hulk that became his own version of the monster in order to even the playing field. The colors on this figure all match the way he is usually depicted although he is sometimes shown as having gray hair.

Speaking of gray, last up we have the gray Hulk.  This Hulk is usually depicted as a repressed personality of Banner's called Joe Fixit, a Las Vegas enforcer and tough guy.  The transformation is usually triggered at night as opposed to when he is angry.  Although this Hulk would often wear tailored zoot suits, this figure represents the character after an unplanned transformation.  The paint on this one, like the others, is nice and crisp.  It's great that none of the main colors were repeated between any of these figures.

This set, unlike some others, did not include any bases which is fine because the figures stand great on their own.  The only accessories are 3 wrenches which are totally unnecessary, but still nice to have.

I have to say that I was really excited about this set and it didn't disappoint. The not-so-minifigures add a nice variety in size to my collection and they represent characters that I love.  If you do too, I highly suggest seeking them out.

-OgelBlockHead

Check out these links for other HiddenLevel toy reviews:

Fantastic Four MiniFigures

DC Comics Bizarro

Robocop's ED-209

The opinions expressed by the HiddenLevel Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of HiddenLevel.org or anyone involved in the running of this site. HiddenLevel is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Bloggers of this site.

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Figma Captain America up for preorder.

The Good Smile Figma Captain America is up for pre order and it looks pretty damn good.  It's too bad that is is another in a long like of figures that I would love to have, but the price is just too high for me to consider.  Paying $50 to $60 for a 6 inch tall action figure is a bit hard to swallow, even for one this nice.  Plus, once you get one Avenger, you have to get them all and I'm sure once Hulk comes out, he'll be $75+.

Info from the Good Smile website:

The third in the figma Avengers series - Captain America!

From the film 'The Avengers' comes a figma of Captain America!

• Using the smooth yet posable joints of figma, you can act out a variety of different scenes.

• Great attention has been given to the smallest of details and painting of his armor, giving the figma a heavy, metallic appearance.

• Careful thought has gone into the articulation of the chest and other areas, keeping the Captain's unique style in mind and still allowing for various action poses.

• A number of hand parts as well as his impenetrable shield are included.

• Like figma Thor, his eyes are moveable allowing you to change the direction he is looking.

• An articulated figma stand is included, allowing various poses to be taken.

Hobby Search seems to have the best price right now.

Feast your eyes on the Images below:

Here are some pictures of some of the other Avengers Figma figures:

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Hulk Endorses…Nike?

So a guy known for not wearing any shoes, is being used to endorse a brand best known for making sneakers.  Sounds about right.

Either way, this commercial from Nike is pretty fun.  Lots of big soccer / futebol stars in this one.  I assume it's not really one we're going to see much here in the States.

Check out the video below:

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