It would seem as though I'm reviewing a lot of Marvel Universe lately. Mattel, DC, take note because it's not for a lack of trying. I went to Walmart last night to hunt for the new DCUC 5 pack, but my Walmart still isn't carrying the pack. So when I bumbled around the aisle for a few minutes I came across all of Wave 5 for Marvel Universe. Despite whatever complaints I might have about the Marvel Universe line, I give Hasbro a lot of credit for actually, you know... Getting it into stores.



Electro was one of two Marvel Universe figures I picked up out of the way (Why only 2? More on that later...) because I have an affinity for classic Spider-Man villains. You can't get much more vintage than Electro. He came around in 1964, thanks to the mind of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and he's a member of the original Sinister Six. He's one of Spider-man's most classic villains. Of course that also means he's sorta lame, not too powerful and has a goofy costume. That's why Spider-man's classic villains are so cool. Outside of 1964 most of these guys look like goofs and even then they probably didn't look that cool.

That's not a dig at Electro or his brethren. Moreso, it's what attracts me to them. Electro has been updated a few times to look more contemporary and "cool" but screw that, Electro is supposed to look like a goof. Thankfully Hasbro and Marvel Universe faithfully have recreated classic Electro here.

Packaging:
We've went over these Marvel Universe packages enough times that you probably know I like them fairly well by now. They do everything just right and it's only fair that Hasbro has since adopted similar packages for almost all of their 3 3/4 offerings. I hope it was my reviews that swayed them in that favor! On the front we have artwork which I assume is still Frank Cho's and he makes Electro look cooler than he has any right to. Part of me thinks it would have been cool to have some vintage Steve Ditko art on there like seen HERE but it's probably better to go with what's worked.



On the back we've got the rundown of the character as well as a few other characters from the wave. They don't list the Iron Man variant, instead opting to put a Spider-man there. I guess that makes sense though because this is a Spider-man villain after all and we want the kiddies to be able to know he's out there.





Inside we have our top secret envelop. Am I the only one who has trouble opening these things? I end up ripping the little manilla envelop all up to get it open. I'm starting to feel like Carnac the Magnificent when ripping these things open. Inside is a letter to Norman Osborn that has been hermetically sealed inside a mayonnaise jar underneath Funk & Wagnalls' porch since noon today.



You also get the little trading card/picture thing. It's not made of real card stock, but it's nice to have.

Articulation:
Ol' twinkle toes has quite a bit of articulation and let's see if I can count all the points. He has a ball jointed head, pin/post ball joint shoulders, swivel right below the shoulder, elbow hinges, swivel wrists, a ab ball joint but not enough for a full crunch, t-bar ball legs, double knees hinges and hinged ankles.



Some folks might want more articulation, some might even want a little less! I find that it's a pretty good amount. Especially for a character like Electro. While he does sometimes do some strange crouching poses, he's pretty versatile in this format and I can't think of anything else he needs to be essential.



Sculpt:
For whatever reason, a lot of my opinions of Electro and the Spider-man universe in general were formed because of the old Sega Genesis Spider-man game. It's the best Spider-man game ever (I don't care WHAT you say) and in it, Electro is the first real boss character, right after the Forklift man. That's sort of how I view Electro, mainstream villain but never the main villain. He's the first guy you'd beat up on your way to saving the day.


Grinning fool.
In that respect he's been faithfully recreated. His face has this grin/snarl that's more comical than fierce. He has an almost jester-like appearance with his funny mask and smirk. His body is built off of what I believe to be the same one that Klaw uses but it could be a different one. It's similar regardless.



As a result of his mask he's actually one of the tallest Marvel Universe figures. That doesn't mean he's too tall to fit into the scale though, he just has a big point on his head. It does make Magneto seem a little more undersized though. Damn it, now Hasbro is going to make a bigger Magneto down the line and force me to buy him. CURSE YOU HASBRO!



His sculpt is solid all around with little lightning bolts hanging off of his gloves. It looks pretty cool but it does limit posing in that I constantly feel like those need to be behind him and not in front of him. His face is really the best part though and they nailed that. His eyes do have a bit of slop on mine and I suspect that might be something to watch out for on all of these. They only had one at the store, so I couldn't compare.

Other than that, he's really well painted. Even his costume seems pretty much perfect. No, it's probably not 100% perfect, but it's good enough for a mass market toy. The paint used on his gold almost glows at points, it's not quite metallic, but it's just enough to give it a glimmer. Very well done.

Accessories:
Electro only gets two small accessories in addition to his paper ones, but I found them to be some of the best that Hasbro's produced yet. These might be recycled from Iron Fist, but since I have no interest at all in Iron Fist, I wouldn't know. Regardless, these are little electricity strands that you can put on both hands.



I've said before how I liked these similar deals with Iron Man and I found Electro's to be the best. It's just really well done and it makes for a lot of fun when posing these guys. I had a lot of different stuff I could do with them. I guess it's a lot like that "Force energy" that comes with Star Wars guys.



If you're clever you can even put two on one hand for a different effect.

Additional Notes:
Unfortunately not all is well here... The foot is warped all to hell on mine because of the way Hasbro packages these guys. Please, Hasbro, STOP putting guys hands and feet through those little plastic holes. My Electro has a gimp leg because of it.



He still stands and in time I can fix it, but it's annoying. This isn't a QC problem so much as it is a packaging problem. I don't like twist ties, but if you have to put something in there, use those. I'm not a fan of this "twist him into a pretzel so he fits into the plastic shell holes" deal.

Value:
Thanks to Walmart's "Always low prices" I paid a dollar more for him than anywhere else. Seriously, $9! What purpose does Walmart serve anymore?! It used to be that Walmart charged less for everything, which is why you stomached their horrible service, smelly stores, disorganized aisles and general craptacularness... Now I pay more and still get the same service?

This is why I didn't buy all of Wave 5. Seriously, that extra dollar per figure adds up. If I ever meet one of Sam Walton's children I'm going to punch them in the face. Even if I meet Johnboy Walton, I'm punching him too... Just incase.


Can you find the $9 figure? It's any of these if purchased at Walmart.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Electricity blasts, Paper stuff
Value - 8
Overall - 8 out of 10

A little torn here. Part of me wants to kick this down to a 7, 7.5 range because of his wonky leg. I'd just take a guess though that maybe that's an exception and not the rule, so I'm giving him a full 8. Why? Because I think he's a lot of fun. Yeah, I guess I need to start being "tougher" on my figures, but I can't be mean to poor Electro, he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes and I just melt.


FRY SPIDER-MAN!
I'm probably skipping the Spider-man varaint, but maybe in a few days I'll cover more of Wave 5. If I ever find that DCUC 5 Pack I might cover it. But I'll have to see if Bigfoot has it...