Oh Marvel Universe, why can't I quit you?! I think it might have to do with the excellent character choices. Today I'm taking a look at one of the many new Marvel Universe Secret Wars comic packs. Did you know it's the 25th anniversary of Secret Wars!? It's also the 25th for TMNT, GI Joe, Transformers and pretty much anything cool. It seems a quarter of a century ago give or take everything good happened.



I must confess that I'm a big sucker for the Hulk too. I'm not sure what that is but every time I see a Hulk figure I'm compelled to purchase it. I think it might have to do with years of really sub par Hulk figures (I hate most the ML versions). As luck would have it Marvel Universe keeps cranking out Hulks and after three tries did they finally get it right? Plus Cyclops is along for the ride.

Packaging:
The comic packs for Marvel Universe follow the same formula for the Hasbro comic packs of other properties such as GI Joe, Star Wars, etc. If you've bought any of these comic packs before then you'll pretty much get the gist of the package. It is attractive enough and the characters in this pack particularly are bright and eye catching.



The back of the package shows the characters again as well as the other ones featured in the wave. It's a shame it doesn't show all the Secret Wars figures available, but I guess the later characters are a secret. Har-de-har-har.



Articulation:
Hulk has the exact same points of articulation as the Red Hulk and Green Hulk, I reviewed back in May and June. It's a good amount of articulation and I can't think of anything it really needs other than perhaps a ball jointed neck.



There is still some issues with the hips and if you haven't gotten over that by now you never will. I still find that for whatever reason the Red Hulk version's legs don't seem as "wide" as the others but I'll admit that may just be to my inability to pose more than anything. The body sculpts are the exact same so the articulation is as well.



Cyclops has standard Marvel Universe articulation which includes a ball joint head, pin/post ball joint shoulders, swivel arm, elbow hinges, swivel wrists, mid torso ball joint, t-bar crotch ball joint legs, double hinge knees and hinge ankles.



Both figures have a fair amount of articulation and certainly more play value that the original Secret Wars figures from Mattel. Of course we never got either one of these characters during the original Secret Wars figure run (which is odd as a Hulk would have been awesome) so there is really nothing to compare to directly.



Sculpt:
Ever since I reviewed the first Marvel Universe Hulk figure I've been calling for some changes. I speculated way back in May that this Hulk might be the one where we saw a massive improvement to the sculpt and I'm glad to say in many ways Hasbro has delivered.


Not quite mirror images.
Hulk now has a more traditional head, closer akin to an 80's Romita-esque design on the head. It may not be perfect for everyone, but it's certainly better than the more modern head we got the first time around. The only issue here would be that where the head connects to the body it makes him appear more hunched over than I would have liked.



His body is a very bright green and is much lighter than the last version. This is an improvement in many respects but since Hulk typically is depicted in a variety of different shades he may not be perfect for you. The wash effect doesn't look as good here as it did on the previous figure and I think if they'd toned him just a shade darker he'd been perfect. Still he's definitely a very 80's Hulk with plenty of gamma radiated charm.



Cyclops looks great and as much as I was a fan of the Astonishing Cyclops from the Wolverine line Reviewed Here back in May, this one is infinitely better. The articulation range on the Marvel Universe figures is just so vastly superior to the style of articulation that was on the Wolverine line.



His colors are bright, with the blue almost being baby in color and the yellow banana bright. Some previous comic packs in other lines have been "comic color inspired" and I wonder if that isn't partially going on here with these figures. There is a nice wash over Cyclops... But BEWARE! These Secret Wars figures suffer from the same Quality Control problems as the last batch. I saw a half dozen Cyclops that looked absolutely DREADFUL. The one I picked up was the best they had and even he has some wash spillage on his gauntlets. I'm wondering if the same factory that does Mattel's JLU figures isn't doing Hasbro's Secret Wars guys.


Be on the lookout for some slop.
The sculpts are still nice and I think overall the paintjobs and QC isn't quite as bad as the first batch of Wave 1 Secret Wars figures, but it's nowhere near to the high standard of the other Marvel Universe figs. I can't quite wrap my head around the issues there, but safe to say you should examine these before you buy them.



Accessories:
These guys get nothing but an issue of the Secret Wars comic. It's a good issue (I'm a fan of the SW storyline BTW) for Hulk because he's featured on the cover and in a pivotal role. Of course he only has a few panels throughout and Cyclops isn't in it a ton either... But Secret Wars plays out a bit like a cavalcade of stars so it's not really a problem.



I'm not sure what else these figures could have came with anyway. Cyclops doesn't really use weapons other than his eye visor and Hulk is more known to smash stuff. Accessories are always nice, but for many Marvel characters they aren't really warranted. I know Hasbro has struggled to find accessories for everyone in the single packs, so in these comic packs it's more excusable for them not to include them.



Additional Notes:
I couldn't find my brown suit movie Wolverine (Haven't picked up that SW pack yet) nor have they made a Thor figure yet. So please enjoy my makeshift X-Men and Avengers with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Punisher with an axe pretending to be Thor. But you get the idea.




There is something really cool about being able to piece together some really massive Marvel Universe collections to relive the glory days of Secret Wars. I know all these cool toys burn up the ego of the Marvel Legends fans, but for those of us who could care less it's a glorious time.

Value:
$13.99-$14 or so is the price. I think I actually paid $12.99 but don't quote me on that. I found these at Target and expect to pay somewhere between $12 and $15 for them. It's not a great value, but since the single figures run close to $8 a pop it's a slightly better value. The other nice part is that many of these SW figures aren't likely to see single card releases so you may have to get them at this pack anyway.


Our wars are Secret.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - SW Comic
Value - 8
Overall - 7.5 out of 10

If it wasn't for the QC issues I'd give this a full 8. The figures are fun, the comic is decent and we finally got ourselves a respectable Hulk. If Hasbro could get these Secret Wars sets to have a bit higher production value (like the ones on the back of the package!) we could be talking about a line of legend. As it is, these are a passable tribute and good additions to the Marvel Universe collection.



Be sure to Digg this for an extra chance to win the DCUC contest at the end of the month or leave a comment below. Also what would you like to see me review next? GI Joe 2 packs or more Secret Wars 2 packs? Let me know.