This past weekend I scored a ton of figures I had been on the lookout for so expect a plethora of reviews in the coming week. First up is one of many new Marvel Universe figures I have been looking for. Today's review is for the big green raging madman, the HULK! Incredible Hulk, no less.



The Incredible Hulk is one of Marvel's oldest and most well known comic properties. So it makes sense that he would get a action figure. He's had plenty through the years, from Mego to Toybiz to Marvel Legends. Given that the Hulk is just a big green guy with muscles and purple pants you'd think that a Hulk action figure would be easy.


The Hulk showing off the guns.

Yet despite all the Hulk figures throughout the years, I'm not sure that there is a single "definitive" Hulk figure. Be it problems with the head sculpt or "patty cake" hands, it seems every Hulk has had flaws. Too big, too small, you name it he's had problems in nearly every incarnation. Can the Marvel Universe figure be the perfect incarnation of the Incredible Hulk? Read on...

Packaging:
The Marvel Universe packaging is nicely done with the logo plastered on the front and really nice card art individual to the character. I believe it's Frank Cho who is doing the work and he does a great job of drawing the characters in a "new age iconic" look, where they look classic but current at well. The Hulk on the card art doesn't really look like the one in the package though.



The back of the package shows Nick Fury as well as gives a brief bio of the Hulk and offers up some other figures in the series. The S.H.I.E.L.D. logo is on the package in two areas including one little cutout of the logo. This is nice for dioramas or bases you might be making. Each figure is also individually numbered, Hulk is figure 13.



Inside we got a basic shell with a little rubber band holding the Hulk in. Clip that away and he's ready to come out and fight. Or at the very least argue a little bit. Don't make him angry. I'm sure it doesn't really need to be said, but this package is superior in every way to the DC Infinite Heroes packaging. Marvel is just killing them on EVERY front, even the packaging.


Minty Fresh Hulk.

Articulation:
The Hulk figure has been chastised for having crappy articulation. Is it true? Well yes and no. His legs offer up articulation that isn't particularly useful because the sculpt blocks a lot of the usage. Is this a bad thing? Of course. Does it run the figure? No. Honestly the Hulk doesn't do much with his legs. He mostly stands and smashes. And this figure stands really well.



Hulk has a cut neck, ball jointed shoulders that work quite well, ball jointed elbows, cut wrists, ab ball joint with swivel... though not with a full range of movement (So not ab crunch really), ball jointed legs which can't do much, ball jointed knees that can bend a decent amount but not fully, and rocker ankles which work perfectly.



Hulk isn't immobile on his bottom half, but he could use some more movement. Still he's got a decent range of motion elsewhere and he can even put his fist into his other hand. NICE!

Sculpt:
How big do you like your Hulk? The movie Hulk figure is one of my favorite Hulks and he's also in 3 3/4 scale. Yet he TOWERS over the Marvel Universe Hulk. So which is it? Well this Hulk makes up for his shortness by being wide. He's even wider than some of the Legends versions of him. This little guy is stout. He's got a decent thickness about him too. I'd liked him to be another inch taller and a little fatter, but he's perfectly workable.


HULK SMASH!

The pants are some of the nicest I've seen. They look ripped, but not ridiculous. He has a nice lavender color to them with good shading on them. His skin is a middle of the road green, but it has good shading that makes it look much better than it has any right to.



The body itself is sculpted well. He actually looks a lot like bodybuilder Jay Cutler. Unfortunately he also looks like Jay in the face. My Hulk sort of has googly eyes and it certainly looks worse in the pictures than it does in person. I grabbed this Hulk the moment I saw him and all the others I've seen don't look this way so I probably should have waited.


Tall Man and Wide Back... Coming this fall to FOX!

Still the face sculpt really isn't great. The hair is also "weathered" so that parts of it are unpainted. I have no idea who thought that was a good idea though, because it looks stupid. You're going to want to take some paint and fill in the green spots. The teeth, mouth and ears all look good though.


Hulk captures the WCW title after turning on Macho Man and joining the nWo... Wait... Wrong Hulk!

The best part of the sculpt is that he has a FIST! Marvel Universe figures have been really smart in that fists are on almost everyone. Expect Iron Fist, DOH! Iron Man and Hulk having a fist sculpt though is one of the big things that sold me on this line. Honestly this is one of the best Hulks that HASBRO has produced since getting the Marvel license.


Similar but different.

Accessories:
NOTHING! He gets a couple paper accessories like all the Marvel Universe guys do, but he could have used something. I don't know what though, as Hulk really has no use for anything.



Additional Notes:
There is a variant gray Hulk with largely the same sculpt but he doesn't look as nice. I'll try to get a review of him up soon. I did buy him in the store the other day.

Value:
These guys run for $7.99 and that hurts. Even though the Hulk is bigger than most MU and is a pretty good representation of the character he's not a $8 figure. Of course DC Infinite Heroes figures cost $7 and they don't have the articulation or good sculpts that MU offers, so in that instance it's a better deal. But it's not a good deal by any means. However that's what we have to deal with in this economy. Don't blame Bruce Banner, blame George Bush. Is he worth picking up at that price? If you need a decent Hulk for MU then pick him up, but if you want a bigger Hulk, skip it.


We want to PUMP you up!

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 7
Articulation - 7
Accessories - None Ya
Value - 6
Overall - 7 out of 10



I like the Hulk. This is a good representation of him and I've had a lot of fun posing him with other 3 3/4 figures. He goes good with the rest of the Hulks I have. Hopefully when Marvel Universe cranks out their Secret Wars version of the character they'll improve the leg articulation as well as fix the head sculpt so that he looks a little more like the Incredible Hulk from the 70's and 80's.